Chapter 31

"Did I allow you to leave?"

A cold voice sounded from behind him.

'Fuck…'

Oliver's back was drenched in cold sweat as he realized what was going on.

She was using her espera to lock him in his place, and since he had almost close to none espera, he was unable to feel the flow.

Fortunately for him, she was using a minimal amount of force so as not to crush him by accident.

"What do you want?"

He could not help but ask involuntarily, wanting to know the accursed reason why she was stopping him from leaving.

"What do I want now?" She leaned on her desk, holding her chin in her hand as she observed his back.

"Hmm…"

To be honest, she was not sure herself about what she wanted from him either.

It was more like an intuition of sorts of hers… it told her that she should not let Oliver leave.

She had been in the world of business for many decades; she had a very sharp intuition whenever it came to deals that generated massive profits.

And right now, it had been tingling in Oliver's presence since he entered the room, but it became excessive when he casually took out the [Medal of Eternal Pain] so she just stopped him.

She frowned when she could not think of a proper response. This made her a little irritated, given his small age and childish bearing; she was unsure of what to ask for. It was not often that she felt troubled.

She could not keep him here for long either.

This was a young master from the main lineage of the clan; no matter how useless he was, he shared their reputation and name even if he had an insignificant contribution.

There would be complications if he kept him here for no reason.

Suddenly her eyes lit up, as she tapped on her desk slightly and Oliver's body moved on its own as he came face to face in front of her.

They both looked into each other's eyes, Oliver felt she was quite beautiful but she was a devil so he didn't care.

The woman also felt that Oliver's features were quite delicate and cute, especially his eyes; for some reason, they seemed to draw her towards them with a mysterious charm.

'Does he have some sort of special eyes?'

She made a wild guess, that would explain to her how he was able to sort out artifacts from the trash.

More importantly, she was quite immune to charm and mind-affecting techniques, but she felt a strong force of attraction to his eyes which made her feel she had guessed correctly.

Or maybe he had a special constitution…

'As expected, he should be a perfect fit.' She thought of something and her eyes once again focused on him.

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Her lips curled and she had an expression that made others feel that she was about to offer something great, she said,

"Do you want to join the Black Codex Federation?"

"No."

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Far from the market in the central area of the clan was Nadia's courtyard.

In the courtyard, there was a metal dummy placed; the metallic body resembled a human body.

In front of the metal body, there she was standing with a calm expression.

In her left hand, she was holding a long red rapier with a golden tip; it was an ordinary rapier but was made by a fine blacksmith.

It was no artifact, just a slightly strong rapier to use.

She looked at the metallic dummy with a serene expression, her eyes devoid of any emotion.

She gripped the rapier's body and disappeared from her spot.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A loud series of banging sounds were heard before Nadia reappeared on her spot.

She was still holding the rapier, and nothing had changed on her expression.

However, in the next moment, the metal dummy, which was intact just a moment ago, suddenly broke down into pieces.

The cuts were all made at weaker joints with fine precision and controlled strength showing her level of handling the weapon.

She glanced at the broken dummy and then to her rapier.

'I should be able to master this technique in a few weeks worth of time.'

She thought and closed her eyes.

This rapier technique was called [Press of the Liberty], and it was a powerful rapier technique that had the capability to pierce through tough metals and armors like paper.

She was about to practice and revise another martial arts technique when she suddenly heard a small clap.

Clap!

She froze and looked behind her instantly…

Behind her was the most terrifying existence she had ever known.

Her mother…

Ophelia had appeared behind Nadia without her noticing anything. It was unknown for how long she had been behind her, concealing her presence.

Nadia's eyes shone in a strange light as she met her mother's eyes. She unconsciously used her [Abyss Eyes] whenever in the presence of her mother—it just showed that her body felt uneasiness and instinctively used means to protect itself.

Ophelia was wearing a white kimono with black design patterns; her graceful figure was properly emphasized by the dress.

Her silver eyes was as cold as usual; it was unknown what was on her mind. She did not care about her daughter using special eyes knowing it could not pose her a threat.

Although she was clapping, there was not even a hint of happiness on her face. Her face, which resembled Nadia a lot, was a whole more expressionless.

"Mother… since when…"

Nadia said in a low voice, not bearing a hint of confidence she showed around others. At the same time, she also controlled herself and stopped using the special eyes.

"You have improved." Ophelia spoke a few words, but to Nadia's ears, it was the greatest praise. She did not even answer her question and directly ignored that.

Nadia lowered her head as she nodded a little; she felt happy that her mother acknowledged her growth.

Oliver's face suddenly came to her mind, remembering the scene where he gave her the elixir, but she quickly shook away the thoughts.

Ophelia narrowed her eyes watching her daughter's antics. She felt that her daughter was showing too much emotion and that was not what she wanted.

But she decided to let it be for the time being; Nadia had improved significantly as compared to the last time in killing her emotions.

It was normal; she was a growing child and all sorts of emotions and feelings would course through her. It was good as long as she kept eliminating them as they appeared.

Ophelia considered giving her special medicine to suppress the limbic system present in her brain.

The limbic system in the human brain was responsible for regulating emotions.

The medicine was something she had concocted herself; it limited the effects of the limbic system in the human brain specifically targeting the emotions while boosting the prefrontal cortex, which was responsible for decision-making.

The medicine had little to no side-effects, and it helped improve the memory as well. It would improve the person's ability to take quick rational decisions in intense situations

But she wanted to wait some more years before feeding it to Nadia again.

Nadia was still a child, and taking the medicine too much would reduce the benefits, if anything.

She had already fed her the medicine once so she must wait for the second round.

Ophelia's eyes shone in a silver light, just like Oliver's special eyes, unlike him, she possessed a special constitution and it was one of her abilities.

With that, she looked at Nadia. Her mastery over her eyes was far superior to Oliver's mastery.

Oliver was nothing in front of her.

One instant was all it took for Ophelia to analyze as her eyes narrowed once again.

She noticed something abnormal about her daughter's body.

She calmly looked at Nadia with a piercing gaze and then said in a cold voice…