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The moment Adrian Vale's words landed, the world went white with silence.
Old lady…?
Who was he calling an old lady?
Raven Shaw—an old lady?
Huh? HUH???
For half a heartbeat, even the livestream chat forgot how to breathe.
Then it detonated.
"Old lady? He means Boss Raven Shaw?!"
"I thought Adrian Vale only had one bad eye—turns out BOTH are blind!"
"Even if you don't know her real age, she looks early twenties at most! Old lady??"
"Forget twenties—if she's thirty or forty and looks like THAT, I'm still charging in!"
"Boss Raven Shaw! Don't mind him! Come with me—I'll steal batteries to feed you!"
"No—Boss Raven Shaw, look at me! Step on me anytime! I'm way better than this blind guy!"
And honestly?
It wasn't just the viewers.
Raven Shaw got hit so hard she almost short-circuited.
Old… lady?
Me?
You dare call me an old lady?
If anyone else said that…
They'd already be in the underworld, asking if there was room to kneel.
But with Adrian Vale—
Instead of pure rage, something sharper slid under her skin.
Alarm.
Because she'd only known him for less than a day.
If it were random trash talk, she wouldn't care.
But his eyes—those quiet, meaningful eyes that looked like they could peel the surface off a person—made one thing clear:
He'd noticed something.
Something no one else could see.
Something tied to her secret.
Ridiculous.
Raven Shaw had slipped past national databases with that secret intact. She wasn't ordinary.
So how could he…
How?
For once, she couldn't fit the pieces together.
And that made her curiosity burn hotter—hot enough to sting.
She watched Adrian Vale's slim, silent back and let a faint smile form.
Interesting.
This is getting more and more interesting.
The chat felt it too.
"I have a bad feeling… a disaster is coming."
"Obviously! If it were me, I'd throw hands already!"
"Boss Raven Shaw!! Step on him!!"
And sure enough—
The moment Raven Shaw slid up beside him, her sweet voice turned thin and dangerous.
"Kiiid… why do you keep wearing that eyepatch?"
"Is your eye really blind?"
"..."
Adrian Vale didn't answer.
So she kept going, unbothered—like she was tapping a bruise just to see where it hurt.
"And, kid… why are you white-haired so young?"
"Don't tell me you're also—"
She didn't finish.
She just gave him a playful, knowing look.
"..."
Nothing.
Adrian Vale didn't even spare her a glance.
Like her face—her presence—meant absolutely nothing to him.
As if she were background noise.
The chat began to glitch.
"Wait… huh??"
"This isn't how the script goes!"
"Shouldn't she kick him into the sand and stomp him into paste??"
"Hold up—why do I feel like this is… flirting?"
"They've known each other less than a day!"
"No… it's not old married couple energy…"
"It's a different word."
"Boss Raven Shaw's posture… I've seen it before."
"Same! It feels familiar!"
"Getting insulted, not leaving, still hovering around… that's literally how I act when I'm simping for my crush!"
"That's… a simp!"
"Boss Raven Shaw, simping is illegal!!"
Raven Shaw, of course, couldn't see any of that.
She kept poking—half teasing, half testing—like she was trying to pry open a locked door with a smile.
Then she suddenly remembered something.
"Oh. Right."
She reached into her white fur cloak and pulled out a small device—red on one side, blue on the other.
Then she waved it in front of Adrian Vale like bait.
"Kid… Sister brought a game console in."
"Wanna play?"
She shook the handheld lightly, deliberately blocking his view with it—like she was dangling a toy in front of a cat and waiting for the swipe.
The livestream's collective worldview cracked.
"???? That's… Ninten-hell??"
"You're telling me I'm watching a handheld console in the Divine Domain: Forbidden Zone??"
"This is hardcore product placement—how much did they pay you? I'll pay double!"
"It's over. Boss Raven Shaw's ice-queen CEO image is DEAD."
"Everyone else brought guns, ammo, survival gear… she brought a console?!"
"…In a weird way, she's kind of adorable."
The red-and-blue handheld kept wobbling in Adrian Vale's line of sight.
He finally looked at her—flat, calm—
and muttered, almost bored:
"Childish… old lady."
Then he stepped past her without slowing down.
"..."
Raven Shaw froze.
Like someone had flicked a switch and turned her into stone.
Adrian Vale kept walking.
A second later, Raven Shaw inhaled slowly.
She'd lived a long time.
But she had never—never—felt this kind of speechless in her life.
Her shoulders rose and fell once.
And in the stunned silence of millions watching—
one truth became obvious:
Raven Shaw was so mad…
even her patience was swelling.
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