Asher arrived back in the room and saw Alyssa, who was gripping the sofa tightly, trying to calm herself down.
“Are you fine?” he asked as he sat down on the opposite sofa.
“Yeah, don’t mind me,” she said as she looked at Asher.
Like others, Alyssa found Asher’s face to be very handsome, and his cold personality complemented his looks greatly. But she was not in a position to appreciate such small things.
“As you already know, I am Alyssa Astaria, well not anymore though,” she said.
Asher tilted his head, acting confused.
“Oh, I am not officially part of the Astaria family now, so I would rather avoid using their name,” Alyssa explained.
She might have looked friendly with her conversations, but her thought process was a mess.
“I don’t really care about your family,” Asher said as he looked at Alyssa.
“Well, I just wanted to tell you because we will meet each other a lot,” she spoke, but her face and eyes were dull.
If anyone else looked at their expressions, they would have thought both of them wanted to leave the room.
“But what I wanted to know was why the esteemed heir of the Greville family gave me that potion,” Alyssa decided to cut the small talk and ask Asher directly.
“It was a return gift for the painting,” he replied casually.
“You bought that painting; I did not gift it to you,” Alyssa said as her expression turned serious.
“That painting was quite beautiful for the cheap price I bought it for, so that potion was the compensation for it,” Asher looked Alyssa right in her eyes as he spoke.
“I will be straightforward with you,” Asher said.
“I don’t care if you have Garcia Family’s blood or any other family.” His words made Alyssa grip the sofa even harder.
“People call me ruthless, cold, and many other things, but I don’t care about them,” Asher continued.
“The potion I gifted you was honestly nothing to me. It might be a big deal for you, but not for me,” his words were honest.
“I see. I will repay you for that,” Alyssa did not want to offend Asher, so she decided to play it safe.
“And how?” Asher questioned.
“What do you want in return?” Alyssa spoke.
“I have nothing right now, but it will change in the future. I don’t want to make any guarantees, but I will at least repay the amount of that potion,” Alyssa spoke with no emotions on her face.
“I think we have talked enough. I will leave now and not waste your time,” Alyssa said as she stood up, and her hair floated due to her using the space element.
“Wait,” Asher’s voice made Alyssa turn.
“Take this,” Asher threw a keycard at Alyssa.
“What is this?” Alyssa asked, looking at the keycard that stopped before coming near her and kept floating in the air.
ƥαṇdαηθνε|
“This is the location of one of the hotels where the top floor is booked under my company name,” Asher spoke.
“So?” Alyssa asked, not fearing Asher’s cold demeanor one bit like others.
“I want to recruit you,” he told her directly.
“I will become your sponsor, but you need to work for me from now on,” Asher said.
“Look, Mr. Greville, if you think the whole world can be bought by money and status, you are wrong,” Alyssa said as the room’s temperature began to drop.
Small flakes of frost started appearing inside the empty glasses, and Asher looked at Alyssa.
“Are you suggesting that I’m weak like those people you defeated today?” Asher said, using his own mana to push Alyssa down.
Alyssa stood her ground, but she could sense that Asher was equally or more powerful than her when she could harness her full power.
“Listen, I’ll give you some advice: your family won’t be able to save you from every mess you create,” Alyssa told Asher.
“Even if your grandfather is the Sword God or your family owns the Abyss Guild and the Abyss Corporation, everyone in this world has to face consequences,” Alyssa continued.
“And you should distance yourself from me for your own image,” she added.
Although this was what Alyssa wanted, she needed to create an image that she did not want to intervene with elite families. If she looked desperate, maybe Asher would have lost interest in her and stayed away.
“It’s my independent team, and we’ll only work together until the end of the term at the World Academy,” Asher replied.
“Well, go rest at this hotel free of cost and think about my offer,” Asher said as he moved past Alyssa.
“I can’t assure you that I’ll accept your request,” Alyssa replied.
Asher touched the door and stopped.
“My personal maid, Emmy, will take you to the hotel without anyone knowing. I’ll keep it a secret that you work with me for now,” Asher said before leaving the room.
“I didn’t think he would offer me a job. He didn’t seem as cold as people said on the internet,” Alyssa spoke to herself.
“Greville and Rothschild are already enemies after today’s event. I just need to pit him against others and kill them,” Alyssa thought.
