Chapter 149: Yves vs Twins [8]

"I warned you, didn’t I?"

Viviane leaned in with a smile on her lips and whispered to Antonia, who sat beside her with an expressionless face as she stared at the screen displaying her children losing against Yves.

At first, Antonia didn’t seem to react at all.

That was until Viviane noticed her jaw clench tightly and her hands gripping the armrests hard enough to leave small cracks in them.

She was pissed.

Insanely pissed.

"This... is impossible," Antonia muttered through gritted teeth.

"Don’t deny reality now. The children you were so proud of just lost." Viviane leaned back in her chair. "And that child is really merciless. He tortured your children without a second thought."

Antonia glared at her.

"Shut up."

Viviane simply smirked at her reaction before looking away.

Antonia tried her best to maintain her composure, but her anger kept slipping through the cracks.

She couldn’t believe what had just happened.

How could her children lose?

She had made sure they were trained rigorously, never allowing them to slack off. It was because of that relentless training that the twins had become so strong.

Yet some bastard child who had once been considered worthless had defeated them.

What kind of nonsense was that?

She had been planning this for years.

Her children would win the Rite of Passage, and their victory would finally earn more attention from her cold husband—not only towards her, but towards her children as well.

Everything had been planned perfectly.

The twins would come out on top. The only real problems they might have faced were their older brothers, but Antonia had been confident that they could handle them.

Then Yves suddenly decided to participate.

When he defeated his older brothers, Antonia had told herself that she wasn’t worried.

But despite her denial, a seed of fear had already taken root in her heart.

A fear that perhaps Yves might actually become a problem for her children.

And he had proven that fear right.

He completely humiliated them.

Shame.

She felt so much shame and anger.

Everyone would now laugh at her and her proud children who had always placed themselves above everyone else.

Then another emotion began taking root inside her heart.

It was bitter.

Cold.

Hatred.

Hatred towards Yves.

Her eyes shifted towards the screen.

Yves, clad in obsidian armor, stood beneath the night sky.

You should have just died.

What did you have to ruin everything for?

Antonia clenched her teeth.

"Heh~ hehehehe!"

Giggles came from her left.

Antonia turned her head and saw Yversa sitting there with an unmistakably happy expression on her face.

Her jaw clenched even harder.

She hated that woman.

She hated both mother and son.

Fuck. This bitch is never going to shut up now.

She knew that after Yves won the Rite of Passage, both his reputation and Yversa’s reputation would rise significantly within the family.

They had previously been looked down upon.

But now?

Yves had seemingly awakened a Legendary-grade Main Story.

That was the only explanation Antonia could come up with for how he had defeated everyone.

In this situation, Antonia had lost.

And Yversa had won.

That didn’t sit well with her.

She hated it.

Antonia stared at Yversa with such intensity that Yversa eventually noticed.

Their eyes met.

An amused expression spread across Yversa’s face. Her lips, painted with black lipstick, curved into a wide smile.

"Awww, why are you angry?" Yversa asked, pretending to be genuinely confused.

Antonia didn’t answer.

She simply continued staring at her, her eyes trembling with anger.

And Yversa loved every second of it.

"Ah, right."

Yversa smacked her left fist into her open palm as though she had finally figured it out.

"It’s because my son, the one you call useless, trampled over your children and won."

Antonia showed little reaction to her words.

But her fingers curled even tighter around the armrests.

More cracks appeared.

Yversa, with her keen eyes, noticed immediately.

She leaned closer and whispered.

"God, I love seeing that look on your face."

Her voice was soft.

Almost affectionate.

"You thought you were so mighty. So far above me."

Her smile widened.

"Yet your children failed to take down the son of the lowly woman you despise."

Yversa paused.

"The only useless ones I saw on that screen were your children, not mine."

"Who are you calling useless?" Antonia hissed through gritted teeth. "Don’t you dare compare your trash bastard son to my precious children."

"Yeah. The trash bastard son who completely demolished those so-noble children."

Yversa tilted her head.

"Ironic, isn’t it?"

"You damn concubine."

"A concubine who is producing results."

Yversa shrugged.

"At this point, I really think we should swap positions."

She giggled.

"You become the concubine, and I become the third wife."

That was the last straw.

Antonia’s hand moved.

She was about to slap Yversa for daring to speak to her like that.

But then she looked into those deep purple eyes.

They seemed to pull everything into them.

Antonia froze.

"Don’t even try to do anything," Yversa said with a smile.

