'Neuril has yet to register in any of the foundation programs.' Cruxius muttered, finally closing his laptop. He glanced at the nearby clock—two hours had passed since Thalia had woken up.
Stretching his back, he pulled out a pendrive from the laptop and handed it to Darithi, adding, "Collect all the details about the names I mentioned. The area is vague since I can't pinpoint it exactly, and appearances aren't fixed either, so you just have names."
"…Yes," Darithi nodded, taking the pendrive. She had seen her master writing down names while going through a list of superheroes. Clearly, these names weren't on that list.
He didn't seem too inquisitive either—just enough to get the task started. She only needed to complete it.
"How are you going to do it?" came a voice, making both Darithi and Cruxius turn.
A woman sat at the table, surrounded by half-finished dishes brought in about half an hour ago, clearly savoring each bite. Her emerald eyes looked exhausted but were curious as she tasted the unfamiliar cuisine.
"I'll use AI detection or experts," Darithi replied vaguely.
Technically, she was just going to pass the task to intelligence agencies known for confidentiality. But she couldn't say that out loud, not when her master hadn't yet told the woman that he was heir of Blac Corporation.
"…Tch, why ke…ep her by …side? Sh…e is so ineffe…cient," Thalia muttered, shaking her head as she leaned toward the table and gave a look to Cruxius.
He just glanced back with an amused smile, watching Thalia gobble up food like she hadn't eaten in days.
"And you think you can do better than her?" Cruxius asked simply, not even looking up. He had already made up his mind—there was no need for him to do the legwork when money could buy the answers.
It was only a matter of time before he reached each of those names.
Yet the lady seated before him—naked, covered only in a sheet, focused entirely on her meal with no hint of embarrassment—claimed she could do better.
Shouldn't he test her?
"Of… course… nmm—is this… really just simple pasta?!" Thalia exclaimed mid-bite, her eyes brimming with tears of joy as she devoured what felt like the most delicious food of her life.
The taste was endless. Five-star dishes known for their flavor filled her taste buds in ways she'd never experienced.
"…Should I bring more food?" Darithi asked, noticing the girl had already cleaned up most of the table.
Her stomach, oddly enough, didn't look the slightest bit bloated—as if everything had vanished into a bottomless pit.
Darithi said nothing about such a show of hunger from Thalia, given her being raised in the orphanage. She understood the value of food, and she also liked the food here.
Her master, afflicted with hypogeusia, had very little taste for food and had hired the best chefs in the world—some with superpowers that enhanced their cooking.
"I can't eat more than this," Thalia said reluctantly, having had her fill. She looked at Darithi and added, "Just bring some ice cream. Half a kilo will do…"
"…"
"One can never guess someone's nature by their looks alone, can they, Thalia?" Cruxius said with a faint smile, watching her. Black hair, emerald eyes, a gorgeous body marked by red hickeys, lips stained with spices—a beautiful woman feasting like a beast.
She was glamorous with a hunger equal to who knows how many sumo wrestlers.
"Of course they can't. Handsome, gentleman-looking hyenas are everywhere—bringing drugged women to their beds with zero sanity," Thalia jabbed back, clearly picking up on his sarcasm and returning the favor with interest.
"…Sanity is overrated anyway. One look at you, and even a monk would start stuttering—beauty like that should come with a warning label." Cruxius shrugged, intrigued by how different she was from what he'd imagined.
He was starting to understand why she had taken over the Blac family and proved herself in just five years.
"There is a label, Mister—Tha. Lia." she said, hearing the man talk in that annoyingly sweet tone after what he'd done to her last night.
She couldn't remember it all—too drugged—but her aching body screamed the truth. If she didn't work out regularly, she might've collapsed.
Forget simple intimacy—he had devoured her like a vampire. She felt hollow, starved, drained.
"Why are you naked though?" Cruxius asked casually, picking up his phone and searching for a number he could never forget.
"First, because you and that woman already saw more than just me being naked. And second, you didn't even offer me clothes—mine were shredded. It's like you want me to stay like this," Thalia replied bluntly, holding the sheet as she gave him an absent-minded look.
She didn't know the man... or that cold woman who didn't even show a hint of sympathy.
Hell, Thalia even suspected that Darithi was some kind of AI robot.
"…I'll bring the clothes," Darithi, suddenly realizing her slip, bowed and left the room.
"So, she really forgot," Thalia sighed, shaking her head.
From Darithi's behavior, she could tell that she wasn't the first woman to end up in this man's bed.
Probably so many that the woman named Darithi had grown too used to it.
"Yeah, it happens everytime," Cruxius nodded, ordering food from the one restaurant where even he could feel some taste.
Not the fancy junk those 'chefs' whipped up. He just wanted something made by Lira.
"…How many women have you slept with before me?" Thalia asked, reacting to his casual tone. It was unnerving—talking to a naked woman like it was normal.
As if he had become too familiar with her body, which erased the thrill.
"Maybe a hundred? Who even keeps count?" Cruxius replied honestly. He didn't know what his past self was—a trash or just another young playboy.
But he didn't lie. Not to her. Not after what he'd seen of her.
He would just catch it again.
'!?'
"You know… you're more disgusting than a pig." Thalia visibly frowned, covering her body with the sheet, her eyes twitching at his shamelessness.
"Oink?" Cruxius smirked as, with eyes glued to the phone, he replied.
"Pfft, what was that for?" Thalia, caught off guard, chuckled. She hadn't expected him to actually oink like a pig.
Until now, he had seemed… different. Too composed, too calm.
It confused her.
He should've been disgusting—after all, he brought her here in a drugged state and claimed her like she was his.
But he wasn't disgusting.
Not really.
He was rich—clearly so—so he should've been arrogant, yet there wasn't any trace of that typical rich-boy pride.
He carried himself with a casual calmness, not the kind of stupid confidence men got from thinking with their dicks, but something else—something sharper. Smarter.
And now? He was… flirting? With that weird sense of humor?
If there was one word to describe his character, it would be: confusing.
No single pattern. No clear read.
"You called me a pig, Thalia. I just wanted to show you…" he paused, voice dropping low—before a grin as finally looked at her.
"…even pigs can make you moan."
'....H-he...' Thalia, seated there, finally felt speechless and found her words stuck, as she did not have a reply for the first time in her life. She averted her gaze, murmuring, "You won...but at what cost, pig."