CHAPTER 210: CHAPTER 210: THE MOMENT SHE UNDERSTOOD HIM, HE SHATTERED

As he was still pondering, she spoke again.

She said, "Simply betting one’s life is too boring. I think Young Master Linton has gambled like this many times before, so let’s add some additional conditions."

Just as he was thinking she wasn’t much of anything, she had already stated the additional condition—

"Bet on whether someone is willing to die for another person, genuinely, without expecting anything in return, and disregarding everything else."

This established the purity of the gamble.

At that time, he didn’t know what she intended, he just thought it seemed easy. His subordinates had followed him for so many years, practically with their heads strapped to their belt buckles, they would surely do it.

So he said, "Fine."

Then, he saw her smile, her eyes sweeping over the faces of his subordinates one by one.

"This will do."

She said, "It’s decided that once this person acts, Young Master Linton, you must not offer him any compensation at all."

"Including giving his family money, promising to take care of his family, things like that, none of it is allowed."

Before he could figure out her intention, she took action once again.

Serena Sterling looked at the people present and said, "Young Master Linton, I will use my life for Julian. Whose life are you using, Young Master Linton?"

"In short," her gaze turned toward him, "Young Master Linton, who is willing to die for you without expecting anything in return?"

Instantly, he frowned and glanced back at his subordinates.

Then, he saw hesitation and fear in their eyes.

Looking again at the woman in front of him, she still had that smiling appearance.

This made him somewhat angry, standing up quickly from the chaise lounge, he approached her with the gun barrel against her head.

"You don’t have to care who I have to exchange my life for. Didn’t you say you would do it for Julian Lawson? Do you need me to help you, let me send you to see God right now?"

Anyway, he didn’t plan to keep his promise, so giving her a bullet earlier wouldn’t be a problem, as he had eliminated quite a few people over the years.

But she laughed.

While laughing, her eyes had a look of pity.

Yes, it was blatant pity!

Pity for him, Xander Linton.

"Xander Linton," she called his full name.

"Before you came to Frelia, your deeds had already spread around the globe."

"Many people say you’re capricious, that your hands are stained with blood, but I think you are an extremely pitiful person."

Anger flared in Xander Linton’s heart, and the gun against her head pressed harder.

Yet she seemed unafraid of such emotions.

"I think you’re always pulling pranks."

She smiled, "Except these pranks are very gruesome, very terrifying."

"I don’t know what you’ve lost, or what kind of dilemma is in your heart."

"But I can see that what you call living wantonly, what you call capriciousness, is merely your attempt to find something, or perhaps someone, to fill the void inside you."

"I call this feeling helplessness."

"You want to protect some people but are powerless, want to strive for some things but can’t achieve it, want someone to be wholeheartedly for you, yet their eyes always carry too much."

"So you start looking for ways to vent your inner self through these pranks."

Xander Linton remembered how angry he was at that moment.

At that moment, he almost pulled the trigger to kill her, even made some movements, just a millimeter away from releasing the bullet and blowing this woman’s head off.

The inner side he had hidden all along was completely seen through by her.

More than that, she was pitying him.

But he didn’t want to admit it, so he sneered with an extremely sarcastic tone, harshly jeering at her: "What is the point of what you’re saying? What about you? What can you do now?"

"You’re well aware that even if I blew your brains out with a single shot today, that contract might not be signed. Aren’t you helpless?"

"Hahaha!"

He suddenly laughed, looking at her with mockery: "You say so much, aren’t you afraid of death?"

"Beg me, Serena, beg me to spare your little life, and let you slink back home with Julian Lawson!"

But she did not beg him.

Nor did she retort.

She admitted it quite naturally.

"Yes, I am helpless," she said, "It’s precisely because I’ve personally experienced that kind of helplessness, so I understand how you feel now."

"I understand completely."

She looked at him, her eyes slightly red, but her face was smiling.

Just a look, and he was convinced that she truly understood.

In his life over these years, it was the first time he felt this way.

It seemed as if something shattered at the moment she understood him.

"But Xander Linton, I am luckier than you," she said, "I have someone who loves me wholeheartedly."

"Him?" The person Xander Linton referred to was Julian Lawson.

"Yes." Her words were firm, including her eyes and heart.

"He saved my life," she said, "When I was at death’s door, he saved me, when I was weak, he gave me strength."

"The most beautiful words he ever told me were not ’I love you,’ but—’You are included in my life’s plans.’"

"Xander Linton, if you were holding a gun to his head today and ask if he would die for me, I believe he would say yes without hesitation."

"And, Xander Linton, what I want to tell you is," she said, "If there is someone you want to protect, then try hard to do so, even if you can’t, you must try, if there is something you want, then do your best to fight for it, being unable and unreasonably angry is useless."

She paused slightly and said: "This is my personal experience."

Instinctively, he blurted out without thinking: "What if you still can’t do it?"

She smiled gently: "You can."

"As long as you are ruthless enough to yourself."

Her words, like a strong dose of courage, were enlightening.

Also like a psychological suggestion, telling him he could do it.

Before he could say anything else, she smiled at him once more.

"Remember the bet you agreed to, betting life, Xander Linton, I bet I will win."

Before he figured out what she meant, she had already leapt into the freezing pool beside.

Xander Linton still remembered how he dumbfoundedly stood there, not able to react at all.

His mind seemed to explode.

"You can do it."

"As long as you are ruthless enough to yourself."

She used her actions to show him what it meant.

The icy pool in late autumn was extremely cold, staying in it for a while would cause hypothermia, and not long after, one could freeze to death.

Even if not dead, one would get seriously ill.

And that wasn’t all, when her lips turned purple from the cold, her face full of pain in the pool, suddenly, blood started to appear.

At that moment, he was still wondering why there was blood.

She didn’t have any wounds, and none of them had fired a shot.

Still wondering if the ice cut her skin.

She also seemed surprised by the blood, but then, she seemed to understand.