“What do you want?” Juliet narrowed her eyes.

Jacob had told her to be careful around Hektor. The man was upright and probably the most transparent of them all, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t dangerous. And he was too strong for any single one of them to face him directly.

“Woah, no need to be rude, Juliet! I am really organizing manner lessons and I’ll bring both of you if needed. I heard part of your spat while I was outside.”

Helena frowned.

Juliet swore.

“What the fuck? You were listening? How is that possible? The walls are pretty thick.”

“Part of my cultivation is making my body stronger, and that means enhancing my senses too. I can concentrate Qi in my ears and ear stuff through multiple walls.”

“Creep,” Helena casually said, non-plussed by his antics.

“Jacob said the same the first time I told him about this little trick! Truly a match made in heaven,” the Vermillion Tyrant laughed. “You know, your body will become naturally more perceptive in time. But you can learn how to enhance single senses, touch, taste, smell. Whatever you want. It takes a long time to perfect it, but it’s a wonderful trick.”

“Why are you here?” Juliet asked, this time with a bit more manners. She was a bit afraid that the madman in front of her would put her through the night course for good manners.

“These two little things,” Hektor pointed to his ears, “heard what Jacob said yesterday night. Just the first part, I then left to avoid further breaching his privacy.”

Juliet went stiff.

Fuck.

That was her first thought.

Fuck.

That was her second, third and even fourth thought.

Many things were going on in Juliet’s mind, but she definitely wasn’t expecting what happened next.

One would have expected a very precise reaction from the Vermillion Tyrant. In fact, anyone would have expected that he would lose it. After putting his faith in Jacob, he had just seen the guy completely break down. The image of perfection had probably shattered in his mind, completely gone, forever.

And that was the first thought in Juliet’s mind. That the Vermillion Tyrant was here to tell them that he had just killed Jacob or something, or that he was going to take control of St. Peter. Because that’s what you would expect from a person like him.

But that was because they never listened really well to what Jacob had said about him. The Vermillion Tyrant had been one of the most dangerous people on Earth because he truly believed he was fighting for the good of humanity and the entire world.

He was not duplicitous, nor he was used to bend his truths. Quite the opposite, he was as much of a straight shooter as they made them. Too much of a straight shooter, Jacob would have probably argued.

But when Juliet was on the verge of trying to murder the man. Try, obviously, since he was two whole realm above her, she hadn’t considered who she really had in front of her.

That’s why when the Vermillion Tyrant started crying like a baby, both Helena and Juliet froze.

“OH MY GOD!” the man was fine a second before, but now his face was streaked with huge tears. Even his tears were glorious, for Christ’s sake!

“I WOULD HAVE NEVER IMAGINED HE WAS FEELING LIKE THAT!”

The Vermillion Tyrant—no, Hektor, cried like a baby. No—like a hero.

Yes, if that crying was something, it was something you wouldn’t expec from an infant nor a child. Nor even a teenager, an adult or any mortal man. He cried like a God would cry, tragically.

There was pain on his face. Real pain from what he had witnessed. It was so real that both girl felt tears at their eyes too!

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t more understanding of all the pressure he had on him! Jacob’s the most precious thing in the world and I—”

Juliet saw the man break down in sobs and didn’t know what to do. She looked at Helena but the other girl was not just shocked, she also didn’t know what was happening there.

“Ahem, Hektor? Vermillion Tyrant?” Juliet made an attempt to speak, “Helena doesn’t know about yesterday?”

“OH MY GOD!” the man looked so deep in the throes of despair that Juliet felt guilty; and that was for sure an emotion she was not familiar with.

“I’m so, so, so sorry. I—” the man started chocking on his tears again. “Sorry, Helena. It’s just that… Jacob is doubting himself, even though I’m more than a hundred percent sure he will make it. I just wish I could make him see what I see! The man is so… HA!”

The Vermillion Tyrant punched his own leg to avoid creating any damage in the house, but the floor split under the kinetic energy that had just travelled from his knee to his heel.

“GOD! I’m so sorry, Juliet! I will fix that damage, I promise!” the man got up and started racing back and forth, unable to contain his emotions.

“Juliet, can you fill in Helena? Is it okay if we tell her? I mean, she’s sort of his girlfriend? Or maybe you are? Who’s Jacob girlfriend?” the man was having a full-blown panic attack.

Juliet was under the impression that if she didn’t defuse the situation immediately, the Vermillion Tyrant would start punching himself again and maybe collapse her entire house.

“Hektor! Jesus Christ almighty, sit on the chair and don’t move!” she ordered, “Helena had something to tell me and then we can talk about this thing with Jacob, okay? I think it’s fine if we share with her. But let’s calm down first, okay?”