The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 382: Birthday Gifts!

“So what is this about?” Ann asked as they entered the inner room which was luxuriously furnished as an office. She didn’t even take a seat, but just leaned on the desk and crossed her hands.

“Well…” Before Theodore could speak Victor was the first to take action as he took up a package from his storage ring then stepped forward and presented it to his grandmother.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!” he said as he pushed the gilded box into her hands with a bright smile.

“This is?” she couldn’t help but ask.

“It is your birthday gift of course! I got it from the Von Geldstadt auction. I met their patriarch there, and he told me that you would definitely like this!” Victor said winking at her as she opened the box and looked inside of it. “It is Blueberry eating Slug! If you use this, Grandpa Macros will have to work hard to keep his position!” he added with a face that was screaming, ‘Please give me a reward’.

“VICTOR!” Theodore began to scold, but Ann raised her hand stopping him. She really did consider knocking several of Victor’s teeth away, but she just sighed. “Call him using his title… Marcos is the patriarch!” she scolded softly as she put the box in her ring. She already read the reports that Victor bought this thing for her birthday so she was not really surprised.

She was not a fool, she completely understood that Victor was hinting to her that he knew about her relationship with Harvey. He might be also testing to know whether Harvey told her that he was cured or not.

He wanted a reward for saving her lover, but she was not going to play along, she had already rewarded Victor enough by allowing him to hold that depraved wedding of his and giving him that island.

“Is that all?” she asked as she looked at Theodore, who was in a way her favorite son. She really had no time for this. The family had literally become a boiling pot after the loss of the awakening artifact and the mine incidents were really the last straw.

“No… Mike!” Theodore said, looking at Mike who was still shocked by the shameful way Victor talked to Ann. He showed no respect at all! For someone to talk back to Ann like this was something simply beyond Mike’s imagination. Only fools and those who gave up on their lives dared to do that!

“MIKE!” Theodore scolded again, waking him up.

“Ah…. Esteemed grandmother… Happy birthday!” he said as he stepped forward like a soldier, extending his hands, and presenting Ann with a velvet box that had the awakening mirror inside of it. He was really thankful that Victor acted before him, he was very nervous around his grandmother.

Ann raised an eyebrow as she took the box from Mike’s shaking hands, she could tell that Theodore meant to give her this thing when he asked to talk to her, and she was curious about what it was.

She slowly opened it and looked inside to see the ancient-looking mirror. She could immediately tell that this was a very precious artifact from the Mana fluctuations around it, but she didn’t know what it was for.

“This is?” she asked, looking at Mike. She really did scare this grandchild too much when he was a kid. But he was just too cute and she enjoyed bullying him.

“Ah… This is an awakening artifact…” Mike said as Victor, who was a little surprised, watched him. It seemed like his always-confident brother also feared his grandma!

“I see…” Ann didn’t seem impressed. In fact, Mike was not the first to bring her an awakening artifact, but the ones she got were all rubbish with too harsh limits or conditions like creating only semi-players or having to test the participant in boiling oil to succeed.

Mike, who noticed Ann’s erection frowned and looked at his father, but Theodore didn’t even look back, but just gestured with his hand.

“From which minor sect did you steal this from?” Ann finally asked with a sigh after inspecting the mirror.

“None…I got it from the moon dungeon!” Mike said, following the story Victor fed him.

“Oh…” she got interested. “Conquered already?”

“Yes… We planned to send the reports tomorrow!” Theodore explained. They have agreed to make it so that Mike is the one in the moon dungeon and not Victor.

“Good… Did you get this baby appraised?” she asked, making Theodore quickly present her with a small booklet, containing the things Victor told them about it and the test results.

“Oh… Already prepared….” Ann said as she began to leaf through it. “I see… WHAT!” she shouted in shock as she squinted her eyes to make sure she read it right… 10 POINTS OF AUTHORITY? Three Days Cooldown? Applying to more than one participant using Mirrors? “Is this true?” she asked after finishing the booklet and turning to face Theodore, she was breathing heavily.

“YES… I witnessed it myself yesterday! We tried it on Mike’s twin ‘concubines’ in Victor’s mansion, and it worked perfectly!” Theodore replied awkwardly. “There are no side effects!”

“HOLY SHIT!” Ann yelled in shock. “No wonder you wanted to hand it to me privately!” she explained. This thing would change everything in the family, from how things are done for the awakening to the order of elite heirs! Now the fight would be on who would get a chance to use it! IT WAS GOING TO BE A MESS!

“And you were the one who found it?” she finally glanced at Mike after calming down a bit.

He stepped back. “Ah… I…”

“Don’t answer me… I will give the merits to you regardless,” she said directly, glancing sideways at Victor whose perverted smile didn’t even budge. Her intuition was telling her that it was definitely this little bastard who got it. She had long figured out ever since he came to visit her the first time. He was the kind who liked to rest in the shade and let others do all the heavy lifting.

And she could also tell that he must have some amazing appraisal skills that he was hiding, how would he know about hers and Harvey’s poisoning otherwise!

Hearing his grandmother Mike smiled a bit and winked to Victor who nodded.

“Did anyone else know about this?” she asked.

“Only Mike's twins and some of Victor’s girls… they know to keep their mouths shut!” Theodore explained.

“Good, keep the news about this a secret for now, and erase any mentions of it in your report! I will reveal everything at the right time after we ‘test’ it a few times on our own!” she said, making her purpose clear. She wanted to build an army of suitable heirs before revealing this to the family!

