Reborn With a Money-Making System: Ruined Actress to Nation's Treasure-Chapter 118: Where the Monsters Wear Tuxedos

Author’s POV

"Shut up!" Dorian suddenly snapped at Madeline, his voice echoing through the hall. The outburst shocked her, and everyone around them. "Stop talking already! Every time you open your mouth, my head feels like it’s going to explode!"

On the other side, Lando wasn’t surprised at all, because he had seen Dorian lose his temper plenty of times. People thought Maxwell was the wild one, but in the Brixton family, the real unstable one was always Dorian.

He could act gentle one second, then turn into a monster the moment someone pointed out his mistakes or stressed him out. It was like a switch flipped in his brain.

Lando learned that the hard way back in middle school. He once brought home a little stray puppy he found shivering on the street. The poor thing barked nonstop because it was terrified of people.

He asked Henry to take the puppy home with him first, at least until it calmed down. But Henry could only go home two days later, so the puppy had to stay with Lando for a while.

Unfortunately, when Lando left for school, Dorian killed the poor puppy by throwing it from the third floor again and again.

When he came home from school, the little puppy was already in the trash can with broken bones and blood everywhere.

Lando couldn’t even react when he saw such a horrifying scene right in front of him. The only word that came out of his mouth at that moment was, "Why?"

Dorian didn’t even look guilty. "That dog was noisy."

That was it.

Just because it kept barking, he threw it from the third floor instead of simply moving it somewhere farther from the main house.

Lando could never understand how Dorian’s mind worked, but at least he learned one thing: he shouldn’t bring animals home if he didn’t want Dorian to hurt them.

Maybe that was also why he only dared to keep animals in his house after Helcia brought five stray kittens.

"D-Dorian... why are you yelling at me?" Madeline stuttered now, shaking as the man she thought she knew turned into someone terrifying.

Lando wondered if their relationship was that shallow? Had she really never seen this side of him before?

"Because you’re loud and annoying!" Dorian shouted back. "Why ask stupid questions? Why would I ever buy a fake necklace?!"

He took a deep breath and rubbed his face harshly. "No, no, no—you’re the one who bought that necklace, not me! I gave you the money, so of course you bought it!"

His words made people around gasp, because earlier Madeline said Dorian was the one who bought it.

Madeline flushed red with embarrassment. "I-I didn’t buy a fake one! I got it from a collector!" she cried. "Why are you blaming me now?!"

They kept arguing back and forth, while Helcia immediately took the necklace back from Diana before either of them tried to snatch it.

"Oh, Madeline, you shouldn’t act like that," Helcia said sweetly, smiling like a knife. "Your husband trusted you with the money... and instead of getting the real thing, you bought a cheaper one and kept the rest."

She turned to Diana. "Ms. Reiss, any idea how much this imitation is worth?"

Diana tossed the necklace lightly in her hand to feel the weight, and after a moment she said, "Maybe around $100k or so."

Even though the price still sounded impressive, compared to thirty million dollars, it was a fucking joke.

Dorian’s eyes turned red with rage, and he shouted, "Are you fucking kidding me?! Then where’s the rest of the money I gave you?! I told you to buy that necklace and give it to me after this event!"

Lando faintly heard people whispering around them.

"What? So he never planned to give that necklace to her in the first place?"

"Seriously? Did he only buy it to show off, but thought his fiancée wasn’t worthy of it?"

"Honestly, it looks like that. He kept yelling at her nonstop too."

"Compared to him, Young Master Lando is way better. He really gave the real necklace to his wife."

"But wasn’t that necklace bought by his boss?"

"So what? If he didn’t love his wife, he would’ve sold the necklace instead of giving it to her!"

Lando shifted his gaze and focused on Helcia instead of Dorian. If someone had a wife like her, how could they not fall in love with her?

She was the full package of beauty, brains, and kindness. There were still many things he didn’t know about her, but Lando didn’t want to force her to open up. He preferred to let her share things at her own pace.

