Ava was starting to regain all the hope that she had lost from meeting Aiden once again. This was just perfect, if he wasn’t part of the Nightshades, then she didn’t have to worry about anything, well except for one thing… Aiden.

But that was only a small detail as Aiden wasn’t as strong as the whole family. He was just one individual, and while Ava knew that he was powerful. She knew there was no way he could take on a whole organization.

‘My family is high-leveled, so this should be fine… all things considered.’

“Are they strong?”

That was the only question asked after learning that he wasn’t part of the Nightshades. She couldn’t help but have a dumb smile on her face.

Aiden had obviously noticed it. He didn’t know why she had smiled but he knew that she had done, and that was all that mattered.

“Oh… I’m not part of that family anymore, I changed again.”

Jake and Ava were surprised. The smile that Ava had put on also disappeared from her face.

‘Don’t tell me that he joined the Nightshades…’ Your journey continues with empire

If Aiden had joined a founding family, then Ava would still be in big trouble with him… it would bring a lot of different problems her way. There was no doubt about that part.

“Which one did you join?”

While it was Ava who had asked the question, Jake was also very interested in the question, which was quite weird considering that he hadn’t paid attention to anything else since it had started.

‘Should I tell her?’

Aiden wouldn’t make the same mistake as before. He knew that revealing what family you are a part of could make things complicated, he had already experienced it when he had been in the Tutorial.

However, Aiden knew that they were so far away from civilization that there was simply no way that the information would be coming out from her. After all, Melinda was probably revealing some of his personal information to everyone since he had deserted the Emberbane Family.

‘Well, to be frank… I don’t think I’m part of any family now.’

Since he had left, could he even be considered part of one?

‘Still, I can’t tell them that, they will think that I’m weak. Such a thing simply cannot happen… never.’

Aiden didn’t want to be in a position of weakness.

“We were recruited by the Emberbane Family, both me and her.”

Lying to them right now would make things a lot easier.

Ava was even more confused. In fact, she was starting to think that Aiden was just one hell of a liar.

‘Nightshades, then the Everhearts, and now another founding family… and all that in a couple of months. Just what is happening here?’

It was hard to believe such a thing was true, but Ava had confused a lot of things. He had never really been part of the Nightshades, however, it was still very impressive to jump from a middle-leveled family to a founding-leveled one.

The difference in strength between the two is simply massive, and Ava didn’t believe that he had managed to do such a thing.

‘Wait… but why did he leave the Nightshades in the first place… Fuck, this thing makes zero sense.’

“You’re lying.”

That was the only thing she had managed to come up after thinking for a few minutes.

This was simply impossible no matter how much she thought about it. This whole situation made absolutely zero sense for her. It probably made no sense for Jake too.

“Wait… Aiden, right? You joined another founding family?”

‘This boy… he certainly isn’t normal. He had Qi, he managed to get kicked from a founding family and join another right after. Just how did he manage such a thing? It simply makes no sense. There has to be a problem somewhere, there has to be…

“No, I went from the Everhearts to the Emberbane family.”

“But… weren’t you part of the Nightshades, that’s what you told me in the first trial?”

Emma who was on the side had her eyes wide open. ‘What did she just say? Why the hell did Aiden reveal such a thing to her… this just makes no sense at all. Oh, right? He came from another world…

I mean… yeah, he probably didn’t know the meaning of being part of such a family.’

Emma had worked her mind a little and closed her mouth. She knew that such information wasn’t one that Aiden wanted to spread. She knew that if people learned that Aiden came from another world, it would be a shock to a lot of people.

“I was… just things changed…”

Aiden didn’t want to give Ava too much information. He wanted her to keep guessing and guessing without knowing what would be happening next.

‘If she knows too much, it will just make things more complicated… and there’s no way that I will be trusting her based on what she did in the first trial…’

She was an Enchantress, manipulating everyone. It wasn’t something that Aiden wanted to experience.

‘I need to form a contract or something like that to make sure that she will listen to me.’

Aiden thought for a little when he remembered what he had brought back from the fourth trial…

The Slave Contract.

‘That’s it if we go through that. Then, this whole thing will be over and she will listen to my every word and won’t be able to betray me… Yes, this is just perfect.’

Ava had a lot of questions concerning what had happened to Aiden with the Nightshades but she kept them inside, knowing that there wasn’t a lot of chance that he would be answering right now. It was probably something private that he didn’t want others to know.

‘Who knows what might have happened for him to leave that family…’

Ava had given no thought about him being kicked out of it based on how talented Aiden actually was.

“How come you joined the Emberbane Family?” Jake asked.

Aiden was surprised to find Jake so interested in that, but he didn’t doubt him too much.

“Ahh… uh… it’s complicated you know, lots of things happened here and there.”

“Tell me.”

This time he was a lot more direct, and he wanted to know.

Aiden slowly but surely started feeling Jake’s pressure and it was unlike anything that he had felt in the past, he could feel that he was an ant. He was someone who could get crushed by the slightest attack from Jake.

‘This… this is even worse than the aura of Melinda and Sylas combined. Just how…’

Aiden was confused about how such a thing was even possible in the first place since the leaders of the founding families were supposed to be the strongest in this world. Or at least, that’s what everyone says…

Aiden had heard a little about the Mercenary, but he had never imagined the gap to be so big between everyone. It was shocking, and he had honestly never thought that such a thing would be possible. Aiden had experienced firsthand both of Sylas and Melinda’s auras, and it wasn’t comparable to this.

While he hadn’t felt confident in facing those two. Aiden hadn’t lost the grit of fighting against them, there was always a feeling deep down that he would pull it off, and that he would win against them. But looking at this man… it was different… Aiden knew he had no chance, it was a done deal.

‘Just how did he attain such strength… this is just fucking crazy.’

“Alright, alright, I’ll tell you… calm down, please.”

That was a word that neither Emma nor Ava had expected to hear coming out of Aiden’s mouth. They had no idea why he had said such a thing in the first place since all of Jake’s aura was focused on Aiden and Aiden only. The others in the room couldn’t feel the slightest thing which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Go ahead.”

“It all started at the Inter Family Tournament…”

Then, Aiden went on to tell Jake and everyone at the table about the deal he had made between him and Melinda. He had tried telling them lies at the start. But it seemed that Jake had a method to know when Aiden was lying which made things a lot more complicated.

However, it also gave information to Aiden… that he should never lie to Jake… ever. Or else, who knew what might happen?

***

It was now late at night, and Aiden had found a little bed to sleep on. Emma wasn’t in the same bed as his but they were right beside each other with Ava not too far away from them.

Aiden was full of thoughts… he just couldn’t stop thinking about so many things…

‘Just how did this man get so powerful… and the thing is… he probably did it without any support from any of the founding families. Ah. Fuck, I can’t wait for the training to start.’

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep