'Hm, let's see,' Damien gazed at the vending machine's glass window, showcasing a variety of cold drinks.

His eyes settled on the lemon juice before shifting towards the coin slot. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled out a small coin from his pocket. A thread appeared to be tied to it. He inserted the coin and, after seeing his drink fall, he tried to pull the thread to get his coin back. 'Hmm, that used to work previously?'

But due to the advanced mechanism, the slot had already been sealed shut, forcing him to settle for a cold drink instead.

As his hand held the chilled metal of the drink, memories flooded back of a past assignment where he played the role of a villain who tragically lost his family to the hero.

It was certainly challenging being an F-Class Villain who cucked the SS-Class Hero.

Without any money to his name, he resorted to using devious tricks to survive. However, it appeared that the machines in this particular assignment were far more sophisticated than he had anticipated.

'Utter evil?!' Emilia's gaze briefly flickered towards Damien, who, despite being the heir to a wealthy family, attempted to steal something from a vending machine.

"Hey, can't you hear me?" Amelia noticed that Emilia was ignoring her and looking at Damien who stood behind her, causing her eyes to turn cold. She repeated herself, saying, "Listen, Emilia, how about I help you get out of this situation?"

'....' Emilia noticed Amelia's eyes glancing towards her fingers, specifically towards the black ring she wore, prompting her to understand that this woman wanted the ring in her hand more than helping her out. She stammered, "I-I don't understand—"

"No, let me first apologize for pulling you into this mess." Amelia also observed that her intentions could be misinterpreted due to her glancing towards the ring, prompting her to clarify, "It's not the first time for him to pull such a stunt, so you can rest assured he isn't evil at heart."

In the end, Amelia knew that it was nothing but some sort of drama which Damien had pulled to get her attention or at least to make her feel hurt, but he was failing at it.

She was really angry at him for going this far.

So, it would be better for this whole drama to end soon, prompting her to clarify to Emilia that it was his daily habit to do such things.

'Huh? He isn't evil?' Emilia, who had just heard those words, wondered if this woman truly knew Damien.

On the other hand, she thought that perhaps he always treated this woman better than others, which could explain why she didn't think he was evil.

'What is this feeling?' Emilia realized that Damien truly loved this woman, causing an uncomfortable feeling in her heart. But she tried to see it more as pity for this woman whom Damien Raphael loved.

Unaware of the small flame that had ignited in her heart being the source of her feelings.

"Miss...um, can you let me pass?" Emilia chose to disregard Amelia's words as she walked by her without a second glance. This left Amelia staring blankly at Emilia, who then proceeded to approach Damien. Without hesitation, Emilia reached out her hand and spoke to Damien. "I am thirsty."

'....did she just', Amelia stood there, looking straight ahead as she tried to understand that she had just been ignored by that woman. She bit her lips, a sick feeling clenching her face due to the humiliation she was facing from the series of actions—first Damien slapped her, and now Emilia ignored her words.

"No, this is for Amelia."

'?!'

Amelia's eyes widened as she stood there, a slight curve forming on her lips before transforming into a smile upon hearing Damien directly reject Emilia's offer to give him a cold drink.

Those simple words were more than enough for Amelia to realize that in the end, her value was more, prompting her to turn towards both individuals—Damien and Emilia—with a smile.

As Emilia's eyes trembled, her hand hovered in the air, trying to grasp the cold drink that Damien, with his hand firmly in place, refused to let her have.

"Now that I think about it, I was indeed thirsty," Amelia said with a smile as she walked forward, giving a side-eye to Emilia, who had ignored her a moment ago and was now receiving the same treatment from Damien.

It was clear that in the end, Damien cared for Amelia more.

"....I..see." As Emilia stood there, she noticed her hand tightly gripping her bridal dress, her defeated eyes accepting the harsh truth that her worth hadn't elevated simply because she was engaged to him, 'what did I expect?'

With a defeated smile, her hands slowly started to loosen as Amelia took the drink from Damien's hand.

"Thank you, Damien," Amelia said, but coincidentally, it was a sour beverage which Amelia didn't like, prompting her to only hold it and not directly drink.

'I will just give it to Edward,' knowing that it would be a waste to throw it away after seeing the defeated expression on Emilia's face, Amelia decided to give it to Edward.

'Predictable,' Damien thought, his plans hitting the mark—his choice of drink was not to this woman's liking, and the situation was exacerbated by it being turned into a competition with the drink going straight into Edward's mouth as a result.

In short: Soon, a chemistry lab practical demonstration would take place where the Son of heaven's stomach would be used as a test tube.

'Now, it's your turn miss,' Damien sported a mischievous grin as he gazed at Emilia, who averted her eyes and awkwardly clutched her own elbow while gently biting her lips.

Ignoring Amelia, who was engrossed in her cold drink and lost in her own thoughts, Damien leaned towards Emilia's ear. Despite her clear signal that she did not welcome his attention, Damien disregarded it and moved even closer, whispering in a mischievous tone. "I will make you even more thirsty until you feel a strong urge to satisfy your thirst by drinking something else, my dear Emilia."