Chapter 110: The Narcissistic Protagonist

Julian," Ethan retorted in a cold, rigid voice, "do you honestly think I care about these superficial things?"

"Not everyone in this world is as greedy and shallow as you are!"

Money cannot buy true happiness.

He didn’t give a damn about the wealth Victoria had thrown around! Even if he were forced to live a life of total poverty, hunger, and destitution, he would never voluntarily step foot inside Rose Manor ever again—the gilded prison that had kept him trapped in suffocating captivity.

In this lifetime, he swore he would absolutely, under no circumstances, ever allow himself to be imprisoned by Victoria Sterling again!

"Julian," Ethan continued, putting on an unctuous mask of righteous concern, "we are classmates after all, so let me give you some friendly, well-meaning advice: do not associate with someone as unhinged as Victoria Sterling."

"Victoria is a manipulative demon. One day, she will inevitably lock you away and keep you trapped in a single cage forever. When that day comes, you will lose all your friends, your freedom, and everyone you love."

Julian raised an eyebrow, quietly amused.

Strictly speaking, what Ethan was saying was absolute truth—it was a literal, painful trauma Ethan had personally suffered through in his previous life.

In the original web novel, Victoria’s patience had finally snapped after Ethan repeatedly smuggled corporate funds and gifts out to help Cindy, alongside his endless, stubborn attempts to run away back to Cindy’s side.

As a result, Ethan had been completely and permanently locked away.

From that moment on, Ethan’s resistance had turned suicidal, desperately trying to smash his way out of Rose Manor time and time again. Ultimately, that toxic obsession had culminated in the fiery car crash that killed them both.

However, Ethan’s speech right now wasn’t genuinely motivated by brotherly concern for Julian’s welfare; it was merely a defensive psychological reflex aimed at invalidating Julian’s success and trying to manipulate him into walking away from Victoria.

He wanted Julian to break up with her.

"Honestly, I think staying with her sounds pretty great," Julian replied calmly, raising an eyebrow. "Being imprisoned by Victoria doesn’t sound like a bad deal at all."

"Rose Manor is massive, fully staffed, and contains absolutely everything a human could ever desire or dream of. There are servants waiting hand and foot on you twenty-four hours a day, so you certainly wouldn’t suffer from boredom while living there."

Ethan stared at Julian as if he had just sprouted a second head, looking like he had heard the most insane sentence in human history.

"Julian... did you actually just say you agree to being imprisoned by Victoria?! Do you have any mental grasp of what that actually means?! In the end, Victoria will become the single, absolute only human being left in your entire universe!"

"You’re a grown, able-bodied man! How can you be so spineless as to willingly let yourself be trapped by a woman forever?!"

Julian nodded smoothly. "Yes, I am completely willing."

In fact, if it weren’t for that goddamn system constantly threatening him with ridiculous disciplinary punishments and forcing him to attend university classes, he would already be happily lying back and relaxing inside the luxurious master suite of Rose Manor right now.

"Julian..."

Ethan took a deep, shuddering breath, his voice tightening. "You might not feel the terror of it right now while things are sweet, but the moment the cage door slams shut and you’re locked away, you’ll finally understand what living hell is like."

"Let me state this clearly one last time: I strongly advise you to dump Victoria Sterling as fast as humanly possible."

"Otherwise, you are going to plunge yourself into a bottomless abyss of trouble."

Julian smiled lightly. "Ethan, I truly appreciate your kind warning... but walking away from Victoria is completely, 100% out of the question for me. I genuinely enjoy being kept."

Ethan Mercer: "..."

Hearing that final, unyielding declaration, Ethan’s face darkened into a stormy glare.

"Julian, you surely don’t actually believe that Victoria Sterling genuinely likes you as a person, do you?" Ethan scoffed, his tone dripping with condescension.

Julian raised an eyebrow playfully. "We are official boyfriend and girlfriend. If she doesn’t like me, who else on earth could she possibly like?"

Standing right beside them, Sean couldn’t help but interject loudly, throwing his hands up: "Exactly! If President Sterling doesn’t like Brother Julian, how on earth could she possibly like you, of all people?"

Upon hearing those words, Ethan instinctively straightened the collar of his jacket, puffing out his chest and pulling his spine into a rigidly upright posture.

"That’s where you’re completely wrong," Ethan declared with towering, unshakeable confidence. "To answer your question: Victoria Sterling likes me."

The surrounding air instantly froze dead still for several long, awkward seconds.

"Pfft... hahahahaha!"

Sean snapped first, bursting out into a violent, uncontrollable fit of laughter as he clutched his stomach. He laughed so hard his eyes watered and his breathing hitched. "Ethan... are you completely out of your mind?! Do you even possess basic self-awareness about what kind of person you are?"

"You’re just an ordinary-looking, aggressively narcissistic guy whose only redeeming trait used to be his decent test scores—until you got busted red-handed trying to cheat on your exams today!"

"What on earth makes you delusional enough to think President Sterling would ever like you? Do you honestly walk around thinking the world revolves around you? Just who gave you that kind of astronomical confidence?!"

Today had truly been an educational, eye-opening experience for Sean. He had never in his life encountered a human being suffering from this extreme, terminal level of narcissism.

Yet, Ethan remained completely unfazed by the mockery, his expression dead serious and utterly convinced of his own delusion. "Even if my physical appearance is ordinary, I am precisely the type of man that Victoria Sterling is destined to fall in love with at first sight."

In his past life, Victoria had fallen in love with him at first sight.