"You’ve never watched them?"

Rory arched an eyebrow, her fingertips lightly stroking the smooth line of his jaw as suspicion flickered in her gaze.

"If you’ve never watched them, then how did you know about so many links?"

Yuel’s eyes immediately darted away.

The faint blush that had only just faded from his ears quietly returned.

"I..."

He looked at Rory and stumbled over his words for several long seconds without managing to form a complete sentence.

The guilty expression on his face was practically a confession.

Rory watched him with amused patience.

She didn’t rush him.

She simply continued holding his chin and waited.

Under the pressure of her unwavering gaze, Yuel finally surrendered.

Drawing a deep breath, he looked as though he were making a difficult decision before explaining in a voice noticeably lacking confidence.

"Those things... actually..."

He hesitated.

"They were made by a friend of mine."

"A friend?"

Rory stared at him in disbelief.

"Don’t tell me your friend specializes in making that kind of content."

There had been far too many links.

Surely that wasn’t just someone’s personal collection.

"Yes."

Yuel forced himself to nod.

His explanation came out awkwardly and haltingly.

"Where there’s demand, there’s a market."

He cleared his throat.

"A lot of males... don’t really know how to... how to please their Female Masters."

The tips of his ears turned even redder.

"So instructional videos like those sell very well. Plenty of males are willing to pay for them."

At this point, there was no point hiding anything anymore.

Yuel decided he might as well confess everything.

His speech gradually became faster.

"Fine. I admit it. I was involved too."

He rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I receive a fairly substantial share of the profits every year."

Rory stared at him, genuinely shocked.

She had assumed he had borrowed the links from a friend.

Or perhaps purchased them through a friend.

Never in her wildest imagination had she expected him to be one of the creators.

Yuel had fully given up resisting.

Continuing his explanation, he said, "At the time, I had just graduated and was trying to build my own power base. I needed money."

"The friend I mentioned happened to approach me with the idea. He told me the profits were enormous."

Yuel spread his hands helplessly.

"I had connections. I knew how to create the material. So..."

The Empire neither prohibited nor encouraged the distribution of that kind of content.

As a result, it was rarely promoted openly through communicators or official networks.

People like Nix, who had never been exposed to it before, would never know where to find quality material.

Even if they managed to locate something, it was usually free, poorly produced, and practically unwatchable.

Someone like Yuel, however, possessed the necessary connections.

Finding high quality resources had never been difficult.

Still, he felt compelled to clarify.

"Rory, I swear I’ve never actually watched them."

His expression was utterly sincere.

"I genuinely don’t need them."

Yuel finished speaking and looked at her with pitiful eyes.

"Please believe me."

His voice softened.

"I really haven’t watched any of it."

Then he added with complete seriousness,

"You know me."

"I truly have no use for those things."

Rory remembered exactly how improper he could be before Terry was born.

Heat immediately crept into her cheeks.

She shot him a glare.

Yuel continued his defense without missing a beat.

"I’m not like Vincent."

"He was born with the entire Firebird Clan standing behind him. Resources have always been endless for him."

"Nor am I like Vangar."

A faint smile touched his lips.

"That monster’s advancement speed is completely abnormal. With sheer personal strength alone, he can crush every obstacle in his path and force the rules themselves to bend around him."

As he lowered his gaze, his long lashes cast shadows beneath his eyes, concealing the cold sharpness that had once defined him.

"When I graduated, I entered Imperial Command with the highest scores in my class."

His voice became quieter.

"Back then, I believed talent was enough."

"I dreamed of shining on the battlefield. I wanted to become a commander people admired."

A trace of self-mockery appeared in his smile.

"But reality wasn’t a school."

"It wasn’t a place where results alone determined your future."

His eyes darkened slightly.

"After I joined, I discovered that the Command Headquarters was divided into countless factions, tangled together in webs of influence and interests."

"Every newcomer who stepped into that world was like a white rabbit wandering into a pool full of crocodiles."

"They didn’t care about your talent."

"They cared about your family."

"Your backing."

"Your influence."

"And most of all, the benefits you could bring them."

"And I had none of those things."

A bitter smile touched Yuel’s lips, carrying a trace of self-mockery.

"Back then, I was deeply disappointed."

He lowered his gaze slightly.

"I considered leaving. But some places aren’t somewhere you can simply choose to enter and leave whenever you wish."

His voice remained calm, but there was an unmistakable weight beneath it.

"Without sufficient strength, you wouldn’t survive long enough to walk away."