The smile never reached her eyes.

"It won’t end well for you."

She casually glanced towards the throne.

"The family head is right there, and you want to start a fight?"

Her smile widened.

"Please behave."

Antonia silently gritted her teeth and looked towards Van Der Vaal.

She couldn’t see his face clearly from where she sat.

She couldn’t tell what expression he was making.

Was he angry?

Was he disappointed?

Or had he simply not reacted at all?

Those thoughts continued replaying inside her head.

Meanwhile, Van Der Vaal remained completely aloof.

Not a single emotion had appeared on his face from the beginning of the Rite of Passage to its conclusion.

No one truly knew what was going through the King of the North’s mind.

Meanwhile, in the stands where the elders and other members of the family sat, the atmosphere had become much livelier.

Everyone was talking loudly about what they had just witnessed.

"Hahaha! This kid really is a menace. Cruel to the end! I like it."

Jian’s laughter echoed throughout the hall.

He turned towards the old elder who had argued with him earlier.

The elder now wore an extremely displeased expression.

"Didn’t I tell you? Yves won."

Jian smirked.

"Your old ass should just retire and stop talking shit."

"Shut up."

The elder glared at him.

Jian simply laughed.

Andromeda stared at the screen with widened eyes.

"Yves... actually won."

She had doubted that Yves could defeat the twins.

She had been wrong.

Yves had single-handedly defeated them.

"The guy everyone least expected to win took the crown for himself."

Jean-Marc chuckled.

"I knew there was something different about him when I met him at the border," Lara said with a smile.

Jean-Marc turned towards her.

"Wait, you’ve already met him?"

"Yeah. Thanks to our sister Andromeda here, who decided to fight Ezio right in front of the walls."

"Ahah! You still haven’t gotten your issue fixed?"

Jean-Marc leaned towards Andromeda.

Andromeda slowly turned her head towards him.

"Jean-Marc, ask another question and I’ll cave your face in."

She raised a fist.

Jean-Marc immediately raised both hands in surrender and backed away.

Sara giggled at the two of them.

...

Meanwhile, Ezio and the other Shadow Guardians stood together.

Their reactions were far more varied.

The majority looked shocked.

Some were surprised.

Others remained completely expressionless.

And a small number—few enough to count on one hand—had already expected such an outcome.

"Impossible. What kind of cheating abilities are those?"

Setra, Ana’s Shadow Guardian, muttered in disbelief.

She wasn’t the only one struggling to believe what she had witnessed.

The others were just as stunned.

Yves’ abilities were simply too powerful.

No.

It wasn’t merely their strength that was frightening.

It was their versatility.

"He was simply lucky enough to awaken such abilities," Vultron, Alexander’s guardian, replied. "I don’t see why you’re calling it cheating."

"Tsk."

Setra clicked her tongue and didn’t respond.

Vultron’s gaze shifted towards another guardian standing nearby.

Zander was a short man with short black hair and hazel eyes.

He was Arnold’s Shadow Guardian.

Unlike the others, Zander wasn’t looking at the screen anymore.

"You aren’t showing any reaction," Vultron said.

"Why should I?" Zander raised an eyebrow.

"You’re his guardian, aren’t you?"

Zander stared at Vultron for a moment before finally looking towards the screen.

He sighed.

"Arnold needed to be humbled sooner or later. He was just too cocky."

He paused.

"The path he’s walking is nothing but destructive. So I hope this serves as a lesson and that he’ll change his mindset."

Vultron nodded.

His eyes then moved towards Ezio.

The assassin was standing with his back turned towards them, his expression as cold and emotionless as ever.

It was almost as if Yves’ victory hadn’t affected him at all.

However...

His left eye twitched.

Then twitched again.

Vultron frowned.

Did something get into his eye?

If Yves had been there, he would have immediately understood what was happening.

Ezio was trying his absolute hardest not to laugh.

Then Ezio finally turned around.

He looked towards the other guardians with the same cold expression he had worn throughout the entire Rite.

"You better pay up."

Several guardians paled.

Setra’s expression twisted in frustration.

Ezio’s lips remained completely straight.

But internally—

I’m so fucking rich!

He was celebrating.

All that betting had finally paid off.

Then—

Snap.

Altair, who had remained standing in the middle of the hall, snapped his fingers.

A shadow appeared in the center of the hall.

The darkness twisted.

And a figure stepped out.

Yves.

He had returned.

The entire hall became quiet.

Altair looked towards the family members and smiled.

"The winner is here."