*****“Please… tell me. Where did you get the emblem of my Sect?”For a moment, Xavier didn’t react at all.He did not blink, he did not twitch… he did nothing.His eyes simply remained on Ayra, watching her as if she had suddenly grown two heads.Her tone wasn’t just intense; it was desperate, tinged with something darker, something verging on disbelief.And right now, she was staring at him with the intensity of someone who had just seen a ghost… a stunned, almost wild look in her eyes, as if she had just caught sight of something impossibly sacred in the most unexpected of places.She looked like someone on the verge of accusing him of infiltrating a secret cult… or leading it.Everything had happened so abruptly that even Xavier, whose reflexes were honed and near-flawless, had been thrown completely off guard.Was it how Ayra had suddenly grabbed his arm without a sliver of warning?How she had yanked him with such surprising strength into the restricted office? She had

*****Mistress Ayra turned her head slowly to face Xavier again, and now her seriousness had already deepened into something close to desperation and helplessness.Her eyes brimmed with restrained urgency, her breath hitching unevenly as she tried to read something… anything from his face.Her chest rose and fell heavily, as though she were short of air, and her palm was damp with nervous sweat.The way she looked at Xavier now… it was almost as if he alone held the cure to a plague that had devoured her homeland for years. Or even worse… as if he were the only soul capable of waking her mother from the dead.But Xavier...He didn’t move or act. He didn’t even show any intention of reaction.Instead, he simply stared at Mistress Ayra, not blinking, not speaking. His gaze seemed detached, unfocused, as if her words were still echoing in his mind, too surreal to register.Then, slowly, he blinked, his focus sharpening. Then he looked directly into her eyes.“This founding fathe

*****“Hmmm?”Xavier blinked, confusion knitting his brows as he stared at Mistress Ayra, who had just dropped dramatically to her knees.Her forehead had hit the floor in a full kowtow, and now she was calling him… “Patriarch?”He remained frozen in place, struck dumb as the absurdity of the moment settled over him like a dense fog.A long, awkward silence stretched between them, his mind struggling to compute what his eyes were witnessing.“Patriarch?” he echoed slowly, his voice dry, one eyebrow arched in bewilderment.Mistress Ayra jolted at the sound of his voice, snapping her head up in alarm like someone who had just been caught committing treason.Her eyes darted upward, meeting Xavier’s dumbfounded gaze… and then it hit her.She saw it.That expression on his face.He was genuinely confused, not pretending nor being coy.He genuinely had no clue why she was groveling at his feet.Ayra’s pupils dilated as realization crept in. The reverence she had just shown? The

*****Ayra knelt in absolute stupefaction, staring up at Xavier as if she had just watched a goat casually solve a quantum mechanics equation.Her jaw fell so wide, she could’ve caught flies, or possibly a medium-sized mango.Her brain went on strike, arms crossed, demanding hazard pay.“You… want to reject the patriarchal position?” she finally choked out, each word sounding as though it had been dragged out of her soul with forceps.Xavier nodded his head instantly, without an ounce of drama, like he was agreeing to pass the salt.Ayra’s mouth twitched uncontrollably, a cocktail of emotions brewing behind her eyes. Was she supposed to laugh? Cry? Throw something?“Sir… do you have any idea how many people are willing to die… like literally drop dead for this position?” she asked, letting out a bitter chuckle, the kind that sounded more like someone trying not to scream.“Powerful elders and respected masters of the sect would go on a full-blown murder spree just for a chance

*****Xavier exhaled slowly after a moment, the weight in his chest lifting as understanding replaced resentment.Maybe the old man never had time to explain. Maybe… I never asked. He had taken the token back then without question, eager and hot-blooded.He hadn’t known the burden and hadn’t cared. Not until it was already around his neck.Xavier’s hand slowly released the chain, letting the pendant settle gently against his chest. Then a low sigh left his lips.Ayra was watching him the entire time… every flicker of thought and every twitch of emotion in his eyes. When he looked up at her again, she stood at attention, expression unreadable.“I understand now,” he said, his tone calm but resolute. “Grandpa Zev meant well. He built the token to protect the position… to protect the vision he believed in.”A beat of silence.Then Xavier’s lips curled into a mischievous smirk, and he tilted his head slightly.“But tell me something,” he said, his voice suddenly laced with dry sa