I Am the Ruler of All

Chapter 101

"I could tell he was insignificant the moment he walked through the door!" Megan rolled her eyes. "He's not even good enough to shine Young Master Zachary's shoes, let alone marry my daughter!"

Michael was looking distinctly stormy as well. "I won't say much about your unemployment, but what do you mean you have no family? Did your parents divorce or something?"

"No, they died," Kingsley replied indifferently. "Murdered, in fact, when I was only a child."

The atmosphere in the room grew heavy as his words hung in the air. It took a moment for Megan's shock to turn into blatant fury, and she slapped the edge of the table as she said, "No! I will not stand for this! I don't know what kind of a mob you were raised in, but no upstanding family would be murdered for no good reason!"

"Mom!" Cecilia interjected angrily, her face burning. "You can't possibly think it's okay for you to say something like that!" She quickly grabbed Kingsley's hand and tried to meet his eyes as she said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, Kingsley. My mom didn't mean it that way. It wasn't our intention to offend you."

He was only here because he had agreed to do her favor, yet he was being humiliated and reminded of the pain of his past. She couldn't help the guilt that rose in her and twisted her gut.

"It's fine. I'm already used to it," Kingsley said emotionlessly, brushing off her concern. "I'll let them off the hook this time on your account."

"Hah! Well, aren't you just a comedian?" Asher scoffed incredulously. "You're letting us off the hook, are you? What would you have done to us otherwise?"

Zachary chimed in, "Yeah, you're just some street rat and a gigolo, so don't get all high and mighty with us! Letting us off the hook? More like saving your own as*!"

Cecilia was seething with rage now as she bit out, "Zachary, this is a family matter, and you have no business in it. You are not welcomed here."

"Come on, don't be like that, Cecilia." He gave her a leering smile as he added, "I only came here to propose to you."

At the mention of this, Megan urged, "Cecilia, you have to find a husband and settle down soon or your father and I will never be able to show our faces in high society again! You have no idea how vicious gossip can be, especially after Shane has called off the engagement."

"I did as I was told and brought my boyfriend home, didn't I? What more do you want from me?" Cecilia argued, her chest rising and falling rapidly. For some reason, she felt like she had just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire, and she couldn't help feeling sorry for herself.

"No, I forbid you to see this man any longer!" Megan shrieked, crossing her arms as her features twisted into a grimace. "Our family will not stand for such humiliation!"

Then, she shot Michael a look, silently asking him to say something.

He cleared his throat gruffly and said, "You've seen how we are. Sure, our family isn't as elite as others, but we still have a reputation to keep afloat in Cleapolis. Speak up for yourself, young man. What do you have to offer that will persuade us to change our minds about you?"

Kingsley was admittedly taken aback by the question. The only attribute he had that made him rise above the others was his streak of victories on the battlefield, but right now, he couldn't very well say that he was the commander-in-chief of the twelve military districts of the Empire of Qustia. He was only here to put on a show, after all.

He pondered on this, and suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his head. He turned to Michael and the others as he asked, "I'm assuming that all of you know about Nicole and how she has practically wrecked Cecilia's life, right?"

Megan nodded. She hated Nicole with a passion, and the mention of her made her blood boil.

Kingsley smiled. "On my orders, she's been taken care of."

Zachary burst out laughing when he heard this. "Haha! Are you serious? That's the best you can come up with? All you did was have a woman 'taken care of', whatever that means! What's the big deal?" © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

Asher was guffawing as well as he added, "So is that your specialty or something? Getting revenge on women? You really are pathetic!"

However, Kingsley kept his composure and maintained his smile even in light of the men's taunting. He pointed at Asher's phone on the coffee table and asked, "I'm guessing you haven't read the headline news today."

"Headline news? You mean the one where all hell broke loose at Young Master William's funeral? Yeah, we already heard about that," Asher said. He cocked a brow as he asked, "What does that have to do with you?"

The corner of Kingsley's lips tugged up in a smirk as he countered, "Actually, I was talking about the latest news that came after that."

"The latest news?"

Bewildered, everyone took their phones and began searching up the trending news for the day.

As soon as they did, they blanched. Right now, the news that was trending all over was captioned, 'Miss Kidston, a saleswoman from Auto City, was left severely injured after she was ruthlessly beaten up and forced to take a walk of shame in public!' The news even dethroned any press coverage of the funeral at the Jacobs'.

"D-Did you..." All the color drained from Zachary's face as he read about what happened to Nicole.

Megan was so horrified that she tossed her phone onto the table like it was burning her hand and demanded, "You were behind it?!"

Kingsley eyed her in amusement. "Of course."

Everyone drew in a sharp breath. None of them had expected a young man who looked so kind and innocent to be merciless.

After a long pause, Asher finally slammed his fist against the table and snapped, "Don't you know I'm the platoon leader of the Cleapolis Military District? As an officer in the army, I have every right to arrest you for aiding and abetting a crime against a civilian!"

Upon hearing this, everyone else in the living room was pulled back to reality. Zachary swallowed convulsively and urged with bravado, "That's right! Asher, get your men to execute this criminal at once!"

In truth, he was shaken by the news, which struck some serious fear in him. He hoped furtively that Asher would have Kingsley arrested and thrown behind bars, because he wasn't sure how he would cope having such a terrifying rival breathing down his neck.

"The platoon leader of the Cleapolis Military District, you say?" Kingsley drawled as he tapped his fingertips against the armrest of his chair. "I don't think you understand. The only reason I even brought up the incident with Nicole was to let you know that I have plenty of friends who would not hesitate to help me out, and I'm proud of my connections."

"What do you mean?"Asher's brows furrowed. "So you know a couple of hooligans on the street; that doesn't mean you know anyone in the Cleapolis Military District."

Kingsley shook his head slightly. "Indeed, I don't."

Zachary was about to mock him when Kingsley went on to say, "I'm not acquainted with anyone in the city platoons because they're all low-ranking officers. My connections lie in those who are in the military headquarters in the Solaris Province."

Asher was stunned for a second, then he threw his head back and laughed. He had his arms wrapped around his stomach as he said between laughs, "Why would anyone in the provincial military district associate with the likes of you? Haha! Maybe these connections of yours are just military cooks and janitors!"