Chapter 906 - Change
"Let me handle this." She sent a thought transmission. "I am not sure whether he has fallen, but there is still a hope to bring him back. He can help us in keeping Grayfig Family occupied, so please trust me."
Alex fell silent for a while before giving his confirmation that he wouldn"t do anything. He looked at the young man that seemed to be cut out of the rest. His hair was white like Aria"s, so he must be her younger brother.
"Oh, you have returned, sister?" He put on a genuine smile as if he was happy to see her alive. If he didn"t know that this person was the one who wanted to murder his sister, he might not suspect him.
"Yes. A good person helped me." She smiled before letting out a long sigh. "I think we should stop acting like this, Adrian. I know that you were the one sending the a.s.sa.s.sin. I am going to the meeting room where Father is. I believe he will suspect you too."
"I don"t know what you are talking about."
She shook her head as she couldn"t withstand his acting anymore. A blue token appeared on her hand as she threw it to him.
"!!!" Adrian was obviously shocked. "This…"
"You want it, right?" She made a gentle smile. "That is my proof as a successor. You must have one too since we ought to fight for it, and the one who has both will become the next head of this family. However, I have no intention to lead the family."
"What did—" Adrian stared at her with empty eyes as he couldn"t believe whatever she said.
"That is the truth. Actually, Father has known about it as well. Back then, I agreed to hide the fact that I never had any intention of getting the family head position because of you." She smiled.
"Me?!" He was dumbfounded. The previously hidden intention vanished from his mind as only confusions filled his brain at the moment. On one hand, he doubted everything she said. On the other hand, the token she gave him was genuine.
"Yes. You are blessed with talent. At the very least, our cultivation speed is the same. Father might praise me for my decisiveness, but he told me that in terms of managing our family, you are far better. You reward people who work for you and keep everything under control. Because of that, I kept pretending to be the successor, so your talent could bloom. After all, only because of our rivalry you could become a splendid person like this."
"Do you think that all these words can sway me just like that? All of these are lies!" He shouted, not wanting to believe it.
However, Aria knew he was shaken and walked toward him. "Father made this test to see whether you could kill your own sister. Unfortunately, you couldn"t pa.s.s the test."
"Lies. Everything is a lie." He shouted. His hands started shaking.
"My beloved younger brother, since when did your heart start to change?" She gently asked.
"!!!" A memory came into his mind as he finally saw the whole picture. Three years ago, he fell to the bottom of his career, unable to escape the prison called sister. At that time, he went to a brothel and got drunk.
At that time, he was approached by a person. It was the second Young Master in Goryuu"s mouth. Many things happened, and because of his help, he could stand toe to toe against his sister. Their father didn"t say anything about this, so he thought he had accepted this.
He then started to trust the second young master and had a good relations.h.i.+p. However, he couldn"t diminish the rumors about him had changed for both better and worse. On one hand, people said he became more capable. On the other hand, he was too ruthless to lead the family.
And he suddenly remembered how many people he had killed to get into his positions right now. With all those faces flooding his mind, he noticed that most of them were talented people in their generations. It was at this time he realized what had happened.
"I—" Adrian drew a gasp as he stared at his sister in disbelief. "Grayfig Family."
"The one that you asked to kill me was the rumored eighth son that had died, Novus Grayfig."
"What?!" Adrian dropped his jaw to the ground. He stared at his sister, knowing that she didn"t lie about this.
"Hmm? The reason why you know you can convince me…" Alex finally realized. If everything was true, then the reason behind her confidence would be…
"Yes. My brother indeed wanted to kill me, but he didn"t hate me. In the past, he hated Grayfig Family to the bone because they killed our mother, but everything changed over the years. Although he kept his appearance as the one who hated that family, he seemed to like them too.
"Unfortunately, the Grayfig Family was really sly. No matter how hard I tried to search for any information regarding the cooperation between my brother and them, I would never find it. At one point, I thought they had nothing to do with it. Only after meeting that Goryuu I realized they had been pulling the string this whole time.
"And the one that turned out to be a sly fox was their useless young master, the second young master. He had no apt.i.tude in cultivation and was labeled as a waste, but if I think about it now, it seems he has been hiding his ability this whole time, planning to sweep our family clean by using my brother." She sighed inwardly. "At least, my brother seems to have finally realized it."
