'Maybe one day I will understand what he meant... now it's not the time to think of this,' Arslan thought as he closed his eyes and made deep breathes,
'Ahhh... I only wanted a peaceful life... but it seems I can't achieve it while trying to avoid trouble and hiding my strength...' He lifted his head up and opened his eyes to look at the sky, 'It's time to change my approach.' Arslan thought as he left the flower garden and headed towards his room.
On the road, he crossed by Eveline and her maid, who were walking in his opposite direction,
"Ohoh, look at who came back home, Sheila!" Eveline said to her maid as both of them stopped walking and started laughing. Eveline tried to hide her grin behind her fan.
Arslan continued walking without saying a word.
"It seems that being thrown away by the Imperial Academy made you unable to speak. How does it feel to be so powerless?" The satisfaction in her eyes could be seen from a thousand kilometers, but Arslan didn't bat an eye while continuing walking as if nothing were happening. His ears blocked any useless sound coming from outside as his brain was only focused on the fight he would have had 2 days later. Nothing was more important to him at that moment. Eveline could have said whatever she wanted, but he wouldn't even have heard her.
"Hey! I'm talking to you sh*thead! Answer back when I tell you to-" Eveline grabbed Arslan's arm as he passed by her but then stopped speaking. Arslan had turned his head towards her, and when she looked into his eyes, she could only see an endless ocean of darkness.
"W-What...?" She stuttered as she didn't understand what was happening. It was only in her head though.
"Miss Eveline? Is everything ok?" The maid asked as she wondered why Eveline stopped speaking and moving.
"Eveline, can you let my arm go?" Arslan asked with a cold expression on his face. Eveline got startled by the way he spoke. She expected him to be submissive, but, instead, he looked at her as if she were just a bug blocking his path.
Eveline let Arslan's arm go,
"Thanks." Arslan said as he continued his walk towards his room.
"Miss Eveline! My Miss, why did you let him go? If I may speak, his arrogance should be punished!" Sheila said in frustration as even she wouldn't have dared to talk like that to Eveline, especially by saying her name without adding -Miss-.
Normally, Eveline would have never allowed Arslan to speak that way to her, but at that moment she was shocked by his expressionless face and the feeling she had as she looked into his eyes,
"No, I must have seen things. It was just a trick of him!" She said as she tried to comfort herself,
"Call Troy to my room! I want him to go to teach that b*stard a lesson!" She said to her maid while turning back and heading towards the main house.
"As you wish my lady." Sheila said while bowing her head.
In the evening, while Arslan was cultivating with the Qi refining phase, Troy entered his mother's room,
"Did you ask for me, mom?" He said as he closed the door behind him, looking at Eveline, who was giving him her back.
"That b*stard dared to make a trick on me! You must go and make him pay for this!" She said in anger as she turned around to look Troy into his eyes.
"Trick? What kind of trick can that trash do?" He wondered as he sneered while keeping his hands folded in his trousers' pockets.
"DON'T LAUGH!" She said in frustration as she gritted her teeth. Troy stopped sneering immediately, understanding that she was upset.
"He did some kind of illusion," She said while walking towards the window biting her thumbnail,
"I don't know what it was but if he dared to do such a thing to ME, then he must pay the consequences!" She said while suddenly looking directly into Troy's eyes.
"Mother, can you tell me what did you see in his illusion?" Troy asked as the smile on his face got replaced by a worried expression.
"Huh? Is it important?" She asked confused by Troy being interested in such trivial things. Troy continued to look at her in the eyes without saying anything but keeping his serious face. Then she replied,
"If you want to know it that much... everything became suddenly dark around me and the feeling he gave off remembered me of his father! Disgusting! He is becoming disgusting exactly like that country-bumpkin was!" She said as her face showed disdain due to the memory of Argo that came to her mind.
'Dark around her? It is exactly what I felt that day!' Troy thought as he opened his eyes wide, "Mom, were his eyes black at that moment?" He asked to have a confirmation of what he was supposing.
"Yes, why?" She replied without a second thought.
'I was right! That son of a b*tch did the same thing to my mother!! Oh Arslan, you will see how I'll make you pay for this on Monday!' Troy thought as a fire of anger rose inside him and his fists were clenched tightly,
"Don't worry mother, I have already arranged a match between him and one of my friends."
"Troy..." Suddenly her expression changed from confused to worried,
"Are you trying to tell me that he wasn't expelled by the Academy?"
'F*ck, I forgot she didn't know of this yet!' He thought as he tried a kind way to tell her the truth,
"N-No. Listen, mother, there is something off with him as of late. I'm trying to figure out what he is hiding from us-" He tried to say as he wanted to avoid hearing her screaming again, but she interrupted him.
"WHAT?!?!?! THAT TRASH DEFEATED HIS OPPONENT??? DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOUR FRIEND WOULD HAVE FOUGHT AGAINST HIM??!!?" She said as she totally lost any sense of reason. Even the maids inside the main house got suddenly scared by her screams. When things didn't go her way, she couldn't keep control of her emotions.