Ch. 1146..1150: The Secretly Rich Man Chapter 1146-1150
Chapter 1146
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1146 Gerald found himself furrowing his brows as he walked over the young lord whose limbs were now trembling vigorously.
“…Do you not have any other tactics to show?” asked Gerald in slight disbelief.
“P-please spare my life… I’m the young lord and the entire Holy Witchcraft is on my side…!” replied the young lord as he began crawling backward rather pitifully due to his legs going limp from fear.
“…Is that really all you’ve got?” said Gerald, stupefied but also slightly amused by the turn of events.
He was, of course, laughing at himself. After all, to think that he had actually fallen for the young lord’s taunts earlier! Gerald had to admit that he had initially thought that the young lord was truly a mysterious, powerful person. Why else could the young lord behave so recklessly?
As it turned out, the young lord was actually just a young warrior who had just gained his inner strength!
“You know, I’ve heard plenty about you, young lord… It seems that you’ve done a lot of wicked things in the past few years…” said Gerald as he glared at the youth.
“I-I…” stammered the terrified youth… However, the young lord’s eyes suddenly went fierce as he swiftly waved his long robes!
Seeing that, Gerald’s reflexes caused him to take a step back in anticipation of an attack. However, he realized a split second later that no attack was coming. As a result, Gerald immediately dashed toward the young lord, his arm stretched out to grab onto him!
However, the moment Gerald grabbed onto the black robe, he realized that the young lord was no longer there!
“…Oh? Golden escape? Now things are getting slightly more interesting!” muttered Gerald as he smiled faintly.
Feeling his ears twitch, Gerald was able to hear where the young lord was currently escaping to. Knowing that he had locked onto his target, Gerald immediately gave chase.
By the time night had fallen, Gerald found himself running in the middle of a dense forest as he continued chasing after the young lord.
Without any street lamps around, light was getting scarce and the bewildered Gerald found himself saying, “How odd… His aura is definitely present, but where could he be hiding…?”
With that, Gerald closed his eyes momentarily before opening them again. This time, however, there was a green sheen on his irises.
Scanning through the area, his eyes finally stopped when he noticed a small cask—one that was typically used to water seedlings—near one of the trees.
Smiling subtly, he then walked toward it. Seeing a lid on the cask, he kicked it open and took a look inside. While it only seemed to be filled with water, the water itself appeared to be shaking slightly.
Squatting down, Gerald then stared at the cask while muttering in slight astonishment, “Golden escape and bone crush, huh? Both tactics used to escape battle… I’m good at witchcraft too, you know? However, I’ve yet to see any true skills from you. I do wonder what the Holy Witchcraft has taught you… After all, you don’t seem like you’ll be mastering these two tactics without practicing them for at least a few more decades!”
By the end of Gerald’s sentence, the water suddenly began quivering even more.
Shaking his head in resignation, Gerald then placed his hand in the water. Soon enough, his finger touched one of the hidden young lord’s acupuncture points…
The moment that happened, the young lord’s body was forced to spread out, resulting in the cask busting open!
After coughing vigorously for quite some time while lying on the ground, the young lord finally found his voice and said, “…You… Who the hell even are you…? We’re both probably around the same age…! How are you even more powerful than my grandma?!”
Following that, the young lord then looked at Gerald with fearful eyes, looking like he was ready to burst into tears at any second.
“There’s no need for you to know who I am. All you need to know is that if you don’t answer my questions honestly, a terrible death awaits you!” warned Gerald as he gently patted the terrified youth’s shoulder.
“…Y-your statement earlier… I didn’t learn these skills from the Holy Witchcraft… Angelica was the one who had taught me how to escape while I was out having fun at sea when I was eight…” said the terrified young lord hurriedly.
“…Angelica?” asked Gerald, surprised.
True to what the young lord had earlier said, both he and Gerald were around the same age. Logically, one would need to train for decades in order to master the two tactics he had mentioned earlier. In fact, many people would probably spend their entire lives training to get better at those tactics, yet fail to even reach the young lord’s proficiency in them.
With that in mind, it was certainly surprising for Gerald to find out that there was another person like Finnley—his master—out there who could help others gain twice the training results with only half the effort.
“Y-yes!”
“Then after teaching you those skills, was it also Angelica who had told you to do all those evil deeds? Evil deeds like rape and robbery? You know, if I hadn’t come to Montholm Island, my friend would’ve probably been ruined by you now!” growled Gerald, a hint of murderous intent in his eyes.
Hearing that, the young lord knew that if he hadn’t used his two skills earlier, there was a high chance that he would’ve already become a corpse by now.
“…I-I know I’ve done a lot of evil things in the past few years… But know that I didn’t mean to do them! I… I just really hate women! All of them without exception!” declared the young lord who was still lying on the ground as he grabbed tightly onto some grass on the ground…
Chapter 1147
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1147 From how pained his voice had sounded as the young lord continued lying on the ground, it was almost as though he was thinking about some unspeakable grief.
“…You… hate women?” inquired Gerald as he couldn’t help but stare coldly at the young lord.
“You probably wouldn’t believe me even if I explained it to you… After all, from the moment I was born, I’ve always only been known as the high and mighty young lord of the Holy Witchcraft… While everyone tends to get jealous of me, I can safely say that throughout the years, I’ve never truly been happy… You know, I’ve hated that woman ever since I was young… Because of her, I ended up hating all other women! The woman in question… She was my mother!” explained the young lord.
Upon hearing that, Gerald felt his eyelids twitch slightly.
He had never heard of anyone claiming to resent their mother as strongly as the young lord had… After all, who on this planet wouldn’t love the one who had birthed them? However, Gerald could sense that the young lord wasn’t lying due to the immense pain reflected in the youth’s eyes.
Could it truly be that this cruel and unscrupulous man was only the way he currently was due to difficulties he had previously encountered?
“…Why exactly do you hate her?”
“…I was three when my first memory came to be… I… I witnessed that scene right before my very eyes… My mother… She killed my father in front of me!” said the young lord, his voice sounding even more pained than before.
“…I still remember my father’s expression back then… Before he died, he had wanted to hold my hand one last time, you know…? As a mere child, I was beyond terrified back then… She didn’t have the slightest regret in her at all… Hell, she didn’t even care about me! Even after all these years, that scene keeps playing back in my mind… It’s like a curse that wishes to continue torturing me till the end of time!”
“And she wasn’t the only one either! Grandma disliked me as well! She kept scolding me… Calling me an illegitimate child… If I wasn’t the only child of the Tindall family, I truly believe that I would’ve already been beaten to death long ago by those two monstrous women… In the end, I took up their surname so I now belong to the Tindalls of the Holy Witchcraft… It’s an immense pity that even till this very day, I still don’t know what my father’s surname is…!”
Following that, the young lord looked up before adding, “You must be thinking how chaotic the relationships within my family are, correct? Humph! …You see, my father was a live-in husband… I took up my mother’s surname and my grandma is actually from the maternal side of the family…”
“Regardless, since I was treated that way by both of them, I’ve always had an innate feeling that all women are wicked! …However, I’m also aware that the women I’ve hurt before this were innocent. You can choose not to believe me, but every time I hurt a woman, I end up repenting for a very long time… Hell, I even wish to compensate the families of the women I’ve hurt… However, as the young lord, I simply can’t do that… I have to constantly obey my grandma’s orders… After all, we from the Holy Witchcraft are far more superior compared to anyone else… Due to that, we are expected to be decisive when killing others when we do so!”
“But… I just can’t! I can’t be decisive when taking an innocent life! However, my grandma keeps wanting me to learn how to kill others! You know, I was already starting to turn wild and evil before my attempt to run away when I was eight…”
“It stemmed from an event that had happened when I was still in first grade… Back then, I got to know a particularly kind girl who went by the name of Lola Leeman… She was the reason why my views began wavering back then… She showed me that such good girls existed in the world as well… While I tried to resist thinking that way for the longest time, eventually, her enthusiasm and kindness ended up touching me. From that point on, we began learning and playing together… Such simple times…”
Laughing slightly bitterly as he reminisced, the young lord then continued, “…We made a promise, you know? That we would marry each other once we grew up… I distinctly remembered her telling me that while we were on our way home from school one day… Upon hearing that, I asked if she would kill me in the future, which resulted in her chuckling all the way home… Naturally, we were just fooling around back then… What would we know about love at that age… That, however, was the last evening I ever met her… She had been killed, and it was only sometime later when I came to learn that the murderer was my grandma!”
Upon saying that, the young lord began crying as he dug his fingers into the ground, holding on to whatever dirt he could, tightly.