"At the time, the only thing I could do was make sure I stayed alive."

Just listening to him, Rory could imagine the pressure he must have endured.

Alone.

Surrounded by seasoned schemers and predators disguised as allies.

Forced to navigate a place where everyone seemed ready to devour anyone weaker than themselves.

Yuel lifted her hand and gently rubbed his cheek against her palm before continuing.

"In a rotten place like that, a single mistake could destroy you."

His eyes darkened with distant memories.

"Choosing the wrong faction. Saying the wrong thing. Standing in the wrong person’s way."

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Any one of those could leave you stripped to the bone."

"Assassinations."

"Political traps."

"Being thrown into impossible missions as expendable bait."

He spoke of them as casually as someone discussing the weather.

"Those things were everyday occurrences."

"If I wanted to survive..."

His fingers tightened around hers.

"If I wanted to change that place and make flowers bloom again in soil that had long since rotted away, I had to use every method available to me."

"I needed loyal people."

"I needed an intelligence network that could reach every corner of the Empire’s upper ranks."

"I needed information that was faster, more accurate, and more valuable than anyone else’s."

He let out a quiet breath.

"And every one of those things required unimaginable amounts of money."

His gaze settled on her.

"I needed income that came quickly and carried manageable risks."

A faint smile appeared.

"Those videos weren’t my only business."

"I owned many others as well."

When he finished, he smiled at her.

Thankfully, all of that was in the past.

"Now the entire Command Headquarters answers to me."

Under his leadership, the corruption and brutality that had once consumed the organization no longer existed.

Yuel had never considered himself a good man.

His hands were not clean.

Blood had stained them more than once.

But he had always maintained a line he would never cross.

At the very least, within the Command Headquarters he now controlled, talented young commanders could pursue their ambitions without fear.

They no longer had to repeat his journey.

No longer had to become pawns in someone else’s game.

No longer had to die meaningless deaths for causes that were never theirs.

Yuel looked at Rory.

The warm smile that usually rested in his eyes faded into something more vulnerable.

She was reflected clearly in his gaze.

"Rory."

His voice softened.

"I know this kind of business doesn’t sound particularly respectable."

A flicker of uncertainty crossed his expression.

"If you dislike it, I can..."

Before he could finish, Rory interrupted him.

"I don’t dislike it."

She squeezed his hand firmly.

The Empire itself didn’t prohibit it.

Why would she?

More importantly, she knew what that business truly represented.

It wasn’t merely a source of income.

It was the foundation Yuel had built with blood, sacrifice, and countless brushes with death.

Her eyes softened.

"I’m not upset."

She looked directly at him.

"I’m heartbroken for you."

Everyone who spoke of Yuel praised his intelligence.

They admired his foresight, his composure, and the effortless elegance with which he controlled every situation.

To outsiders, he seemed destined to stand at the very top. Someone born to rule.

Rory had thought the same once.

She had never deliberately asked about his past.

Never wondered how many dangers he had endured to reach where he was today.

The more she thought about it, the more her chest ached.

Yuel smiled and drew her into his arms.

"Rory."

His embrace was warm and steady.

"All of that is over now."

His chin rested lightly against her hair.

"I can protect myself."

"And I can protect you."

More than anything, Yuel was grateful that he had met Rory after gaining the power he now possessed.

If he had met her during those darker years, he would never have dared become involved with her.

A man trapped in darkness would never willingly drag the sun down beside him.

After a long moment, he spoke again.

"However, Rory..."

A playful smile appeared in his eyes.

"I’ve told you about my past."

"Can you tell me about yours?"

In the past, he had never dared ask.

Now, he wanted to know.

Perhaps worried she might refuse, he immediately added another question.

"You can start by telling me how you figured out that I knew you’d joined the group chat."

The moment he brought it up, Rory reached over and pinched his waist again.

Hard.

Yuel inhaled sharply.

"That was because of the message you sent telling Nix to get over here."

She narrowed her eyes at him.

"At first, I didn’t think much about it."

"But then I realized Nix hadn’t done anything recently to offend you."

A smug smile tugged at her lips.

"So why would you suddenly tell him to get over there?"

"The more I thought about it, the more obvious it became."

She poked his chest lightly.

"The only thing Nix had done lately was add me to the group."

Rory leaned back slightly and looked at him.

"Someone as smart as you was bound to notice something strange in the messages I sent."

Her smile widened.

"And sure enough, you did."