Chapter 902 - 902: The final attack?

Then her smile faded.

"I sometimes wonder where all those years went," she admitted. "It feels as though I only looked away for a moment, and suddenly you were grown. Grown enough to put me in a position like this."

Julian fell silent.

Olivia looked at him more carefully now.

Perhaps he had expected her to become flustered or dismiss it as meaningless. Instead, she found herself speaking about something she rarely discussed aloud: the strange ache of watching a child grow up, made sharper by the fact that the same child was now between her knees.

"You spend so much time worrying about them when they are young," she continued. "You worry when they fall ill, when they cry, when they refuse to eat. You think the difficult days will never end. Then one day, you look at them and realize you can hardly remember the last time they asked you to carry them."

Her fingers tightened slightly, not only in the fabric of her gown, but around his cock as well.

"You tell yourself that growing up is what you wanted for them. And it is. Of course it is. But that does not mean you never miss the child they used to be. Especially not when the man he became is doing something like this with you."

The room grew quiet.

Julian's expression had changed. The earlier intensity in his eyes had given way to something harder to read.

"Do you miss me being a child?" he asked.

Olivia answered without hesitation.

"Sometimes."

The honesty of her own response surprised her. She had expected to frame it a bit nicer and perhaps to tell him that she was happy with the man he had become.

That would have been true, too.

But it would not have answered his question.

She reached up with her free hand and gently brushed a strand of hair away from his forehead, a gesture so familiar that she did not have to think about it.

"I do not wish for you to remain a child forever, Kraven. I only wish I could visit those days once in a while. Without confusing them with… this."

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Outside, the wind stirred against the windows, and the distant sounds of the estate drifted through the quiet room. Life continued beyond their walls, indifferent to the memory that had risen between a mother and the son still kneeling at her breast.

Olivia drew a slow breath.

"Now," she said, attempting to recover some of her composure even, "please stop looking at me as though I have said something extraordinary. I was remembering the past. That is all. The rest of this does not change that."

Julian regarded her for another moment before finally nodding.

"Very well, Mother."

She studied him suspiciously. "You are agreeing far too easily."

"Would you prefer that I argue while your hand is still on me?"

"Absolutely not."

That earned a laugh from him, and Olivia found herself smiling in response despite the heat still in her face.

For a moment, Julian simply enjoyed the sound of her laughter and the small smile that followed it. It was a welcome change from the tension that had filled the room earlier.

Olivia seemed more relaxed now. Her shoulders were no longer as stiff, and the troubled expression on her face had softened. She no longer looked as though she were desperately trying to make sense of everything that had happened in the past.

For a little while, at least, she seemed satisfied to let the conversation flow naturally.

Julian was glad to see that.

However, while Olivia appeared to be settling down, Julian was dealing with something entirely different.

For the past several weeks, Kraven's imprint was growing weaker with each passing day. The change had happened so gradually that Julian could barely notice it at first.

What had once been a constant presence in the depths of his consciousness had slowly faded into the background. Occasionally, he would still feel a slight disturbance, reminding him that the body he occupied belonged to someone else.

But those moments had become increasingly rare.

Eventually, Julian had grown used to the fading presence. He had even begun to believe that with enough time, the remaining traces of Kraven would disappear on their own.

That was why what happened earlier caught him so completely off guard.

When Olivia began talking about Kraven's childhood, Julian felt something stir deep within his soul.

At first, it was only a faint sensation, so small that he might have mistaken it for an ordinary disturbance. But as Olivia continued speaking, the feeling grew stronger.

Her words seemed to have awakened something that was sleeping deep within the body.

Perhaps it was memories of Kraven's past, or perhaps the emotions attached to them.

But something had struck a part of his soul that Julian did not know was still connected to the original owner.

For a brief moment, he even struggled to maintain control.

The returning pressure was far stronger than he had expected. It felt as though something buried deep within his consciousness was attempting to push its way back to the surface.

Had Julian been any less prepared, the sudden backlash might have caused serious damage to his soul.

Fortunately, he was getting stronger and stronger each day.

His mana responded almost instinctively, flowing through his consciousness and reinforcing the boundaries of his soul. He gathered his strength and resisted the pressure before it could spread any further.

The struggle was brief, but it was intense enough to leave him on guard.

However, that was not the end.

He had expected the imprint to continue resisting him.

However, it vanished almost at once.

Julian quietly examined his consciousness again, making sure he had not overlooked anything. He searched every corner of his soul, paying particular attention to the places where Kraven's presence had lingered for so long.

There was nothing.

For the first time in weeks, Julian could examine his own consciousness without feeling another presence lingering somewhere within it.