Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Medici Manor, Yunju Training Ground.

It was another familiar mecha practical class, but the atmosphere was entirely different from before.

Luo Lin blended into the main group. After taking a uniformly configured advanced mecha Spatial Ring from the table, she lowered her eyes and slipped away to stand in a corner, completely ignoring Cecil, who was being surrounded and flattered by other children nearby.

She knew perfectly well that he was deliberately standing there to assert dominance, much like young beasts in a pack vying for leadership—both strength and followers were their capital for boasting.

Since the unexpected incident during the practical project, the power dynamics within the Medici family had undergone subtle shifts. A subtle trend of factionalism began to emerge, and even these children, who had been with the Medici family for less than half a year, were subtly influenced by this atmosphere, instinctively choosing sides between the two young masters and ladies of the main family. Once they grew closer to one, they would distance themselves from the other.

Between the two, because Luo Lin always maintained a low-key and aloof demeanor, most children tended to gravitate towards the more flamboyant Cecil.

Even though he had a terrible personality and still treated children from branch families with arrogant disdain.

Luo Lin had no particular feelings about this. In all fairness, she had never been interested in this heir competition from the start.

People often lack concrete motivation for things they have never possessed. From a young age, she had never experienced special care or favoritism from her family. Her only impression of the so-called heir position was that after more than a decade of the family pouring all its affection into Cecil, they had only produced someone like him. Naturally, she scoffed at it.

Compared to her father’s empty promises, the only reason she still bothered to pay any attention to this competition was purely to spite her brother.

Beyond that, including the interpersonal relationships that needed cultivating, these were all just tedious, extraneous matters to Luo Lin.

Even with Grace and Dick, she had no intention of deliberately befriending them.

Her world was small and insular.

To her, one "friend" was enough.

On her slender finger, a flower-vine patterned purplish-red ring began to glow faintly—this was the communication device Eve had left her.

Her only friend had sent her a message.

Luo Lin channeled her mental energy into the ring. Eve was online in real-time, so messages popped up one after another. The initial ones were just brief pleasantries, including thanks for helping invite her teacher and a desire to find an opportunity to treat her to a meal.

After a moment’s thought, she replied.

[Luo Lin: I’m afraid there won’t be an opportunity for that anytime soon.]

[Luo Lin: The situation at home is a bit complicated right now. Cecil is keeping a very close eye on me, and he’d find out.]

[Eve: Don’t worry, there will be an opportunity soon.]

Why was the other party so certain?

Luo Lin raised an eyebrow and looked down, but froze the moment she saw the content of the message.

[Eve: Perhaps... did you know the Family Head has another illegitimate child outside?]

[Luo Lin: Impossible.]

[Eve: Trust me.]

[Eve: Keep a close eye on Cecil recently, and the Third Steward by his side. If possible, help me pay more attention to the Family Head’s reaction.]

[Luo Lin: What reaction? Is he considering a new option in the heir struggle?]

This response showed that Luo Lin still had some understanding of her biological father’s nature.

Eve let out a soft laugh before replying unhurriedly.

[Eve: No.]

[Eve: It’s whether he has any intention of killing this illegitimate child.]

The last sentence was phrased so subtly that Luo Lin didn’t quite grasp its meaning.

Even a vicious tiger doesn’t eat its own cubs. Even someone like Sparti, who pits rivals against each other, wouldn’t immediately think of directly killing his own child, especially in a place like the Medici family, which values bloodline ties so deeply.

Why would he suddenly want to kill an illegitimate child out of nowhere?

Unfortunately, the faint glow on the ring indicating the other party was online had already extinguished. Luo Lin lowered her hand with a hint of regret. She had always been the most perfectly cooperative partner. Even though Eve’s words were vague, she still prepared to do as instructed.

After leaving home, Eve seemed to have gained more than she had imagined. She was growing rapidly in the world outside. In comparison, those trapped in the outwardly opulent Medici Manor, scheming and battling for the so-called heir competition, seemed so foolish.

