Chapter 6

Yes.

Leo was acting.

His muteness was an act, his pitiful and frail image was an act, and even his "suicide by poison" in my previous life was an act.

Outside a secluded private club's VIP room, I had personally overheard his hushed voice.

He was sobbing, pleading with a doctor:

"Doctor, I'm just a poor, helpless soul. If I don't stage a calculated theatrical display of suffering, how could I ever get through the Sterling family's door?"

"Please, give me a drug that will temporarily induce a coma-like state!"

"Doctor, I truly love Seraphina. Given my background, becoming her lover is already punching above my weight."

"But Seraphina has already promised to marry me. I need to orchestrate a bit more drama to ensure she always feels indebted to me."

"Please, help me!"

"If I can just fake my death once, Seraphina will remember she owes me forever!"

What a brilliant scheme.

He fooled Seraphina. He fooled me.

He fooled all the powerful elite and celebrities in Avelon City.

I once asked Seraphina why she was so captivated by Leo.

"I was born the Sterling family heir; everyone always tried to please me, to flatter me."

"They respected me, admired me, but only because of my status as the Sterling family's heir."

"Even you, Julian, if I weren't the Sterling heir, would you still love me?"

Her words had stumped me then.

If she hadn't been the Sterling family heir, there wouldn't have been an engagement between us, we wouldn't have grown up together, so how could there be love or not love?

"Only Leo, when he didn't even know my identity, was willing to sacrifice his life for me."

"How could I not be moved by such pure love?"

I was almost convinced by her.

As an heir to a prominent family, I had always been thoughtful and strategic.

I had to consider my parents, my family. I truly wouldn't easily sacrifice my life for one person.

We both overlooked another possibility.

Even if Seraphina was unconscious from the car accident, her custom-tailored suit and Patek Philippe watch alone would have screamed her affluent status.

Whether she was a rich girl, a business elite, or a corporate heir.

Leo had made up his mind from the very beginning.

He was going to climb that high branch of high society.