"Mom!"

Lora entered the room. Her voice seemed a bit irritated. It was obvious that something had happened.

As she opened the door, the face which her eyes saw were not of her mother.

"Ah!" A squeak escaped out of her mouth as she raised her hand instinctively. She wasn't done with her preparations, her dress was still loosely hanging on her body. She had no makeup on her face and her hairs were nestled up the back of her head revealing her beautiful neckline.

Lear looked at her and his eyes froze on Lora. No matter what he thought, he couldn't deny the fact that she was beautiful and this scene really would make anyone's mouth go dry.

"Would you stop staring at my daughter?"

Amanda's voice brought Lear back to his senses and he coughed awkwardly. Lora too realized that her hands weren't doing much help in hiding her and immediately rushed out of the room with her neck and cheeks red.

…

With Lora gone, Lear was back in the room with Amanda. It was something he didn't want.

But Amanda's smile eased up the situation by a bit preventing it from becoming awkward.

"Did you inform your father about the incident?" Amanda suddenly asked as she looked at Lear.

"No... it was just an accident. I don't want them to worry over something so insignificant." Lear replied with a smile. He knew that if he lied here and this lady ended up passing this information to his family which not very likely to happen, it would lead to some trouble. After all, if words got out that something had happened to him, his mother would definitely force his father to bring him back.

"Well, I think you should still inform him. You never know whether it was an accident or something else," Amanda replied hinting towards some other possibilities.

Lear didn't like it. She seemed to be oddly interested in his situation and coupled with the fact that the bad reputation Lear had maintained for these past years, it didn't make much sense. Unless, she was up to something.

"There are a lot of things which happen right in front of you and you might be oblivious to it," Amanda continued as she looked at him, "Being a Noble is not easy. You never know who where your enemy is?"

Lear smiled as he shook his head and his eyes flickered with different light, he lost his demeanor which he had been maintaining all along. The guy was close to having his switch turned.

His family was the one thing which Lear held really dear to him. And he didn't like it when someone put their nose in his family matters especially when it was uncalled for and their objective seemed shady.

"There is no reason for anyone to target me except for my father's enemy." Lear replied as he stared at her.

Amanda smiled as she looked at him in surprise. She had not expected him to have attacked in an indirect way. Everyone knew that his father's worst enemy was Amanda's husband.

"But I am sure, my father has kept a check on them. They won't dare to do anything funny or they would have it coming." He further added without realizing that his tone was turning to that of a threat.

"Mom!"

Lora's voice immediately broke the conversation. She had returned and this time fully prepared.

She walked up to her mother and spoke with scrunched brows, "What did you do this time? Dad has been calling me endlessly." Lisa raised her phone, "Look I have more than 200 missed calls."

"Sigh!" Amanda released a sigh feeling tired of dealing with her husband's antique. She got up from her seat and looked at Lear, "Why don't you entertain our guest for a while? Show him your room. I will be back after dealing with your Dad."

Amanda walked out of the room leaving the two behind.

"Jeez, she didn't even say that you were here." Lora mumbled as she looked at her mom living.

"At least you should have given me a call if you reached here." Lora further added as she turned around to look at Lear.

"I don't have your number…." Lear replied. He seemed to be sweating from head to toe for some reason.

"Oh… I will give you mine...hmmn?" Lora replied but she suddenly seemed to have noticed Lear sweating profusely, "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah...I am fine...it's just a bit hot here…" Lear replied with a forced smile. He had just realised what he had done.

'What in hell was I doing!!! What if she killed me!!'

"What are you talking about? It's almost winter…" Lora asked in confusion.

"Let's go to your room.." Lear said as he got up. He was afraid that she would return soon. It was better to stay out of her sight even if possible for a moment. Who knew if she got triggered? One couldn't really understand the reasoning of the strong people after all.

"Umn..ok…" Lora said, feeling a bit odd about the situation.

It wasn't the first time that she was having a guy over. But it was back when everyone was a child and the days when everything was fine.

…

On the other side, Max floated in the dark sky. He had activated stealth as he quietly hovered above the place where the scene was taking place.

Max had noticed one thing today, his ability to fade in the night had increased since he had comprehended the Dark element. He wondered how far he could take it.

"Clang!"

The Axe and the sword crashed into each other and the sword immediately shattered the next instant. It had already taken a few hits from the guy wielding the axe and seemed to have reached its limit.

There were 5 people below, the guy who was wielding the axe wore casual clothes. He looked confident as he took on the 4 people in a white cloak without breaking a sweat.

"Tsk...I finally met you guys after such a long wait and this is all you have got? So much rambling and nonsense about superiority and this is all it's amount to…"

"Ah! Such disappointment!!" The guy screamed and Max could truly hear him continuously sighing.

"What the hell is wrong with this guy?" Max couldn't help but smile with interest. The guy seemed a bit familiar but Max couldn't remember.

The guy casually toyed around with these people in white who were wearing white colored hooded cloaks looking like some religious cult members.

"Tsk..I already broke the curfew because of you guys. You better be prepared." The guy with the axe said as the mana around him surged and the next instant Max saw him swinging his axe and as he did, a tide broke out from thin air and followed behind accompanying the blade of the axe.

"Bang!"

The men in white cloaks jumped aside dodging the attack but as the axe hit the ground, it immediately broke the pavement and dug almost half the way into the ground.

Cracks immediately spread half the way across the streets and there wasn't any time for the people to retreat.

"Checkmate!"

The guy smiled and the next instant, the water began to gush out of the cracks and the next instant, the entire street was overturned as the water blasted out of the concrete pavement.

'Holy sh*t!'

Max was calmly flying in the sky, but suddenly his eyes widened and he immediately tilted his body dodging the huge chunk of concrete sent flying towards him.

'That was close..' Max thought inwardly. It would have definitely hurt a lot in case he got hit.

He then shifted his gaze back on the ground and saw the guy walking towards the bunch he just beat up. He then kicked one of them and spoke, "Where are my things? I have already informed the Academy about it, so you better hand it over as it ain't going to work."

"Tap!"

"Tap!"

The sound of steps immediately attracted the guy's attention and he turned around staring into the darkest end of the street. The lights were broken due to his attack and he couldn't see the person.

"You have indeed surpassed my expectation. But it's still not enough...even though I don't want to dirty my hands, it seems I have no other option…"

"Hahaha.. That tone, you must be a high ranking b*stard. Come on out, I will drag you out in open to show what you guys are doing in the Academy. Others might be afraid of you, but not me." The guy said as he lifted his axe off of his shoulder and pulled it back with one hand taking his stance.

Max frowned as he felt some fluctuations from four different places. He immediately released his senses.

This area, it was a trap.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly four corners of the streets lit up and Max observed 4 guys in each corner passing mana into something which should be an artifact.

From the looks of it, it was a formation. But as for what it was? Max really had no idea.

…

On the other side, Lear picked the diary which had just fallen down to the ground.

A picture had come half the way through the pages and Lear saw a cute little girl who appeared to be Lora.

He wasn't interested in invading her privacy. But what bad would a photo do? Besides, the smile on her face in the photo meant that it was of some happy memories.

He opened the diary and the whole picture came in front of his eyes.

It was pictures of a group of girls. There was a girl with black hair in the center and the card she was holding read "Happy Birthday Lisa…"

Lear smiled, he actually didn't remember himself being at the event.

As Lear was about to close the diary, his eyes fell on the other page and he stopped. His eyes had caught a few words.

"The past which she no longer remembers....I can only use her hatred to ease my pain…....there is no forgiveness without recollection....."