A heavy laugh echoed all over the dim-lighted room. The owner of the laughter was sitting in a chair in his penthouse in Midtown Manhattan. He crossed his legs and covered his mouth with one hand. He could not stop laughing.

On the contrary, the human who was standing in front of him did not find any amusement in the situation. The human and also the butler, Xavier, was instead being pale. He did not have the courage to look at his master, Alexander Stone.

“I’m sorry, Master,” the butler whispered in fear. “I did not think she would–“

Xavier’s apology was cut off with another of Alexander’s burst of laughter. The butler flinched at the sound. His face had gotten paler.

“She quit?” Alexander asked in disbelief. “That woman was able to quit the contract?”

Alexander stopped laughing instantly. His gaze darkened. The aura emitted from him grew heavy. And before Xavier could utter another apology, the butler’s breathing had gone ragged.

Xavier clutched his chest. It suddenly felt painful. Very painful. He bent his body to his knees to ease the breathing but even his legs gave up under him. Soon, he was writhing on the floor.

“How could this happen?” Alexander asked.

Xavier struggled to answer. Every word he tried to say choked on his throat. “S– she p– played w– with … stocks…”

Alexander blinked. And the next second, the pain on Xavier’s chest was lifted. The old man took gulps of air to fill in his lungs. His heart rate was running to pump the blood throughout his body. His body started to shiver on the floor.

“And where did she get the money to play with stocks in the first place?” Alexander’s tone grew heavier with each question.

“Sh– she used the black card, Sire,” Xavier was able to say, still with his body bent on the floor. “She invested the money from the black card to gain profit for herself. Then she returned all the money she had borrowed along with the money you gave her as the initial payment of the contract.”

Alexander frowned. The edges of his lips turned downward. He did not like the answer to that.

“She’s very intelligent, isn’t she?” Alexander said, “At least I have to give her that.”

“You are saying … that all this time, she never touched a penny of the money I gave her?”

The butler shivered again. Xavier gulped hard before he answered, “Ex– except the money you gave for her tuition–“

Xavier shrieked with his face on the floor when he heard Alexander suddenly stood up and threw a vase to the wall. The vase shattered to pieces. And Xavier knew that if he did not pick his words carefully, the next one to shatter to pieces would be his head.

“We left out the tuition money from the contract!” Alexander bellowed.

“Y– yes, Sire.”

“And you are saying that all this time, you did not know she never touched a single penny and was playing with stocks?” Alexander’s voice was raised. The master of the house kicked the coffee table in front of him hard. His power was so strong that the table flew to the wall across him. The glasses of the table shattered and the woods broke to splinters.

“You are saying that we have nothing to bind her to the contract again? NOTHING?” This time, he picked up a plant pot and threw it to the wall.

The fire inside Alexander’s chest kept on brewing. It was either throwing all the items around him or killing his personal butler who had been with him for a very long time. He had almost killed him before.

“How could you not have noticed?” he asked angrily.

Xavier muttered incorrigibly. His lips were shaking so badly that he did not dare to answer.

“Answer, Xavier!”

When the butler refused to answer, Alexander’s eyes darkened again. His whole eyes turned black.

Xavier felt the pressure on his chest again. His mouth suddenly moved on his own.

“W– with all d– due respect, Sire,” the butler said still with his face on the floor. “Y– you also did not know w– when you’re the one w– who spend s– so much time w– with Miss Ann…”

The butler deepened his face on the floor. He was whimpering now, scared of Alexander’s wrath. He could not believe the words coming out of his mouth. It was definitely his death sentence now. Most definitely. There was no telling when dealing with an immortal being like Alexander. A being who could do magic and easily enslaved others.

Frankly, Xavier was utterly jealous of Ann who could get herself free easily. But he was also annoyed because she was the very reason he had to deal with Alexander’s temper.

Why couldn’t she just stay still? Was the money too little for her?

No. The money was huge. And Xavier thought Ann would not be able to resist the temptation. Xavier thought that Ann would definitely use the black card to spend more on herself. But he was shocked when Ann told him she never used a penny. Even if she did, she returned every ounce of money to the black card. AND, she did not touch the initial contract payment –a sum of fifty grand, and she did not touch it at all.

Why can’t she be like any other human?

If she had, she would be bonded with the contract for all her life, as to how Alexander wanted.

If she had been like Xavier was, she would have been enslaved to Alexander to eternity whether she liked it or not.

But she did not.

And now Xavier’s head was on the line. He was waiting for Alexander to throw another fit due to his previously spoken words.

Unexpectedly, Alexander laughed again. The Immortal rose from his chair and wiped his face with his hands. “Three thousand years I have lived on this Earth and I have never been able to guess that woman, have I?” he said more to himself.

Then he let out a heavy sigh. “Whatever should I do with this one? I have marked her so everyone in the underworld would try to get her. Especially those three.”

“Y– you can try to bind her w– with another contract, Sire,” Xavier offered.

“That’s not how the game works, Xavier,” Alexander said in a low tone. He approached another table where a chessboard was laid open. The chess pieces were scattered in an abstract yet strategic manner among the black and white squares. He picked up the white queen piece from the chessboard. “You know it’s a game of chess between multiple people. We have to take turns.”

Alexander put the queen piece in the middle of the board. Then he put the black king piece behind the queen. “I have taken my turn. And I thought I will win this time. But she keeps on walking a step ahead of me, doesn’t she?” He scoffed, more to himself. “Tch. A mere human woman was able to play me.”

“Now it’s their turn.”

Alexander picked up the horse, the bishop, and the white king pieces. He put them all in front of the queen piece, sandwiching the queen with the black king piece.

“If this goes on … the game will never truly end.”

Then he put on an eerie smile. One that even without Xavier looking, made the butler trembled more.

“Well, that’s the fun of having her in the game.”