The next morning, it was complete chaos happening in the mansions of the Clive and Rivers Family.
"Herwin! Do something about our son. How did the cursed disease come back all of a sudden? Let's go to Alchemist Azrael right now!" A woman cried out as she looked at her son lying on the bed in a pitiful condition, with his body completely covered in black scales with yellowish pus.
Even she had a hard time looking at him despite being his mother. What's more...his family jewels were completely crippled as well...again.
Herwin Clive's expression seemed emotionless, but inwardly his blood was boiling thinking about whom he should exact his wrath upon. This was the first time he felt so helpless not knowing who his enemy was.
So far, even if he had small conflicts with the other top five families, he didn't feel any sort of a disadvantage at the same level like this. At most, he knew who they were and how to deal with them based on the situation. But now he was totally on the blind.
His family physician told him that the dormant disease woke up due to the injuries Roy sustained in his battle.
It didn't wake up right after the battle, but only when Herwin took Roy back to his mansion and some hours passed; he saw the disease slowly surfacing on Roy's body like a curse and almost cried out in shock.
He was already shaken seeing the state Roy ended up in after Damien thrashed him like a pig. He was feeling an extreme loss of face and couldn't even hold his head up high as he picked up Roy and flew back to his mansion.
His killing intent almost escaped, and if he had seen Damien at that time, he might have done something for sure. But of course, with so many people around, he would think twice before doing such reckless things.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})He was frustrated that no matter how much he wanted to kill Damien, he couldn't and was completely handtied, especially now.
Since Damien was always sticking around Valentina, it was not like he could send someone to attack him right before Valentina.
He knew Valentina would obviously protect Damien, and with the token she carries around, even the strongest assassins wouldn't be able to do shit till the guards arrive.
And if anything happened to Valentina and Alchemist Azrael somehow found out, then he would have to kiss goodbye his status, wealth, and whatnot. It was nothing more than a stupid idea to destroy everything he had now.
He knew the emperor wouldn't turn a blind eye to whatever Alchemist Azrael might ask for. And if he points him out as the culprit, then he would be finished. There was no way he was going to commit any such blunder.
But suddenly, seeing Roy catch the cursed disease again and in an even more vigorous manner, his heart almost flew out.
He had already suffered enough shocks for the past few days where his family's future was literally in the line.
And now again, he already realized that Alchemist Azrael was the only one who could cure Roy. But unfortunately, it won't happen till Alchemist Azrael becomes a Rank 6 Alchemist at least, and even he could see that it would take at least a couple of years, maybe dozens depending on how smooth Alchemist Azrael's soul cultivation would be.
So, the last thing he should do was to offend him indirectly, especially after learning that he allowed Damien to stay inside his mansion.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Herwin had no doubt that Alchemist Azrael must be getting friendly with Damien right now. After all, hearing about his shocking battle prowess must be enough to win him over a million times.
Even Herwin almost had his eyes popped out hearing the news that his son got thrashed with just a single attack from Damien, someone who was more than a whole realm weaker than Roy.
But still, he had already learned about Damien's unbelievable prowess of defeating people stronger than him by a whole realm.
And now, since Damien's name even entered the Eternal Hall of Fame rankings, he had no doubt that Damien's future was set, and with that, Alchemist Azrael would only be pleased to welcome Damien as his son-in-law since he considers Valentina as his daughter.
But most of all, the hate and anger he had against Damien was nothing thinking about the true culprit behind all this. The reason Roy even got this disease in the first place. The one who drugged him with sinister motives.
No matter how much he let his people investigate, they could only helplessly bow their heads before him, telling that other than Luke or Neo being the culprits, it was practically impossible for anyone else.
Just to be sure, he also asked them to check the whereabouts of Damien on that day, and that was a dead end as well since his investigators said that Damien was dining with Valentina at a popular restaurant that day, so he even remotely had nothing to do with it.
Although he felt that Damien couldn't do a damn thing to Roy or Dennisa, he had to reconsider after seeing his son in a half-dead state.
He just didn't want to leave, not any possibilities just because they seemed implausible.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})And as expected, he got a sound transmission from Harvey himself, saying in a dull tone that his daughter has caught the harrowing disease again.
They planned to have a meeting later and think about the various solutions possible to cure their heirs. Of course, Alchemist Azrael was the only name that ringed in their minds.
But they didn't want to take risks by having Alchemist Azrael concoct them a pill for a temporary cure with potential horrifying side effects like the disease coming back even stronger if triggered.
They felt that even if their heirs took another pill with the temporary cure, and the disease was once again triggered, then they might even possibly die, which was worse than their current situation.
Even their family physician told him that if the vigor of the relapsed disease was a tad stronger, then their cultivations would be completely crippled. So that was one risk they were not willing to take since if one loses their cultivation, then it was even worse than dying.
But another troubling thing was that the matriarch of the Alston Family, Calissa sent him a message saying that she would be coming soon for a meeting regarding the marriage alliance between her daughter and his son, Roy.
It was as if the gods thought that the troubles he had were not enough, so they bestowed him with another one.
He felt a severe headache weighing him down and asked the heavens why all these unfortunate things were happening to him all at once.
He couldn't understand why Calissa suddenly brought up the marriage proposal, but when she said that she even discussed this with the emperor, he literally felt helpless.
If this had happened in a situation where Roy was healthy, he would happily wed him off as even he had plans of proposing an alliance with the Alston Family but just held back to see if there would be any other potential opportunities before Roy graduates.
But now, how can he even dare to make Roy appear before Calissa, especially when she visits him? He could take the risk of offending Calissa by rejecting the proposal or even postponing it if Calissa doesn't mind her daughter marrying at an older age, though it seemed less likely.
Still, how long can he hide Roy's condition from everyone else, especially the patriarchs of the other top five families?
He knew once the truth was out, then everybody's faces would change, and even the respect they had for his family would plummet.
And soon enough, in the future, they would even doubt whether the Clive Family deserves to stand amongst them at the top.
He didn't even dare to imagine what his family's future would be like after his time and what would happen to the heritage he had nurtured himself after it was passed down to him by his ancestors.
How could he let his family lose its footing and power like this? He wanted to stop Calissa from visiting his mansion, but at the same time, he didn't know what he should tell to make her not come.
She would easily discern any stupid excuses, and she would get offended thinking that he was looking down upon her daughter.
But only Herwin knew that the moment Calissa learned about Roy's condition, especially the fact that he was crippled down there, she would instantly throwback all thoughts of an alliance and wouldn't even spare him a glance.
But for now, he could only clench his fists as he looked at his main wife lamenting over her unconscious son whom she usually bragged to everyone proudly.
