Novels by FrankintheHouse

For a few seconds, I couldn't say anything.I stood beside the car with the phone pressed against my ear, wondering if I had somehow misunderstood what the nurse had said."She's awake?" I finally asked."Yes, Mr. Lambert. She's conscious now. The doctor is examining her, but her condition is stable. You can come over."I don't even remember hanging up properly.Lucy had already understood from my expression. She opened the passenger door and took the wooden box from my arms."I'll drive."I didn't argue.The entire way to the hospital, I kept thinking about my mother. For years, I had imagined this moment so many times that it had almost stopped feeling real. Sometimes I pictured her opening her eyes while I was sitting beside her. Other times, I imagined a doctor calling me in the middle of a meeting and telling me she had suddenly regained consciousness.I had rehearsed what I would say to her too.Now that it had finally happened, every sentence I had ever prepared disappeared from

"Family?"The word tasted strange coming from him.I walked toward the cabinet beside the living room and leaned against it."Do you know what I came to Edward's house for yesterday?"My grandfather didn't answer."I went there for Dad's belongings."Edward's expression changed almost imperceptibly.I noticed it immediately."My father died years ago. There are things he left behind that should've been given to me and my mother a long time ago. Instead, your precious eldest son used them as bait to get me through his door."My grandfather looked at Edward."Is that true?"Edward hesitated before saying, "It wasn't like that. I just wanted the family to sit down and talk properly."I smiled coldly."Of course."Then I looked back at my grandfather."I don't want your money. I don't want Edward's money. I don't want anything from the Lambert family. I only want what belonged to my father."For the first time since entering the house, my grandfather became completely silent.Something in

For several seconds, no one moved.Beatrice stared at Lucy as if she had just heard the most ridiculous thing in the world, while Edward's face had gone completely red. Mary was still wiping the water from her face, her makeup streaked around her eyes, and the look she gave Lucy was full of resentment.Lucy glanced at the clock on the wall and said calmly, "You have less than a minute.""Don't think you can scare us!" Beatrice shouted. "We're Andy's family. What kind of trespassing are you talking about?"Lucy picked up her phone without changing her expression. "Then we can let the police decide whether being related to the owner gives you the right to enter his home without permission and refuse to leave after being asked."That finally made Beatrice hesitate.She looked at Edward, clearly hoping he would say something, but even he had lost some of his earlier confidence. They might have been shameless, but they were not stupid enough to want the police involved, especially with the

Lucy wasn't in a hurry. She took a sip of water, her expression calm and composed, before speaking. "You all know that Andy's mother has been in the hospital for years. Every year, her medical expenses amount to several million. Over the past five years, it's totaled close to 20 million. I'm curious—how do you plan to cover this? We're not asking for much—just 8 million from you."Her tone was light, almost casual, but the moment the words left her mouth, the entire family sitting across from her froze in shock.Beatrice was the first to react, practically shouting, "What? 8 million? Why on earth should we pay for her medical expenses?"Lucy's smile didn't falter. "Didn't you say that family members should support each other? And 8 million isn't even that much. You'll need to help out more in the future too. After all, Andy's mother hasn't woken up yet. Even if she does wake up, there will still be rehabilitation costs. For a patient like her, rehabilitati

Outside the door stood my uncle's entire family, holding a bag of cheap fruit. I couldn't believe they had found my new house.Beatrice craned her neck to peer inside, her eyes lighting up as she exclaimed, "Wow, this house is really luxurious."I frowned, my voice cold as I asked, "What are you doing here?""Of course, we came to see you. Look, we even brought fruit. I won't come empty-handed," she said, brushing past me and walking in without waiting for an invitation. Mary followed close behind, throwing me a disdainful look as she stepped inside.As my uncle passed by, he shot me a stern glare. "Don't think I've forgiven you for the mess you caused at my house yesterday." With that, he swaggered into the house as if he owned the place.Watching their behavior, I couldn't help but think that shamelessness was practically written all over their faces.Beatrice wandered around, her eyes scanning every corner of the house until she noticed the kitchen p

I jumped up in excitement, my heart pounding with hope.Rushing out the door, I nearly collided with Lucy, who stared at me in confusion. "Lucy, my mom just moved! She's showing signs of waking up! Quick, call the doctor, call the doctor!"Lucy's face lit up with joy. "Alright, alright! I'll get the doctor right away. You go back in and stay with her."This was a high-end private hospital, where doctors and nurses were on duty around the clock. Their efficiency was remarkable, and in no time, the attending physician arrived with a team of consulting doctors and nurses in tow.They entered the room and began their checks and assessments with calm precision, their movements practiced and orderly.I stood to the side, my heart racing with a mix of excitement and nervousness."Doctor, how is she doing?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly.Over the years, I had grown accustomed to my mother's condition. But what had just happened filled me with a rene