“After that happened, I told myself that I would run away as far as I could to distance myself from those two women… With that in mind, I rowed a boat out into sea together with Lola’s cremated remains… After all, Lola once told me that she loved the idea of watching the sunset while riding a boat… Granting her wish was the least I could do…”
“After rowing for quite a while, I realized that I could no longer tell where the shore was. With the sun quickly setting, I thought that I was definitely going to starve to death out at sea back then. However, it was then when I first bumped into Angelica… She looked extremely beautiful and gentle, and to be frank, her character was very similar to Lola’s… At the time, she had been standing atop a wooden boat all dressed in white as she played her flute… She honestly looked like a fairy, now that I think about it…”
Hearing that, Gerald couldn’t help but focus more on the young lord’s story.
Finnley had previously taught Gerald the mind-reading tactic. After learning it, Gerald found that as long as someone was weaker than him, he would definitely be able to see through them. It was because of that, that Gerald knew that the young lord hadn’t been lying this entire time.
What caught his attention, however, was the young lord’s mention of a woman dressed in white. How intriguing…
A woman playing a flute atop a wooden boat out at sea when it was nearing dusk… Gerald’s mental image of the young lord’s description made him feel that the woman in white was definitely an extraordinary person…
“…Regardless, she was the one who had saved me… She was also the one responsible for teaching me a few skills such as bone crush, golden escape, and turtle breathing tactics… She told me to continue training the skills in secret, making sure nobody knows about them… According to her, the skills would eventually help me manage my destiny!” added the young lord as he wiped his tears away.
“…I, Chestar Tindall, have said everything that I’ve needed to… After letting out all of this, I can’t deny that I’m feeling better than ever, knowing that once I’m dead, I won’t have to bear this heavy burden anymore… Thank you for taking the time to listen to my story… Before you kill me, please allow me to ask for one final favor from you!” said Chester.
“What is it?” asked Gerald.
Chapter 1148
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1148 “Throughout the years, I’ve hurt a total of seven women… Before I die, I wish to beg for their forgiveness… Only then will I be able to rest in peace… Perhaps I may still be able to meet Lola after doing so…” said Chester extremely sincerely.
Hearing that, Gerald simply nodded slightly without saying another word, a clear sign of his approval.
Gerald was fine with granting him his request since it truly seemed like Chester wished for repentance. The fact that Chester remembered where every single one of the seven women he had hurt lived made Gerald even more sure that Chester was serious about his request.
Soon enough, Chester and Gerald made their way over to a farmer’s house. Once the door was opened, the pale-faced Chester kneeled before the family of three which consisted of the daughter he had hurt alongside her parents.
“Y-young lord?! T-to what do we owe the pleasure…?” stuttered the father, as all three of them trembled in fear.
“I have come to beg for your forgiveness! While I’m well aware that I probably can’t ever compensate for all the mistakes I’ve made, I promise to do anything you ask me to in an attempt to make up for what I’ve done! I don’t mind taking my life either!” declared Chester.
“T-there’s no need for any of that!” squealed the daughter—who had previously been his victim—in a terrified tone as she hid behind her parents while shaking her head rapidly.
“I beg of you! Please, allow me to do something to show my sincerity!” pleaded the young lord as he continued kneeling there.
“As he’s said, you can tell him to do anything. Even telling him to kill himself isn’t out of the option! Go on, take your pick…” added Gerald—who had been standing beside Chester this entire time—as he looked at the family of three.
“T-there’s no need for any unnecessary deaths! …Regardless… If you truly wish to do something, young lord… um… T-then help us fill up that water tank over there!” replied the daughter as she pointed at a water tank.
“…Huh?” said Chester, momentarily stunned. However, he quickly returned to his senses before nodding and heading over to the well to begin his task. Soon enough, the water tank was completely filled.
“That’ll do!” said the family who were clearly still afraid of him, but not as terrified as they initially were. After all, the young lord didn’t seem to have his usual awe-inspiring aura surrounding him at the moment… It made them feel that they could at least relax a bit more around him.
Hearing that, Chester then stood before them again before saying, “I… don’t have much saved, but here’s a hundred and fifty thousand dollars! Please, accept it!”
With that, Chester held out the money to the trio until they finally gave in and accepted the cash.
Following that, Chester and Gerald left the family’s house to repeat the process with the other six families on Montholm Island.
