================================

Chapter 003: 143

================================

Rex looked at the direction of the voice and saw a dashing young man around 20 years old wearing a rich kid's Polo Sport Shirt and clean khaki pants.

A dangling set of car keys were on his belt and his entire demeanor showed of a handsome male that all female should be going crazy for.

"I think I know now." Rex remained calm and only stared blankly at the man who's emitting an intense amount of jealousy.

Amanda went to the side, as if hiding from the man using Rex's shoulder.

"Did you not hear me, peasant? Get away from my fiancée! NOW!!"

The man uttered the last few words as if they were a declaration and it only made Amanda cringe and hide deeper on Rex's shoulder.

Rex laughed at the man as if he was seeing a rock in the roadside.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're the only one who thinks you guys are engaged?"

"I did not agree on something like this!"

When Rex spoke, Amanda defended in a panic-stricken fashion. Just from this alone, it's enough to know where her 'allegiance' lay.

Rex felt a game coming so he rode the wind. He stretched a hand and gently caressed his lover's cheek which made Amanda's face blush in pinkish tint which made her even more beautiful.

"I know, love. I know."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you... I was actually surprised as well. After I woke up from the game, I suddenly saw them guided into the house by my dad."

The two still remained sweetly holding each other's hands as the young man's jealousy burned further after Rex's indirect provocation.

Just the fact that he was treated as if he didn't exist five meters away from them was provocation.

"How dare a peasant like you get close to my own fiancée!? Get your filthy hands off of her. NOW!"

Rex's brows twitched. This was the second time he was called a peasant by this unknown individual. Of all the men he had to look down on... this guy just had to fucking try and piss him off. He, Rex, with an alter ego of a God, was being called a peasant by a mere mortal that only had money and looks to parade in front of him.

With a single glance, he looked at the man. But just as he was about to scare him off with a little bit of his bloodlust, the small door opened again with two people getting out of it —which there was one that deeply reminded Rex of Gaia.

"Ara, ara... why didn't you say that you were having a visitor, Little Ama-chan?"

"Señorita! Señorita! You shouldn't have run out of the house in a rush like that. Your father was very angry at you!"

(AN: 'Señorita' is a traditional address for a Young Miss of the house that was yet to marry... for the "Lady of the House" —or Queen of the Palace— is traditionally called "Señora"... and of course, these manner of addressing is only applicable to nobility bloods here in the Phil Country)

One look was enough to let Rex know that the "mother" who got out of the gate was a tolerating and affable wife and mother.

Her demurely childish candor was easy to like and it was even emphasized by her Gaia-ish manner of actions while speaking.

—I bet a hundred bucks her husband wouldn't be satisfied with just Amanda alone.

The other person who got out of the gate was, and is obviously, Amanda's maidservant. She was easily a 40+ year old woman and her panicky demeanor gave away just how 'caring' she was for Amanda.

"I'm sorry mom. I'm sorry Yaya. I was in a hurry to get out of the house and just didn't have time to give out an explanation."

Hearing this, the young man's face contorted with many expressions from surprise, impuissance, and then anger, before landing on a (fake) smile as he tried to mend the situation; "Don't say that, Mandy, your father had to consider so many things before he agreed for me to marry you."

Amanda's face revealed a look of displeasure, "I'm aware that he had to consider many things before he agreed to your conditions... but amongst them, my feelings are not included. And don't call me by that moniker... I only allow Rex and Alice to call me by that name and no one else."

The man's face darkened as soon as Amanda gave him that statement. He shot an acid glance over at Rex who only looked at the situation with a smile on his face as if telling him that his reactions were a source of entertainment.

"Awww... look at you, Mandy, you didn't tell me that you already have a boyfriend and he's also a very handsome man at that. You can introduce him to us inside the house."

With that said Amanda's mom was the first to enter the door and went inside the compound.

Rex was caught unprepared and he could only bid a look at Amanda who held his hand tighter as she lowered her head and whispered a "sorry" in a very low, almost inaudible, voice.

Heaving a sigh, he ignored the young man's gaze that contained fiery venom, and lifted Mandy's chin up as a sign of his forgiveness.

"Let's go inside. Isn't my purpose for this visit to actually meet your parents?"

Amanda blushed while her "Yaya" placed herself behind her charge as they prepared to get inside the house along with the fuming young man with his helplessness evident.

(AN: I will only drop it here... Yaya from here on, is going to be used as a Proper Noun)

It could be said that the young man, not making a ruckus despite his unwillingness to accept this situation, was proof of his high-grade upbringing.

Or perhaps it was a product of education, but one fact is clear: it reflects that he wasn't irrational and stupid enough to cash heads with Rex outside the real battleground for Amanda.

Rex ignored the scrying glances of the 'guards' and once they passed through the gate, he was immediately greeted by an expanse of a courtyard 30m large that had a circuit way used for vehicles.

In front of the house, there were two men with a few 'servants' behind them.

"Mandy, I never really knew that you were from a very rich family. You should know that even in our own house, we only have two maids, a gardener, and then a driver. Your house is really trice as big as my own."

