Nolan didn't usually leave his residence much. Most of the time, the servants took care of external affairs, and if he ever had to go to church, he was usually transported in a carriage.

But now, he needed to walk and clear his mind, with no clear destination beyond where he was headed.

As he walked away, Nolan realized how unfamiliar he was with the streets surrounding his mansion.

The buildings were majestic but distant. The place had a calm that bordered on suffocating, and while it brought him some peace, he felt disoriented.

"Which church did they take me to last time...?" Nolan murmured, a bit irritated with himself.

As he tried to remember the way, a loud noise pulled him from his thoughts.

He turned his head toward the commotion and, driven by a mix of curiosity and concern, hurried toward the source of the sound.

His footsteps echoed quickly on the stones as he felt his heart race.

Turning a corner, his gaze stopped on a scene that froze his blood: Emily, the girl from the bakery, was on the ground, surrounded by guards watching in silence while a noble spat at her with a look of pure disdain.

Nolan's heart lurched, and without thinking twice, his body reacted.

He felt rage build inside him with such intensity that he didn't bother to contain it.

Instinctively, he slowed down time around him.

The world seemed to freeze; the noble's movements became slow and heavy, and the laughter of the girls accompanying him faded into a distant echo.

Seizing the moment, Nolan lunged at the noble.

His fist, charged with all the frustration and anger he had bottled up over the past hours, struck the man squarely in the face, sending him flying several meters.

The noble crashed to the ground with a dull thud, and when time returned to its normal pace, everyone was left gaping.

From their perspective, Nolan had appeared out of nowhere.

The girls accompanying the noble let out muffled screams, one of them crying out in horror:

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"Are you insane!? You just hit the son of Duke Anton Serrel!"

Nolan didn't stop to process the information.

He didn't care about the man's rank or status.

All he saw was Emily, dirty and hurt, on the ground.

He bent down toward her, his expression softening as he reached out his hand.

Emily, still trembling and with eyes filled with unshed tears, looked at Nolan with a mix of relief and confusion.

She took his hand shakily, and though she was nervous, the warmth of his palm calmed her.

With a small effort, she rose from the ground as he helped her up. But it wasn't over yet.

The noble, after recovering from the blow, got up with difficulty, his face twisted in anger and humiliation.

"Who the hell do you think you are, daring to hit me when I'm unguarded?" he growled, wiping the blood dripping from his split lip.

Nolan, still holding Emily's hand, turned to face him, his gaze as cold as ice.

"It was me," he replied calmly, showing no signs of remorse.

The noble studied him, clearly trying to contain his rage.

"What's your rank here, huh? What right do you have to raise your hand against me?"

For a moment, Nolan tried to recall the proposal the king had made to him long ago, but he couldn't remember the details. So, he decided to go with something simpler.

"I'm a researcher," Nolan replied indifferently.

The noble laughed bitterly and derisively.

"A researcher!? You must be crazy! If I tell my father what you just did, I assure you, they'll cut off your head. My family has direct connections to the royalty!"

Nolan, unfazed, looked at him with barely concealed disdain.

"If that's your way of fighting, you embarrass me."

The noble's anger grew even more.

"What did you say!? Repeat that if you dare!" he shouted, pointing to the guards and the girls around him so everyone could hear.

Nolan stepped forward, the air around him seemed to crackle with tension.

"I said you're pathetic for hitting and spitting on a girl. That's what you are: a walking embarrassment."

The noble frowned, the muscles in his jaw tensed.

"She's just a whore! You have no idea who you're messing with!"

Just as Nolan was about to throw another punch, this time intending to end the conversation once and for all, he felt a gentle pressure on his arm.

Emily, still trembling, was timidly holding onto him, her face pale but determined.

It was a signal for him to stop.

Nolan, feeling Emily's delicate grip, let out a long sigh.

Somehow, the contact with her calmed the storm within him.

Still, he couldn't help but cast one last disdainful glance at the noble before speaking:

"You're pathetic."

Insulted and furious, the noble demanded to know the name of the person daring to challenge him in that way.

"What's your name, idiot?"

Nolan looked him straight in the eye, his voice firm and clear:

"Nolan Rook."

The girls and the noble seemed not to recognize the name, but the guards, who had remained on the sidelines until then, began to whisper among themselves in surprise upon hearing those words.

One of them, clearly disturbed, stepped forward and, to the noble's astonishment, asked him to calm down.

"What are you doing?! He started all this!" the noble shouted, even angrier to see the guards holding him back.

But to his surprise, the guards didn't budge.

In fact, they seemed to be preventing the situation from escalating any further.

Meanwhile, Nolan, without saying another word, began to walk away with Emily, calmly strolling through the streets while the noble's shouts echoed in the distance.

"Nolan Rook!"