God of Contracts: Strongest Businessman

"..."

Elian was so stunned by the discovery of his mother's aloofness that he remained silent for several minutes, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

Julia, still sitting directly in front of her son, didn't say a word either and continued to watch him. She looked at her son with no sign of impatience despite the long silence. In fact, there was a subtle smile on her face, as if she was enjoying the moment.

However, her mood wasn't shared by everyone in the room, as Sylv couldn't stand the awkward silence any longer.

As a long-lived spirit, Sylv was generally a very patient person. In her 'youth', silence and boredom were the rule, while activity was the exception. That all changed when she reached the peak of her field, but it remained that she never really showed impatience for anything, as if there's one thing that time teaches you is that everything comes in its own time to those who know how to wait.

But for the first time, she didn't even know how long, she felt anxious and couldn't wait as her curiosity kept gnawing at her.

Yes, everything comes in its own time, but what if you lose the only opportunity to learn something? For someone as immortal as she was, she could afford to wait for the next opportunity, and indeed, she did so on many occasions.

But what if there was no other or next opportunity? Normally, this was a useless question, because in this vast universe, unique things that couldn't be reproduced were so rare that they could be considered non-existent.

For example, many species in the universe were born out of pure luck, a series of miracles. Humans on Earth were the perfect example, and yet even though it was a miracle of miracles, the universe managed to reproduce it many times throughout the universe, and there were many similar examples.

So it is known that no matter how unlikely an event is in the universe, if it happened once, it could happen many times, so she never asked herself that question.

But now she didn't know why, but she could feel that if she didn't learn about those eyes from Elian, she would never have the opportunity to learn about them again.

It didn't make any sense at all, as the universe is too big for such a thing to be possible, but she couldn't get the thought out of her head once it entered.

However, when she thought about how those eyes allowed him to see her, she couldn't help but wonder,

'Did the laws of the universe really allow such eyes to exist?'

'And if it's allowed, could it easily appear again?'

After all, the fact that spirits couldn't be seen by 'normal' methods was a universal law, like gravity.

Yet these eyes allowed him to bypass them so easily. As a comparison, imagine a child with the ability to bypass or avoid gravity.

They might think it would be easy to do so by flying, but they couldn't be more wrong. Flying is not avoiding gravity, but rather resisting it by pushing in the opposite direction, just as a spacecraft does to escape Earth's gravitational field.

Instead, bypassing gravity was more like becoming weightless without expending much energy. It might sound harmless and not shocking to say, but true scientists knew how powerful and groundbreaking this was, especially when the ability was honed to its peak.

Sylv wasn't sure if the universe would allow such a feat to happen, let alone twice, so she couldn't afford to wait long, for where would she complain if Elian died tomorrow?

As an expert healer and an experienced woman, she knew that Elian, as a weak human child, could die at this very moment from a random disease, like some organ failure, or he could just die because of an unexpected situation, like with his experiment, so she couldn't absolutely afford to wait.

Of course, she could resurrect him if he died in front of her, but full resurrection always came with a price. What if he lost his eye technique? she shuddered.

Sylv even suspected that Elian's eyes were something that shouldn't exist, and if she waited too long, Elian might die because the universe didn't want him to exist because of his eyes.

Not knowing how close she was to the truth, she immediately thought of a way to end the silence and move the conversation along so she could talk to Elian sooner.

...

'Elian,' Sylv whispered into the boy's mind.

'Um?', Elian answered instinctively, surprised by the voice in his mind, but he immediately recognized the voice and asked, 'Sylv?

'I just want you to know that your mother is quite old...' she stopped when she felt Julia's eyes on her and wondered how she could have heard that. She shouldn't be able to spy on their communication. But she was sure that Julia had started to stare at her just as she was about to say that word.

When she saw that Julia stopped staring, she chalked it up to female instinct and continued, '*cough* *cough* I'll make this short. Don't blame your mother. She has her own reasons for not intervening.'

