Though she was told to stand, Jasminette remained kneeling on the floor, unable to rise.
"I was wrong. I should not have spoken out of turn and upset you. Please, punish me, my leader."
The proprietress said nothing, merely smiling faintly as she watched quietly.
Finally, as Jasminette nearly ground her teeth to bits from the tension, she heard the proprietress speak softly.
"Did you not hear me when I told you to get up?"
Startled, Jasminette quickly scrambled to her feet, daring not to utter another word.
"I know what you're thinking. But in my presence, you'd best keep your thoughts to yourself, or I won't hesitate to replace you."
With that, the proprietress slowly stood up, still holding her cigarette holder, and left without another word.
Jasminette didn't dare linger and quickly followed.
After they left, the entire café didn't sense anything amiss, except for a waiter who passed by the window and suddenly felt something was off, scratching his head unconsciously.
"Strange, was there a customer sitting here just now? Why can't I remember at all?"
The waiter picked up some leftover items with a puzzled look but quickly forgot about the incident, getting caught up in other tasks instead.
...
John and his companions went straight to House Sterling.
Upon learning that John was visiting, Archibald's father was naturally very pleased and instructed Archibald to take good care of John, before busying himself with other matters.
Leopold couldn't help but sigh at the treatment John received.
"When I came here before, he didn't have such a good temper."
Archibald rolled his eyes, "You come to my house almost every day, you practically live here, so of course my dad doesn't make a fuss over you. But it's different with Big Brother."
It was John's first visit, so naturally, they needed to entertain him properly to avoid any negative gossip!
Archibald instructed the kitchen to prepare a lavish meal.
During the meal, he finally couldn't help but ask, "But Big Brother, why did we come back today? Since we already discovered it's about Rose Bar, why can't we just continue our investigation there?"
Leopold, though also a bit confused, didn't dare to ask further, fearing he might get snapped at again.
"The people from Rose Bar are watching us now, which means whatever we do, they'll be keeping an eye on us. So, it might be better to throw them off," Amelia explained, seeing the confusion on his face.
"Let them think we won't investigate any further. Then we can return to Rose Bar tonight and resolve the matter."
Archibald's eyes widened, a look of sudden understanding on his face.
"So that's it, how did I not think of that?"
"Alright, alright, can you tone it down a bit? What if you mess up Big Brother's plans? What will you do then?"
Archibald cast a worried glance at John, but John just smiled and shook his head.
"We'll be splitting up for a while. I'll head over to the street where Rose Bar is located, and you'll have other assignments."
Everyone instinctively looked towards John as he lowered his voice and shared his plan with them.
Amelia and Isabella were stunned.
Amelia frowned slightly and looked at John.
"Are you sure? This is really dangerous. Can you really handle it alone?"
Isabella also showed clear disapproval.
"Knowing that the proprietress might be a diamond-tier or higher power, going there alone is akin to a suicide mission!"
It's true that John could take on diamond-tier elite monsters and even semigod-tier fighters in the secret realm, but that was largely due to the buffs available there!
And in the secret realm, they did not fear death, but outside it was a different matter.
Outside, if you die, you truly die!
"If this is a diamond-tier or higher adversary, then wouldn't it be a suicide mission for you all to come with me too? So, it's better that just I risk it than all of us," John joked, but Archibald was seriously worried.
"Big Brother, we can't let you go alone; I'll go back with you!"
Leopold was also anxious, "Yes, this is too dangerous. I definitely won't feel at ease letting you go alone!"
John saw their worried expressions and waved his hand dismissively.
"Alright, I know what I'm doing. Don't worry about me, just make sure you take care of yourselves and meet me at the arranged spot later!"
With that, John turned and walked away.
Leopold and Archibald watched John's retreating figure with concern, glancing involuntarily towards Amelia.
"Should we really let him go alone? Isn't that too dangerous?"
Isabella gave Archibald a cool look and then turned to leave herself.
"What, was what I said so hard to understand? Why ignore me?"
Isabella's departure left Archibald feeling rather hurt.
He hadn't said anything particularly outrageous, just a simple question, yet it seemed to be taken so poorly.
Amelia looked at Archibald with a hint of amusement.
"If you go now, you'd only be adding to his troubles."
John... is not so easily defeated.