When you speak of this country's economy and business, only two companies were considered on the top, L Empire and CGC [Chan Group of Companies].

The rest were nothing compared to those two. These two companies had been wrestling the country's business industry for years and had maintained a sophisticated battle until now.

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L Empire being one of the top was venerated by most. It was a corporation composed of blood relatives who had maintained power and wealth throughout time.

Patriarchy was religiously exercised in this family and such belief had brought a serious quandary to the L Empire's elders at present.

In the façade, it seemed that this empire was full of strength and somewhat limitless. But behind its brilliance there was a threatening frailty they considered a curse. Through many decades that had passed, this family struggled to produce heirs. To them were born only few healthy children.

Being a family who had strong belief in male dominance, having children, specifically a male heir was a life and death situation.

Manuelle Lagdameo, the president of L Empire, was envied by everyone in his family. Aside from being lucky to have three children, born to him was the only male heir in the present generation of the Lagdameo's and such heir had strengthened his power and control over the Lagdameo's family business.

Darryl Lemmeul Lagdameo was the only male heir of the Lagdameo clan and the future of L Empire. He was an envy not only within his relatives but also by any elite family in this country.

The child was not only well groomed, but was also gifted with an exceptional intellectual and social ability. If every eighteen-year-old child in this country were enjoying their senior high school days —Darryl on the other hand was already in his last year in college, making his own money outside the L Empire. He was rumored to be financially independent at the age of eight, left home on his sixteenth birthday to make a name of his own and had been making remarkable achievements since then. These rumors and his undeniable accomplishments made his succession to L Empire a very anticipated event.

Even Chan Corporation was dreading it, fearing it would be their ultimate downfall.

But then again, as old folks said, to have everything is a sin and not everything you see in the outside is the same from reality. So to say, in Darryl's life, reality right now was knocking him off into the four cornered wall of the Marble Mansion inside one of the estates of L Empire where his family resides.

"Look at this stupidity!" Manuelle screamed angrily at his own son in his home office, as he threw at him a couple of pictures.

He was waiting for this moment, the moment he could scowl at his son for making such stupid scrapes. The moment he could lecture him and tell him how stupid and frustrating his ideologies were and this mistake right here was a product of it.

Darryl was not shock at all. The moment he was told to appear in his father's presence, he knew something like this was going to happen. His father was very dedicated in finding mistakes in him so that he could tell him that the path he was taking was not the path that was destined for him.

This father and son predicament had started long before Darryl started dreaming. He dreamed of becoming an engineer, one who was capable of building glorious infrastructures. He dreamed of creating a legendary masterpiece —an infrastructure which held great significance in this country. One that had a very beautiful story behind it.

Just like the temple of Merra located in the south of this county, built by an old man above the grave of his most beloved dog who saved his life; The Statue of Poseidon, built under the ocean that become home to fishes and reefs; The wall of Kagong that had been built decades ago by unknown men whose legendary stories had been passed through generations – Darryl wanted his masterpiece to be as legendary as these infrastructures. He wanted his masterpiece to have a story, a story everyone could talk about even after his death.

He wanted to draw everything he visualized in his mind with his own hands. He wanted to sweat out a whole lot under the sun while making the most anticipated masterpiece of all time.

However, being a Lagdameo heir would only allow him to make decisions and let others carry it out, in an office building— particularly in L empire corporate center hiding away from the sun. He wanted to be a free soul and not be confined to an office desk but his blood rendered this dream hard to achieve.

He knew he cannot escape the destiny brought by his blood. Yet, still he refused to let go of his dreams that easily. That was why at his sixteenth birthday party, he lured his father into agreeing to his proposal; He would only accept the L Empire's presidency once he was finished making his masterpiece.

His father consented knowing such child cannot be held back and gave him only until his 25th birthday to fulfill his dreams. Once he turns 25, he had to leave everything he planned and stepped into the L Empire's presidency.

"How can you be this careless! Having an affair with a random girl! The public and media are going to tear our business' image because of your mess! You should have done better than this!" The father continued, seething in a pool of anger.

Darryl who was curious about his father's unruly behavior against him scanned the pictures that were scattered on the floor. His heart skipped a beat when he saw pictures of her and him together.

He recognized those pictures immediately, how could he not?

Those were pictures of him kissing her in the canteen. Pictures of them strolling hand in hand in the busy city streets. Pictures of them sharing a hug— him topless and many more. Even their picture at the bus terminal when they smiled at each other was also there. The picture of her face smiling at him was so alluring he couldn't help but picked the glossy paper up.

"The Chan corporation can use this against you! You should have thought of how this can ruin your image! And what happened to you and the Chan Corporation's heir? That Collet? Weren't you two getting on well all along?" His father continued to lecture him yet Darryl remained nonchalant to his words.

He was focused on the picture in his hand, his woman's picture. It was only been three days since she rode that bus and left him. He felt sober thinking about her. He didn't think it would be this lonely knowing she wasn't around.

"Lemmuel! You know the Chan Corporation is dreading your succession to the presidency over the empire and that is why they let Collet come back home! You know pretty well they are using her as a bait, so we can have a merger with them!..." His father was becoming exhausted from his outburst, so he sat on his desk chair and started to lit up a cigar.

"...We are going to take advantage of their plan and their bait. Go and marry their heir. Certainly, a woman cannot lead a business, so she can be as good as an accessory. Once you marry her everything that she owns will be yours too. That's when we will take over the Chan Group of Companies." The father laid down plan to him.

"Father, I am not yet the president of L Empire. We had a deal, so I'm not going to talk anything about business until then." Darryl simply answered still holding the picture of her in his hand.

"Yes, we had a deal, and the only deal we had is that you pursue your dream and not to pursue some random unsuited girl. So, it's either you forget this girl, or I shall forget our agreement!" The father continued placing an emphasis on every word he spoke.

Darryl suddenly became furious hearing those words. His father knew how important that agreement was to him. His legendary masterpiece, his dream! His father was really going to use that dream to control him.

"So, it's either you choose this girl, or you choose your dream." Manuelle spoke lastly with confidence hoping his son would not fail him. This son of his seemed to be very dedicated to his passion; one silly girl cannot ruin his bright future and the future of L Empire.

His son was his greatest ace card— unfortunately this ace card was very witty. He even tricked him into agreeing to his terms. But agreeing to giving him liberty only made his son's value skyrocket to its highest extent. Giving him independence only proved his proficiency and capability in becoming a successor to the L Empires' throne.

This son of his, no matter how much their ideologies clashed, was very important and valuable to him. Darryl was his only son and the only male in this generation of the Lagdameo clan. He must at all cost be protected from any distractions.