Bab 8: Concealed Lethal yin poison

"Mom, don't cry. I'm sure little brother is fine," Xavier tearfully consoled his mom, who had refused to eat for the past few days even though she was pregnant with another child.

Emerald cried even more after hearing Xavier's words.

Gregor knew what was happening, but instead of feeling sad, he became excited.

He thought, "Finally, I've gotten rid of that cursed child."

He also knew that Emerald was sorrowful, which was bad for her health, but he still did not console her.

This left Emerald dismayed. Most of the time, she even thought of asking Gregor if he had anything to do with their son's whereabouts.

"Sniff* Sniff* Xavier, mama will be okay. Don't worry, mama will be okay."

"But mom, how will you be okay if you keep living like this?"

At that moment, a creaking noise sounded, causing the mother and son duo to look in the direction where it came from, only to see Liam limping in.

"Little brother Liam!"

"Liam!"

Both of them jumped carefully onto the little boy and hugged him tightly for a long time before they let him go and began asking several questions almost at the same time.

"Little brother, where were you all this while? Mom almost lost our sibling in her womb."

"Liam, were you abducted?"

"Liam, who took you away?"

"Liam, tell me what happened?"

But Liam kept looking at them with innocent eyes, apparently seeming like he didn't know how long he had been away.

His innocent blue and red eyes caused Emerald to feel like she was seeing the world anew. She drew him into her arms and gave him another hug while patting his hair lovingly.

As both mother and son shared a lovely family moment, two maids were looking from the window.

The expressions on their faces were ugly to look at.

Xavier, who had recently started cultivating essence, felt the presence of another person in the room. His eyes darted sharply to the window.

At the same time...

The two maidservants immediately bent down and crawled away, causing the grasses to sway and make sounds.

Realizing they were too slow, they stood up and began sprinting away as fast as they could to hide behind a large cherry blossom tree in the garden. From there, they sneaked away once more.

Xavier's gaze returned to Liam and Emerald. He then left the room to order two maids to bring Liam's meal as well as his and his mother's.

The two maids obliged, but instead of going straight to the kitchen, they went to meet with Ling Xan to share the recent good news.

"What do you mean he has been found?"

"My lady, believe us. We were even sent by young master Xavier to get his meal. What we say is the truth."

Ling Xan gritted her teeth, then she sighed to calm her temperament before giving her next, vile order to the two maidservants.

"Take this 'Concealed Lethal Yin Poison.' Place it in their meals. Even Emerald won't be able to notice it. It will first make them feel energized, then it'll make them sleep. After that, cold yin will start invading their bodies. This will continue until they are frozen to death."

"My lady?" One of the maidservants, the one who loved touching Liam's cheek, wanted to say something. After seeing the cold glare of her partner-in-crime and her second mistress, she shut her mouth and retrieved the jade bottle that housed the concealed lethal yin poison.

...

It hadn't been an hour since Liam was found, yet the news of his return had spread to the point that everyone in this noble family had heard of it.

Gregor wasn't an exception. But instead of feeling happy about it, it was the complete opposite. He was enraged to the point that it could have consumed him.

The moment he heard the news, he felt like leaving his office to find the young child and beat the hell out of him.

He could have really acted on what was in his heart if it weren't for the intervention of his advisor, a purple-haired man in his late twenties named Parker.

Parker might have been considered too young for that position, but the man possessed immense knowledge of leadership.

As a ninth-level human essence cultivator, his ranking was quite good. However, his martial arts skills were lacking, as he had only achieved fourth level in human martial arts up until this age.

Neglecting martial arts wasn't unheard of; in fact, most well-known sages didn't even cultivate martial arts at all. But even a martial arts cultivator in the peak of the human realm could battle them.

"Parker, this is the third time you've stopped me from killing that child. You owe me some explanation," Gregor sipped from a teacup to calm himself down.

"Sure, I do owe you an explanation. You see, killing the boy or banishing him at this age will only make him engrave this family in his heart and he will crave for your downfall someday."

"That will be if I only banish him from this family. With the resources and reputation I'm accumulating, I'll be able to elevate this family to a Second Grade status. But with that boy's presence, it won't be possible."

"I suggest you reconsider everything."