Chapter 85: Miss Bunny Is Lying in 4K

"Miss McKay was right. Since we don’t need him anymore, maybe we should just kill him," Balian said as he finally ripped the mask off the man’s face.

The moment he saw what was underneath, his expression turned dark. "Oh, my, my," he said slowly. "How does someone live with a face like that?"

Then he looked at Summer. "Miss Beaumont, I honestly can’t imagine someone like you marrying a man who looks exactly like this creature."

To be fair, Ryland and Clark were not ugly. But compared to Summer’s current mates, and even Balian himself, they were not even in the same league.

The difference was so huge that comparing them felt almost unfair.

[Balian, you can’t be that honest! You have to lie a little!]

[But he has a point, tho! I mean, Miss Bunny is so beautiful! If she suddenly knocked on my door, I’d probably think a goddess had come to visit me!]

[Honestly, I still don’t understand how someone like Ryland managed to get her.]

[From what I heard, they were academy sweethearts. Maybe he used to be her knight in shining armor.]

[Fair enough. People at the Academy were brutal! An F-Rank Guide probably wouldn’t survive without someone backing her up. Even having a B-Rank Sentinel on your side would already help a lot!]

The funny thing was, they were not wrong.

The combination of her low rank and the constant false accusations from Winter had made her the perfect target for everyone’s hatred.

If she had not latched onto Ryland, she probably would not have been able to survive in that hellhole.

Maybe her feelings for him had not been completely genuine, but at least she had stayed loyal until her soul was kicked out by the current Summer.

Pushing that thought aside, Summer said to Clark, "I don’t understand." She added, "I doubt you and Ryland were that close, since he never even mentioned you."

"So wouldn’t his death actually benefit you? You could become the only one left to inherit from your father." She paused for a moment. "Unless... there’s some kind of special condition."

Clark’s expression immediately changed. It was small, but Summer caught it right away.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "So there is a condition."

Clark pressed his lips together and refused to answer. Summer leaned back against the couch. "That explains it."

"You don’t know anything!" Clark snapped.

Summer shrugged. "Then explain it."

Clark stayed silent. Balian glanced down at his terminal again before sending another message.

A few seconds later, his expression changed. "Well," he said slowly. "This is more interesting."

Balian looked at Clark. "You were never officially registered as a Hale."

[WAIT WHAT?]

[So he has the surname but he’s not legally part of the family?]

[Rich people family drama incoming.]

Balian continued reading. "Your father acknowledged you privately, but because your mother was never his legal wife, you were never added to the official family record."

Clark clenched his fists and Summer finally understood where this was going.

"So even after Ryland died, you still couldn’t inherit anything," Balian added. "And from what I can see, there was only one way for Clark to become an official member of the Hale family."

Summer raised an eyebrow. "Ryland?"

"Exactly."

Balian turned his terminal slightly toward her. "Ryland was the legal heir. Once he became the head of the family, he would have had the power to officially recognize Clark as his younger brother and add him to the family register."

Ryland and Clark must have had some kind of deal between them. Maybe Clark had promised to stay loyal to him in exchange for finally being recognized as a real member of the family.

After all, their father clearly had no intention of making Clark his legal son. Ryland’s mother might have been the reason something like that could never happen.

So Ryland’s death had not freed Clark. It had ruined his only chance of becoming a real Hale instead.

"So you needed him alive," Summer said. "And you think I took that future away from you."

"Think?" Clark suddenly shouted. "You did!"

His voice echoed through the abandoned bar. "You killed him!"

Summer’s expression remained calm. "I didn’t."

"You left him there!"

"He chose to enter that zone."

"You could have saved him!"

Summer stared at him for a moment before scoffing. "Are you dumb or something?" she asked. "How are you blaming an F-Rank Guide for the death of a B-Rank Sentinel?"

Her voice stayed calm, but the words hit hard. "If anything, shouldn’t he have been the one protecting me?"

[Miss Bunny, burn him down!]

[Yes! Yes! Ryland was the one who didn’t do his job properly!]

[Imagine blaming the F-Rank Guide when the B-Rank Sentinel was the one who died first.]

[The math is not mathing.]

"Oh, don’t play dumb!" Clark snapped. He clearly did not think he was as stupid as Summer made him sound. "You were there with that Elite Sentinel! You could have saved him!"

Summer looked at him with even more annoyance. "Are you high?" she shot back. "Why would I try to make Archer help him when Archer didn’t even want to in the first place? Do you seriously think I can control an SSS-Rank Sentinel?"

In fact, Summer could control Archer if she wanted to. But in this situation, she simply had no reason to.

[Miss Bunny is lying in 4K.]

["Do you think I can control an SSS-Rank Sentinel?" GIRL, YES?!]

[One "Archer, please" and that man would probably destroy a mountain.]

[Why are we pretending Archer has free will around her?]

[Miss Bunny really said "I can’t control him" after putting a mate mark on that man.]

[Someone clip this and send it to Archer!]

Saddie, who happened to be reading the comments, could not help laughing quietly.

"Still, you’re a murderer!" Clark shouted again.

"Oh, please." Summer rolled her eyes.

A moment later, she paused the livestream before saying, "Now choose a scenario. Do you want me to leave you here with the polluted creatures around us, or would you rather go to jail?"