Chapter 390: 390

“Vincent!” The Elders in the family hall were staring down at Vincent who was standing in the middle.

“How did you bring up your daughter? Who is the man she has been dragging around with her?”

Vincent had been expecting to be called over the moment he returned from the Academy, so he was a bit surprised that they had demanded his presence only after a few days that he had already been in the residence.

“He’s a guest teacher at the Academy,” Vincent answered just like he had agreed with Michelle much earlier.

The elders weren’t satisfied with such an answer.

“And who is this guest teacher? What did he do to become a guest teacher?”

Vincent gave answers he knew would only anger the elders.

The point of the whole plan was to cause chaos in the Academy and the Ostrich family residence.

Once that was done, Vincent would proceed to push his dear enemy into causing bloodshed.

Finally, after exposing that, he would force the elders to punish him themselves.

But theorizing was easy.

Executing the plan in itself would be much harder.

After a while, the elders in the hall were completely enraged, determined to have Michelle (to them Ana Ostrich) punished for causing a scandal.

They started discussing amongst each other, for a while ignoring Vincent who just listened.

Listening to the discussion, Vincent showed a slight frown.

The elders started talking about just what he was worried about; they wanted to have Ana Ostrich get engaged to someone to, how they called it, quench the rebellious flame in her.

That just basically meant they wanted to have her under control and thought that engaging her to someone of their choosing would achieve that.

After their discussion came to an end, it was clear they were about to say something that could cause the doom of the whole family:

“Since your daughter is already reaching marriageable age, she should get engaged. You should call her back from the Academy, so we can introduce her to someone.”

Vincent, to their complete shock, shook his head.

“I can’t do that. And I can’t let you choose a marriage partner for my daughter.”

“Vincent!” Jonathan Ostrich, the family head, who had been silent the whole time, raised his voice at Vincent, his second son.

“Your daughter has caused a scandal! That is something for the elders to take care of. Don’t meddle in it.”

Vincent narrowed his eyes sharply.

He didn’t have an exactly good relationship with his dear father.

It could even be called an antagonistic relationship.

“Father, I can’t allow that. Ana is my daughter, and after what had happened to her just a while ago, twice already actually, I won’t trust anyone with her fate.”

Jonathan glared down from his seat at his son.

“Are you trying to imply that one of the elders here would plot against your daughter?! A mere parentless brat with no talent nor use for this family?!”

Vincent bit back a bunch of curses and remained calm.

“Father, I had proven to you the very day I first found her unconscious in the lake that it was someone from the family that wanted her dead. Also, how can you call a child that had been taken in as the disciple by the two notoriously known teachers for being picky with their students a cripple? Father, if you think she has no use to this family, you are clearly just blinded by anger.”

Jonathan nearly exploded, but he held himself back.

He still remembered what happened when the former family head, his father, exploded in a similar situation.

Jonathan still wanted to keep his seat as the family head.

He had yet no plans to retire.

Seeing that the family head wasn’t saying anything against Vincent, the elders also shut up and let him leave.

But the turmoil in their hearts and minds was only growing.

After leaving the hall, Vincent went to proceed with the plan.

He had to act fast.

First, he went to Benjamin Ostrich’s (ancestor’s) room.

“Grandfather?” he knocked on the door.

Hearing his grandson, Benjamin got up and walked over to open the sliding door.

“Vincent, what is all the news I keep hearing about my dear granddaughter?” he asked without even letting Vincent speak.

Vincent entered the room and sat down at the table inside.

Benjamin sat opposite him.

“Grandfather, you don’t have to worry about her. That man is reliable.”

“So she did find someone for herself…” Benjamin nodded a bit.

“I want to see the guy!” he decided.

Vincent showed a slight grimace.

“I doubt that will be possible,” he admitted.

He himself was scared of Alexander, so he wouldn’t dare ask him to come to the Ostrich family and meet the elders and such.

He had the feeling (a valid feeling) that Alexander was far from fond of the Ostrich family.

The reason Vincent didn’t know, but he could start guessing.

“Why would it not be possible?” Benjamin didn’t like Vincent’s response.

“If the guy loves my granddaughter, shouldn’t he come to me for my blessing? Or do they plan to elope?”

From what Benjamin said, it was clear that it didn’t matter who it was that Michelle (to him Ana) found.

He trusted her choice, so as long as she loved the guy, he would give his blessing.

What a great grandfather and family ancestor he was.

The two in Benjamin’s room had no clue that outside, two shadows were sitting, listening to every word of the conversation.

After confirming that nothing new was being said and that they were aware of everything, they retreated a bit to talk.

“Go report to Master that the ancestor is too stubborn. We won’t be able to use him in this state,” one of them spoke.

The other guy nodded and disappeared from the spot in a matter of seconds.

He was fast, extremely so, but if the speed was compared to the speed of Noctis or Unlucien, it was slow.

But in the upper realm, it was considered heaven‑defying fast.

When the man left, the second one also disappeared.

But it wasn’t to report to anyone.

He moved on to spy on someone else.

The Ostrich family wasn’t the only one in the upper realm that was being closely watched.

Sitting in his office, Philip Grace suddenly frowned, closing the documents.

Standing up from his seat, he walked over to the window and looked out.

“I wasn’t imagining things…” he muttered.

That wasn’t the first time since returning to the upper realm that he felt like someone was watching him.

The first few times when he sensed it, he thought it was because he was worried about his daughter still in the lower realms and that he was just distressed.

But soon, he realized that his subordinates also seemed somewhat restless.

Those guys weren’t trained or powerful enough to sense when someone much more powerful was watching them, but they were sensitive enough to instinctively feel that something was wrong.

They themselves didn’t even notice that they were acting different, being more rigid, but Philip, having been observing his men for a long time and closely, saw even the most subtle of changes.

If it had been just for a day or two, he could understand that they were just being tense about something.

Maybe one was in a bad mood and the others were trying not to provoke him.

But combining it with the repetitive feeling of being watched and the fact that the tension in his men was around for a long time, Philip was sure something was going on.

Every time he felt that he was being watched, he checked the area, but no matter how fast he did it, the observer would disappear before he could even catch a glimpse of them.

It felt like someone was purposely teasing him, messing with his brain.

He had the feeling that if things went on like that for a while longer, he would get paranoid.

And the situation was clearly also taking a toll on his men.

While staring out the window, Philip sensed a presence outside his door.

He didn’t even wait for a knock:

“Enter!”

The butler that had been with him in the Land of Exile entered.

“Sir, you got an urgent letter from Sir Wayana,” he reported, carrying a letter.

Seeing that Philip was standing by the window, the butler narrowed his eyes.

“They still didn’t give up?” he sighed.

Philip also sighed, turning around to take the letter from his trusted butler.

“They are determined. They won’t give up that easily. It’s clear that compared to them, even I am weak.”

As he said that, he proceeded to open the envelope the butler handed him, unfolding the letter.

It was a letter from his friend, the Headmaster of the first academy of the upper realm, Fred Wayana.

Fred had also noticed quite a while ago that he was being watched, and since then, the two friends had been writing to each other about it, mostly about the intensity of the watching, and the number of spies they were guessing.

So it seemed, the whole upper realm would soon be going through turmoils and times of unrest.

Philip and Fred were two of the most powerful men in the upper realm, but even they couldn’t spot the spies.

It was clear the ones up against them were from the heavenly realm.

Or specially trained to conceal themselves and act like top‑notch spies.

Whichever was the case, the upper realm was in for turbulent times, maybe even bloody.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep