Villain: The Play of Destiny

Although he excused himself from the Clinic saying that he had something to deal with, the truth was that Keith was too tired after performing the Node-Tracing Healing Technique on Celine. It had nearly consumed all of his Aura Reserves, and he was in a dire need to sleep.

Keith went to bed as soon as he arrived in his Manor, and woke up six hours later at dusk. The sleep did the work, and he finally felt vitalized again.

He asked for his supper to be sent to his study and got onto the work that he had on his mind.

Tonight, he had to finish a very important matter that could not be delayed any longer.

With the knowledge of the future, knowing the storylines of various Protagonists from the stories he read in his dream, he wanted to form timelines of major events that will be taking place over the course of the next three years.

Since the first story that the author wrote was his own, and every other story started only after its end, the work he would have to do to recall every minor detail of the past events in those stories was not going to be easy. There was simply not too much information on the past events that did not involve the Protagonists and the Heroines, and they were not Keith's goals for now.

He had realized that the future around him was changing its course, and so he did not want to mess things up by dealing with the Protagonists and the Heroines ahead of time.

The Fate Plundering System did not explain to him in detail how it worked because it had to urgently go into Hibernation Mode, but its name was a dead giveaway. And Keith had a pretty good idea of how it functioned.

"I have to plunder the fate from the Protagonists, but I must not rush into it. The storyline needs to be preserved as much as possible in order to keep things under my control." He pondered over the matter and made his decision.

His instincts were telling him that he shall not deal with the Protagonists ahead of time. Who knows what backlash he might face, and as the favored Children of Destiny, they were bound to have some sort of heavenly luck. So, there was a high chance of him failing, and it could prove counter-productive. What if because of his actions the Protagonists ended up becoming stronger ahead of time? It was a risk that he simply could not take.

"Also, it would be more fun if I let those protagonists grow and then deprive them of everything that should have been theirs from right under their noses." He smirked and got to work.

Even if he could not deal with the Protagonists, the Heroines, and to an extension with the important Supporting Characters, it did not mean that he could not change the stories of the miscellaneous Characters, and avail from the miscellaneous events that had little to no impact on the lives of the Protagonists before the start of their stories.

Keith worked till dawn, and by the time he finished, he had formed two different timelines. One was about Miscellaneous Events that were going to take place over the course of the next three years, which would prove immensely profitable for his Business, and the other was a timeline of some Characters that he had picked after much thought.

He knew that the enemies he would be facing in the future were not going to be alone. Some of those Protagonists were going to have very powerful subordinates and organizations under their commands. And so, he decided to find himself a group of powerful subordinates as well. The ones he picked were either minor characters in the stories or were only mentioned at some point in time. Of course, the list was not long and only contained a few people after he had carefully picked which ones he wanted, but each and every one of them possessed immense potential.

And he was going to approach his first target the next weekend.

"Young Master, Caesar is asking for permission to enter. He has some news for you." Yingying informed him.

The girl had been standing at the door the entire night he had been working, protecting him silently as his Shadow.

When he raised his head and looked at her expressionless face and clear eyes, he could not help but gently smile at her. Even if it was just a dream, he was quite angry with himself that he had not appreciated her more. He was the sole reason for her existence, and he had never paid much attention to her.

"Let him enter." He nodded to her and then started wrapping things up. He saved the Timeline of Business opportunities on his Laptop but got rid of the Timeline of his potential subordinates after making sure that he had memorized all the details.

"Young Master." Caesar politely bowed to him, and after Keith nodded, he took his seat on the table. "I have contacted Damien Angelini and informed him about Kiara and what you plan to do. He is rushing over from Orchid City with his wife and son, and will arrive at Sameran International Airport at 10 am."

"That's good." Keith nodded to him. He was not surprised by the anxiousness of Damien. He knew what he would do as soon as he learned about Kiara.

"Your appointment with Chairman Angelini is set at 3 pm in the afternoon," Caesar informed him. "You are allowed to only bring two bodyguards with you." There was a little worry in his voice as he said that.

"Don't worry about it, Uncle Caesar. I will be fine." He smiled at him. "I will take Victor and Yingying with me."

"As you wish, Young Master. I will inform Victor." He accepted his Master's decision. "Damien wants to meet you and Kiara before you head to the Angelini Estate."

"Is that so?" He smirked. "Tell him that I will meet him, but he will only get to meet Kiara after my meeting with his Grandfather."

Caesar nodded in compliance, was about to ask for leave when Keith spoke again.

"I will be going to Bastille City on Thursday. Yingying and Victor will go with me. Make the arrangements for a four-day stay, and it should be somewhere in the Eastern District within a 15-minute drive from the Bell Harbor."

Caesar frowned when he heard that, and was quite curious why his Young Master wanted to go to a minor city like Bastille and wanted to stay near a place that was one of the smuggling hubs of the country. However, he did not ask any questions.

"It will be arranged, Young Master."

"Thank you, Uncle Caesar." He looked at him and politely said.

He knew better than ever that having a Loyal Subordinate like Caesar was the greatest of the blessings.

"It's my duty, Young Master." Caesar respectfully bowed to him, and then took his leave.

"Come here, Yingying." He smiled at his Shadow and watched her gracefully walk up to him.

"Yes, Master?"

"Give me a massage, my shoulders are a little stiff."

Yingying obediently came to stand behind him and then used her slender hands to knead his shoulder muscles.

Her technique was sublime, and Keith could not help but close his eyes to enjoy the feeling.

"Yingying."

"Yes, Master?"

"Are you in love with me?"

The sudden question froze Yingying, but within a few seconds, she collected herself and continued with the massage.

"Yingying's duty is to protect her Master. She has no right to be in love with him." She answered in a monotonous voice.

Keith raised his hand, and Yingying stopped messaging his shoulders.

"Is that so?" He turned his chair around and looked her right in her beautiful light brown eyes. Seeing her eyes quiver, he smiled and stood up, towering over her.

She was 8 years older than him, but her stature was rather small. With a height of 5'2", she was an entire foot shorter than him, and so she had to raise her head to look at him from up close.

Keith gently caressed her fair cheek and stroked her cheekbone with his thumb.

She was well-trained and hid her emotions to the best of her ability, but as soon as leaned in and sipped a kiss from her soft and thin pink lips, she trembled slightly.

He evilly smiled at finally getting a reaction out of her, and separated from her after taking another sip of her lips.

"You have my permission to be in love with me." He assertively said and turned around to walk out of the Study, leaving her frozen in her place with his words echoing in her mind.

Yingying watched his leaving back, and soon a rosy blush crept on her cheeks. But as his Shadow, she did not dwell much in her thoughts and swiftly followed after him.

His taste and warmth still lingered on her lips, and her heart that had always kept her affection for him a secret, now finally free of those shackles, was beating in sweet rhythms.