บท 32: Intense moment interrupted!
It was just her hunch, but there was definitely something going on behind the scenes.
She would soon find out. She just had to penetrate him with her senses, and she could know it all—his brain, his body, his espera—nothing would escape her eyes.
Every bit of information would soon be in front of her.
Whether there was really something special about this son of hers or not…
Whether she had indeed made a mistake at his birth or not…
It would soon become clear.
She would devise her next course of actions based on that information…
She knew the moment she laid her eyes on him.
To peel off his coverings, she tried to probe him, but contrary to her expectations, she was quite puzzled when she could not sense past him.
All she could feel around him was a slightly above-average amount of espera and heightened physical strength.
'But how?' she could not help but ponder.
This boy was the 'useless' one when he was born, but today not only did he have espera but also raw strength.
She applied more pressure and continued to probe him.
But to her puzzlement, he was doing well under the pressure for a Rank-1 exorcist.
How was this even possible?
She thought for a moment that perhaps his physical strength had crossed the threshold of a Rank-1 exorcist, so he was able to endure the pressure.
But still, something did not make sense in the back of her mind.
She continuously kept increasing the pressure, but he was still able to stand normally and speak.
It got to the point where the pressure she was focusing on him was way past the threshold of a newly made Rank-1 exorcist's limits.
It was well beyond that point. She knew that Nadia had broken through and similarly released only that much amount of pressure initially to test her out.
But at this point, her main focus was Oliver. The pressure alone was enough to make almost any Rank-1 collapse to their knees.
Yet he was still able to maintain his stance.
'He's hiding something.'
Her eyes turned even colder when she realized this.
He was a creation of hers, and he had no right to hide anything from her. If she had not intended it, he wouldn't have been born.
So, he must obey her and never hide anything from her.
This was the reality and should be the law for them.
She has to teach him who he was and where he stands.
Oliver's eyes widened as the pressure suddenly became too much for him. From Ophelia's face, he could not discern a single emotion; it seemed nothing had changed on her face.
Why was she so focused on forcing him?
Why was she not satisfied after sensing what he was showing?
He cursed under his breath, feeling his blood rush to his head as his legs started to shake slightly.
His eyes narrowed, and anger welled up in his heart. If push came to shove, he wouldn't care and would use every power he had if And… he also had 'that' if he wanted to escape far away from this place.
Just as she was about to give the final push and crush him completely, an unexpected voice rang out in the chambers.
"Meow~"
_______________________
Everyone present in the chambers paused and turned to look at the new arrival.
It was a beautiful, pristine white cat.
She was calmly sitting at the entrance, looking at their faces.
The head-judge, who had been kneeling all this while without even daring to move, also looked up.
'Clan guardian!? Why's she here? Did something happen?'
His eyes shot open as he saw her. She was an existence that barely showed herself in public…
Half of the clan elders had only ever heard about her and never personally met her.
It was said that she was a divine existence and could bring fortune to those who received her favor and blessings.
He was aware of her identity because he had the fortune to meet her a few times in the past when he was young. Their meetings had always been short, and he had always been accompanied by a group of elders of very high standing and seniority whenever he met her.
He had heard rumors that she could read fate by observing the stars in the sky.
She was always accompanied by the elites, the founding pillars of the clan whenever he had seen her.
She enjoyed a very noble status in the clan.
For her to suddenly appear here, what was the reason?
It was apparent that she had come for a purpose. Greeting the clan guardian and being in her presence was an honor for him.
However…
He still did not move from his spot, not an inch.
Mistress Ophelia was here. If the clan guardian enjoyed a noble status, then Mistress Ophelia had a royal status.
He was not allowed to move unless she ordered him to.
Ophelia did not turn around to face the cat.
Her eyes were still fixated on her son, Oliver.
But when the meow sounded out, Oliver felt the pressure on him lessen significantly. He huffed slightly in relief.
"Meow!"
The cat jumped over and landed directly in front of Oliver—in between the mother and the son.
Nadia, on the other hand, was utterly confused at the moment.
A white cat?
What was a cat doing here? She had read about cats but never seen one in real life, so it was also her first time seeing one so close in person and not in pictures and books.
But how did a cat enter the clan?
The clan had a barrier that repelled or prevented the entry of anything unauthorized inside.
So it puzzled her how this cat appeared.
She did not find it abnormal that a cat could jump so high and land so carefully and precisely between her brother and mother.
She believed it might be how cats were, nothing more, nothing less.
She assumed many theories in an instant.
It was possible that a merchant had brought her from outside using special permissions to be sold in the clan market.
Or it was possible that an alchemist asked for the cat to experiment on…
There were many possibilities.
But her heart could not thump any louder when she realized that her mother had been interrupted.
She felt nothing as she thought about how the cat was going to die.
If possible, she would have liked to touch it before its death, but she could do it after it died as well.
The main thing right now was what her mother wanted from Oliver, for some reason, her heart was not calm at all when she saw him quivering earlier.
She had hoped that their mother would let him leave now that she had been interrupted by the cat.
If the cat could be sacrificed to divert her mother's attention, then so be it.
Unknowingly, Nadia had already marked the clan guardian as good as dead. In her eyes, she felt that the best use for the cat would be to become a sacrifice so that Oliver could leave from here.
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