Your Guise Is Slipping, Miss Pearl

Before Pearl could say anything, a furious shout from Santiago cfrom behind.

"What have you done, you b*stard?!" Pearl turned around, but before she could react, Claude received a hard slap across his face, instantly causing it to swell and redden.

"If I hadn't interrogated those people from the Jesseltons, I wouldn't have known that my son has the audacity to frsomeone!" Claude wiped the blood from his mouth and chuckled lightly. "You're this mad only because the person is your beloved, right?" Back when he was abroad, he got into a fight and nearly killed the other guy, then he compensated with a few hundred thousand dollars. Santiago didn't even bat an eye.

Now, Santiago slapped Claude just because he had hurt the person he cared most about.

"How dare you! You're not even sorry!" Seeing another slap about to land, Pearl quickly stepped in. "Claude has indeed gone too far this time, but he has admitted his mistake and made up for it." Santiago sighed. "You're too forgiving. If it were me, I'd have beaten him to death!" Pearl awkwardly smiled. "Well, you slapped him already. Consider that a lesson to him. He's injured and still weak now, it's best not to lay a hand on him." Santiago heard about his injury and took a good look at him. Indeed, there was a visible wound on the back of his head. But he was so mad he just went straight to demanding answers and didn't even think about it. Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

"These are just minor injuries. It's nothing serious." Santiago snorted. "I know these minor injuries are nothing to you." Claude fell silent again, and the room becso quiet they could hear a pin drop.

Santiago cleared his throat. "If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave as there's still work to be done." He looked intently at Claude. "I've silenced those people. Just stay here and get better." Once he was gone, Pearl sighed. "Mister Santiago actually cares about you. Otherwise, he wouldn't have dealt with those guys, fearing that they'd drag you down." What those people did was illegal. Claude would end up in jail if he got dragged into it.

"I know." Claude didn't seem pleased. He still needsas his successor. If anything happens to me, all the effort he's put into trainingover the years would be wasted." Pearl smiled, not denying it. "Witharound now, do you think you can still be his successor with peace of mind?" Claude was surprised. "You're interested in this?" He wasn't interested in the Savary family's fortune. He had just been raised with the idea that he was the future successor.

But it didn't seem too bad if he had to give it up and let Pearl take over.

"Of course not. I mean, didn't you say that Santiago likes me? So if I were to return to the Savarys, do you think he'll letinherit their estate?" "Whatever." Claude honestly didn't care.

Seeing his reaction, Pearl almost laughed. "Why do I have such a stubborn brother? Geez... What I'm saying is Santiago has other heirs in mind. He's not concerned about his efforts in raising you being wasted. He protected you today because he really cares for you as his son." Claude was stunned.

"Also, don't be too hard on him. If I were in his shoes, I'd slap you for what you did too." Pearl rolled her eyes.

A slap would be letting him off easy, wouldn't it?