Nine Hot Therians and Their Only One Queen novel Chapter 948

Chapter 948 Another Performance

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Those pale, glasslike eyes, clear as spring water, brimmed now with genuine tears and raw, unmistakable terror.

Combined with that blood red tear shaped mark at the corner of his eye, it created the perfect image of someone utterly broken, someone who’d been savagely abused.

The instant Aria caught sight of that face, her eyes went wide with shock.

“Rafael? What are you doing here?”

Hearing Aria’s voice, Rafael slowly lifted his head, looking through the frigid, translucent wall of ice separating them, his gaze drifting toward her and Emma.

Those pale, tear filled eyes, brimming with despair, locked onto Aria the instant he saw her, like a drowning man finally spotting a piece of driftwood in an endless ocean.

“Ms… Ms. Aria…”

Rafael’s voice came out hoarse and trembling, thick with overwhelming grief and terror.

He reached out, trying to grab at the hem of her dress, only to recoil sharply the second his fingers brushed against the freezing, bone chilling wall of ice.

That same bloodied hand left a stark, ugly streak of red smeared across the ice.

He bit down hard on his colorless lower lip, and the tears finally broke free, sliding down his pale cheeks and dripping onto his torn, ruined shirt, his voice dropping to something close to a desperate plea.

“Save me… please… someone save me…”

So, this was the famous Rafael?

The moment Emma’s gaze landed on him through the ice wall, a sharp, furious voice cut through the air.

“Yeah! Keep running, you filthy little worm!”

Emma and Aria both turned their heads toward the sound.

A man dressed in a custom tailored dark green suit stormed forward, his face twisted with rage, and drove his foot straight into Rafael’s side.

“You had the nerve to steal from me inside the Executive Department building itself? Did you really think you’d get away with it just because you’re standing in this building?”

Hearing Lange Riller’s accusation, Rafael, still curled and trembling behind the ice wall, let his long lashes flicker in a strange, almost imperceptible way that no one caught.

Deep within those tear blurred glasslike eyes, a flash of quiet satisfaction sparked to life.

That fool had followed his script exactly as planned.

Earlier, Milper had genuinely followed Aria’s orders and escorted him to reclaim his stolen star coins.

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1:25 pm

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Chapter 948 Another Performance

But there was no way Rafael would let his carefully constructed plan collapse that easily.

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He’d deliberately slipped away from Milper, then intentionally collided with this hot tempered, well connected but not particularly bright man named Lange.

He’d lifted something off Lange, then made sure to get caught in the act, provoking Lange into a violent cutburst against him.

Then, step by careful step, he’d steered Lange directly toward this exact location.

And here he was now, staging his most pitiful, gut wrenching collapse right at Emma’s feet, the perfect scene to trigger every protective instinct a woman could feel.

Sure, Andre had thrown up that ice wall unexpectedly to block him, but that hardly mattered.

He’d already accomplished exactly what he’d set out to do.

“I didn’t steal anything… I really didn’t…”

Rafael lay sprawled on the ground, coughing violently, blood continuing to seep from the corner of his mouth.

He seemed to summon every last ounce of strength left in his body, shaking his head desperately at Aria and Emma, tears streaming down his face in a pitiful, heartbreaking display.

“Ms. Aria, you know the truth. I only wanted to reclaim the money meant for my brother’s medicine.

“It was Mr. Lange who looked down on me for my low birth. He’s the one who stole from me, and now he’s slandering my name…

“I beg you both to see the truth clearly. I truly didn’t steal anything…”

Combined with Rafael’s devastatingly beautiful, battered face, every word landed with the weight of genuine anguish, and the commotion had already drawn the attention of a growing crowd inside the banquet hall.

Both male and female who’d wandered over to investigate glanced at Rafael’s condition, and more than a few of them couldn’t hide the sympathy flickering in their eyes.

Only after Rafael finished speaking did Lange finally notice Emma and Aria standing behind the ice wall, along with two other stunningly handsome males he’d never seen before.

His attention had been entirely fixed on this lowborn man named Rafael until now, and he’d assumed the fce wall was just part of the banquet’s decor, never realizing anyone stood behind it.

‘Ms. Emma…”

The moment Lange spotted Emma, the rage and hostility on his face melted instantly into an eager, ingratiating smile.

“My apologies, I didn’t realize you were all standing here.”

He rushed to explain himself. “Please don’t listen to a word this lowborn male says. He stole a birthday gift my mother gave me, and then he had the audacity to provoke me. I simply couldn’t hold back from teaching him a lesson.”

Sprawled on the ground, Rafael let out weak, labored breaths while secretly watching Emma’s reaction from the corner of his eye.

Before coming tonight, he’d already done his research on Emma.

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