'But people are dying! Our people!' Elian shouted back immediately, unable to contain his frustration.

'Oh, is that so? Do you think there were no such deaths when your father was alive? Or do you think that the nobles were waiting for his death so they could make their move?'

'I'm not saying that, but at least Father was actively protecting them!' Elian replied, not lowering his tone at all.

'True, but answer me, in your opinion, who was stronger between Julia and your father?' Sylv asked calmly.

'Obviously Julia,' Elian answered before stopping abruptly, realizing what she was trying to imply.

'I guess you already understood, but I will say it so that your little brain registers it correctly,' Sylv said with a tone of sarcasm before adding with a serious tone, 'Your father was the head of the family and the general of the army. These are roles he willingly accepted with their privileges and responsibilities, including the protection of his own people. Julia, on the other hand, only signed on to be his wife and your mother. And despite being weaker than his wife, Marcus never relied on her for anything. So why would you?'

'...' Elian couldn't reply to her remarks, acknowledging their accuracy, but after thinking for a bit he said, 'But I am only a child and Mom could solve everything with a few attacks.'

'A child? What's the big deal? You'll have to forgive me, but I've seen your laboratory and all your creations. I'm sorry to say that your age is more of a sham than anything else, and we both know it, so please don't mention it again. As for your mother, why do you insist? She can, but she doesn't have to. So please stop pressuring her. We both know who's responsible.'

'...' This time, Elian was truly unable to answer, for he knew that the spirit had raised valid points. He also knew the answer to his last question, but refused to admit it,

'You really don't want to interact with people, huh' Sylv instantly deduced Elian's reluctance from his strained expression, drawing a parallel to what she knew about him.

Elian's strained expression confirmed her suspicions. His deep-seated trust issues made sustained interaction excruciating. Friendship, collaboration, even casual conversation ??? all were poisoned by the insidious whisper of paranoia that painted everyone as a potential enemy. This propensity would undoubtedly exhaust him over time, which is why he leans toward finding solace within the safety of his own home, particularly in his laboratory.

Elian's boastful declaration about becoming General a few days prior had been a calculated deflection, meant to land squarely in El's lap. El would have been the one navigating army matters and human interaction, while Elian happily retreated to the shadows, perhaps even indulging in a nap.

But with El gone, that safety net vanished, leaving him adrift in a sea of uncertainty. He didn't know how to move forward, and even the allure of the General's mantle now felt distant, a faded echo in the face of his crippling anxieties.

He couldn't accept the role, knowing his trust issues would inevitably lead to costly missteps. Fear choked him - fear of failure, of tarnishing his family's legacy, of disappointing his people, of succumbing to noble machinations. The bravado he'd displayed before Ronald, boasting about the nobles' unwavering devotion to the dungeon, now seemed like a childish delusion. The stark reality of their dire situation, laid bare in the reports, threatened to overwhelm him. Dumping the burden on his mother became an increasingly desperate plea.

As if reading his mind, Sylv purred, 'Why not just hand the job off? Many of your cousins would leap at the chance.'

Elian blinked, the idea hadn't occurred to him. But before he could consider it, Julia's voice cut through the air, "Not an option."

"Why?" Both Elian and Sylv blurted out, united in bewilderment.

Elian, for one, genuinely believed it was the best solution. Dozens of his cousins were likely better suited for the role. His father, even in his last letter, had always encouraged him to follow his own path. Surely, leaving the General's burden to someone else wouldn't be a betrayal.

Sylv, on the other hand, couldn't help but smirk. Less General duties meant more time to study those intriguing eyes. Elian giving up the role was music to her ears.

But Julia's next words brought their playful banter to a screeching halt. She sighed, her voice laden with gravity, "Although inconclusive, the reports hint at an 80% likelihood of a family member collaborating with the nobles as a traitor."

Elian's world tilted. He shot to his feet, eyes wide with shock. "WHAT?!"

Edited by MoonsterDark