"Ohh... so that’s what happened." Ashley nodded as she turned to her side.

Lucian walked alongside her, pushing the cart while they did their groceries.

"Did you notice anything in the High Chamber?" she asked, moving to one of the aisles and grabbing some snacks. "Like any of them reacting strangely?"

He shook his head. "Poker is a game many in Dominion play as part of their training."

Meaning, showing a strong reaction from only a few words or even big actions was something everyone in Dominion was trained to avoid. Especially among Dominion’s higher ranks, they all knew how to keep a straight face—particularly in front of Lucian.

"Ah..." Ashley nodded as she grabbed more snacks from another section.

Lucian glanced at their cart before returning his attention to her. "But it was enough for them to take a step back. They won’t be making any moves for now."

Lucian was certain of that.

Hector’s only mistake was that he had become too impatient. Hence, he made foolish decisions. But not everyone in Dominion’s highest ranks was as careless as Hector.

Especially now that one of them had already paid the price.

"Still, they weren’t the ones behind the abduction, huh?" Ashley muttered as she held the front of the cart and lightly dragged it toward another section to grab more items. "Then again, it’d be weird if they were behind it."

Lucian nodded.

"They plan things too carefully and wouldn’t make that kind of mistake," she added with a hum, rocking her head thoughtfully. Then she snapped her eyes toward Lucian. "But that means whoever’s behind this will become more careful. They’ve already failed twice."

Her lips stretched from ear to ear, and he nodded in agreement.

Whoever the mastermind was, they wouldn’t risk a third attempt now that the stakes had become even higher after two failures.

Not to mention, everyone on Lucian’s side of Dominion was still on high alert.

"But honestly, I’m still very shocked," she admitted while checking a shelf of biscuits before grabbing several packs. "I mean..."

Ashley trailed off, dropped the bundle of biscuits into the cart, and faced him. "I didn’t expect Lukas to tell you about this right away."

"What were you expecting?"

"That... he’d sit on it?" she shrugged. "I’m not saying this so you’ll doubt him, but he just has that face!"

Intrigued, Lucian tilted his head slightly. "What about Gustav? Didn’t you have a hidden grudge against him?"

"It’s not a grudge. That’s a big word." She clicked her tongue, but Lucian had already noticed Ashley possessed certain hidden traits that weren’t too obvious because of how casually she acted around them.

But he realized that she could be very vengeful and petty.

"If it were a grudge, I would’ve settled it a long time ago," she answered casually as she checked another aisle for more food. "I just don’t forget easily."

Some people would say she was childish, but if someone looked closely, it was revenge disguised as recklessness.

She was more like a mirror.

Just as Gustav used to criticize her with quiet restraint, she also teased him with the same restraint. Nolan had always been gentle and considerate toward her, so she had always been considerate toward Nolan as well. Betty was nice to her, and she was even nicer in return.

The same went for Liza, Shyaan, Mr. Ramirez, and Tommy.

As for her bodyguards, who had been left behind because Lucian’s bodyguards accompanied them today, Lucian knew they weren’t emotionally attached to her. They had likely handled her roughly back when she used to escape, especially when it involved sedating her.

Lucian wasn’t fully aware of the details since Ashley was the one who experienced those moments with her guards.

Back then, he never thought much about it. But now, while doing something as ordinary as grocery shopping on his day off — while Ashley filled the cart with snacks as though she were preparing for a feeding program or relief goods — he found himself thinking about it.

"Like I was saying, Lukas just surprised me!" she exclaimed as she dumped another batch of snack bars into the cart.

He chuckled and pushed those thoughts aside. "Why?"

"Because he’s too arrogant!" she answered without missing a beat. "There’s nothing about him that I like."

"Lukas may be arrogant, but he’s competent," Lucian remarked. "Otherwise, he wouldn’t be my left hand."

"Still, he’s got attitude problems."

"It’s part of his job."