Eventually, Chester kneeled before Jasmine once they arrived at the manor where Gerald was currently staying at.
Seeing the young lord, Jasmine quickly hid behind Gerald before shouting, “A-ah! He’s here, Gerald!”
“…While I didn’t physically hurt you, Miss Fenderson, I’ve still hurt Lord Fenderson and your family member… Both of them nearly died because of me, and I truly hope that you’ll be willing to forgive me…”
Chapter 1149
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1149 Hearing that, Jasmine turned to look at Gerald rather doubtfully.
It was only a little while later when she realized that the one ruthless and arrogant young lord had now truly surrendered to Gerald.
“I apologize for all the mistakes I’ve made! I truly am sorry!” said Chester as he repeatedly lowered his head till his forehead touched the ground.
While she had initially wanted to kill him, after seeing how miserable he was, Jasmine simply replied, “…There’s no need to apologize any further to me… Instead, you should be apologizing to those who you’ve hurt. After all, while my family has made it through this daunting experience without mishap, that isn’t the case for the other families… Regardless, if it’s punishment you seek, then I’ll let Gerald make the final say! His words will be as good as mine!”
After saying that, Jasmine then turned to look at Gerald.
Women were sometimes like this. While Jasmine had first been uncertain whether she really had fallen for Gerald, when she first began getting rather dependent on him, she was almost certain that she truly was in love with him.
From that moment on, Jasmine had held those feelings for him in her heart.
It really was no mystery why damsels in distress who were saved by heroes usually ended up falling for them. Jasmine realized that she, too, had embodied the role of the damsel after being saved by Gerald so many times when she needed him most. With him constantly carrying her heavy burdens, she
naturally grew to have great dependence, admiration, and trust toward Gerald due to how good his impression was to her.
Quickly catching on to the underlying message of Jasmine’s words, Gerald felt his heart skip a beat. After all, he knew he couldn’t return her feelings.
Regardless, upon hearing that, Chester—who realized that he had now cleared all his sins—crawled toward Gerald before kneeling and saying, “Thank you for allowing me to fulfill my wish, Mr. Crawford… I now have no more regrets… You can kill me now…!”
Despite how determined Chester’s voice was when he said that, Gerald simply looked back at the young lord before replying, “I never said I would kill you immediately. Rather, I’d like you to do something for me!”
“Please state your desire, Mr. Crawford!” said Chester as he looked at Gerald gratefully.
“You see, I’m attempting to search for the king of the ocean’s palace, and I’m currently in need of helpers… Since you’re proficient in both the turtle breathing and bone crush technique, I believe that you’ll be a helper who’ll be able to survive under the sea for quite some time… Are you willing to lend a hand?” asked Gerald.
“Of course I’m willing to stay by your side and work for you, Mr. Crawford! At long last, I’ll be able to live like a normal person!” replied the shocked but greatly delighted Chester almost instantaneously.
“Think about it properly before replying… Are you truly sure that you’re willing to give up your identity as the young lord?” asked Gerald again.
“Without a doubt!” replied Chester without the slightest hesitation.
After all, after Gerald had listened to him pour his heart out, he had even helped him resolve the feelings of guilt that had been plaguing his mind for the longest time! While Chester had already been extremely grateful to him because of that, to think that Gerald would even consider sparing his life now!
There was just something special about Gerald that greatly moved Chester, even though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. Regardless, Chester felt that as long as he stayed by Gerald’s side, he would be able to feel that he hadn’t wasted his entire life on this planet up till this point.
“Very well. Then you’ll be coming along to the king of the ocean’s palace with me. Speaking of which, I’d also like you to investigate whether there’s a connection between the woman in white who saved you back then and the person I’m looking for…” said Gerald with a slight nod.
Chapter 1150
Gerald Crawford:The Secretly Rich Man Novel (Invisible or Poorest) Chapter 1150 It was at that moment when Yume led a middle-aged man into the room where Gerald and the other two currently were.
The moment Yume saw that Jasmine—who seemed to be as charming and attractive as Yume was— was standing quite close to Gerald, for some unknown reason, she couldn’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable.
Due to that discomfort, however, her tone was slightly harsher as she coldly said, “Here’s the person you were looking for, Gerald! Mr. Yarrow here had brought along all the island’s relevant information on that year!”
