Nine Hot Therians and Their Only One Queen novel Chapter 524

Chapter 524 Silas‘ Dark Past

“You’ve never watched it?” Emma raised an eyebrow. Her fingertips rubbed against his smooth chin lightly, her gaze carrying a hint of doubt. “How do you know about all those links, then?”

Silas‘ eyes darted away for a moment, and the blush that had just faded from the tip of his ears quietly crept back.

“1-1…”

He looked at Emma, stammering for a long time without managing to finish a single sentence. That guilty look was practically a confession.

Emma watched him calmly. She did not rush him, simply holding his chin as she waited for him to continue.

Under her intense gaze, Silas finally gave in. He took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind, and explained weakly, “A friend of mine created those links.”

“A friend?” Emma stared at Silas in shock. “Is your friend part of the industry?”

He was probably much more involved than just saving and distributing those links.

“Yeah.” Silas nodded stiffly, forcing himself to explain, stumbling over his words. “Where there’s demand, there’s a market. In truth, plenty of males don’t really know how to please their female partner. That’s why they are willing to pay for these so–called tutorials.”

Since things had come to this point, he couldn’t be bothered to hide anymore. He spoke quickly as he admitted the truth. “Alright, I’ll admit it. I was involved too. Every year, I get a large share of the profits.”

Emma stared at Silas in disbelief, thinking he’d simply gotten those videos from a friend. She never imagined that he was involved in the production.

Alright, that’s enough information for today, she thought to herself.

He continued, “Back then, I’d just graduated and needed the money to build my empire. A friend of mine told me it was a very profitable business. Since I had the connections and the ability, I…”

The Empire did not forbid spreading this kind of content, but it did not encourage it either. As such, these videos barely appeared on lightcores.

People like Corvin, who knew nothing about this industry, would not have access to such materials. Even if they did, it would only be the free versions–poorly made and barely enjoyable.

But for someone like Silas, who had access and connections, had an entire library of it. Still, Silas insisted he’d never seen those videos. After all, he genuinely did not need to.

He looked at Emma pitifully. “You have to believe me, Emma. I’ve never watched a single video. Come on, you know me. I don’t need them at all.”

Emma thought of how promiscuous he used to be before Remy came along. Her face flushed slightly, and she shot him a glare.

Silas continued to play the victim. “I’m not like Lucien, who’s got the entire Aurelian clan backing him up and endless resources at his disposal.

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“And I’m not like Calum either, with that freakish advancement speed. He could crush all obstacles with sheer personal strength alone and force every rule to bend for him.”

He lowered his gaze. His long lashes cast a dim shadow beneath his eyes, hiding the fleeting sharpness and coldness that belonged to his past.

“I had just graduated back then and entered the Imperial Command Department with top results. I dreamed of conquering the battlefield and becoming an admirable commander with my abilities. But that place wasn’t a school, and it wasn’t somewhere that judged people by grades alone.

“Only after I entered did I realize that the department was full of factions and tangled relationships. Every newcomer who went in was like a rabbit wandering into a crocodile pit. They didn’t care about your talent. What they cared about was the family behind you, the power you held, and the benefits you could bring them.

“And I had none of that.”

At this point, Silas let out a bitter smile, one tinged with self–mockery. “I was deeply disappointed, and I even thought about leaving. However, it wasn’t a place where you could come and go as you pleased. Without enough strength, you wouldn’t survive. At that time, survival was my only thought.“.

Just listening was enough for Emma to imagine what kind of pressure Silas must have faced back then–alone, surrounded by people who were all shrewd veterans and predators.

Silas held Emma’s hand and rubbed his face gently against her palm.

He continued, “In a rotten place like that, one wrong choice of allegiance, one careless sentence, or even just getting in someone else’s way could get you chewed up. Assassinations, setups, being sent off as cannon fodder on suicide missions… Those were

common occurrences.

“If you didn’t want to die, or if you wanted to make a change in that sh*thole, you had to use every possible means.”

“You had to cultivate a force completely loyal to yourself, spread a network of connections that could rival the entire upper ranks of the Empire, obtain more information than others–more importantly, information that was accurate. And all of that required an astronomical amount of money to build.”

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