"Huh? His attitude is part of his job?" She looked up thoughtfully. "Well..."

As the couple continued walking, Lucian explained, "Gustav is meant to serve me without question. The moment Gustav starts questioning me is the moment I remove him from his post."

"What?"

"He is my right hand," Lucian shot her a sidelong glance. "And that is his role."

Her mouth formed an O-shape, slightly taken aback. All this time, she had believed Gustav was her number one love rival. Gustav worshipped Lucian better than she did, after all.

Who would’ve thought it was literally Gustav’s job to follow Lucian blindly?

"What about your left hand?" she blurted out after a second.

Lucian smiled subtly as she hurried to his side, staring up at him curiously. "His job is to question everything I do."

"Huh?"

"Just like a left hand for a right-handed person—you can use it for many things, but not as cleanly as your dominant hand." He raised his left hand while looking at her. "It exists to keep balance in power and to prevent the head of Dominion from becoming a tyrant... or making a mistake."

Holding so much power, Lucian didn’t always need a yes-man. And that was Lukas’s role: to question the logic behind Lucian’s decisions.

Ashley blinked, staring at Lucian with mixed emotions.

She already knew Dominion was both complicated and sophisticated, but this was the first time she had heard something like this.

"So Lukas’s attitude problem is fake?"

"No," he shook his head. "It’s a real problem. All the questions and opposition he raises are valid points, though. Which is why Gustav and he always clash."

Her face soured, earning another chuckle from him. But the explanation gave her new insight into Dominion’s internal structure.

"Anyway," Lucian changed the subject as he glanced at their cart, "why are we buying so many snacks and canned food?" 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Her brows rose as her eyes fell on the overloaded cart. When she looked back at him, her eyes narrowed mischievously while her grin stretched ear to ear.

*****

[Dominion New Neighborhood]

Red and his crew, along with Khan and his group, stood outside their doorstep staring blankly at the three large boxes stacked in front of them.

"What are these?" Gin blurted out, the dark circles under his eyes impossible to ignore.

Ashley, standing across from the boxes, crossed her arms and smirked smugly. Lucian stood a few steps behind her, watching the mischievous smile spreading across her face.

"I just thought you guys have been very nice to me lately," she hummed, fluttering her eyelashes. "So I thought I’d give you all a little reward."

Rum, who had already opened one of the boxes and seen the food inside, looked up at her blankly. "Wow," he muttered while rubbing his eyes. "Am I seeing an angel?"

Where was the devil witch, a.k.a, Ashley, they once knew?

"Enjoy all of that!" She winked before glancing toward Khan’s group. "You guys are lucky too."

With that, Ashley turned on her heel and skipped back toward Lucian, who was waiting for her. Smiling from ear to ear, the couple walked back toward their home.

As for the men, they remained standing there, watching the couple blankly.

"We’re nice to her?" Vodka looked up thoughtfully as he tried recalling what they had done lately. As far as he could remember, they had simply left her alone for an entire day.

"Because we left her alone?"

Everyone turned toward him, while Red’s crew scrunched up their noses until Nelek suddenly blurted out:

"She’s actually very simple, isn’t she?"

"Huh?" Rum made a confused sound. "What do you mean?"

"The madam helped us that night for one simple reason," Nelek explained. "Because we fed her her favorite noodles."

Everyone went silent, even Khan, who couldn’t remember that at all. Nelek instinctively took a step back as everyone stared at him so intensely that it was intimidating.

Then Rus stepped in. "He’s telling the truth."

Warriyo, who had somehow become Gin’s current best friend, nodded enthusiastically.

"Really?" Gin asked, and Warriyo nodded again.

"A hundred percent."

For a second, the five original guards fell silent before their eyes lit up like predators in the forest.

"What noodles were those?"

It was the first time Ashley had ever been generous toward them, and it felt... really nice. They needed her to become even nicer to them—by hook or by crook.