After Val had been examined by a priest and we ascertained that he was not in any danger, I finally felt at ease enough to go home. After putting away the book I had chanced upon, when I saw Doris, a night of intimacy with her was, of course, unavoidable.The next time I meditated, something amazing happened. My vitality had suddenly increased. Rather than mana, it was raw, physical strength that I saw a spike in, just like when I was working at Old Jeff’s, but that raised my mana, and this raised my strength.I was confused at how this came to be. Even though it was a good change, at the very least, I had to know what caused it, right? After much thought, I narrowed the possibilities down to one. It might have something to do with that strange state I was in when I saw Val getting stabbed. It was almost like… bloodlust. That was not the usual me. I faintly recalled it seemed like I was enjoying it when I was taking away the lives of so many people.&ldqu

I walked through the field, ending the lives of all the men, one slash at a time. The Golden Eagles were completely shocked by my behavior, so much so that none of them had even thought to stop me. Later, based on what the brothers recounted, some of them had been so frightened that even the memory was wiped from their minds.When I finally stood in front of the mage, he had a look of terror on his face. Mages were physically weak to begin with, and he had also been completely immobilized at this point. He could only crawl helplessly on the ground to get away from me."You can't kill me, I'm from the Mage's Association!"He tried to deter me with his identity, but none of it got through to me. Step by step, I slowly approached the man. The man was so terrified that he pissed himself, leaving a slowly spreading puddle beneath him."Please, please don't kill me!" His voice was filled with desperation for mercy.Watching the writhing body of the mage before me,

He clearly recognized me. I was the one who managed to turn the tide on our last fight and drove them back. There was no way he would not recognize me.“So you’re here to cause trouble for me again, are you?”He gritted his teeth and glared daggers at me.“Now I know, hesitation breeds trouble. Seems like I should’ve just killed you back then.”I smirked and retorted, “Yeah? Can you handle me?”The man scoffed. He seemed to be considering something.“So you’re dead-set on helping the Golden Eagles, are you?”“That’s right. What’re you gonna do about it?”I was confident and it showed in my replies. I was no longer the weakling I was back then, and winning this fight should be no problem. The main person I would be going up against in this fight was their mage anyway.Since he had no way to convince me otherwise, he gave his men the order to attack. O

“No, don’t!”“I’ll end you bastards!”A desperate cry rang out as soon as I was about to try and stop Val. Following that, a familiar figure slipped past us and made his way toward the opposing group. Val stopped whatever he was doing as a result of that cry.The voice belonged to none other than David.“David, no!”Ignoring the pleas of the others, David headed straight for the Tyrant Brothers. But still, he was just one man. He was easily stopped before he could reach anywhere near their leader. Then, he was kicked back to his friends.“You lookin’ to die, punk?!”David coughed up some blood when he landed on the ground, but he still struggled to speak.“Boss… You can’t…”David’s body was covered with injuries. He had finally gained a sense of what it was like to have a family after being picked up by the boss, and now he had to watch

“Sir Liam, you’re here!”Val respectfully called out to the man.Liam merely responded with a grunt before sauntering haughtily up to the group ahead.“So you’re the ones looking for trouble?” Liam questioned in a less than polite tone.“Where did this bastard come from?!”Someone had shouted. At the same time, a sharp dagger was pulled and aimed straight for Liam’s face. Had the bastard lost his mind? Did he not know how defenseless mages were? It was simply unthinkable that he would just waltz right up to the enemy like that.I had to admit that I would not mind socking that bastard in the face, either. Maybe even a slap or two. Val quickly lunged and knocked the dagger out of the air with his sword. But he ended up opening an old wound, which caused him to gasp in pain.Liam also jumped back in fright at the suddenly thrown dagger and stumbled. Losing his balance, he fell ass-first onto the g

“To begin with, this fight between us ordinary folk should have nothing to do with mages. They’re noble and rare, so why would they involve themselves in our petty fights? I don’t know how they did it and where they found the guy from, but the Tyrant Brothers found themselves a mage and they’ve managed to turn everything around because of that.”At this point, Val sighed again."Those bastards had started quaking in their boots when they saw us getting stronger and stronger by the day. If we continued like this, we'd eventually swallow them up! That’s what they probably thought so they couldn't sit still any longer. They came for a fight, and though our strength wasn't far apart, we were handing it to 'em until that dastardly mage appeared in their camp…"Val had to collect himself for a moment before continuing."His long-range area attacks were more devastating than we could've anticipated. After a few rounds of sustai