Luo Lin felt a touch of boredom and envy.

She avoided her teacher’s supervision and moved to another corner, intending to find a suitable angle to observe Cecil and the Third Steward attending him. But the moment she turned her head, she met Cecil’s direct gaze, and even those around him were staring at her in strange silence.

"......"

The pressure of being watched didn’t bother her. She neither dodged nor flinched, instead staring back at Cecil defiantly.

The scene of the siblings staring each other down was too incongruous and tense; a certain emotion in the air was about to erupt. Even at the other end of the training ground, several top-performing students who had been focused on their training couldn’t help but be drawn to this corner, including Grace and Dick.

They knew Eve and Luo Lin were very close, so even though they weren’t close themselves, they were willing to stand on the side of the young mistress, who had few supporters.

Seeing the tense atmosphere between Cecil and Luo Lin, the two gradually retreated and moved closer, positioning themselves subtly near Luo Lin, ready to offer swift assistance. Finally, Cecil spoke.

His voice was still as rich and full as ever, but due to various changes in his state of mind, even the feeling it conveyed had altered. If it used to be smooth like silk, now it was like a midnight violin—dark and brooding.

"I just saw your ring glowing, and then you held it and zoned out," Cecil said, his eyes filled with suspicion, warning, and a hint of hostility. "But you’ve never worn that ring before."

"And so?" Luo Lin retorted indifferently. "Since when have you cared about what jewelry I wear? Grilling me now—are you suspecting me of something?"

Cecil then fell silent. His suspicious gaze lingered on Luo Lin for a long time before slowly shifting away.

But Luo Lin didn’t relax, thinking she had successfully fended off Cecil. Her sapphire-blue eyes, clear as crystal, watched her sensitive and flamboyant biological brother from behind the crowd for a while before she called the Fifth Steward’s comm line.

The Fifth Steward was her current personal steward, also one of her mother’s former subordinates, and relatively trustworthy.

She ran through the tasks Eve had entrusted to her. The matter of her father having another illegitimate child was indeed beyond her expectations. As Luo Lin secretly pondered what implications this might have if it were true, she also delegated the tasks Eve had asked of her, instructing the Fifth Steward to keep an eye on the Third Steward and the Family Head’s movements recently.

After giving her instructions, she slowly exhaled, her left hand gently twisting the flower-vine shaped communication ring, her eyes lowered, burying all her thoughts deep within.

-

Family Head Oliver’s audacity far exceeded what Eve had imagined.

Due to conflicts from the previous generation, when he took power, the family was facing the dire consequences of a rebellion. During those turbulent times, he had no choice but to conceal all ambition and use more conservative methods to manage the chaotic family, like a cautious old captain steadily piloting the ship named the Oliver Family through seas where storms could strike at any moment.

But this didn’t mean ambition had vanished from his heart. On the contrary, beneath his calm exterior, Family Head Oliver had bolder moves than previous family heads.

He broke the Oliver family’s generations-long tradition of only marrying commoners, exceptionally wedding the noble young lady of the Luo family to secure their support and assistance;

He heavily nurtured and deliberately indulged the next heir, Ludwig, making him the youngest among the young masters of the capital’s families and widely acknowledged as the most capable;

Beyond that, he implemented various new systems within the family, took shares in the black market operated by the Luo family, and pushed the family’s industrial influence into the most chaotic Black Star. These seemingly reckless moves allowed the Oliver family to recover from the post-rebellion chaos at the fastest pace, maintaining control over the Alchemist Association and preventing it from falling into the hands of other families.

Although in recent years, Family Head Oliver had gradually loosened his grip on the family's power, intentionally allowing Ludwig to handle affairs on his behalf, he had always remained like a shadow behind the curtain, never truly leaving the stage of supreme authority on the capital star.

Upon discovering Eve's false identity, his first instinct was to use it as leverage to control her, but he quickly dismissed the idea himself. Such an approach would not only easily provoke her resentment but also seemed too simplistic a method of manipulation—a waste when dealing with young individuals destined for greatness.

