Serpent Love Charm

Chapter-123

Everyone in the room was flabbergasted as they stared at Xavier, who'd been mercilessly battered and bruised.

No one had expected Dustin to be so bold as to slap Xavier. Everyone knew that the Horst family was among the five most powerful families in the Southern province.

They were the top of the top! They were essentially untouchable! As an immediate heir, he was the rising star of the Horst family. So, no matter where he went, he'd have the stars laid out at his feet.

No one had ever dared to humiliate him in public like this, much less slap him like a maniac so many times.

Was this guy batshit crazy?

"Y–you dare hit me?" Xavier asked rhetorically. The corners of his eyes started twitching as he tried to put on a fierce expression.

"I'm not just going to beat you, I'm going to make sure you can never use your hands ever again!" Dustin snorted and proceeded to stomp on his wrist, breaking it.

"Argh!" Xavier wailed in pain as he broke out in a cold sweat, his expression twisted. It was a pity that he couldn't even move a muscle at the moment.

"Stop! Have you lost your mind, Rhys? Do you have any idea who Xavier is? How dare you hurt him?" Claudia shouted angrily at Dustin.

"I don't care who he is. Anyone who dares mess with me will get a beating from me," Dustin replied flatly.

"Didn't he just slap you, Ruth? Come here and give him ten slaps for me!"

"Okay!" Ruth exclaimed and started adjusting her shirtsleeves before going up to Xavier and slapping the shit out of him.

"How dare you hit me! How fucking dare you hit me! I'll beat your ass up!" Ruth cursed with gritted teeth while venting her anger as she continued slapping him.

"Stop!" Claudia yelled in rage and immediately stepped in to put a stop to everything.

"Get lost!" Dustin sneered and slapped her after, sending her flying into the air.

"Y–you dare hit me too?" Claudia whimpered while covering her face as if she were in disbelief.

"Don't you think you deserve it? Dustin let out a snort.

"I saved your life on more than one occasion, and this is how you repay me? You didn't say a word when Xavier framed me, and you also acted as if nothing had happened when Ruth got slapped. So, why is it that you're turning against us after seeing Xavier get beaten up? Are all of the families who practice martial arts always this vengeful? Dustin snapped at Claudia.

"I-"Claudia stuttered as her face turned bright red. She was stunned and speechless after being bombarded with a series of valid accusations.

This even caused Sheila to be at a loss for words, as she simply did not know what she should do now. On one hand, there was the savior of her life, and on the other, a long–time friend.

After getting caught up in the middle, she was at a loss for words.

"I'm done with him, Brother–in–law!" Ruth announced after she finally came to a stop. Her hands had become numb from all the brutal slapping.

As for Xavier, his face had long since swollen enough to resemble a pig's head. He felt dizzy all over, as he didn't get any chance to catch his breath the whole time.

"I don't care what you say. The fact that you laid a finger on Xavier means that you're now an enemy of the Horst family. I'm afraid no one will be able to save your asses if you don't state your case right now!" Claudia shrieked.

Despite everything, the Doyle family had been friends with the Horst family for generations, so she couldn't possibly stand up for mere outsiders now.

"You want us to state our case, right? Fine, I'll grant you your wish," Dustin said and suddenly turned to face

Sheila before continuing. "May I know if the sachet in front of your chest is a gift from Xavier, Miss Murray?"

"I–I'm not sure. All I know is that Claudia gave it to me." Sheila said with her head lowered.

"What if I told you it was from Xavier?" Dustin continued to probe.

Claudia felt that she had nothing to hide, so she immediately shot back, "Xavier had to beg an expert to procure this sachet, and he had me deliver it to Sheila afterward. It was said to aid in one's sleep and nourish the soul, so why are you finding fault in this?"

"It was said to aid in one's sleep and nourish the soul. What a load of crap!" Dustin snickered before snatching the sachet off her chest and throwing it into a glass of wine.

"Gurgle gurgle." The sound of bubbles could be heard as the sachet suddenly started expanding in size as if hinting that there was something inside.

Immediately after, a thin, red–colored snake slithered out of the sachet and began thrashing about wildly in the wine.

"W–what is that?!".

"It's a snake! My goodness, it's a snake!"

"How horrifying! How can there be a snake inside the sachet? What if it bites someone?"

A sea of horrified looks could be seen almost immediately from the crowd. More and more started to murmur among themselves at the sight before them as their hearts raced with fear.

"How could this be?" Claudia gasped and didn't know how to react to this.

"Do you know what this is, Miss Murray?" Dustin probed while pointing at the small red snake.

Sheila remained frozen on the spot as she shook her head, still reeling from her shock.

"This is called a Serpent Love Charm and it can be used to confuse people's minds. Once the snake enters one's body, the charm will slowly take effect until the host completely falls head over heels for someone. The host's heart couldn't even stop beating after that!" Dustin explained plainly.

"That was a "Serpent Love Charm"?"

Everyone in the room was stunned after they heard this.

Even Claudia started feeling a little uneasy after hearing that. She did not expect that there would be a Serpent Love Charm inside the sachet.

"I've only heard stories about it before, but I didn't know that such a thing even existed in our world!"

"Utterly ridiculous, right? To think that he put a Serpent Love Charm on her so that he could manipulate her feelings toward him. How shameless!"

"So, Miss Doyle, do you still think that this sachet can aid in one's sleep and nourish their soul?" Dustin asked sarcastically.

