Chapter 545 - -545

The footage of Kaya killing her husband and sister had struck the nation like a lightning bolt, instantly dividing the country into warring factions.

To some, she was a cold-blooded murderer, a sinner who had taken the law into her own hands. But to a massive, vocal segment of the population, she was a terrifyingly efficient hero. Women’s support groups rallied behind her, online forums turned her icy, calculated revenge into viral memes, and debate shows argued over the morality of her actions for weeks on end.

But no matter what the public called her, one absolute fact remained: no one could find her.

The CCTV footage was the only piece of the puzzle left behind, and it was a logistical nightmare for law enforcement. The camera clearly showed Kaya swallowing the poison, collapsing onto the hardwood floor, and seemingly falling into a peaceful, eternal sleep. But then, the screen violently glitched and went pitch black. Every famous digital researcher and forensic video analyst in the country had tried to restore the corrupted file. It was utterly impossible. It wasn’t a software failure; it was as if someone had physically cut the cord of reality at that exact millisecond.

The leading toxicologists only added to the terrifying mythos. They tested the drops of liquid left in the glass and went on national television to declare that the toxin was completely absolute. Once it entered a human bloodstream, survival wasn’t just unlikely—it was a biological impossibility.

The military and the police had hunted for her anyway. Her face was plastered across every precinct, border crossing, and airport in the nation. For six months, the manhunt was the hottest topic on earth. People cheered for her, theorized about her, and searched for her. But by the seventh month, public interest waned, the news cycle shifted, and the court case went entirely cold.

The scene of the crime had left investigators baffled. There were absolutely no footprints leading out of the house. No signs of a struggle. No drag marks. It was a classic, impossible locked-room mystery. How could a dead body simply disappear from the face of the earth?

Two years later, the black SUV finally rolled to a smooth, quiet stop.

Hiro, the golden-haired driver, put the car in park outside a massive, highly secluded detached villa on the outskirts of the city. The property was stunning—surrounded by high privacy walls, manicured hedges, and minimalist modern architecture.

Kaya didn’t wait for Hiro to open her door. She unbuckled her seatbelt, pulled the handle, and stepped out onto the pristine concrete driveway with the effortless grace of someone entirely in her element. She took a deep breath of the city air, a faint, genuine smile finally touching the corners of her lips.

Inside the SUV, however, a completely different story was unfolding.

Cutie reached for the door, his massive, scarred hand fumbling with the plastic panel. He accidentally hit the lock switch. A loud *click* echoed through the cabin. Veer, completely unfamiliar with automotive mechanics, saw Cutie struggling and decided to apply a little pressure to his own door, pulling on the armrest instead of the handle.

Hiro sat in the driver’s seat, staring at the rearview mirror in absolute disbelief.

The two giant, terrifying men who looked like they could snap a telephone pole in half were completely trapped by a childproof lock and a basic door handle. They were fumbling, grunting, and looking at the glass windows with rising panic, as if the metal beast had suddenly decided to eat them.

*Does this guy not know what a car is?* Hiro thought, completely dumbfounded. *Where the hell did she find them?*

Letting out a heavy sigh, Hiro pressed the central unlock button on the dashboard, unbuckled his seatbelt, and physically got out to open the rear doors from the outside.

Veer and Cutie practically spilled out onto the driveway, eyeing the SUV with deep, lingering suspicion. But as they straightened up, their attention was instantly stolen by the villa in front of them.

They stared at the massive, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, the perfectly angled concrete, the automated sprinkler system watering the lawn, and the sleek, flawless design of the modern world. Their mouths fell open.

Suddenly, a profound, collective realization washed over both of them.

*This* was where Kaya came from. *This* was the standard of living she was used to. No wonder she had constantly complained about the damp obsidian walls, the dirt floors, and the lack of indoor plumbing in the Venom-tooth Canyons. They had thought they were giving her a palace, but compared to this structure, the Free Clan’s fortress was essentially a glorified cave.

They stood on the driveway in their human forms, their wings and animal ears completely hidden by the strange magic of their transition to Earth. To any outsider, they just looked like two incredibly handsome, massively built, but distinctly strange men. Mentally normal? Questionable. But physically, they passed for human.

Kaya walked calmly toward the front door of the villa, entering the passcode on the digital keypad. The door hissed open, and the two warlords followed her inside like lost, awestruck ducklings.

Half an hour later, Kaya stepped out of the villa’s master bathroom, a cloud of fragrant steam billowing out behind her.

She was smiling—a bright, unrestrained expression of pure, unadulterated joy. For the first time in two years, she had taken a real bath. No boiling river water in a wooden tub, no harsh lye soap, and no fear of a poisonous spider dropping from the ceiling. Just scalding hot water, high-end shampoo, and absolute safety.

She was wrapped in a plush, white cotton robe, toweling her wet hair dry. She glanced at the digital clock on the wall, noting the time, and walked into the massive walk-in closet to change.

While Kaya’s transition back to modern luxury was seamless, the same could not be said for her companions.

Down the hall, the guest bathing quarters were an absolute disaster zone. It had taken a team of seven of Hiro’s trusted, highly confused house staff to manage the two men. Veer and Cutie, possessing the physical strength of apex predators and absolutely zero understanding of modern plumbing, had treated the bathroom like a battlefield.

In the span of an hour, they had accidentally ripped three stainless steel taps clean off the sinks by turning them too hard. They had snapped four showerheads off the walls while trying to figure out how to adjust the water pressure, flooding the marble floor with two inches of soapy water. The servants had been running back and forth with towels, completely terrified of the two giants who kept barking at the metal fixtures in a foreign, guttural language.

But finally, the ordeal was over.

An hour after she had entered her room, Kaya stepped back out into the main hallway. She had discarded the heavy, bloodstained tunic of the beast world. She was now dressed in a sharp, modern outfit—a pair of high-waisted tailored shorts and a crisp, white button-down shirt.

She stood in the hallway, calmly rolling up the sleeves and fixing her cuffs, her cold, commanding aura returning as she adjusted to the familiar clothing.