*****Still in the massive dining hall, whose table overflowed with an elaborate feastRight now, although Xavier noticed the brothers' sudden excitement, he didn’t give it much thought. Instead, he just assumed they were happy because they were eager for him to leave, that since he was about to eat, his departure was imminent, so he simply offered a wry smile before ignoring them."Okay," he replied to the old man's request, and just at that moment, he noticed the brothers’ breaths quicken, their gazes becoming several times burning on him, making Xavier’s brows finally raise.‘Are they this disturbed by my presence?’ he wondered, sensing their heightened agitation. But with a light shrug, he finally turned his attention to the table, observing the numerous golden platters neatly and orderly arranged on it, all covered and waiting to be opened.In front of him only, eight golden plates of varying sizes lay, and knowing he was the center of attention, Xavier reached slowly toward
*****“What do you think of it?” the old man hurriedly asked after he saw Xavier done savoring the portion he had eaten, not noticing the bloodthirsty atmosphere filling the hall. Hearing him, Xavier offered a faint smile.“It’s not bad,” he replied, but no sooner had he finished speaking, however, than suddenly;“Hmph!” A sharp, furious snort cut through the room.“Not bad?” Cassandra’s voice sharpened, incensed at what she saw as Xavier’s conceit. “Do you even know what fish you just ate?” she asked icily, not waiting for a reply before growling in anger. “That fish is incredibly rare—one of only three in Riverton City, which Grandfather had spent billions in acquiring, treating it like a priceless treasure, and yet you dare to call it ‘not bad’?” Her tone dripped with loathing, furious to the core at Xavier, thinking he was just being arrogant like usual.“This…” Xavier, who had been surprisingly generous in his comment, since the taste hadn’t even reached “not bad” with how
*****If everyone had initially dismissed Xavier’s words as a mere rambling of a fool, that assumption had completely shattered after he had revealed the vital information regarding their Blackwood's most closely guarded treasure, and now, hearing him repeat the previous words that had infuriated them to the peak garnered a different reaction from them which was completely opposite of the first.For what felt like an eternity, they sat frozen, mouths agape, staring at Xavier as if he were some otherworldly creature, his words leaving them struggling to process what he’d just revealed.How scary is their family’s technique? Something that had always been revered by all the power in Riverton City and one of the rare top-tier cultivation methods in the entire nation.That’s not all, it is this same technique that had propelled their family from obscurity to a dominating force centuries ago. And now, he was insinuating that this powerful legacy was… was nothing but a mere replica, not
*****Meanwhile, not knowing the thought going through their father’s mind or all of his cooked-up plans, otherwise, the brothers would have almost died of embarrassment, none of the Blackwood family members seated around the huge dining table could react at first, the old man’s words hanging heavily in the silence.They sat frozen in place, gaping at the old patriarch in absolute shock. Not even Darius, typically the sharpest among them, had ever suspected anything like this in his life no matter the research he had done to find the source of his father’s strange and constantly worse illness.This lasted for a moment before finally; Darius found his voice. “Fa—father… do you truly mean what you had just said?” He carefully inquired, his question instantly jolting everyone back to awareness, their eyes snapping to the old man in concern.“Why did you keep such important information from us?” Aldric asked, his voice tight with worry, gazing at the old man, while Roland...“Could i
*****"I..." Darius's voice faltered as he took in his eldest brother's question, momentarily stunned. He then glanced around, and upon feeling the weight of everyone's gazes intensely fixated on himself, he felt uncomfortable and gave a subtle shake of his head, reading their silent accusations from their gazes."You… you really knew?" Roland gasped, his voice breaking the silence that had enveloped the room, laden with shock.He stared at Darius, disbelief etching deep lines on his face, and his other brother mirrored his expression, stunned that their third brother would actually withhold such a piece of earth-shattering information from them.Meanwhile, Darius, seeing the look of betrayal in his brothers' eyes which pierced straight through him was paralyzed for a heartbeat, but then he returned to his senses and quickly shook his head more firmly. "It's not what you think, brothers," he said quietly, his voice almost pleading, but Roland’s gaze remained hard, while Aldric’s f
*****Gaping at Xavier in utter disbelief as he calmly eats his meal and savors each bite as though he hadn’t a single care in the world, entirely indifferent to the devastating revelations that had just shaken the room, everyone’s jaws couldn’t help but nearly hit the floor.‘He… he actually still has the mood to eat, enjoying his food like nothing has anything to do with him?’ they thought in an absolute stupor, glancing at one another in stunned silence.After a moment, the family exchanged wry smiles and shook their heads, dismissing their fears. Clearly, Xavier did not care in the least about their family’s ‘huge secret that could turn their entire world upside down, which they had long been safeguarding.They were lost in these thoughts for a moment until eventually, the old man resumed, undeterred by the brief interruption. “According to the pattern that helped me uncover this truth,” he said calmly, “each of our ancestors' decline followed the same path as mine. First, the
*****A thick, impenetrable silence filled the hall at this moment, leaving everyone seated in stunned stillness, struggling to process Darius’s words.They continued sitting lifeless, looking as though they had just received the most tragic news of all time, the atmosphere so suffocating that if an ordinary person were to enter right now, they would faint even before they took their second step.This continued for what felt like an eternity until finally; “Third… third brother, what happened? What’s going on?” Aldric, Cassandra’s father stammered, his shaky voice cutting through the oppressive stillness that had settled over the hall. And at his words, everyone quickly turned to Darius, the second most tragic-looking person in the room right now other than the old man.“I…” Darius’s mouth opened, a look of difficulty appearing on his face before he eventually shook his head. “If I told you I understood what went wrong, it would be nothing but a monstrous lie,” he responded with a
***** Although they had clung to hope, thinking that since Xavier fully understood their plight in such detail, there was a probability that he might also hold the answer to save them, none of them had truly expected that he would actually have the solution. And with this, a long, stretched moment passed, with everyone sitting motionless, staring at him with dazed expressions, as if their minds had short-circuited, lost in a whirlwind of disbelief. 'Is this… could this be a miracle? Another chance for my family, for my son?' The old man felt a chill creep over him, his hands trembling and eyes turning crimson red with unshed tears as he looked at Xavier, his heart both hopeful and afraid. This continued until finally, after a while of turning Xavier’s response over and over again in his mind, his aged face, which had been worn beyond his years just a moment ago seemed to return to normal and eventually, he could no longer hold himself back again. “Young… young friend!” he cri