Meanwhile, Helcia found Dorian and Madeline’s fight extremely entertaining. She even wanted to clap, because finally someone said out loud that Madeline was annoying and noisy.

But as Dorian’s voice grew louder and harsher, Helcia instinctively took a step back. He truly did look scary when he snapped like that.

Lando would never scream at her like that.

[Congratulations, Host! You have successfully completed your mission: Humiliate Madeline in front of everyone!]

[Reward: $100,000 has been credited to your account.]

[Remaining Balance: $465,976]

Helcia couldn’t help but smile slightly because her balance was now almost half a million dollars.

Not long after, Victor finally stepped between Dorian and Madeline. He looked furious, likely not expecting his precious son to be the one humiliated in public.

"Go cool your head outside," Victor hissed quietly. "Don’t embarrass me here!"

After being scolded, Dorian let out a harsh sigh and stormed out of the hall. Madeline followed him, but kept a bit of distance, clearly afraid he might lash out at her in his anger.

Victor turned to Lando with that cold, judging look he always had. "What kind of relationship do you have with the owner of Zentra?" he asked. "Even I haven’t met him."

"We’re friends," Lando replied calmly. "I met him during my studies abroad."

Victor narrowed his eyes, still looking down on his disabled son, even after Lando told him he knew another billionaire.

"You should find successful people to befriend," Victor scoffed. "His company isn’t even that impressive."

Instead of getting angry, Lando almost laughed. If Zentra was truly so unimpressive, Victor wouldn’t even bother saying its name.

He knew Victor had already sensed that Zentra had a bright future and might even become a threat one day.

"I understand, Father," Lando said. He didn’t want to prolong their family drama in front of so many guests.

Victor then turned around and addressed the crowd. "I apologize for the inconvenience earlier! Please understand..." He forced a smile, one that looked completely fake to Lando. "It’s difficult to handle so many sons, so sometimes they argue like this."

Lando clicked his tongue quietly. Calling constant humiliation and cruelty a "brotherly fight" was the biggest joke of the night.

Maxwell then walked up to Lando. "Why do you always cause trouble?" he sneered. "This is why I get so sick of seeing your face."

Lando scoffed. "Funny. I’d rather look at dog shit than look at you as well."

"You—!" Maxwell stepped closer, but before he could take another step, Helcia lifted her arm in front of him and pushed him away.

"Go away before I kick your legs," she said calmly.

Maxwell glared at her, clearly wanting to hit Helcia for irritating him, but Lando pulled her behind him.

"Leave, Maxwell," Lando said sharply. He wasn’t joking at all as he stood—seated on the wheelchair—in front of his wife protectively.

Maxwell scoffed and walked off, throwing a hateful glare at both of them.

"Your brothers are a bunch of jerks," Helcia muttered while pushing Lando’s wheelchair back to their table. "Good thing I controlled myself and didn’t kick them for real."

Lando chuckled once she sat down. "You don’t need to provoke them. I don’t want you getting hurt."

Helcia sighed softly. As Helcia thought back, she realized one of his brothers didn’t say anything earlier.

Kai Brixton just sat quietly with his wife, Giselle, pretending not to see anything.

He probably just wanted to maintain his good reputation, since everyone always saw him as the kind and polite one.

But let’s be honest, he would’ve looked much better if he had defended his disabled brother instead of staying silent like that.

"Do we have to stay until the end of this event?" Helcia asked. She had barely touched the food in front of her. All the chaos from earlier had completely killed her appetite.

More than that, she felt sick every time she saw Lariette’s face here.

"We can leave now if you want," Lando said. "We’re sitting in the corner anyway."

Helcia let out a small sigh of relief. "Good. If I stay here any longer, I might actually throw this plate at someone."

When the MC announced a singer to step onto the stage and the lights dimmed, Helcia and Lando quietly slipped out of the suffocating event.