I Am the Ruler of All

Everyone fell silent. They looked at Vincent, waiting for his answer.

Vincent froze for a moment, his smile stiffening up. Then, he pretended to laugh it off. "Good question. I was just about to explain that." He took a deep breath, a glimmer of reminiscence shining in his eyes. "It was seventeen years ago. My career was at its nadir, and my wife left our daughter and me because I couldn't make enough money for the family. My girl was only six. It was then I swore I would make a lot of money no matter what. So, I made a risky move and sold the information of that intelligence broker."

After a short pause, he continued, "When I heard of the news of his death and his family's ruination, I did feel guilty for a time, but then I realized that wasn't my fault. It was his. He chose this job. It was risky, to begin with. Even without my meddling, he could've died sooner or later."

The reporter then asked, "So it was nothing but an eventuality, then? It was not related directly or indirectly to you, right?"

"You're right." Vincent smiled. "I felt guilty because I was too kind and too hard on myself. People like me would blame themselves for what wasn't their fault. Fortunately, I grew out of that phase and got over the trauma. But if it were someone else, they could still be living with the guilt. It was why I slid that warning in. Never abuse infotech no matter what."

While Vincent was talking about his past, someone in the crowd felt fury mounting in his heart. It was none other than Kingsley. After he arrived at the book launch, instead of meeting up with the girls, he stood behind the crowd of reporters.

At first, he considered letting Vincent off lightly if he showed remorse, but when Vincent showed none, he was furious, even more so when Vincent said his father would still be murdered with or without him.

Vincent said loudly, "That was just a boring little episode in my life. Just trying to slide in something you might find interesting in my book filled with theories. Let's move on to other topics."

At this moment, someone said in an icy voice, "It might have been a boring little episode for you, but to the victims of your act, it was and still is a tragedy." Kingsley slowly moved through the crowd and came to the stage. He stared at Vincent icily, and like a snake, he hissed, "You didn't kill them, but they died because of you. How could you show no remorse? How could you push all the blame onto the victims?"

Everyone shifted their gaze to Kingsley.

"Who is that?"