The entire office fell silent for several seconds.
"You? The heir to the business? You?"
Nekla paused, then suddenly snorted with laughter. He looked down disdainfully at Rick's urine-soaked trousers.
The surrounding men burst out laughing.
Rick's face flushed. He instinctively bent his legs to hide the stain, but then lowered them with a tremble, forcing out an embarrassed smile.
"Exactly! If I weren't timid, cautious, and unwilling to risk my life for anything, if I couldn't..." he said with difficulty, "bend with the times, how would I qualify to be the heir of the 'Alpha Wolf'?"
The Red Viper snorted coldly and gestured around, especially at the corpses scattered across the floor.
"If you're his heir, how could this place be this empty? You barely have any decent bodyguards, and people were able to break in so easily?"
Because we're law-abiding citizens of Emerald City.
Rick took a deep breath to ease his embarrassment.
We don't engage in wanton violence.
At least, not out in the open.
"You've hit the nail on the head."
Rick put on a solemn expression.
"If I weren't the heir, Mr. Nekla, how would you know this place could be left so empty, or that you could break in so easily?"
At those words, Nekla's brow twitched.
"What... do you mean?"
He asked suspiciously.
Watching the other man's reaction, Rick's heart sank.
"Whatever you mean by it, the infamous Red Viper has no need to become someone else's blade—that would be pointless."
He lowered his voice.
"Especially when I can offer you something in return."
The Red Viper paused.
His expression slowly grew serious.
Rick's mood sank along with it.
Several seconds later, Nekla spoke again, but his tone had changed from mockery to suspicion.
"Heir? Really? You?"
Rick closed his eyes to keep