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"All I ever wanted is someone on my side. Being neglected by everyone, I just wanted to rest in a comfy lap. But people take me as the playboy when I am still a virgin to the core waiting for someone special."

Sophia gaped at Leon thinking about the rumors. He was quite famous for courting girls in Aetheria.

Now someone like him claiming to be a virgin was quite hard to believe.

"Let's skip these formalities. Tell me the reason you invited me. As for me, I participated to make some bucks as I am broke and empty."

Sophia intertwined her fingers and placed them over her knees.

"Many kids from the noble families sneak in to fight and practice but once something happens to them, they run calling their mommies. Since you have a troublesome background, I don't think you are going to do that so I am asking whether you intend to sign an exclusive contract and fight in the ring. I promise that your pay will be good enough."

Before Leon could answer, his phone rang astonishing Sophia.

"Wait! Di..Did you take the phone with you in the ring?"Sophia's speech stuttered a bit as she looked at Leon in disbelief.

With all underhand means at their disposal, the participants weren't given a check and were free to carry and use everything at their disposal which added a layer of fun to this game.

Leon didn't bother to answer as he felt stifled seeing the name of the call.

It was the mother of the original body.

Leon felt an emotion that was hard to describe. He might be ruthless, and cruel with a little psychopath tendency but he was not a stone-hearted cold man lacking emotion.

Even if a cultivator could live for billions or trillion years and try to stay elusive, he would feel the impact of loneliness and regret finding no one to share his burden.

"I will give you some privacy."Sophia unfolded her legs and walked away gracefully, swaying her lips as she saw the name.

Leon's breathing became ragged seeing the name. It was his mother Irina Woods from Aurorica whom he hadn't seen in a while according to the memories.

There wasn't even a talk on the phone between them after they separated.

Leon picked up the call taking a deep breath.

"Hello!"

[Leon, Happy New Year.]

Leon's body froze as the last time someone wished was when he was a kid. He looked at the time on his phone and then remembering the host's memories, he spoke coldly.

"I never thought I would hear you again so tell me what you want woman."

[Leon, why are you speaking like that to Mom?]

"Ohh! Did you just remember that you have a son?"

Leon's cold words shocked the other side.

[Leon, what do you mean by that? I...]

"Shut up, woman."

"I don't know why you called me. Mother love? I guess not."

"Care for my well-being. I think you don't. This is actually funny that a woman who abandoned me and threw me away because of some bullshit about finding love at the age of 48."

Leon's tone was threatening and cold as if he was talking to his deadly nemesis.

[Leon, what happened to why? Why are you speaking like that? I heard that you are excluded. I just called to check in and ask how you are. I am still your Mom and care for you. Tell Mom about your trouble.]

Her soothing tone irked Leon more, causing him to laugh like a maniac.

"Hahahah!"

"I have been thrown out for a week now. My bank cards had been frozen and to make it worse, I had been cast aside after being beaten brutally and poisoned, left alone to beg others to survive and you are now calling me trying to act high and mighty."

Leon tried to control his bursting feeling. The more he talked, the more his heart stung as all the sad memories of the original haunted his mind making it hard for him to isolate himself from the other Leon.

"Listen, just stay put in your damned villa and enjoy your new fucking husband's bed-warming service for the new year. As for me, I swear that I won't ever trouble you or those two sisters of mine. Even if I come across you, I will stay put and behave as a stranger."

"The moment you abandoned this trash by throwing it aside after being beaten by society, you lost the right to be called a mother by me. Since I am trash, I will act like one."

"Now be happy and do what you're doing."

[Leon, that's not true….Leon listen..]

A loud sobbing voice echoed from the other side.

Ignoring the sobs, Leon hardened his heart and crushed the phone breaking it into pieces

The phone contained pics and text bringing many other memories so it was better to destroy and start over.

Leon knew he was being too disrespectful and shouldn't speak like this to someone who had carried him for 9 months.

But he said this, partly to vent and partly for her good.

No one knows what the future is like. Who knows if she turns out to be an enemy and stabs him in the back?

He isn't into incest or someone who rapes others to make them submit. So if she turns out to be a heroine he would be in great trouble.

The villains in the novel were a fucking piece of shit. It's one thing to snatch a wife and woman but they cross all limits of morality.

They manipulate a motherly woman, turning them against their own son, and then kill the son in front of her eyes.

And the woman twisted by those fuckers, would only have dicks in their mind instead of caring for the son. Even if their son is killed before their eyes, all they can think of is hard and thick rods, but can they be blamed?

Maybe and maybe not?

Under villains using the system made of laws to manipulate, can anyone resist with their own?

It was not his turn to judge others but he didn't want to feel the pain of being stabbed by his loved one, especially his mother after becoming emotionally attached. That's the last thing he wants.

Behind the mask of a confident killer lies a vulnerable man who is trapped in his one sentiment.

Leon got up and exited the building and saw Sophia staring at him with a softened gaze.

"Lady Sophia, for now, I reject the offer."

"Don't be in a hurry, take your time. I will wait for you."Sophia spoke with a sincere smile casting a blissful picture to feast one eye but Leon walked away ignoring it.

"Does that mean I can't even fall in love? With fear of others taking the woman I love, am I destined to stay alone."

[Host, you don't need to worry. Any woman coming into your contact or becomes your wife and bears the mark will have your neutral halo which won't be affected by Villains or Protagonists' cheap tricks. But all it comes down to is how you act and treat your woman. If you abuse them or harm them, naturally like a sane person they would protect themselves. Your neutral halo won't make them blindly fall in love like the protagonist.]

"That's quite a relief for today."

Leon muttered after the system explanation and walked away with a lonely desolate back.

Stepping on the street with beads of snow. He raised his hand catching the mesmerizing soft snow and laughed.

"I thought it would be different this time. Alas, I am still broke and lonely."

Leon laughed madly, unaware of the figure looking at his back with a newfound interest.

.......

Sophia, sitting at the top of the building stared at a fading lonely figure with a depressed smile.

"You are really a unique one."

"Madam, do you find him interesting?"

Sophia turned towards a violet-haired woman and nodded.

"Those dull soulless eyes of his had a charm of their own. Frankly, I like his direct personality."

"Cold and unapproachable from afar yet loving and warm on being closer."

Seeing him, Sophia remembered about her earlier days. For some unknown reason, she felt comfortable in Leon's company and felt that the time she spent with him was one of the most memorable things for her.

Maybe it's because she found him quite similar to herself.

With this came a thousand questions.

'Why are you so broken and dull?'

'What happened to you?'

'And why are you in so much pain?'

"I am looking forward to our next meeting, Leon."