The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 236

Chapter 236 My Own Empire

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Elera felt a hot spark of anger. She leaned forward slightly, her eyes locking on the lawyer’s. “I married Drakonius Vex because he offered me a partnership based on my mind and not my pedigree. He was dying. I believed I could save him. That was the transaction. The power and the wealth were never the point. The man was.” She glanced at Drakonius, and her expression softened for a fleeting second. “He still is.”

The lawyer, frustrated, changed tactics. “You claim to be a brilliant scientist. Yet you performed an experimental, unapproved medical procedure in a county hospital. You played God with your own husband’s life. Does that sound like the actions of a stable, reliable witness?”

Before Elera could answer, Drakonius stood up. “Your honor,” he said, his voice calm but carrying to every corner of the room. “I am the ‘husband‘ in question. I consented to every procedure. I am alive because of her ‘unapproved‘ science. I consider her the most reliable person I have ever met.”

The judge gave a warning glance but allowed it. The damage to the defense’s line of questioning was done.

Finally, it was over. Elera stepped down from the stand, her legs feeling like water. As she passed the defense table, Kieran leaned over and hissed, loud enough for only her to hear, “You pathetic traitor. You’ll drown in the blood you spilled.”

She didn’t break stride. She walked back to her seat, took Drakonius’s waiting hand, and held on tight. The snakes in her stomach were gone, replaced by a cold, clean certainty. She had faced him. She had told the truth. She was free.

The trial would drag on for weeks more, but the outcome was inevitable. The mountain of evidence was too high. Still, Elera knew the public narrative was still fluid, still susceptible to whispers about a daughter’s betrayal. She wouldn’t let that stand.

The day after her testimony, she called a press conference. Not in a sterile conference room, but at the steps of the main public library, a place she had often escaped to as a lonely girl. It was a crisp, sunny day, a stark contrast to the courtroom gloom. A crowd gathered, curious, hungry.

Drakonius stood beside her, a united front. Clara was hovering just off to the side, making frantic “breathe” gestures. Frost was a watchful shadow at the perimeter.

Elera stepped to the microphones. She didn’t have notes. She spoke from the scarred, healed–over place inside her.

“For the last several months, the name Nethys has been synonymous with corruption, greed, and violence,” she began, her voice carrying in the quiet. “That chapter is closed. The justice system will see to that. But a name is just a word. It can be redefined. Today, it starts.”

She took a deep breath. “My father’s crimes created victims. The Lyros family. The shareholders he defrauded. The charities he stole from. The employees he exploited. And the less tangible damage–the erosion of trust, the exploitation of pain.” She looked directly into the cameras. “Guilt is not genetic. But responsibility can be a choice. I am choosing to be responsible for the harm he caused.”

She paused, letting the words hang. “Therefore, I am announcing the founding of the Vex–Nethys Foundation. Funded by

have

advance research into rare and degenerative diseases, with a focus on genetic therapies. No family should

they love wither away because treatments are decued ‘not profitable enough.” Her voice gained strength, the passion of the scientist breaking through. “Second, the foundation will provide comprehensive mental health and legal support for victims of trauma, particularly those affected by financial crimes, coercion, and domestic abused in high–control family or corporate

to watch someonal capital from myself and my husband, its mission will be two–fold. First, to

environments.

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Chapter 236 My Own Empire

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A murmur ran through the crowd. This wasn’t a deflection; it was a direct, meaningful response. Turning poison into medicine.

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