"Well-.." Claudia frowned, and her gaze subconsciously shifted to Xavier. She couldn't believe what was happening in front of her right now.

"Stop listening to his nonsense!" Xavier spoke in defense immediately after coming back to his senses.

"What the fuck is a Serpent Love Charm? I've never heard of this in my life! This sachet was gifted to me by someone else! I'm the victim too here!"

"That's right! Even if there was a Serpent Love Charm in the sachet, that doesn't prove that Xavier was the one who put it there. For all we know, some bigshot could've set him up!" Claudia roared.

"Yeah! Xavier's always been an upright and honest person, so he would never stoop this low!" Nigel and the others also backed her up.

"Him? 'Honest' and 'upright'? You've got to be kidding me!" Dustin snickered.

"The Serpent Love Charm only works if there is a pair of snakes, one female, and one male snake. Now that the female snake has appeared, we're only missing the male snake. Since you all still don't believe me, allow me to show you!" With that, he waved one hand and sent two needles flying toward the arca between Xavier's chest and abdomen.

His body spasmed as a pained expression took over his face. Soon after, he spat out a dark, black liquid. And thrashing around inside the black liquid was a thicker, reddish snake.

The crowd was dumbfounded the moment they witnessed this!

"S–so that was a charm after all?"

Everyone at the scene was frozen in place as they stared at the red snake that Xavier vomited.

One by one, their faces showed looks of disbelief. No one could've ever imagined that the esteemed heir of the Horst family, who had a bright and promising future ahead of him, had stooped this low just to court someone.

"Xavier, I never thought you'd be like this!" Claudia yelled angrily in shock.

Who knew that she'd be the one who would be deceived by trusting him too much in the end? She almost became an accomplice in his schemes too!

"–" Xavier was at a loss for words as his face turned pale.

The truth was already laid bare for all to see, so even if he still insisted on denying it, his attempts would be absolutely futile.

"Hmph. It's a good thing Dustin has a good eye to see through your evil schemes. Otherwise, Sheila would've fallen right into your trap!" Ruth spat, her expression full of contempt.

She hated despicable and shameless men like him the most, the type who was incapable of landing a girl for himself, and yet insisted on using unorthodox methods to do so. Absolutely disgusting!

Sheila said nothing to all of this and merely looked at Xavier with disgust and a heightened sense of awareness.

"Yeah, so what if I gave her the charm? The only reason I did that was because I liked Sheila so much! I assure you that I'm the only person who's the best match for Sheila in the entirety of South City, so much so that Uncle Caden already treats me like his son–in–law! I only did this to expedite the marriage between both of our families, so what's so wrong with that?" Xavier roared, clearly irritated.

"Ugh, you're such a hypocrite! It still doesn't change the fact that you had to stoop so low to get what you want. You're disgusting!" Ruth spat on the ground.

"What do you know? What I have is true love for Sheila, a love that can't be compared with anyone else!" Xavier retorted angrily.

"True love? If it really was true love as you proclaimed, why'd you have to kidnap Miss Murray in the first place?" Dustin snorted.

"What the fuck are you talking about, kid?" Xavier scowled.

"Miss Murray had been attacked twice, and your timing was right on the dot, which meant that someone secretly tipped you off. And as for the Serpent Love Charm and the Spider Venom, you put inside the Four Scoundrel's bodies, they both came from the same person. So, I've concluded that you have close ties to the Four Scoundrels," Dustin explained as a matter of fact.

"What a load of bullshit!" Xavier yelled in response.

"If you really did nothing wrong as you claimed, then would there still be any need to kill the man off just now?" Dustin threw the question back.

"I–I was just worried about Sheila's safety, which is why I struck him with my full power!" Xavier explained stubbornly.

"Is that so? We still have a survivor here, so what say we call them up to ask them their side of the story?" Dustin said before picking up a badly injured Wade with one hand.

It was a good thing Wade was still semi–alted and not completely out of the picture yet.

"That's enough! Everything ends here, right now!" Claudia shouted all of a sudden.

"Didn't you want me to state my case just now? Why the change of mind now?" Dustin snickered.

"You'd better quit it now if you know what's good for you, Dustin! Tearing each other apart like this won't benefit anyone. Besides, this matter should be kept between the three of us and our families. We'll come up with the best way to deal with this, so we certainly don't need any outsiders butting into our business now!" Claudia roared at Dustin.

The Murray family, Doyle family, and Horst family had always been longtime friends. The three families were basically married to one another as their interests were intertwined. If one of them went down, then the rest would go down together too.

Thus, if the scandal got out today, then it wouldn't just be the Horst family's reputation that would be damaged, but the Murray family and the Doyle family too.

Therefore, even if it were at Sheila's awkward expense right now, they had to cease all questioning. immediately.

"Wait, this guy's rotten to the core, and yet you still insist on helping him? Have you ever considered Sheila's feelings?" Ruth yelled back in frustration.

"Shut up, you don't have the right to butt into our business!" Claudia spat in disgust.

"Why you-" Just as Ruth was about to explode in fury again, Dustin stopped her by putting his hand in front of her. "Just let it go already. She's right; it's their own steaming heap of shit to take care of. It has nothing to do with us."

"But what about Sheila?" Ruth frowned. The two of them had a good thing going, so she did not want her best friend to suffer like this.

"I'll be fine, Ruth. I've decided to leave this matter in the hands of my father," Sheila said as she forced out at smile.