"The money is transferred from your charity foundation..."

Mr. Wardrick interjected with a word, and Severa nodded in agreement.

Despite Severa being only in her twenties, she already owns several different types of foundations, which is quite common for heirs at this level. Everyone holds resources that are incomprehensible to outsiders.

In fact, this is quite a troublesome issue. In such families, every generation faces a unique problem, which is the issue of transition of power and wealth.

For example, when Mr. Wardrick gets old, he needs to hand over his wealth and power to his heir, which is Severa.

The transfer of power is easy — just a signature on some legally effective documents. But the transfer of wealth involves a tricky, yet unavoidable obstacle — taxation.

Inheritance tax exists among various taxes in the Federation, and it is an unreasonable levy. Someone once said that only birth and death are tax-free, but this statement is wrong.

Both birth and death require taxes, and the taxes owed are not insignificant.

Ordinary families might not have major issues with inheritance tax, but for families like Mr. Wardrick's, inheritance tax becomes a huge hassle.

The starting rate for inheritance tax in the Federation is five percent, which is what most families face. Their parents leave a few tens of thousands, and they only need to pay a few thousand dollars in tax.

But for wealthy individuals like Mr. Wardrick, their inheritance tax is typically charged at fifty percent, which is an alarming amount.

You must know that if Mr. Wardrick has a ten million dollar inheritance to pass to Severa, it doesn't necessarily mean he possesses ten million in cash. Ninety percent of that might be real estate, company shares, and such.

However, to inherit this amount, Severa must come up with five million in cash to pay the tax. If she can't produce this sum, the remaining assets, after deducting cash, have to be auctioned to gather enough for tax payment, with the remaining portion then inherited by her.

Sometimes, in the end, she may inherit less than two million, while the rest become auction items that are "unappreciated," with hardly anyone raising a bid.

After a lifetime of hard work, more than half ends up being handed to the Federation Government. How could capitalists allow such a thing?

Thus, capitalists and lawyers collude, devising all sorts of tricks to exploit legal loopholes to dodge this taxation that even death cannot escape.

From simple offshore asset transfers to various trust funds, people have plenty of ways to avoid inheritance tax.

When Mr. Wardrick feels his days are numbered, he will start gradually dealing with his assets. Through a series of means, he will ultimately entrust these assets to several foundations under Severa's name.

These assets are not "inheritance," but Mr. Wardrick's investment projects while he was alive, and upon his death, part of the assets are already separated. To reduce extra risks, these trust funds carrying Mr. Wardrick's main legacy must remain in a state of consistent "loss."

Profits require taxes, but losses do not!

And in reality, this "loss" is simply to stealthily transfer assets without alarming others. Once the asset transfer is nearly complete, the trust funds declare bankruptcy and liquidation, and the money is smoothly transferred from Mr. Wardrick to Severa.

The operation and method within are so intricate that even the most professional tax personnel find it hard to clear up every account's relationship. Before stricter laws appear, the wealthy will continue using this method to transfer assets and avoid taxes.

Ultimately, Severa decided to give ten thousand dollars to help those who need it, truly a compassionate girl.

While talking, the butler appeared in the dining room, meaning the chefs had prepared everything. As the mellow music began — Mr. Wardrick had familiar bands that would come to perform for him when needed.

The chef started introducing what the dinner consists of today, the origins of the ingredients, the process of cooking, and how they are served before everyone.

"I thought it was merely a family dinner..." Lynch said with a chuckle.

Mr. Wardrick said nothing, but his wife offered an explanation, "My culinary skills aren't very good, and today is your first time coming here as Severa's boyfriend, so we thought it should be a bit more formal."

The girl's face instantly turned red, and Mr. Wardrick couldn't help but cough a couple of times, with Lynch being somewhat taken aback.

He initially thought it wouldn't be this complex, but he seemed to have oversimplified things.

After a few coughs, Mr. Wardrick's breath gradually steadied, "My daughter has never dated before — this is both my pride as a father and my failing. You are her first love; I hope you..." He ran his right index finger along the hairline on his forehead to dodge some changes in his facial expression, "In any case, I hope you do not harm each other."

