Ophelia! She's here!

Oliver heard a commotion outside followed by multiple footsteps and tremors.

The head-judge entered the chambers after a moment.

He looked at the children and heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, everything was fine.

"Reinforcements are here, we are now going to look for Olive—"

He trailed off as he looked at the silver-haired boy who was standing with a nonchalant expression.

"You!" the head-judge was stunned. "How did you get here?"

"Me?" Oliver pointed at himself. "I just got here."

"What? How's that possible? I had been guarding outside…" He stopped in the middle of his sentence 

A sudden gust of wind blew through, causing some leaves outside to flutter.

He paused for a moment. Now that he thought about it, he was too engrossed in the void clouds to be on guard.

It was probably then that he sneaked past him. He was too careless.

Nonetheless, he let the matter rest for now.

He glanced at Violet, the girl who placed third, and called out to her.

"Miss Violet, your family butler has come to pick you up. It seems your family is worried about you given the situation outside. You should leave; if there's anything, we'll let you know."

"Yes, elder." The girl bowed and quickly left.

Now only Oliver and Nadia were left in the chambers along with two elders.

The head-judge glanced at the two elders and said, "We're currently investigating the cause of the earlier phenomenon. You should go and help out with the investigation. There are soon going to be inquiries from other clans. The phenomenon was just that big, so you will probably be assigned to deal with them."

The two elders nodded and quickly dispersed as well.

The head-judge sighed and looked at the two kids left.

He observed and felt that they were indeed twins. They were very identical; if not for their gender, they might be impossible to differentiate between.

He smiled, "Today has been quite the day, no?"

"Was it?" Oliver spoke as if he didn't know anything.

The elder's lips could not help but twitch. This brat dared to look oblivious when he had just returned from outside.

"Forget it. I will drop you two at your courtyards. There might be intruders in the clan, so I suggest that you both don't wander around too much until an announcement is made. There will be increased security near your residences too."

He turned around and dispersed the reinforcements as well. Now that Oliver was here, there was no need to look around.

"Good, now follow m—"

At that moment, the three of them suddenly felt a terrifying pressure on their shoulders.

Oliver and Nadia could not help but shiver. An aura of death suddenly filled the air.

Thud! 

The weight of the pressure felt like an invisible hammer striking their bodies.

The atmosphere turned suffocating instantly, as if someone was holding a sword just before their necks.

Nadia, who had been expressionless, suddenly showed a great change in her expression as she quickly recognized the familiar espera around.

"Mother..." she whispered in a strained tone.

For some reason, she had a bad feeling in her heart. She looked at Oliver at her side and her heart shrank more.

She forced herself to calm down. Her heart was beating like a drum and she felt her blood run cold.

No, her mother would not know about her meetings with Oliver. It must be due to the phenomenon outside that the elder was talking about that she came here.

She knew that her mother would ensure her safety no matter what. It was impossible for anyone in the clan to harm her.

Her mother had said to her that she was the greatest weapon the clan had produced in generations and that she was going to sharpen her and make her the strongest.

The strongest ever, no matter what.

The head-judge, who felt this terrifying pressure on himself, felt himself losing his bearings. This pressure was as huge as a mountain.

He was quite a strong exorcist, but even he was feeling stressed under this terrifying pressure.

He knew that this sort of pressure and espera was only exerted by a select few in the entire clan.

The ones sitting in the supreme positions.

He quickly went down on one knee and bowed.

Someone from the main lineage had arrived here.

Tap Tap Tap

The tapping of heels against the wooden floor was heard as a woman slowly entered the chambers.

Her figure was ethereal and her movements were extremely graceful.

She had long silver hair and ashen gray eyes. In one hand, she was holding a pale-colored paper umbrella and was dressed in a plain flower-patterned kimono.

Oliver, who was also feeling the suffocation, saw her and his scalp went numb.

Ophelia!

Why was she here?

He instantly connected the dots. The earlier phenomenon—it was caused by him.

Did she know of it too?

He felt his heart clench at that thought. If Ophelia knew about it and realized that he was not useless anymore,

She would definitely not leave him alone.

In the first place, he did not even know why he was left alive at birth when they found him useless. That was something he could not guess at all. There had to be a reason; he was sure of it.

But forget about that. Now that he displayed a good show to the crowd, ranking second in the demon hunt, his strength was already revealed.

If she were to probe him now, she would realize many things.

He did not know what she would do then.

Ophelia ignored the kneeling elder, who did not even dare to look up at her, and walked toward him.

Nadia saw this and her fist unconsciously clenched. She didn't know why her mother was coming his way rather than to her.

She wanted to go between them but felt her feet frozen on the spot.

She was… scared.

It was an instinctual reaction. Whenever she was in her mother's presence, she had to be the best version of herself.

She must always be obedient and never question her decisions.

She must accept everything.

So far, she had never felt anything about it. As long as she followed whatever her mother said, she would one day gain her recognition and praise. And also become stronger.

But she did not know why, but her mind and heart were rebelling at the moment. For the first time, she did not want to just stand and observe.

She slowly glanced at Oliver, whose eyes were also fixed on her mother.

Oliver looked at her, he could see her emotionless eyes, the same eyes he had seen for the first time when he came into this world.

There was not a single change in them, as cold as ever, not a single emotion or change inside them.

Those eyes gave him a feeling of dread for some reason.