Chapter 32: a certain general's son
ARGENT tried to move her left shoulder and couldn't help but wince. It's been a week since the kidnapping incident and most of her wounds hasn't healed yet. She knew there were a lot of people in the mansion wondering why all her wounds hasn't healed totally since Jaxon already called a healer. What they didn't know was that the healer Jaxon called was just an ordinary healer, not someone with a healing Gift. So the healer healed her wounds using a more traditional means, i.e. a bit of medicinal herbs and elixirs and a lot of stitching.
So far Jaxon hasn't asked her yet about her special constitution. She's not stupid enough to believe that he wouldn't ask her about it. He's probably just waiting until Aurum returned to school so he could ask her alone. Since Aurum had been sticking to her for the past week. In fact, it took a lot of convincing before her sister agreed to go back to the academy. But now that Aurum was back to school, she and Jaxon would probably have that conversation today.
Argent put down her pen and creaked her neck. She's finally done writing her comprehensive business plan. Now that she's found a sword teacher, and she also successfuly skipped grades, the only thing left was to start implementing her plan.
Someone knocked and Felicia came in carrying a tray of tea and sweets. "Young Lord, why did you get up? Your wounds hasn't fully healed yet. You should stay in bed," she said while putting the tray on the table she's sitting at. "Why hasn't your wounds healed anyway? Was the healer hired by Master Jaxon a quack?"
Argent chose not to answer that question. "I'm fine, Felicia. I'm not that fragile. These small wounds won't kill me."
"They're not small wounds, Young Lord. If the Duchess sees you right now, I'm sure she'd agree," Felicia said while pouring her tea.
After Felicia said that, Argent remembered her talk with her mother. She could clearly see how worried her mother was. She knew her mother would propose to go back once she saw her injured state. So before her mother could say it, she told her first that she shouldn't. It's much more important for her to continue her search for their father. At the end, her mother still reluctantly agreed.
"Felicia, could you call Uncle Jaxon? I want to tell him something," she told Felicia.
"Okay. Eat your snacks, Young Lord." Felicia cut a slice of the coffee flavored cake she brought and put it in front of her before going out.
Argent took a bite of the cake and drank her tea. It didn't take long before Jaxon came and sat in front of her.
"Tea?" Argent asked.
"No thanks. How are you feeling?"
"Much better."
Jaxon stared at her for a while. "Do you know what my Gift is?" he suddenly asked out of nowhere.
"You're telekinitic, just like Finn."
"That's right. And do you know what I just tried to do earlier? I tried to make you float. But curiously enough, you didn't even budge an inch. Do you know the reason why or was it something surprising for you too?"
Sure enough, they would have that conversation today. "When I tried to get close to my sister, I found out that her Gift doesn't work on me. I thought maybe it was because we're twins. But then when I tried to make Felicia attack me using her Gift, the water dissipated before it even touched me. From then, it's easy to make a conclusion. That apparently Gifts don't work on me. I also don't know the reason why. Maybe it has something to do with me being a NoGift," she said vaguely. That's the closest to the truth she could tell him. Jaxon was a sharp person. If she said too little, she would just appear more suspicious. So, it's better to tell some truth and conceal the rest.
"Does your mother know about this?"
"No. It would only make her worry unnecessarily. Especially since it doesn't really have any negative effects so far. Well, if you don't count the fact that healing Gifts also don't affect me. I hope you won't tell it to my mother. We both know she should focus right now on the search for my father."
Jaxon wrinkled his brows. He knew she was right. Anthea would definitely panic when he told her about this. But he couldn't help but worry since he had never heard of someone that couldn't be affected by Gifts. If some black organization heard about this, they could kidnap Argent, train her, and make her into a weapon. Not to mention if this... something could actually have a negative effect on her body.
Argent could easily see in Jaxon's expression what he was thinking. "If you're worried, I promise I will tell you immediately if I start feeling that something's wrong."
Jaxon sighed. He couldn't really do anything right now but compromise. He just had to monitor Argent more strictly starting today. "You better keep this promise."
"Of course," she answered, sipping her tea.
"So, what is it you wanted to talk to me about? I guess it's not about your special constitution."
"No." Argent pushed the stack of paper beside her teacup in front of Jaxon. "I have a business proposition."
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Eastern Continent, Xing Empire.
In the household of the famous General Zhang, the mistress of the house and the wife of the General was kneeling in front of the statue of Gaia, sincerely praying. She hasn't stopped praying for months. Ever since her only son fell into coma half a year ago. She still remembered that incident. His son suddenly fell off his horse and then his Mana erupted. It took a lot of manpower before his Mana was contained. Then after that, he never woke up.
[Please, dear Goddess... Please, hear my prayers.]
She suddenly heard footsteps. Then a young maid came running in. "Madame! The young master woke up!"
Madame Lin stood up. "W-what?"
"The young master, he woke up!" the young maid excitedly said again.
Madame Lin felt like a great weight has been lifted from her shoulders. She turned to the goddess' statue. [Thank you. Thank you.]
She ran outside of the room, disregarding her poised image and continued on to her son's room. Once there, she didn't wait for the maids to open the room, she opened it herself and immediately went inside. She saw his thirteen year old son lying on his bed, groaning mournfully as if having a nightmare.
Madame Lin walked beside the bed and held her son's hand. "Lei Feng, my son."
Slowly, Zhang Lei Feng opened his eyes - a pair of obsidian black eyes as dark as the night sky. And the first word he muttered was, "Xia Yin..."