It was a dreadful scene. Paige Summers’s face turned a little pale.

’I didn’t think he’d be this quick, this brazen.’ She took a deep breath and stepped forward. "Young City Lord, is there something you need?" Though she tried her best to remain calm, the strained sound of her voice betrayed her nervousness.

Shawn Monroe stared at her for a long moment, the fury churning in his stomach finally beginning to settle.

’So, she’s scared too.’

He sneered inwardly. ’You couldn’t tell when she was tying me up before!’

"Come out!" he demanded coldly.

Paige Summers let out a small sigh of relief. At least he hadn’t completely lost his mind.

"Boss, I’m going out with the Young City Lord for a moment. You should go get some rest."

Woody Warren glared at her. ’Rest? How am I supposed to rest in a situation like this? What did you do to piss this guy off? He looks like he wants to tear you to shreds!’

Paige Summers gave a wry smile. ’This isn’t exactly the time for explanations...’

"I’ll be back in a little while."

...Probably.

Watching their silent exchange, Shawn Monroe grew increasingly impatient. The fire inside him began to flare up again. He raised his voice. "What, didn’t you hear me?"

Paige Summers patted Woody Warren’s arm, then turned and walked toward the man.

Outside, the men Shawn Monroe had brought with him held the guards and had already moved to one side.

She was led to the wall on the left side of the house. A solitary cluster of climbing plants clung to it. Although half-withered, they still gave the courtyard a touch of green—a rare, normal sight in the apocalypse.

Paige Summers kept her head slightly bowed, appearing nonchalant, but her entire body was on high alert.

However, with Shawn Monroe prepared for her, the difference in their strength was still too great.

She didn’t even have time to resist before her shoulder was seized. The next second, her entire body was slammed against the wall.

’It hurts like hell!’

The sharp edges of the protruding stones felt like they were going to shatter her back!

Paige Summers forced herself not to cry out, her body trembling as she straightened up under Shawn Monroe’s gaze, like a Hunter sizing up its prey.

Pride was one reason. But more than that, his gaze reminded her of a wild beast; if she showed the slightest hint of weakness, he would tear her to shreds without a second thought.

"You’ve got some nerve!" Shawn Monroe suddenly exclaimed, raising his eyebrows high as if to say, ’Where the hell do you get your courage?’

Paige Summers remained silent for a long moment. Only when the sharp pain had subsided enough for her to speak a full sentence did she slowly open her mouth. "It’s not about having nerve. I just... want to live a decent life."

"Ha!" Shawn Monroe laughed mockingly. "Is that right? You know who I am, yet you still dare to treat me like that. Are you sure you’re not trying to die faster? Or did you think that just because you’ve hooked up with Marcus Monroe, I can’t do anything to you? Should I call you naive, or just stupid?"

The humiliation of being subdued by a woman was infuriating, but the fact that Marcus Monroe had intercepted her was what really struck a nerve.

As the son of the second wife, he had borne the weight of his mother’s high expectations from a young age. He was constantly being compared to Marcus, always being judged on who was more outstanding. All of this filled him with hostility toward his half-brother. Without the apocalypse, his own excellence, on par with his brother’s, might have come to nothing. He would have been destined to be the secondary heir simply because of his birth. But things were different now. This was an era where strength reigned supreme, and he had already shattered those irrelevant shackles to become the future master of this city!

And yet, even though he was now the Young City Lord, he still felt threatened by that man.

Perhaps it was better to say that as long as Marcus was alive, Shawn could never let his guard down.

If Paige Summers thought she could disrespect him just because she had Marcus Monroe’s protection, that was something he absolutely could not tolerate.

But things weren’t as he imagined. Paige Summers thought for a moment, then earnestly retorted, "I thought I was hooking up with your father."

Shawn Monroe froze for a second before veins bulged on his forehead.

He lunged forward, his fist grazing past Paige Summers’s ear and slamming into the wall behind her. In an instant, countless tiny cracks spiderwebbed out from the fist-shaped indentation.

"Are you threatening me?"

Paige Summers’s body went stiff, the man’s heavy breathing right by her ear. ’It seems my "little reminder" had no effect. Does he really want to kill me...?’

Her hand reached behind her back. Just then, Shawn Monroe’s gaze shifted downward, as if seeing right through her. He quickly clamped his other hand on her chin. "I’d advise you not to try the same trick twice, or else..."

The man’s face drew closer and closer, until it was only an inch from her lips.

Paige Summers was repulsed by the unfamiliar scent.

Unable to stand it any longer, she moved.

Her right hand jabbed fiercely at his abdomen while her left, as planned, drew the Short Sword from behind her back.

But in a flash, both her attacks were blocked—with even greater force!

The Short Sword clattered to the ground. Her body was viciously pinned against the wall, her wrists captured in his large hands and forced above her head with a pain so intense it felt like they were about to be crushed. Through her pained groan, Shawn Monroe lowered his head, his eyes filled with an enraged violence. His open mouth looked less like it was going in for a kiss and more like it was about to bite down hard.

Just as Paige Summers thought she would have to endure the humiliation, her heart filled with fierce unwillingness, several stones came whistling through the air from the side, their target the man pressing down on her!

