Liora Voss's throat tightened. In that instant she felt an intense dryness in her mouth.

  These were words that even men who had willingly degraded themselves could rarely bring themselves to say out loud—too filthy, too cheap even for them. It was like how, no matter how aroused they got, they would never kiss a client. That was their bottom line.

  Yet Elias had said it as naturally and calmly as breathing, his expression showing not the slightest change.

  Liora Voss suddenly wasn't as angry anymore. Elias himself was acting like it was nothing, which left her genuinely shocked instead. What kind of situation was this?

  She finally calmed down and revealed the first trace of a smile since she had arrived here. With a faint ugh, she said, "Isn't that how it's supposed to be? That's your job after all. You took the money, so of course you have to obediently take the—"

  "Fucking?"

  Elias calmly supplied the word she hadn't finished, making her eyelid twitch slightly.

  Liora Voss asked the question that had just occurred to her: "Before this, had you been kept by anyone else?"

  According to the information she had gathered on Elias, he had never been kept by anyone. He hadn't even been in a retionship before. Otherwise Serena Bckwood would never have chosen him. No matter how much he resembled Lucien Hart, she would never settle for someone else's used goods.

  A counterfeit and secondhand merchandise were two completely different things.

  However, Elias's reaction right now really didn't look like it was his first time, so Liora Voss had to ask.

  Elias's expression first showed confusion, then understanding. He replied indifferently, "People's constitutions can't all be judged the same."

  Liora Voss's gaze swept up and down Elias's body. Slender and slim—certainly alluring, but he didn't look like someone with particurly good physical stamina at all.

  As if knowing what she was thinking inside, Elias showed her the first smile since she had arrived. He spoke slowly, "I don't mean that my body is strong. I mean this body of mine was born to be…"

  He didn't need to finish the sentence. The st two words naturally popped into Liora Voss's mind, as if she had already been brainwashed by him.

  Indeed.

  Liora Voss inwardly agreed. Physical condition was secondary. His mentality really was naturally suited for this kind of thing…

  Merchandise.

  Elias gnced around the room as if searching for something. When he didn't find it, he looked back at Liora Voss. "Where are my clothes?"

  Liora Voss said coolly, "I thought you didn't seem to need any."

  "Really?" Elias lifted his eyelids and raised a hand as if about to pull off the bath towel. "If you wanted to see me naked, you could've just said so earlier?"

  Sp.

  Liora Voss grabbed his slender wrist. The delicate touch of his skin instantly flooded her senses, making her pause for a brief moment before she calmly released him. "Don't try that shit with me. I'll have someone bring you clothes right away."

  Liora Voss made a call, and soon someone delivered the clothes and food that had already been prepared.

  Elias was about to get dressed when he remembered Liora Voss was still there. He gnced at her, picked up the clothes, and turned to walk into the bathroom.

  Liora Voss frowned slightly.

  She had already seen his entire body earlier, and at the time he hadn't tried to cover himself at all, acting completely frivolous and wanton. Yet now he was suddenly being modest.

  What exactly was he pretending at?

  Inside the bathroom, Elias unwrapped the bath towel and started putting his clothes on piece by piece. The system asked, [Why did you...]

  Elias knew what it wanted to ask. "Why suddenly hide to change clothes again?"

  [System Theta: Mm.]

  Employees of the Trash Trope Intervention Division had all kinds of ways to complete their missions, each more bizarre than the st. But there was one default unspoken rule: maintain consistency with the established persona.

  What was a persona? It meant you couldn't tell someone "I love you" one moment and stab them the next.

  Of course, there was a persona for that—"yandere." But that kind required extremely high skill. One mistake and it would backfire. Only the most capable agents used it.

  Elias's current persona didn't seem to fit any standard type, so the system took this opportunity to ask while it had the chance.

  Elias continued wrapping his beautiful body in the clothes as he answered, "Simple. I want to make sure she can't see through me."

  [To make her interested in you?]

  Elias shook his head and chuckled softly. "She's already interested. That's not enough."

  Just interest wasn't nearly enough. His ultimate goal was to make Liora Voss fall completely in love with him.

  The best way to deal with someone who liked watching the show from the sidelines was to put on a good performance right in front of her. But this show was blurry, and many details couldn't be seen clearly. In order to get a better look, she would have no choice but to walk closer to the stage, step by step.

  And he was the performance itself.

  Want to understand him? Then get closer. Closer still…

  Until she steps onto the stage and becomes part of the drama.

  By the time she realizes it, she will already be too deep to escape.

  When Elias walked out after changing, he was about to say something when his eyes were immediately drawn to the table full of food.

  He had been tormented by Serena Bckwood the entire night and was starving. Naturally he wasn't polite and started eating immediately.

  Only after Elias had eaten his fill and felt satisfied did he finally look at Liora Voss, who was still standing there. "Why haven't you left yet?"

  Faced with Elias turning hostile the second he was full, Liora Voss lightly rolled her eyes. "Your sponsor asked me to take you back to Westbridge University."

  "Right."

  As she spoke, Liora Voss took out a familiar bck card from her clothes and pced it on the table. "There's ten million in here."

  Elias wanted to ask if one card could really hold that much money, but then remembered everything was set up for the plot and logic didn't matter, so he stayed quiet. He happily accepted the card and waved at her. "You don't have to send me. I can go back by myself."

  Ten million dolrs—he could even fly back to campus!

  Liora Voss: "Fine."

  She was about to leave when Elias also stood up. The moment he took a step, his legs suddenly buckled. His entire body pitched forward toward her.

  Liora Voss instinctively reached out and caught him. The moment the soft body fell into her arms, the corner of her lips curled into a cold smile. Trying to seduce her again?

  She wanted to push Elias away, but a burning hot hand suddenly touched the back of hers. Her expression changed slightly. When she looked at the face he raised, she finally noticed the unnatural flush on his cheeks.

  Liora Voss said in a low voice, "You have a fever."

  Upon hearing that, Elias felt the comfortable cool sensation on his body and realized why he had been feeling that way. So he had a fever. The pain had been converted into something as refreshing as air conditioning on a hot summer day.

  Most likely, his body was already weak after being tormented by Serena Bckwood all night. After showering, he hadn't dried himself properly and had caught a chill.