"I see."
"On the other hand, I want to ask whether you are still with me or not."
"I like smart people, but I don"t like scheming ones." Alex answered seriously.
"Haha… I am also a schemer, you know. Or is it because I am a woman? Should I take pride that I can make you think that way, maybe because of my body or charm?" She asked jokingly.
"Nah. The fact that he has been doing this for years, his plans are almost completed. Even if I am switching sides right now, he will just try to use me instead of cooperation."
"Such a cold guy. How can you even have wives?"
"What? You have started joking with me now? Are you trying to flirt with me?"
"…" She fell silent as it could be interpreted that way even though she had no intention of doing so. "I am just trying to get closer with my future boss. Well, that"s just a possibility, and the chances are rather low."
Alex shrugged as he watched how Adrian sorted his thoughts and turned grim.
"I… I did many horrible things to this family without knowing it? Not only I decided to believe in the Grayfig Family, but I had also killed many future experts…" He looked at Aria, trembling.
"So, you have finally understood that everything you have in the past few years is harming our family?" She furrowed her eyebrows before raising her hand, wanting to slap him. "What a foolish brother."
He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and clenched his fists. Everything he did was for his family. That was what he thought. Unfortunately, what he actually did was exactly the opposite of that. Even if his father killed him right now, he wouldn"t resist, much less to his sister beating.
But to everyone"s surprise, Aria waved her hand down. However, she used it to hug him instead of slapping him.
"What a foolish brother you are… Truly a foolish brother." She smiled. "Even if you are foolish, I still love you as your sister. It"s still not too late to change, and I believe we can overcome this.
"I know that you are better than that. I still remember when you were a kid, you punished the third elder"s son because he unjustly hit a normal disciple. It created friction in the family, but it allowed Father to finally take action against all unjustified bullying.
"There was also an instance where you gave a reward to a normal disciple and second elder"s son for standing up against other families.
"It was something I couldn"t do, trust me. That was the reason why Father saw you as the main successor instead of me. You have talent… And you have made me believe it, now you need to believe it too… I believe in you, Adrian." She smiled, telling him everything was fine if he changed now.
Those words were hurt. They struck his heart deeply. He remembered a few years ago, he loved his sister and family. Even though they were still rivals, he never thought about killing her.
It was until that second young master appeared, his heart started to change, turning him into a more ruthless guy. He realized that he had been manipulated this whole time.
Suddenly, when they had this peaceful time, the two people beside him who had been silent until now took out a dagger and rushed toward both of them, trying to kill both Aria and Adrian. As Alex expected, these two must realize that Adrian couldn"t be controlled anymore and decided to kill both him and Aria.
Alex let out a long sigh before he appeared beside one of them while swinging his sword.
Both of them were 1-Star Martial Saint, so they were quite strong.
The moment Alex appeared, the first guy reacted and changed his direction. He struck Alex"s sword instead, trying to save his hand from being chopped off.
Unfortunately, he underestimated the man called Alex. His body was still Divine Body, so the strength was far from a normal Martial Saint. The moment the two swords clashed, Alex overpowered him and blew the sword away before cutting both his hands to stop him from killing Aria. He then kicked his feet, making him stumble to the ground.
Seeing this, the second guy kept rus.h.i.+ng toward the brother and sister who were still in their world.
The same happened to the second guy.
Alex used his fastest speed to appear next to this guy and tried to cut his hand. Because of that, the guy decided to stop Alex, albeit the result was the same.
Alex successfully blew his sword away and cut the guy"s hand. However, this one was more resilient than the other guy.
Knowing he stood no chance against Alex, he sacrificed that hand and s.h.i.+fted his body to the side before taking another sword with his off-hand.
Unbeknownst to him, the threat didn"t come from Alex alone.
Adrian spun around with her sister, trying to protect her with his body. At the same time, he took the guy by surprise and cut his other hand.
"Aa-aahhhhh!"
Finally, the adrenaline stopped rus.h.i.+ng into their heads as they realized what just happened. The pain started spreading and jolted their brain, making them scream.
"To think I have been used this whole time…" Adrian gritted his teeth and looked at the two guys. "The Grayfig Family must die."
(AN: See the pic in Chapter Comment)