"Love may be selfish, but it can also be tolerant."

"Darling, you said it so well!"

Not mentioning the couple with a great relationship, Severa, sitting next to Lynch, felt a bit awkward, "Sorry, I didn't know they would suddenly talk about this..." The girl lowered her head, but stole a glance at Lynch, then quickly lowered it again.

It was apparent she was a bit happy. The last time, Lynch's unclear rejection or limited agreement made her feel troubled for a long time.

You could say it was a rejection, yet it didn't seem like one. But then again, it obviously wasn't not a rejection either; he didn't agree. She didn't know, but it was precisely her unhappiness during that time that made Mr. Wardrick decide to give her something she wanted, something that might not be love.

Unrequited love is very painful, a kind of pain that those who haven't experienced it will never understand.

Lynch's lips curled into a faint smile, and he shook his head slightly, "You know, I'm actually not the best choice."

He knew very well who he was, and frankly, he wasn't willing to get too entangled with Severa. Once his relationship with the girl reached a certain point, Mr. Wardrick would inevitably begin to interfere in his life.

For instance, not allowing this or that, all of which would be to maintain his loyalty to the girl. This wasn't the life he wanted, and he didn't want his life to be meddled with by others, even if many people would gladly accept such an outcome.

Lynch looked at the silent girl and after a moment of silence, said, "I have many girlfriends, and I've been with some of them. I might do so again in the future. Can you accept that?"

The girl lifted her head to look at him, her expression finally changing, "Why would you say that? You know I really like you, even..."

Lynch waited about ten seconds, then easily broke down the girl's defenses, "See, you can't even say the word 'love'. You might not love me, you might simply be indulging in some fantasy of me as a partner. And you know very well that I'm not the best choice."

"Listen to me, Severa. Finding someone who loves you to spend your life with is far better than wasting time on me."

"I play with women's emotions. I'm promiscuous. I don't even spare women with children. Maybe one day I'll even leave them on the same bed..."

Lynch was speaking softly about these things when Severa suddenly stood up, saying, "I'm not feeling well; I won't be having dinner," and quickly, more like running, left the table.

The wife of Mr. Wardrick sitting opposite looked a bit surprised. Severa rarely behaved so rudely, and both their gazes turned to Lynch.

It was this guy who had whispered something to their precious daughter, causing her to leave in emotional disarray.

Compared to the relatively mild gaze of Mr. Wardrick's wife, his gaze was like a knife stabbing into Lynch.

Fortunately, he had thick skin and was long indifferent to such pure malicious glares.

"Did something happen that we should know about?" he asked Lynch.

Lynch shrugged, shook open his napkin, and laid it on his lap, "I just broke up..."

Mr. Wardrick looked at Lynch, listened to his words, and couldn't help but laugh, "You really are a bastard!"

"So are you, sir!"

Mr. Wardrick sighed heavily; he caught his wife's arm as she was about to leave, looked at her, "Let her be for a while. She needs to learn to grow from such things."

He then turned around and looked at Lynch, "Should I thank you, or scold you? You could have ended this relationship more," he paused for a moment to find a suitable word, "...tactfully, instead of like this!"

Lynch shook his head; letting it drag on would be the worst decision. God knows what might happen in between.

Mr. Wardrick, seeing Lynch not saying much, felt a mix of curiosity and relief at the end of one matter, "What exactly did you say to make her give up this foolish decision, can you tell me?"

Lynch glanced at him, smiled, "Why do I feel like you're mocking me; am I a foolish decision?"

"Sorry, I'm used to speaking the truth. Let me ask again, what did you say that led her to make such a wise choice?" Mr. Wardrick rephrased, but the essence of the question didn't change.

Lynch didn't bother to argue over the substance of the comment and answered with a smile, "I just told her that I just had an affair with a mother of a five-year-old child..."

Listening to his wife exclaim "Oh my God" and turn away, Mr. Wardrick felt he wasn't wrong; Lynch really is a bastard!

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