Amanda, who was holding his left hand intimately, lowered her head to hide her embarrassment and explained, "Actually, Dad and Mom is just a pair of ordinary husband and wife, and even their jobs are not enough to buy a single square meter of this entire property. This house and the servants here are all arranged by a distant relative of my mother's whose identity even she wasn't even aware of. All I know is that ten years ago, the deed to the house and the salary and everything else regarding these servants were transferred to her. Complete with a few cars and fifty years of Local and also National Property Taxes payed in advance. Even electricity, water, and as well as gas bills are all paid fifty years in advance. Mom said that perhaps it was some part of an inheritance meant for her mother and not to her because as far as she knew, she had not known any relative aside from her parents back when she was still young."

When she finished speaking, Amanda's mother had already reached the two men and she stood beside the middle aged man that stood behind a 50+ year old politician.

It was easy to tell he was a politician because of the three bodyguards that stood behind him.

"Hmp." A cold snort was heard from behind the two love birds, "Just so you wait. When Uncle Howard hears about you, you will wish your entire family is buried under the soil."

As soon as these words were spoken, Amanda felt her heart clench as she thought of something. But she was a kind and naïve girl, ignorant of violence only until recently, so before she could even make do of what the source of that feeling was, the hand she was holding was already out of her grasp and it was now reaching towards the neck of the young man behind them.

Rex, with burning hatred in his eyes, glared acidly at the young man as he lifted him up through his neck as if he only weight a few kilos.

"I dare you to say that again, punk."

Although they were of almost the same height, Rex was still 10cm higher than the young man.

Even the people supposedly waiting for them in front of the residences were surprised by this. All they saw is that, Amanda and the newly arrived young lad seemed to have an intimate relationship and was ignoring Angus, until they saw Angus say something which changed the situation.

Their distance was even two, three meters so this instant of speed and action surprised even those three bodyguards standing behind Howard.

"Wh-What are you... doing..... kuuuuhhhh..."

Rex's hand fully grasped his neck and through his utter surprise, shock, and horror, not only he could not breathe, he couldn't even break free from his death grasp.

"What do you think you're doing to my Nephew?! I urge you to put him down or you will regret it!"

It was like a scene straight out of a novel. A young and ignorant Rich Kid provoking someone he could not afford to provoke.

Rex ignored them as his loathing eyes sent over an abundant amount of bloodlust towards the man on his grasp. The man's face began to turn red as it soon would turn green as he suffocates.

Rex's first question was already cold enough so when he asked the second question, his voice was even colder and the malice unbridledly flew in all directions from him.

"I'm asking you again, what did you say about my parents?"

Everyone had already run over so they heard this line and immediately realized the source of their current situation. Even the bodyguards had pulled out their guns as they felt the thick and disgusting bloodlust floating the air.

For some reason, Angus had spoken something he shouldn't have spoken in the first place and this was the reason why the earlier smiling young man now exploded with pure hatred.

"Rex..."

Just then, Amanda, to the surprise of her parents, walked over to Rex's side and very gently touched the arm holding Angus in the neck, whispering just his name in a way that even her father who had a thick mustache and a seemingly strict personality had an idea of just how much affection it had in it.

And just like a camp fire doused by cold water from the South Pole, Rex's anger subsided and his face that revealed an enormous loathing at Angus, made a visible relaxing change.

Halfway through this change, he threw Angus to the side at which the young man folded like a piece of paper. It was even unknown when but he had actually wet his pants from fear.

Rex's bloodlust wasn't a joke. It was concentrated and great enough that even the guards outside the gates had to enter the compound to check where that source of dreadful feeling was coming from.

Angus didn't dare to stand up straightaway as he only bid Rex a hate-filled glance before looking at the hosts' direction, then to his uncle who was still frozen over while looking at this development.

He didn't linger on as he run towards a parked red customized Camaro to the right side of the circuit way, escaping the scene in a few seconds, quietly.

Only when the gates closed again did the people in the courtyard came back to their senses.

Rex had already calmed down and was being cared for by Amanda, while her father was frowning with her mother making a passive expression of delight, surprise, curiosity, and intrigue —all put together.

The only one with a normal expression of anger on his face was Howard Gregory.

"Young man, you are in a serious shit right now. I can assure you that I can put your family—"

"—are you going to threaten my family as well?"

Rex shot him a death glance and Howard Gregory immediately closed his mouth. He didn't know why but looking at this man pricked some part of his memory and it gave him a feeling that he shouldn't be threatening him and instead should be asking for forgiveness.

But since he can't pinpoint where this memory and feeling was coming from, Howard chose to follow the path logical to his and the current situation.

"Rex, calm down." Amanda's touch was full of the gentleness. "They don't know what they are saying and once they do, they will immediately regret it."

Surprisingly, Amanda's words indicated that she is on HIS side with an unconditional sincerity.

Just what did this young lad did to our daughter?!

Amanda's father was furious, "Who are you to talk like that to your elders? Do you know who you are talking to right now?"