Faced with the sudden attack, Shawn Monroe quickly threw the person in his hands to the ground while he unleashed a powerful whirlwind, sweeping the stones aside just in time.

After a moment of catching her breath, Paige Summers struggled to sit up, using the wall for support.

Though her entire body ached terribly, she let out a genuine sigh of relief. ’At least for today, I should be safe...’ Because the one who had stopped Shawn Monroe was none other than Marcus Monroe.

Shawn Monroe lowered his hands and stared coldly at the man walking toward them. "What is the meaning of this?"

Marcus Monroe didn’t answer immediately. He merely shot his brother a cool glance before unhurriedly walking over to help Paige Summers up. "Are you all right?"

"Mm..."

Marcus Monroe looked her over and, confirming she wasn’t seriously injured, finally raised his head. "I don’t care what grievances you have with her, but right now, she is a guest of the estate. Ensuring her personal safety is a responsibility our father entrusted to me. You’d best restrain your impulse to go into heat anytime, anywhere. Don’t cause trouble for everyone."

The expression on Shawn Monroe’s face shifted several times, but in the end, he managed to suppress the urge to do whatever he pleased.

No matter how much he hated being threatened, the fact remained: he was only the Young City Lord, not the City Lord.

Today, he would have to take a step back.

He raised an eyebrow and spread his hands in a show of innocence. "Rather than worrying about me going into heat anytime, anywhere, perhaps you should be more concerned about your own chronic ’lack’ of heat, my dear... big... brother!" He glanced at the woman practically hanging off Marcus Monroe’s arm, an unreadable glint in his eyes. "If this woman happens to spark your desire for a little ’training,’ I might consider letting you have her."

This wasn’t just baseless speculation on his part.

It was well known that Marcus Monroe had always been extremely indifferent to matters between men and women.

There was no shortage of people who had offered themselves to him, the most outstanding of whom could only be described as a peerless beauty.

Unfortunately, she was thrown out too, all in under a minute.

Many people secretly gossiped that he was impotent. He couldn’t have been unaware of the rumors, but he remained remarkably composed, refusing even to put on a pretense, and calmly went about his way.

In this respect, Shawn Monroe actually had a bit of admiration for him.

But that also made him even more wary.

However, his words had little effect on Marcus Monroe, who didn’t seem to care. But Marcus could feel the woman on his arm trembling, a tremor that didn’t stop even after Shawn and his men had left.

’She’s that scared?’

Marcus Monroe frowned imperceptibly, feeling a mix of surprise and displeasure.

He said coolly, "If you’re so scared, why provoke him? Is your chastity more important than your life? With women, Shawn Monroe is the type who can’t stand not getting what he wants, but he’ll easily discard them once he does."

The trembling suddenly stopped.

Paige Summers had been seething with rage from the humiliation, but after hearing his words, she grew calm.

’That’s right. What am I getting angry about?’

’Getting angry is pointless. That’s not what I should be doing.’

Pulling away from the man’s support, she turned and walked, step by step, back toward the house. After putting some distance between them, she paused briefly. "Thank you for your help and your kind intentions, Young Master Monroe. But there won’t be a next time."

Paige Summers’s tone was light, but Marcus Monroe detected a chill in it, so much so that he couldn’t take her words as a joke.

He narrowed his eyes slightly. ’She really isn’t like the other women... I almost forgot, her previous performance was quite stunning...’

A flicker of an amused smile crossed his face, and he turned and left.

Of course, he didn’t forget to reinforce the protections around the small courtyard.

In any case, she still had great potential in certain areas worth exploring.

Back in the house, Paige Summers had regained her composure. In response to Woody Warren’s concern, she briefly explained how she had offended Shawn Monroe. It was better for him to have a clear picture of the situation.

After listening, Woody Warren looked at her strangely.

"Just because of that?"

’Isn’t that enough?’ What was with that incredulous tone? Paige Summers stared at him in silence.

Woody Warren sighed and rubbed his nose. "Alright, it’s just... let me put it this way: are you in love with someone?"

"No."

"So there you have it. Actually, the Young City Lord’s reputation isn’t half bad. He’s a bit of a womanizer, sure, but they say he treats his own women very well. If you really got together with him, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. At least your life wouldn’t be so hard."

’We’re really not on the same wavelength, are we...’ Paige Summers gave a weak wave and went into the nearest room.

Lying on the bed, she took the small bottle from her personal pouch. It was already more than half full of Poisonous Liquid. To be honest, when she was facing Shawn Monroe just now, she had really wanted to smash the bottle on him... She stared at it silently for a long moment, then painfully forced herself to get up and sit at the desk. She grabbed a pen and paper and began to quickly draw up a list to give to Marcus Monroe.

’Surviving is even harder than I expected.’

’I can never let myself end up in a situation like today’s again!’

’I will burn this humiliation into my memory, a constant reminder that this is the apocalypse. I have to throw away all the complacency and weakness from the peaceful world of the past!’

’If I’m not as strong as others, I’ll just have to find other ways to protect myself!’

’No matter what anyone else says, I will walk my own path.’