Crying in the Dark

Elsewhere, there was another person who was deeply involved in this entire situation. It was Claudia herself. She was currently in her room, waiting for her sister to come back. She had always idolized her sister when she was young, but she started to move away from her when she was declared to be the heiress of the family.

She liked how Sylvia had maintained herself as an overlord even after being an outsider. She was her ideal, and her doting on a son was out of character, according to Claudia. In her eyes, Alex was an anomaly who made Slyvia weak, which was unacceptable. What she didn't understand, was that he was not her weakness. He was her hope. Today, when she was slapped on her face, she understood. She had already read up on his previous history but didn't pay too much mind to it. Today, however, she understood. He was practically an outsider in his own family, and him being this good was a result of hard work, not because he was a son in the Curran family. She had met with all the successors of that family, and no one was as cold as Alex. That isn't something you get from being a lazy noble. Sylvia doted on him, because she wanted to, not because he needed her to.

When she heard the news about him being beaten up by her father, she felt even worse. Her father had taken revenge for her humiliation, but was that deserved? She was the one who initiated the entire incident, and Alex being unsociable wasn't exactly news. His being cold to her was not out of character and all of this had happened because she had been immature.

Just as she was thinking about the incidents that happened today, Jane entered the room. She had some work to do today, so everything that happened was recently informed to her by her mother. On one hand, she was grateful to Alex. Her sister had never experienced defeat, which was partly her fault. She had been too overprotective of her, and that was exactly why she was also extremely furious with him.

She saw her sister lying on her bed, with tears streaking down her face. She was mumbling something, and at first, she thought that it had been too much for her, but when she approached her, Claudia jumped up and hugged her sister tight.

"It was my fault. I was immature."

She said, with a really heavy heart. It wasn't easy to admit it to her, but this was a burden that she had to share.

Jane was happy. She had always been a bit melancholic over the fact that her sister had slowly moved away from her over time. They still talked, but there was no way that she could ever be the same way with her younger sister, as when they used to be younger. This had changed today. The shell of arrogance that her sister had locked herself into, had finally broken.

And so, both of the sisters were glad. They both found what they had been searching for. It had been a long time coming, but they finally understood each other again.

The rest of the night passed on quickly. The only different thing was that the two sisters had spent the night together, reminiscing, and crying in the dark.

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The next day.

Alex was the first person to show up on the training ground. His wounds had already healed, so he was ready to take on the machine again. He had spent the last night getting beaten up inside the dream of his dream, so he was ready to train. It was a Sunday, so there was no school today, hence he was free to train as much as he wants.

"You are early today. have your wounds already healed up?"

Lucius, who had entered the training field, asked. He was sure that Alex was going to be unable to leave his room for at least 5 more days. Seeing that he was fine already, he was shocked.

"Yes. For some reason, my body heals at a fast rate. My mother asked me to not tell anyone, but since I don't want to lie to you, I am telling you this secret."

Alex said nonchalantly while warming up. His regenerative factor was made unknown to the major families, so this was news to Lucius. He added in a little lie, to make sure that his stock increase in his eyes. Alex was pretty sure that this would give Lucius incentive to bring him to his family, so he would keep his mouth shut. He wouldn't be able to hide it here for long anyway, so he could allow Clara to experiment on his blood and make them trust him completely.

"Is that so. Well, that just means that you are an excellent punching bag."

Alex was surprised at his reaction. He didn't show it on his face, but he was sure that he would try to cozy up to him after he revealed such an important part.

"Let's just say that I won't allow anyone to exploit my disciple, even people from my own family. try to live up to my expectations, as a price for keeping my mouth closed about this matter."

Alex smiled. He was lucky to have such a master.

"So, what do you want to do today?"

Lucius asked Alex. He had some things in his mind, but he wanted to know what Alex wanted to learn, to see his preferences.

"I want to train with that machine again."

He said, while still warming up. He had to adjust his body to the optimal state, and warm-up was important for this exercise.

"That was above your level, kid. Even Jane can't dodge all of the balls simultaneously. I just wanted to teach you a lesson. You can start with something weak."

Alex snorted. He was clearly displeased.

"Something weak, huh. Is something weak the reason that I accepted you as a master?"

When nothing works, go for a taunt. Alex successfully hurt his ego, and they proceeded to train using the ball machine again. This time, however, the bouncing balls had been replaced with hard tennis balls, which would still hurt, but a lot less compared to before. Alex was against this, but he couldn't make another demand. He accepted the decision reluctantly and went up to the square.

It was time for round 2.