Mercenary.

Alex didn't want to meet anyone from his family. He knew that they would take him away the second they knew anything about his potential.

"Looks like you made a mess. If it would have been her, she would be lucky to make it through my punishment unharmed."

Sylvia already knew about his exploits. Alice did not hide anything from her.

Alex sighed. He knew that his mother would be the first one to know about his involvement. But it wasn't supposed to happen this early.

His eyes shot towards Alice, who was standing there calmly. He knew that she was the one that ratted him out. Now he knew that her loyalty lied with his mother.

Sylvia was looking at Alex with a peculiar expression. Her kid had changed a lot.

The most disturbing thing was the amount of time that had passed. If Ronald knew about him, he would burn down the Kramer family if he had to.

She didn't want that. Her husband, who used to be a person regarded as the next prodigy of the family, had turned into a control freak and wasted all his potential. He was a shadow of what he was supposed to be, which was the main reason why she was disappointed. When they were young, she had selected him as her groom purely because of his prospects.

"Alex, I know that you don't trust me. I am not asking you to in the first place, so calm down. I know that you have some ill-will against the family, and would eventually want to leave the family to become a free man. But you need to have some patience. I know that your father didn't treat you well. I won't tell anyone anything as I have already discussed you at length with Alice. But I won't overlook you just because you seem to dislike me. You are my son after all."

Alex was observing his mother after her speech ended. He responded calmly,

"Mother, I don't hate anyone there."

Sylvia wasn't convinced.

"I want to train. I don't want to leave the family. I know that the day I leave the family, I have a target painted on my back, with all sorts of people ready to pounce at me at a breath's notice. I just want to train and become someone who can be strong enough to hold on by myself in the family. I don't care about factions, hierarchy, the position of the head, or anything like that. I simply care too less about the people over there, and you are maybe the only one other than Zira and Alice who know about this."

He took a glass of water kept in front of him. After gulping all of it down, he continued.

"As I said before, I will not go against the family until they don't go against me. But I will train as hard as I can. Not because I want to prove myself to you all, but to get rid of any doubt that I have in my mind about myself."

Sylvia was resting her head with her eyes closed on the sofa. After a moment of silence, she said,

"It is a very bold statement coming from a kid like you."

Being alone was a good choice if you wanted freedom, and she would accept if he wanted to be that way. But real freedom is one where you can suppress everything that tries to tie you down while keeping yourself responsible enough to not make silly mistakes.

If you can do that, then who is stronger than you?

"I understand your resolve. Train as hard as you can. From now on, you cannot fail."

She didn't say much else and left the mansion.

On the cover of the book, there was a sentence which was addressed to him, perhaps in her handwriting.

"To be an Assassin, you have to be a mercenary as well. We still use majority of our contracts to kill, but we have to be strong enough to protect as well, provided we take up the task. Keep that in mind."

To my son, Alex.

He sighed and took the book back to his study. He knew that this book was more important currently than anything else, mainly because the title implied something of huge importance.

"Letifer, the root of all Assassins."