But instead of cowering, Rex, to their surprise, bid a scoff and spoke with a placid voice, "He's Senate Minority Leader Howard Gregory. Member of the House of Gregory which is a renowned family of Lawyers and Politicians for the past fifty years; he is also the current president of the PAFROG given his past service; and he is also the one with the biggest chance of running first for Vice Presidency in the coming elections. I know this well. These are the same information he told me two years ago."

Howard Gregory, along with Amanda's parents, and even Amanda herself with the bodyguards, all blinked at this immediate reply.

What more, what astonished them the most was his last set of words: I know this well. These are the same information he told me two years ago.

The fuck...?!

But Howard couldn't put this and that together and so had to ask. He even forgot the matter about the disgrace his nephew had suffered, "Who are you, and how did we met?"

Rex faced him and Amanda's parents in a general direction and with his back straight, spoke calmly.

"My name is Rex Kingsley. Son of Doctors Etheron Adam Kingsley and Elizabeth Evangeline Éclair, the creators and inventors of the Neuro-Link Device; Nobel Prize Winners for their contribution for the development of the Neuro-Biochemical Synthesis that was made a general factor for the treatment of comatose patients. I'm their son and I am still alive."

It was a stunning introduction.

Kingsley...

A name that could shock just anybody who's aware of the significance of their contributions to the world's current society....

They were rumoured to have died in the accident but no one actually knew the truth of it.

Yet right now, the young man who's also rumoured to have died with his parents... was standing right in front of them, holding Amanda's hand intimately, indicating that they were lovers.

"Rex.... Kingsley... you're that young man back at the World Trade Center who received that Nobel Peacekeeping Award, two years ago..."

"I am."

Rex's voice was cold.

And just as well, Howard felt cold sweat pouring on his back ceaselessly at this moment. Now he knew where that 'feeling' was coming from and he was actually stupid enough to threaten his family who's just been in a miserable accident.

"I... I... I'm really..." Howard was stumped for the right words to say. Because he was halfway thru the bridge of no return doesn't mean he had not intended to cross it.

Earlier, he was cut just he was threatening him so it was clear that Howard was already at the black list for this man to consider as friends.

"R-Rex... let me explain... what happened earlier is just a misunderstanding."

Rex wore a placid expression, "I am aware. But it does not mean that in your heart, you can blatantly intimidate just about anybody who manage to draw your ire. If I have to use you words against you, I may not be personally powerful enough, but I can assure you that I can use my connections to crush your entire family... would you believe it?"

Amanda's parents were flabbergasted.

It's not that they don't dare to not believe him to be Rex Kingsley, but it's just that his words were really enough to actually scare the wits out of them.

Does he really have the power to crush a family of lawyers and politicians that had fifty years of grand legacy on their names?

More importantly, is it a blessing that their daughter was in a relationship with such a frightening man?

Howard felt humiliated and he was indignant of the fact that a kid not even half his age had just talked back and threatened him.

But he can't ruin the already worsening relationship between the two of them.

Two years ago, the reason why he tried to curry a favor to this young man is because he was one of the VERY FEW recipients of the very prestigious "Youth Conclave of Achievers" whose attendees have an 80% chance of being personalities in the very near future.

There currently are 97 countries in the world and their sizes, population, and their economy aren't as 'flourishing' as they were 100 years ago because of the 3rd World War, 30 years ago.

Because of this, competition for resources were harsher and there are actually countries —aside for those countries who were destroyed due to the war— who gave up parts of their national territory to be able to govern their citizens and resources a lot clearly.

The world now had those so called "Blood Zones" where the radiation are so intense that spending a few minutes in them will immediately result to your blood leaking out of all your orifices.

Many lands were undergoing the "recovery" period but the countries destroyed by the war will never be brought back again.

As such, they are called the "Open Lands" by the World Government and whoever was able to invest personal resources to reclaim them will be allowed to establish their own country —given that they're able to qualify to be able to do so.

To establish your own country was easier said than done for not only money, but there are many other resources needed to actually do this successfully.

Aside from that, one of the biggest concerns of all 'newly rising countries' is going to be its security.

The world is in a peaceful pact, but it doesn't mean that seizing resources will stop purely upon the aspects of money.

LAND is also a form of resource. There was no telling where a sneak attack will happen once one arising country is almost done with its foundations.

As such, a few secretive geniuses established The Conclave to socialize the rising geniuses of their generation and broaden perspectives of all future allies in one place.

HUGE Organizations are behind The Conclave and there's no telling if one of them were already in the 'powerful enough' category to establish a country.

But what if a single youth was charismatic and was a genius enough to actually manage to set together two or more organizations to establish a country?

Wouldn't that be the rise of a new kind of regime?

Wouldn't the country the genius belong to become an instant paragon amongst other countries for the simple fact that they managed to produce a genius of such caliber?

As such, not one of the invited individuals of the "Youth Conclave of Achievers" were to be ignored, how much more is threatened!

This thought entered Howard's mind like a flash of lightning and he shivered at the fact of what that nephew of his, Angus, had just done.

It was a matter that started with him but he was the first to escape the scene.