Chapter - 1159

When Ares saw Zeke, he was confused.

What is the mighty Great Marshal doing in such a small company?

On the other hand, Zeke did not seem surprised by Ares' arrival at all. If Julian had not sought Ares' help to avenge him, well, then Zeke would actually be surprised.

Before Ares had a chance to even exchange greetings with Zeke, Julian had already opened his mouth.

He pointed an accusing finger at Zeke, angrily saying, “Father, this is the bastard who crippled me. Please, you must avenge me!”

Zeke merely snorted contemptuously. “We’ll see if he's brave enough to do that.”

Julian felt his anger spiked. He shouted, “Do you know who my father is? He's the greatest warrior in all of Eurasia, second only to the Great Marshal!”

“I'll tell you what!” Julian continued angrily, “My father's power might even exceed that of the Great Marshal now! And you have the audacity to say that my father's scared of killing you? What a joke.”

The earnest smile that spread across Zeke's face now was too bright to be anything but fake. “Come now, Ares, do tell him whether you think it's a joke or not.”

Ares flushed an unpleasant shade of brick red. He had not anticipated Julian's enemy to be the Great Marshal himself.

He fought the urge to sigh as he wondered what had his brat of a son gotten himself into, to the point of offending the Great Marshal.

Without any hesitation, he backhanded his son. “Boy, shut up now.”

Julian was stunned by the sudden blow. “Father, what was that for? This man is just a follower of the Great Marshal. Besides, even the Great Marshal would have to give you some respect if he met you, so why are you afraid of just one of his followers?”

“Silence, Julian!” Ares bellowed. “You're talking to the Great Marshal himself, boy!”

Julian was thunderstruck.

He stared wide-eyed at Zeke, his mouth dropping open in surprise. For the first time, there was a healthy amount of fear in his eyes.

Zeke isn't just a follower of the Great Marshal, he is the Great Marshal!

I had been clashing with the Great Marshal the whole time.

Suddenly, the fate of having all four of his limbs crippled did not seem so bad after all. He had somehow come out of the entire ordeal with his life still intact, which was probably the biggest blessing he was ever going to receive in this lifetime.

Julian knew it was far too late for regret, but he still silently cursed the Great Marshal for keeping such a low profile.

If only he had known that Zeke was the Great Marshal earlier, then there would be absolutely no way that Julian was going provoke him.

At this moment, Julian could feel that his entire being was filled with regret.

Ares asked carefully, “Great Marshal, would you mind telling me how my son managed to offend you to the point where you had to cripple all four of his limbs?”

Zeke's expression was stone-carven. “He is guilty of exactly three crimes. First, he tried to kill my pregnant wife. Second, he had someone impersonate me and harass an innocent woman to stain my reputation. Third, he tried to kill me multiple times!”

For the second time that day, Ares was utterly gobsmacked. His gaze betrayed his exact surprise.

Any one of those three crimes alone would be enough for the Great Marshal to sentence the entire Thisleton family to death along with Julian. And yet, Julian had still managed to commit all three of those crimes and remain breathing.

Zeke had only crippled him, leaving his life intact. Shamefully, Ares knew that all this was only

possible because of the respect the Great Marshal had for him.

Ares hit his son on the back of his head once more, the force he had used was enough to send Julian sprawling from his wheelchair.

“Bastard child!” Ares hissed, “hurry up and thank the Great Marshal for his mercy.”

Now that he knew Zeke was the Great Marshal, Julian realized that he was already very lucky to still be breathing at the moment. He immediately bowed at Zeke's feet, lowering his body so that his head brushed the ground as he apologized fervently.

At this moment, Lacey had walked out from her office to see the source of all the commotion. “Zeke, what's wrong?”

Upon seeing Lacey, Ares shuddered unwillingly as his eyes lit up in recognition.

Yvette!

My beloved first wife, Yvette! She... she's alive?

Ares checked himself before he could do something regrettable. The girl before him was barely in her early twenties, she was much too young to be Yvette. His wife should have been more than forty years old now.

Now that he had a closer look at the girl, he could see that she looked slightly different from Yvette. She was as beautiful as his wife, but the shape of her eyes reminded him of someone familiar.

Unless.. Could this girl be the daughter that I had with Yvette?

It had to be. She has my eyes, after all.

The lance of sudden emotions that struck Ares made him want to cry. For years, he had slaved and poured all of his efforts into finding his lost daughter.

He was about to open his mouth to say something when Zeke shook his head and shot him a look. It was a look that brooked no room for argument.

“Lacey, this is an old friend of mine.” he told her. “It's nothing to worry about. You can go back to work. I'll be back in a bit.”

“If you say so.” Lacey smiled at her husband. “See you soon.”

She was busy anyway, so she turned to leave without any hesitation.

The moment Lacey had left out of earshot, Ares turned to Zeke and demanded, “Is that girl my long-lost daughter?”

Zeke sighed. “Come with me.”

He led Ares into a nearby break room. Zeke said, “It's true. Lacey Hinton is your daughter.”

“I finally found her.” Ares laughed wildly. “After all these years, I finally found her! For so long, I've been digging wells hoping for a trickle of water, but now the ocean appears before me. Take me to her, now!”

Zeke's expression cooled abruptly. “Sorry, but I don't think you have any right to meet her.”

Stunned, Ares was momentarily frozen in surprise. “What do you mean?”