"Happy birthday, Alex."

Sylvia flashed a smile towards him.

As they walked into the mansion, all eyes were on the birthday boy. The fact that he was unfazed by their appearance felt weird to them.

They followed him back to the hall. Alice had already arranged for everything there, so they all sat down on the Sofa.

Kane was looking towards his brother with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

All assassins are trained to observe emotional changes. It was the most basic way to exploit the target for an advantage.

Normally, his brother would have shown some sort of emotion when he saw him. Fear, disgust, anger, melancholy, anything that shows his discomfort. He was the reason for his . But when he looked towards all of them the first time, his eyes were indifferent. It was as if there was no difference between the other guests and his own brother.

Alex was preparing for the worst. He had already recognized all the guests attending the event. They were all important people from the 4 big families, irrespective of their age. If his mother brought them here, this means that she intends to make his presence known among the upper hierarchy, and she is aiming to make a deep impression from the start.

"It is nice to finally meet you."

His English was on point, without any flaws. Being the eldest person in the room, he took the initiative to start the conversation.

"Pleasure's all mine, Mister Dima. I have read a bit about you previously, so it is a bit surreal to see you here."

Dima smiled. Internally, he was weighing his options.

'You say that, but there isn't any change in your expression.'

"All good, I presume?"

Alex smiled. He responded with,

"Of course. Everything good that concerns itself with our profession."

This response made everyone chuckle a bit. Dima nodded in satisfaction. It would be wise to keep good relations with him.

After that Jin and Claudia introduced themselves, keeping it short, and Alex responded to each of them with courtesy. He had to make a good impression, because he had a gut feeling that this day wasn't going to be ending peacefully.

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All of a sudden, 3 loud chinks were heard. Sylvia was holding a glass and a fork. She intended to make an announcement.

"Everyone knows why we are all here. Alex is my fourth son, and up until now he has been relatively unknown. But you all must remember my words,"

Sylvia paused for a moment. She glanced towards Alex and continued,

"He is bound to become the best assassin in the collective."

'So she wanted this huh.'

Alex was frustrated. He kept his awkward demeanor outside, but he knew that the damage had already been done. This wasn't a mother bragging about her son. This was a proclamation by a renowned personality in favor of a prodigy.

He deduced that this could lead to 2 different outcomes. They would either be fired up or be hateful. Fortunately for him, three of them were fired up. One, however, was glaring daggers at him.

"Excuse me, madam. I don't agree with that assessment."

Claudia said with a look of anger on her face. She had worked hardest to get Sylvia's recognition, so she took offense to her proclamation.

"I don't care if you don't agree with me. It is my opinion, not yours."

She turned towards Alex and said,

"I challenge you to a spar."

All her hostility was aimed at him.

"But the banquet..." he tried to execute damage control.

She stood up from her seat and looked at Alice.

"Escort us to the Training ground."

Alice looked at Sylvia, who gave her a silent signal to comply.

He sensed that signal and sighed. He had no say in this.

Everyone else followed. because they didn't want to miss the show.

At the training ground.

Both of them were in party attire. It could be awkward to fight at full strength in this.

"Just to remind you, I won't be holding anything back."

Alex didn't respond to that. He was more focused on finding the correct solution to this question.

His ignorance infuriated her. She chose to attack him first. Her punches were aimed all over the place, but they didn't seem to be random.

Alex sighed. He simply kept moving from side to side, dodging all her punches. His height was a bit lower than her, but her moves were predictable.

Without stopping, she started increasing the intensity of her punches. Alex was forced constantly dodge without retaliating. He was being pushed back.

At least, that's what it looked like to the spectators.

Alex was dodging her moves, holding himself back. He couldn't humiliate a future family head.

"Alex, don't you dare hold back!"

Sylvia pushed him to do what he didn't want to.

Alex could refuse, but he didn't want to. Three years ago, he had refused her command once during a training session. It had led to him being almost crippled. And that almost was because she held back just enough to not cripple him. She could easily change her mind if she deemed that he was being difficult.

"Bad luck."

Alex dodged the next hit and blocked the next punch with his forearm. She tried to sweep him off the ground using a well-timed slide, but he simply jumped upon her, grabbing both of her arms and restraining her to the ground..

She was on the ground, with her face kissing the surface.

Zhao Jin was staring at Sylvia, expecting her to end the match so that he could have a go. Dima stood there, giving Alex a curious look.

Kane couldn't calm himself down. His brother had improved at a much better rate than himself, both in character and skill.

"Could i have improved this much without any major support from the family?"

Insecurity. Jealousy. confusion. The second his father finds out about his potential, there was no doubt that he would pick Alex as his successor.

"Looks like this is a day that no one was able to forget for the rest of their lives."

Zira whispered. Alice didn't respond.

'Why is she doing this?'

She didn't understand the intentions of her mistress.