With that, she moved to stand on Gerald’s other side. Seeing that, Jasmine herself began carefully sizing up the beauty who was now standing as close to Gerald as she was.
As sparks flew between the two women, the middle-aged man—who was holding onto the information in his hands—greeted, “Mr. Crawford!”
“A pleasure to have you here, Mr. Yarrow. Please, have a seat.”
Tim Yarrow was someone from the cultural affairs bureau in Montholm City. According to what people had told Gerald, the man knew all about the development of Montholm City from ancient times till this very day. If one wanted to investigate the origins and history of this place, Tim was the perfect guy to look for.
After exchanging some pleasantries, Tim went straight to the point.
“So I’ve heard that you’re interested in the history of Montholm Island’s city construction, Mr. Crawford. With that in mind, I’ve investigated quite a bit into the subject this afternoon. You see, Montholm City actually began as a small fisherman village by the sea. Back then, there were only a mere hundred families inhabiting the area. As for the island’s history, I’m afraid that it originates from about ten thousand years ago… The evidence to back that claim up is the fossils that were successfully excavated on the island a few decades ago…”
“All this sounds very well recorded and I have no doubts about the evidence you speak of. However, Mr. Yarrow, I’d like to know if you’re aware of any legendary but well-founded unofficial historic events?” asked Gerald after hearing all that.
“Unofficial historic events you say? I’ll have you know that there are far too many of those! Forgive my enthusiasm, but researching unofficial historic events and gathering evidence to disprove the official ones has been a personal—and the only—hobby of mine for as long as I’ve lived! If that’s what you wish to ask me about then you can rest assured that you’ve found the right person!” replied Tim with a smile.
With that, he began detailing a few old legends to Gerald.
“Let’s see… It was about twenty years ago when I first started working. Through sheer coincidence, I came across a very ancient book in the cultural bureau’s library at the time! Its contents were simple, yet very ancient words that fascinated the younger me greatly!”
“I had reason to be so excited. After all, the words in that book were vastly different compared to the ancient words that could commonly be recognized and found. Since I had chosen to major in archaeology in university, I was lucky enough that one of my professors had taught me the meanings of a few ancient words. Once I was done deciphering the text, I found that the book was filled with legends and unofficial historic events. To put it in simpler and more modern terms, the person recording the legends seemed to be making memoirs.”
“Regardless, I also found out that the contents in the book had been extracted from a stone tablet. In other words, the story predated even the people who had transferred the memoirs into book format! As for the contents, it described an incident about an old man surviving through luck.”
“In the book, the old man had said that he was lucky enough to have been chosen to participate in a special funeral. The funeral itself was considered to be special since he was tasked with heading there to bury a fairy! As for the burial place, it was a magnificent palace under the sea!”
Hearing that, both Gerald and Yume couldn’t help but exchange glances in dismay.
“Moving on, the book then described how thirty-seven people—including the master—had carried the coffin all the way to Montholm Island. They had apparently made a stop here to rest due to a heavy storm.”
‘…Isn’t this… the same story from the six stone tablets…? I’m pretty sure it is! With any luck, the book hopefully contained what had happened after they came to the island. After all, I remember the following mural showing that the old beggar only had twenty-seven men with him after stopping by the island. Where had the nine other people disappeared to?’ Gerald thought to himself as his eyelids twitched slightly.
‘Come to think of it, the contents of the stone tablets seem more and more like an ancient epitaph of one of the nine people who had been left behind on the island… From the looks of it, the words seem to be describing said person’s entire life… Could that mean that the nine who were left behind didn’t die? What happened then? Why would they decide to stay behind halfway through their journey…?’
“It’s then stated in the memoir that after the writer arrived on Montholm island, his entire life was changed due to a scene that he witnessed which he claimed that he would never be able to forget for the rest of his life. To go into detail, the group of men was camping one night when all of a sudden, the heavens seemed to fall while the earth split open! Everyone was sure that calamity was about to befall
them and that the whole island was about to sink! However, as they were about to begin escaping, all of them saw an enormous, bronze house that hovered in the air!”
“Not only was the hovering house massive, but there also seemed to be people inside it! After one of the house’s inhabitants walked out, the large door of the flying house was slid open. The second that happened, the men—who were still on the island—immediately heard wretched wailing from inside the floating house!”
“Due to that, all of the men were scared half to death, and for good reason too. It’s described here that the wailing that those people made sounded like they were all suffering terribly…”