Clashing Hearts

"Sir it seems that the woman was able to heal the Matriarch." A servant informed someone in the confines of their room.

"Well, I figured as much once she was able to go inside. Have you found anything on that weak boy?" The person inside the room asked.

"Yes sir. It seems he was the one Patriarch Colton picked up at that village your son destroyed. Recently he has become close with not only Noel but also Ms. Cara the Sworn Sword Disciple." The servant informed once again.

"How could someone so weak become friends with such people?! That Cara even refuses to have dinner with my son yet spends her time with such a waste. It seems getting rid of this boy will help warn a lot of people not to mess around." The person said once more with a clear killing intent in their voice.

"Of course sir. We assume he will be taking the Inner Disciple exam coming up. If we send our people there he won't have any protection and no one would be able to trace anything back to us." The servant said with a clear plan in their head as if they had long been coming up with this.

"Good good. I will leave you to it then, remember failure is not an option. One way or another I will become the Patriarch." The person said before chuckling madly and the servant disappeared from the scene.

*****

"Are you feeling alright?" James asked Noel on the way back to her home.

At first, James thought Noel was just a little drained after getting rid of the poison but after looking at her closer he could feel that she was on the verge of passing out.

"I-i'm alright. Removing a poison of such a degree is definitely not the easiest thing I've ever done. Whoever poisoned her definitely didn't find it randomly. They probably bought it from somewhere else." Noel hypothesized as she continued walking.

James glanced up at the tower behind them once more before posing another question, "Do you think they will be alright?" James asked curiously.

At this question Noel smiled deviously, "The Patriarch might be scary when he's mad or something happens to the Matriarch. However, the scariest of them all is Hannah. When someone double-crosses her like this there's no telling what's going to happen." Noel said confidently.

James was shocked at this since he couldn't imagine the kind and smiling face of the woman before being so fearsome. Despite this, James also didn't want to test the theory and just trusted Noel's superior judgment.

The two slowly made their way back to Noel's house where an irritated Cara was waiting at the front door, "Finally! It took you long enough to bring him back to me, his training should have started an hour ago!" Cara said in anger to Noel who was obviously fatigued.

Despite the fatigue, Noel quickly leaned off of James' shoulders but still held his hand showing a strong front in front of Cara like she wasn't going to lose her position.

"Ohh my bad~ Sorry we were having such a great date that we lost track of time~" Noel said with a smile as she clearly showed her holding James' hand.

At this moment Noel was trying to mark her territory and set a line that Cara could never cross. When she did this the reaction on Cara's face was such extreme anger that even James was slightly shocked.

Suddenly, there was a huge pain in his heart.

"ACK!" James shouted in pain as he went to his knees in agony. For some reason, a piece of his black Qi was now fighting against him.

The Qi was inserting a feeling in his mind. It was a feeling that he must console Cara as much as he can. The feeling was so strong that the Qi invaded James' limbs forcing him to move forward all the way until he reached Cara and wrapped his arms around her.

At this time James didn't realize that Cara was exuding a very powerful black Qi force that was stronger than she had ever had before.

As for Noel, she had somehow fallen over and completely passed out from either exhaustion or the effect of the Qi, "Calm down it's ok. I won't leave you." James whispered to Cara as he held her tightly in his arms comforting her after the extreme anger she had felt.

"I feel so strange. This feeling you're giving me as you hold me is like the greatest feeling I've had in my entire life. It's like a sense of belonging I never knew I had. When Noel was gesturing that you were only hers I felt like I was going to kill her and anyone else who said that thousands of times. You are mine. I want you to hold me like this forever." Cara said over and over as she buried her face in James' chest.

James would normally think a sudden reaction like this would be strange to something as simple as hand holding but for some reason, in his mind, the way Cara was acting now was the most endearing thing he had ever experienced. He proceeded to vow in his head once more that he would look after Cara as much as he could for the rest of his life.

After holding Cara for a little while she finally calmed down and helped James take Noel inside. They decided to skip practice for the day with everything that happened and decided to just chill out or cultivate instead.

"Ughhh, my head hurts." Noel said in annoyance as she rubbed her temple. The last thing she remembered before she passed out was Cara becoming angry at her for holding James' hand.

It didn't take her long to finally open her eyes and see that she was in her room. Right in front of her eyes was a sleeping James which made her more than happy to see he waited there for her. However, her face soured soon after when she saw the body of Cara huddled up against him from the other side.

'This bitch!' Noel screamed in her mind.