Asher, who was in the hallway, had already notified Emmy to pick Alyssa up, and she had already gone to take Alyssa to the hotel Asher mentioned.
Asher went out, and the staff member took him to the portal that would take him back to the portal dome at Soran.
As he left, Asher saw that his car was already waiting to pick him up.
The driver opened the door for Asher, who sat inside and closed his eyes as they drove towards the Greville Mansion. While in his car, Asher remembered his past life and the events that had happened.
In his previous life, when Amelia arrived in Somaria, she took Elena, Kevin, and Eva to the Greville Mansion, despite Damian telling her not to do so.
She arrived at the mansion, hoping to see her family, when she saw Asher, who had arrived home after following Sylvia around to her meetings in the afternoon.
His eyes were dull, and his face was indifferent when he saw Amelia. His gaze was not cold but of a person who had lost attachment to his life.
“Hey Ash, how have you been?” Damian greeted Asher before Amelia.
“Fine, What about you?” Asher spoke.
“Well, not so great without you, but meet them. They are Amelia’s friends she met during this semester,” Damian looked at Asher and spoke.
“Hello, I’m Elena Rothschild,” Elena greeted Asher, surprised to see his handsome face.
“I’m Kevin Whiteheart,” Kevin was a bit surprised seeing Asher’s face but he greeted him normally.
“Hi, I’m Eva Williams,” Eva also greeted him.
“I’m Asher Von Greville, the eldest son of the Greville Family,” he spoke and looked at Amelia.
“I’m tired, so I’m going back to my room. You can entertain your guests yourselves,” Asher said as he left them.
“Ah, Amelia, don’t mind him. He is just not good with new people,” Damian tried to soothe Amelia who was annoyed at Asher’s carefree response towards her and her friends.
“Why do you always take his side?” Amelia said with a frustrated voice.
“Relax Amelia, it’s his birthday soon, and I don’t want to dampen his mood,” Damian tried to explain.
“Ah, Dad is calling me, I need to leave soon,” Damian’s phone rang, so he left the mansion.
“Woah, your brother is quite… Aloof,” Elena spoke while she touched Amelia’s shoulders.
“Ah, don’t mind him,” Amelia spoke.
After some days during the birthday party,
“I would like to announce Asher as the heir of the Greville family,” Arthur spoke as many people raised their glasses.
“What? Why him?” Amelia spoke while she was sitting with Elena and others at a table.
“Yeah, why would they make a guy who is not even awakened the heir of your family?” Kevin spoke.
Amelia was frustrated and thought that their parents liked Asher more despite him being so unwilling to become an awakened person and train.
“Wait, I have a plan,” Elena said as the gift ceremony began.
“What plan?” Eva questioned her as she did not like Elena when she became excited like this.
“Just wait,” Elena shushed her.
As multiple people presented their gifts, Elena came up with her gift.
“Before I show my gift, I wanted to see the capabilities of the new heir of the Greville family,” Elena said as she smiled.
“What do you mean?” Asher questioned her with a bored look on his face.
“Let’s have a friendly duel between me and you. We will only use basic martial arts and no mana,” Elena spoke.
“I am a mage, so I will have no upper hand over you,” she challenged Asher with a smile.
Due to her challenge, many guests started gossiping with each other.
“Miss Rothschild, it seems you have no manners on how to behave at a party,” Asher spoke.
“I don’t want to entertain such stupid requests. You can take your gift and go back,” he said with an indifferent look that annoyed Elena.
“I think this is enough,” Amelia said quietly to Eva as she did not like where this was going.
“Let her,” Kevin spoke, stopping Eva from calling Elena back.
“Wow, are you afraid of me? A girl?” Elena giggled.
*Tap* *Tap*
“Know your limits, girl,” Sylvia said as she tapped on the glass of wine in her hand.
Elena knew about Sylvia’s nature as she had heard about her a lot from her mother, so she decided to go back quietly.
“Haha, that guy is so weak. He will not survive a week in the academy like this,” Kevin chuckled as Elena sat at her table with a smug expression on her face.
But Sylvia, on the other hand, was a bit disappointed by Amelia, who did not stop her own friend from ridiculing her family. Amelia was a bit nervous, knowing what Elena had done, but she could not do anything now.
Asher opened his eyes as he saw that he had arrived at the Greville mansion, and some cars were already there, so it meant others had also arrived.