Chapter Thirty-Six: Damn, He's Handsome

As if under some kind of spell, the butler, who had just been seething with rage, found himself inexplicably pouring another glass of milk for Chao Xu. Chao Xu accepted it with composure and offered a calm word of thanks.

The butler, meanwhile, remained dazed for a long moment before the true meaning of Chao Xu's words registered with him. There was more than one person who wanted her dead...

A chill of terror crept over the butler as he pondered this, followed by a prickling scalp. The young lady was pure of heart and never told lies, which meant that, without his noticing at all, she had already become the prey of wolves and tigers lurking in the shadows...

If he couldn’t even keep track of such things, how could he possibly claim to be worthy of protecting her?

Seeing the butler—so prone to emotion—about to burst into tears again, Chao Xu, who had grown weary of his weeping, quickly stopped him and, for once, said more than a word or two: “Don’t blame yourself. Think about it: the entire Chao family is being watched by so many, and surely there’s more than one person who would want to kill me and throw the Chao household into chaos.

“In times like these, no one would dare help us under such pressure. It’s perfectly normal to feel powerless. The only way I can possibly escape unscathed is to ‘die’—just as they wish.”

This, in fact, was precisely why Chao Xu had suddenly asked the butler to erase her identity.

There was, of course, another reason: her current identity had become rather inconvenient for her purposes.

She still hadn’t fully understood Chao Si’s memories, and there were too many unknown dangers to risk. Taking on a new identity made it far easier to probe things step by step.

That included matters at the school...

Remembering the incident caused by the mission system the other day, Chao Xu’s gaze darkened, her fingers tightening around the glass. Her pupils seemed as deep and inscrutable as a whirlpool, hiding all emotion, and yet the overwhelming aura she exuded was impossible to ignore, suffocating in its intensity.

Even the butler, standing several meters away, felt the air pressure plummet as if by eight degrees, his legs turning to jelly despite himself.

But soon enough, Chao Xu’s eyes returned to their former calm, tranquil as ever. She looked at the butler lazily and said, “When you’re creating my new identity, can you help me change a small detail or two?”

The butler responded instinctively, “Of course, miss. What would you like to change?”

“It’s nothing much. Just change my gender to male in the new identity,” Chao Xu replied lightly, turning the glass in her hand.

The butler nearly choked on his own saliva. “Miss, do you realize what you’re saying? You’re a girl! Even if you must change identities, you can’t make such a drastic change all at once!”

Chao Xu lazily lifted her eyelids, brushed her smooth neck with her fingers, and suddenly her voice dropped—neither male nor female, threaded with a smile as it flowed out.

“I know. But so what? Sometimes, the more outrageous a thing is, the more convincing it becomes, doesn’t it?”

As she spoke, her expression shifted as well, lips curving into a captivating, intoxicating smile. Her voice—a husky, enchanting timbre balanced between youth and maidenhood—was like a sip of tart red wine: tinged with bitterness and awkwardness, yet carrying the fatal temptation of a devil, luring one to willingly sink into its depths.

God, how incredibly handsome!

Bewitched for a moment, the butler could think of nothing but the words “so handsome.” For a time, he nearly forgot that the arrestingly handsome figure before him was the very young lady he had watched grow up!