The focus of their conversation shifted to the conflict between the Wetting Conglomerate and the Bond Group. No one would have guessed that Mr. Jonas's true objective was the unassuming purple-haired girl in the corner.
After all, once his true intentions were exposed, taking Miss Iris away might not have been so easy, given Silka Bond's suspicious nature.
If Miss Iris had no secrets, after all, Jonas would never have gone to such lengths just to take her away.
Eiffel suddenly remembered something Jonas had once told her.
-The first thing a good hunter must learn is to hide his intentions.
Watching the black-haired young man sitting in the back seat, Eiffel felt that his thoughts were becoming harder and harder to fathom.
She withdrew her gaze and turned her attention back to the purple-haired girl beside him.
The girl's timid expression made her look like a little animal afraid of being hurt. Eiffel simply could not reconcile her with the genius hacker Jonas had described.
Seemingly frightened by her unfamiliar surroundings, the girl remained curled up in the corner.
Her eyes occasionally drifted toward Jonas, but whenever he moved, she quickly looked away and buried her head, looking every bit like an ostrich.
As though he had noticed her nervousness, Jonas spoke in a gentle voice:
"There's no need to be nervous, Miss Iris. I won't do anything to you."
He had meant to ease her wariness, but instead, his words sent her into a panic. She raised her head and asked helplessly:
"D-did I do something wrong?"
Jonas did not quite know how to react. Looking at the overly sensitive girl, he opened his mouth but could not find the words.
His failure to answer seemed to confirm her fears.
She panicked completely, stammering as she tried desperately to restore the young man's good opinion of her:
"Please don't hit me. I'll do better..."
Before she had finished speaking, Iris felt a hand settle on her head instead of the insults and blows she had expected.
"No one will hit you anymore."
The warmth flowing from his palm was something Iris had not felt in so long that she froze. For a long while, she could not speak. Then she murmured a quiet acknowledgment and lowered her head.
The car moved slowly along, pedestrians and buildings slipping past outside.
Silence fell over the car again.
Sunlight streamed through the window and fell on the girl's pale thighs. She drew in on herself, as though trying to hide entirely in the shadows.
From time to time, Iris stole a glance at the man beside her, then hurriedly looked away, as though afraid he might notice.
Jonas closed his eyes, allowing Iris to steal bolder looks at Mr. Jonas.
The sunlight shifted forward, filtering through his hair and gilding its tips.
A strange thought suddenly surfaced in Iris's mind.
The instant it appeared, even Iris herself was startled.
She quickly shook her head, driving the thought away.
Inside a villa in the Silt District.
Dressed in a white dress, the purple-haired girl looked like an angel who had descended to earth.
Innocent and unworldly, yet wary and curious about everything around her.
Wearing a somewhat oversized dress, Iris looked at herself in the mirror, unsure what to do.
She turned toward Jonas and asked timidly:
"Could I change back into my old clothes...?"
It was not that the dress was uncomfortable. It was too comfortable, and that unfamiliar comfort left her ill at ease.
The feel of silk seemed unreal, like a bubble that might burst at any moment.
The girl refused to accept hope, because accepting it meant she would face despair again.
"Don't you like it?" Jonas asked.
"It's not that I don't like it. It's just..."
Iris tried to explain, stumbling over her words, only to hear the man before her say with a smile:
"As long as you like it."
His words left Iris at a loss. Then he said softly:
"I'll deactivate your sex doll chip later."
"Huh??"
Iris stood frozen, unable to process his words for a long time.
"What... did you say...?"
She opened her mouth, but for some reason, no words came out.
The man before her seemed to have become an illusion, as though no matter what she said, he would cruelly tell her that everything he had just said was a lie.
She was afraid, so she dared not speak.
Ignoring her unusual reaction, Jonas stepped forward and reached out to undo the chains binding her, as though declaring, "You're free."
"What I need is Iris Chelsea... not a sex doll with no sense of self."
He spoke as calmly as if he were stating a simple fact.
Iris looked at the smiling man before her and opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
-I need you, Iris Chelsea.
It was the first time anyone had ever said something like that to her.
The emotions pent up in her heart instantly became a flood, overwhelming her senses. Her vision blurred.
She did not know why she was crying, and no matter what she did, she could not stop.
As though releasing all the hurt she had endured lately, the girl kept wiping the corners of her eyes with her sleeves and said through her sobs:
"I-I understand, Mr. Jonas..."
"Fourteen hours and twenty-six minutes..."
Eiffel looked at the elapsed time on the clock, then glanced at the girl nearby who had already fallen for him, and could not help sighing.
There was no question that Jonas's methods were extraordinarily skillful, fully bearing out Eiffel's earlier assessment of him.
In less than fifteen hours, this scumbag had won a girl over and made her willingly become his pawn.
Where exactly had things gone wrong?
Eiffel did not know, but she grew even more wary of Jonas.
His grasp of women's hearts was terrifying. Even she might fall for his tricks in a moment of carelessness, just as she had during those incidents in the Red-Light District...
She would have to be more on guard around this young master Jonas.
Eiffel took a deep breath. Watching the girl named Iris sob, she felt her confidence begin to waver.
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