Chapter 179 Louis Is Abandoned
Chapter 179 Louis Is Abandoned
At ten o'clock in the morning, a massive press center near Paris City Hall was packed to capacity.
Journalists from over a hundred top-tier media outlets around the world crowded the conference hall with their cameras, leaving no room to spare.
Flashbulbs fired like dense lightning, so bright people could barely keep their eyes open.
Under the world's watchful gaze, the oak door at the rear side of the conference room slowly swung open.
Pierre, his hair silver-white and dressed in a black formal suit, supported a pale-faced young man as they stepped onto the platform, one careful step at a time.
The man wore a faded deep-gray cashmere cardigan, his frame gaunt, yet in his features one could still glimpse traces of the former head of the Valois family.
It was Erwin Valois—the man who had endured twenty-five years in hiding!
This was his first public appearance before the French people after a quarter-century on the run!
"Ladies and gentlemen of the press, citizens of France."
Erwin stood before the microphone, his eyes red-rimmed, his voice trembling violently from suppressed emotion and rage. "I am Erwin Valois, the only surviving legitimate bloodline from that unspeakable massacre at the estate twenty-five years ago."
"Today, I stand here for one reason only—to demand justice from the butcher who slaughtered my entire family: Louis Valois!"
With Erwin's tearful accusations, the bloodshed that had been buried for twenty-five years was laid bare before the French public.
Voice breaking, he described how his parents had fallen in pools of blood when he was five years old.
How Pierre had taken bullets for him and led him through filthy sewers, eating rats to survive.
How, for the past twenty-five years, they had lived like sewer rats, dodging Louis's relentless assassination attempts.
To prove his claims, Erwin trembled as he pulled from his coat pocket an antique pocket watch stained with dried black blood.
"This is what my father clutched in his hand when he was murdered. His blood is still on it!"
Erwin held the watch high, tears streaming down his pale cheeks. "And these photos... This is me with my parents on the lawn of the Valois Manor before I turned five..."
The large screen immediately displayed the yellowed old photographs.
The golden-haired little boy smiling innocently in the pictures overlapped with the haggard, hate-filled man on stage, instantly shattering everyone's emotional defenses.
The press conference was broadcast live globally via major television networks and online platforms.
In that moment, all of France was moved by Erwin's suffering. The public's sympathy erupted like a volcano!
"How tragic... He was supposed to be a noble heir, but he hid in the slums for twenty-five years!"
"Louis is an absolute monster! He didn't even spare his own brother!"
"A life for a life! Send Louis to the gallows!"
Waves of fury swept across the internet, and even The Evernight Order's PR team completely lost control of the narrative.
However, just as the press conference reached its climax.
Cornered and desperate, Louis urgently issued a hysterical clarification statement through a media outlet owned by his family.
[This is nothing but a despicable political persecution and commercial extortion! The man claiming to be Erwin is a fraud pulled from some slum! He's a pawn manipulated by competitors and criminal organizations, using fake tears to steal the Valois family's vast fortune! The Valois family will never yield to such lowlife scammers!]
Once this statement went public, some media outlets and citizens who had been on the fence fell into hesitation.
After all, after twenty-five years, no one could be one hundred percent certain of this man's identity based solely on a few photos and a pocket watch.
...
On the outskirts of Paris, the Valois Manor.
The once heavily guarded, bustling elite estate was now completely surrounded, layer upon layer, by fully armed French riot police and angry protesters.
Inside the manor.
Louis paced back and forth in the opulent living room like a cornered beast, hair disheveled, eyes bloodshot.
He didn't dare step outside. The moment he showed his face, the furious crowd would stone him to death.
"It's over... All over..."
Louis trembled violently, clutching his hair as he roared hysterically. "The police are right outside! They'll break in any second to arrest me! Ashfall! You have to save me! The Evernight Order can't abandon me!"
He whipped around and lunged like a groveling stray dog toward the handsome man seated on the leather sofa in the center of the living room.
However.
"Ashfall" was leisurely sipping expensive champagne, his demeanor lazy and arrogant as he savored the aroma.
He watched Louis crawl toward his feet, those pure blue eyes filled only with chilling indifference and disgust.
"Save you?"
Ashfall looked down at him from above, his thin lips parting to deliver words as cold as knife blades. "Louis, you seem to have some misunderstanding about The Evernight Order's rules. We don't shelter trash that's lost its usefulness."
"What?" Louis reeled as if struck by lightning, his face deathly pale.
"Ten minutes ago, The Evernight Order's Supreme Council issued a resolution."
Ashfall methodically set down his wine glass, a cruel smile curling his lips. "Since Erwin is the legitimate bloodline heir and has won the sympathy and support of the entire French public, having him replace you as the new head of the Valois family clearly serves The Evernight Order's interests better than you—a disgraced fugitive."
"After all, The Evernight Order only needs an obedient proxy. Whether that proxy is called Louis or Erwin makes absolutely no difference to us."
"No... You can't do this to me! I've served The Evernight Order for twenty-five years!" Louis wailed in despair, trying to grab Ashfall's pant leg.
Ashfall mercilessly kicked Louis away. He stood gracefully, smoothing his pristine white haute couture suit.
"Your fate will be decided by the police outside, or by that revenge-obsessed Erwin."
Ashfall didn't spare Louis another glance. Instead, he turned toward the floor-to-ceiling windows, his blue eyes fixed on the direction of central Paris, a bone-chilling bloodlust burning in their depths.
His reason for not immediately leaving this surrounded estate had nothing to do with Louis.
"But before that..."
Ashfall coldly gestured with his hand.
Dozens of The Evernight Order's most elite assassins emerged from the manor's shadows like ghosts.
"Deploy all the heavy firepower in the manor. Turn this place into a death trap—easy to enter, impossible to leave."
Ashfall raised his head arrogantly, a wildly deranged grin spreading across his face.
He knew perfectly well that a man like Reaper would never allow Louis to be taken alive by the police for some legal trial.
That demon would come for this head personally.
"Leo... You destroyed so many of The Evernight Order's operations. Did you really think you were invincible?"
"Tonight, I want to see how you—the so-called Reaper—will walk out alive from the grave I've carefully prepared for you!"