Expectations.

Sylvia, the mastermind behind this whole plan, was currently at the Kramer family mansion. She had visited to congratulate her son for the achievement, as well as informing about her plans for him for the future.

Alex had completely surpassed all her expectations regarding the mission that he had just completed. He was supposed to fail this time so that she had enough incentive to make Ronald kick him out of the family due to his behaviour. She wanted to use the punishment as an excuse for banishing him, while making sure that the other families know of his potential and fight over him to bring him on their side, thereby putting more pressure on him to improve himself.

But he completed the plan flawlessly. She could have intervened in between, but seeing him work in such a cunning and manipulative way made her change her plan. She decided to try a different approach, which would pressure him even further. Instead of just picking one family, he now had to make sure that he doesn't tip the scales in the favour of any of the 3 families, which would sour their relations and earn him a lot of ill will. She really wanted to temper him up and had many more plans for the future, but those had to wait. He still needed to grow up before tackling those problems. She would continue to look over him, but she would do so from a distance.

She was currently in his room, observing him sleep. It was going to be a path filled with thorns for him, but it would all be worth it in the end.

"User, you are being observed. It doesn't seem like a threat, but you should still be ready in case anything bad happens."

Alex, who was currently in the system space, was warned by the system.

"Who is it?" He asked while panting. It was really difficult to train himself in the Black Blood technique. He still wasn't able to completely grasp the instructions that been relayed to his brain about the skill.

"Sylvia Curran."

Alex panicked. This woman was dead set to make his life difficult. Why did she have to make an appearance now?

"System, I wish to leave the space. Eject me outside as soon as possible."

The system did what it was told to. Alex woke up, with seething pain all over his body.

Sylvia looked at her son waking up. His complexion was red, and he was panting.

Alex looked around, pretending to just wake up. He then moved his eyes towards his mother, who was just standing there, looking at him with concern.

'So even she could make a face like this huh?'

Alex was a bit surprised, but his expression didn't change, as he smiled back to his mother.

She sat beside him and patted his shoulder. He had worked hard to be where he was. It was not a simple task for a kid who was considered to be worthless just a few years back.

"Alex, I need to tell you something important, something that will make you understand why I have been playing all these games with you."

She decided to make sure that he knew what her motives were. Even if he was to hate her, at least she could make sure that she didn't hide anything from him.

"I didn't want to talk about this now, but I have to, now that our time together is going to be shortened by a lot. You are my son, so I would never wish anything wrong upon you. But it is precisely that reason because of which I want to turn you into someone that garners a lot of respect from everyone, including the people that considered you to be a nobody. I will commit many questionable acts in the future, most of which would completely put you in a bad situation. I don't intend to stop playing these games, just so you know."

"But I want you to know, that from now on, nobody is more confident in you than me. The moment you lose that confidence by committing a mistake is the moment I get rid of you. Take every battle as the last battle, every mission as the last mission, every bullet fired as your last bullet. I have put all my hopes on you, and I will continue to do so, until and unless you don't deliver. Then, you are dead to not only me but this entire world."

Alex was looking at her, listening to everything very carefully. This was what an oath of an assassin looks like. She had an expression that showed pride in him, as well as expectations that will be far greater than anything he had experienced until now. His respect for her grew 100 times greater in a second. He remembered his previous life, where although people had expectations of him, he never felt too much pressure from it. Even his mentor, who was supposed to be the best assassin in his previous world, couldn't compare to be close to the woman sitting in front of him.

"I understand. I will never trust you, and I will never give up."

Sylvia smiled. This was a good answer. After that, she proceeded to explain the situation of the 3 families. He was not surprised, and just nodded when she asked if he was fine with that. She then patted his head for a bit and left the room. Alex, who had his vigour to improve renewed, looked out of his window, thinking about the next step, which was to establish himself into the three families on equal footing. It was going to be quite the task, but just as he said before,

He wasn't going to give up.