Negotiations (3)

A flood of emotions both familiar and alien crashed into Freya's mind, rooting her to the spot.

Familiarity. Sadness. Anger.

Those emotions stormed within her, threatening to consume her as they tore through her mind, each one demanding attention, pulling her in different directions, straining her very sense of self.

However, two other emotions, far stronger, eclipsed the rest—love and trust. These emotions, unlike the others, didn't conflict or hurt, but rather wrapped around her like a comforting embrace, overshadowing everything else.

If for Alex those feelings had been an unexpected shock, for Freya, they were nothing short of overwhelming.

For a moment, she even thought that Alex was the source of these overwhelming feelings, perhaps using some trick to manipulate her emotions. But she quickly dismissed that idea. The emotions flooding her were too genuine, too raw, to be the result of anyone else's interference.

It was this very realization that unsettled her the most. She couldn't comprehend why she was suddenly feeling this deep connection to someone she had met just a few hours ago. Sure, from what she could see, Alex was obviously very handsome and pleasing to the eye, but physical attraction alone wasn't enough to explain why she felt this intense trust, as if she could entrust him with her life without hesitation. It was as if her heart knew something her mind couldn't yet grasp.

As the seconds ticked by, those strange emotions welled up inside Freya, growing stronger with every passing moment, until suddenly, tears began to spill from her eyes. She didn't understand why she was crying, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the tears from flowing. Thankfully, she hadn't worn any makeup, or her face would have looked like a complete mess.

Alex, who had sensed something peculiar about Freya the moment he removed his mask, stood frozen in shock. The sight of the matriarch of the Drazen family breaking down into tears was something he had not expected.

'Don't tell me...' Alex sucked in a cold breath, 'don't tell me she thinks I'm so ugly that she is crying in sadness,' he thought in dread.

However, despite his indignation at Freya's reaction after he showed her his face, Alex still decided to comfort the woman. Ugly or not, he wasn't going to waste such an opportunity.

Standing from his own couch, Alex moved to Freya's side. He hesitated for a moment before he placed his hand around her shoulder, feeling the warmth of her body through the fabric of her clothes and crossing his fingers that she wouldn't push him away.

Fortunately, Freya wasn't in her right mind currently and didn't even pay too much attention to Alex's bold gesture. In fact, she even leaned her head against him as she silently wept for a reason unknown even to her.

Her body trembled softly, her breathing uneven as silent sobs escaped her lips while Alex gently rubbed her shoulder.

After a while, as the flood of overwhelming feelings finally relented, Freya began to slowly come back to her usual self. Those feelings hadn't completely disappeared, but at least, they now had no real hold on her to the point that she would suddenly begin to cry.

Slowly but surely, Freya calmed down. When she had completely gotten a hold of herself, she pulled back from Alex, her expression strangely icy. However, as he looked deep into her orange eyes, Alex was certain that it was just a front that she was trying to put up.

"You know," Alex began, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "when a guy who wears a mask removes it in front of a woman, the least thing he wants is to see that same woman crying as she looks deep into his eyes."

"Ah," Freya's cold expression vanished, replaced by an embarrassed expression. With a slight blush on her face, she vehemently shook her head. "I-It wasn't because..."

"Because?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "Were you going to say that it wasn't because of my ugliness that you were crying?"

"You aren't ugly!" Freya exclaimed, cutting him off.

"Oh, so you don't find me ugly?" Alex's smile widened. "Does that mean you find me handsome?"

Freya's blush intensified, but she refused to say anything.

'On that aspect, she greatly resembles Maya, or is it Maya that resembles her?' he mused. 'Anyway.'

Alex stretched out his hand to Freya. "I'm Alexandre Eswald, but you can call me Alex."

Freya also outstretched her hand and shook his, but then a thoughtful expression appeared on her face. "Alexandre Eswald, as the...?" Her words trailed off.

Alex chuckled as he let go of her hand. "Yes, Alexandre Eswald, as the lazy lord."

At first, he despised that nickname that had been given to him, but as time passed, he no longer felt angry that people called him that way. After all, when he thought about it, they weren't really wrong; he was indeed lazy.

"Why do people still call you that? You don't seem that lazy to me," Freya inquired in a curious tone.

"Thanks, I guess," Alex chuckled once again. "But that story will be for another time. As of right now, why don't we talk business?"

Freya nodded, her expression becoming serious. She retrieved a soul contract, and together, the two of them quickly went over the clauses and penalties of their future collaboration. It took nearly an hour before both Alex and Freya deemed that the contract was bulletproof for both of their parties.

Reading over the contract once again, Alex chuckled when his eyes landed on the contract's first clause of termination.

"If the current Drazen family matriarch is no longer the matriarch and the successor she had designated isn't the new leader of the Drazen family, this present contract is voided." This was what the clause said.

Without needing to be said, the one Freya had designated as her successor was, of course, Maya, her daughter.

"You are quite devious yourself," Alex laughed. "I doubt your family elders will be pleased with this clause."

"They certainly won't," Freya smiled coldly. "But it's a way for me to assure my and my daughter's position."

Alex nodded in accordance. This clause might indeed assure both Freya and Maya's position in the family.

For one, the two of them were the only ones allowed within the Drazen family to do business with him, thus, they would always be needed and wouldn't be discarded by the family.

If, as Alex and Freya thought, the collaboration between Arcane and the Drazen family grew to be a significant source of income for each of them to amass enormous amounts of money, Arcane might become the primary partner of the Drazen family. By that point, Arcane would be an indispensable ally on which a significant part of the Drazen fortune would depend.

It was at that point in time that this clause would become a poison to the Drazen family elders since either Freya or Maya would need to be the matriarch of their family if they wanted to continue doing business with Arcane.

Of course, the contract clauses and penalties could be changed over time; it's not like they were set in stone. The only problem was that for the terms of a soul contract to be changed, both parties needed to agree to change the same terms. If one party didn't consent to change a term of the contract, then that term couldn't be changed or modified. The only exceptions were soul contracts that practically transformed one party into the other party's slave. In this case, the slave owner had the full right to terminate the contract, and the slave couldn't do anything to stop it, not like a slave would want to stop their master from giving them freedom back.

In any case, there was still a flaw in Freya's plan, and that flaw was none other than Alex.

Since she couldn't refuse her elders' orders, if they managed to convince Alex to change or completely erase the first clause, there would be nothing Freya could do to stop them. That's why she decided to take matters into her own hands and sign a personal contract with Alex. In this contract, he promised that unless it caused him harm, he wouldn't agree with any third party to erase the first clause of the original contract regarding termination.

Of course, for Alex to sign this additional contract, Freya had to give him some incentive.

After carefully reading through the contract one more time, Alex nodded contentedly. "For the test of the healing potion, we'll conduct it tomorrow if that works for you."

"Tomorrow would be good," Freya replied, her voice steady.

Alex was about to leave and call it a night when something crossed his mind, making him pause.

"By the way," he began, turning to face her again, "in this year's annual auction, do you have any items listed? Something like a treasure, perhaps—one that could allow someone to read and memorize vast amounts of knowledge in a short time?"