For talented people, mere threats and bribes are the most rudimentary tactics. Combining favor and intimidation might be a slightly more sophisticated approach, but even that carries an air of condescending patronage from those in power, and those cultivated in such a manner would forever remain subordinates.

For someone like Family Head Oliver, who had wielded the authority of a vast family for over a decade, these methods were nothing more than common pastimes. Having reached middle age and held his position for so long, he naturally sought higher pursuits and strived for more elevated and remarkable goals.

He intended to cultivate Eve more deeply, thereby intertwining their interests. He saw her as a promising stock, a piece to be placed on the chessboard of power struggles within the most rigorous and ancient noble house of the Medici family.

What could bring an aging high-ranking individual a greater sense of accomplishment than personally nurturing a radiant new generation of leaders?

Just the thought of it made Family Head Oliver feel a long-dormant passion begin to simmer within him.

While this bold idea certainly surprised Eve, he had been mistaken from the very beginning about where to place his bets—Eve was not Frank and thus not the true illegitimate child of the Medici Family Head.

But being misunderstood in this way wasn’t so bad. After a brief moment of internal conflict, Eve happily decided to embrace this welcome misunderstanding.

If his goal was truly just to stir up trouble within the Medici family, investing in her was far more suitable than investing in the original Frank.

After leaving the Family Head’s office, she leaned against the wall and sent off a message to Luo Lin.

Though the conversation had ended, Eve’s suspicions were not entirely put to rest. She tugged at her earlobe, pondering why Luo Lin was so certain that the Medici Family Head wouldn't have illegitimate children. From the way Sparti treated the two children, it didn’t seem like he held any deep affection for his late wife.

As for whether their inquiries on the Oliver side would alert the Medici family, Eve wasn’t entirely sure either.

She only knew that what she had told Frank was indeed the truth: Frank joining the Luo family would cause him to lose the trust of the Medici family, and the same applied to her. If it were discovered that she had established a false identity and was working for the Oliver family, it would be far more serious than just messing around on Black Star. If Sparti found out, he might not show her any mercy.

To prepare for such a scenario, she could only work harder to gather new capital for herself.

One of Ludwig’s great virtues was keeping his word. True to his promise to teach Eve how to use alchemy to write contracts, he invited the family’s alchemist specializing in this area and made sure the alchemist was waiting specifically for her.

The two black-robed figures huddled together, murmuring as they studied alchemy. Ludwig, unable to understand, leaned against the doorframe and idly examined the ends of his hair, trying to distinguish which parts of his golden locks had turned brittle and yellow from poor vitality—a way to gauge how much damage Alice and Eve had inflicted on him over the past few days.

"By the way, aren’t you learning too many different things?" he asked, side-eyeing the young alchemist who'd just succeeded. "Most alchemists specialize in just one area. You’re studying potions, contracts, and you’re also quite skilled in mecha technology. I imagine you’ve put a lot of effort into physical training too."

He offered helpful advice: "This might be manageable now, while you’re only achieving minor successes, but how long can you keep up studying everything? Once you need to advance further, you’ll inevitably have to make sacrifices. So it’s best to decide on your future direction now—otherwise, you’ll regret it later."

"We’ll see," Eve replied somewhat reluctantly.

What Ludwig said was true, but the rewards of learning everything... were simply too enticing. She couldn’t help herself.

Eve counted on her fingers: she absolutely couldn’t bear to give up practical skills like mecha technology; her Spiritual State was intertwined with her very survival, so she couldn’t slack off there either; and as for alchemy, she had originally intended to learn just the basics, but the deeper she delved into this ancient discipline, the more fascinated she became—she really didn’t want to give that up either.

After sighing for a good while, Eve mused, "This is the charm of 'decluttering'..."

"What do you mean 'the charm of decluttering'?" Ludwig, who hadn’t understood, glanced at her sideways.

"The charm of trying to declutter for ages but ending up decluttering nothing at all."

Ludwig: "..."

What kind of nonsense was that?