“Ah…Yes! Thanks, Mother!” Theodore said as he bowed down. This was the result he wanted. Ann was clearly on Mike’s side. “I just want to ask Esteemed Mother if it would be possible to replace Luke’s punishment from being a miner to being a test subject for this …” he added.

“I will consider it… Now make sure to bring any good candidate from your illegitimate children back into the family…. We might give them a chance!” she said. “If there is nothing else you may leave…” she finally said, she had many things to think about. Many schemes to cook.

Theodore nodded with a smile. He always knew that having many children was not a bad thing! Now his efforts would be paid out!

“Ah… I want to ask about something…” Victor suddenly said as Mike and Theodore turned to leave.

“What?” Ann asked. She hoped this was not something stupid.

“The island you gave me… Why did you choose that specific island?” he asked. He had to know.

“No particular reason, it was just empty and convenient… Is there anything wrong with it?“Ann asked. She was just reminded of the island by one of the servants right before the meeting to discuss Victor’s presence. He was complaining that the family had too many unused islands and spoke of this one as an example. That’s why when she read Alfred's suggestion to give Victor some piece of land as a present, she decided to give it to him!

“Ahh… No… I just thought you were hinting at something…” Victor quickly in a disappointing manner. Ann really wanted to ask what, but she decided not to. The answer would definitely be something she didn’t like to hear.

“Like what?” Theodore asked.

“Like wanting me to fill it with my harem…” Victor quickly replied as if he wanted to say those words out loud!

“There was nothing like that…” Ann spat angrily. “You can leave…” she added. She was really about to kick Victor’s shameless ass for the second time today.

Victor nodded in disappointment and then stepped back. He could tell that Ann wasn’t lying, and he could tell many things from the way she paused… He decided it was not worth it to pester her more about it.

It might have been just a coincidence… No, he didn’t really believe in those.

Someone must have manipulated things from behind the scenes so that she would give him this, but the main questions were who they were and who they worked for.

…

Walking out of the office, Victor noticed that the elders had already explained the characteristics of the Golem to the elites and were now in the process of registering teams. It seemed like only 3 were allowed into each team as many began to group together.

Victor couldn’t help noticing Bill who seemed to have been trying to convince Bruno to join his team but failed after an elder scolded them both. The elders wanted Bruno to act by himself so that he would be able to participate in the Tournament instead of giving his points to Bill.

It seemed like the elite heirs who were meant to join the Tournament were already decided. Most of them anyway. This test was just a formality or a way to sort out allegiances.

“Mike! Come create a team quickly… “ Alice, who was standing with Zoe and another girl, waved to Mike.

“Don’t you want to join by yourself?” Mike asked.

“Idiot! I belong to the Heavenly Sect… I can’t participate!” Alice scolded. “ All I can do is support you!” she said.

“Oh. Thanks…” Mike nodded.

“How about we pair together?” Victor turned to Zoe who was standing to the side and asked her. He could easily tell that she was not really welcome in the family. The same in his past life.

“Ah… Fine…” Zoe nodded. She didn’t have much of a choice, and she really trusted Victor regarding his skills. The only thing she wondered was why he hid them from the family.

“You want to join the tournament?” She asked as they walked together toward the registration desk.

“No. you will be the one participating!” Victor lied casually.

“What? No, I…”

“Don’t be in a hurry to refuse! This is good for you! It is a chance to prove yourself and make a name for yourself in the family!” Victor said. “I, on the other hand, have no need for such things, my siblings are already protecting my back! So can you do me a favor and try it?” he asked, winking at her as he gave his tokin to the elder, telling him to appoint Zoe as the team leader.

“Ah… Ok…“Zoe sighed and said as she presented her token. She already owes Victor many favors, and the least she can do is humor him here.

She already wanted to spend some time with him to ask him about a few things but couldn’t earlier in his mansion as he was always surrounded by other girls.

Now was her chance!

…

“So… Are you sure you will stay here?” Vanessa asked Micheal. They were at the airport.

“Yes… I have to meet Crimson Pearl and I got the role of the Pimp in the movie! I can’t waste this chance!” Micheal replied looking at his mother and three triplet sisters who were leaving.

“Fine then…” Vanessa said as she turned and sighed for the 124th time today. She was planning to stay for another week, but after that blunder with Victor’s father- which she completely remembered but acted as if she didn’t - she decided to return home, and to her surprise, both Mina and Mana wanted to go with her saying it wanted to visit their father’s grave and pay respect.

“Let’s go…” Vanessa said.

“Mother… The Runway for private planes is that way!” Mana said, correcting her mother as she dragged her to a VIP lounge to the side.

Michael sighed as he watched them go…

HE WAS FREE AT LAST!

Now he could indulge to his heart’s content without fearing his mother or sister snooping around.

Wait… he suddenly noticed something.

Two young girls were heading to the same VIP lounge his mother went to. They were the same two girls who slept with Victor at the company the other day!

Do prostitutes work internationally now? Or do they have clients in the VIP lounge?

“ROBIN! IS THAT YOU? I knew that a bitch like you will show her face sooner or later!” A young man suddenly ran out of nowhere to one of the little girls who turned to face him, sighed then took a taser gun and shot at him.

Was he one of her salty old clients? Regardless, the young man fell to the ground shaking as many airport guards hurried toward them.

The girl only showed the security personnel a purple business card then turned and headed to the VIP lounge as the guards moved out of her way respectfully then grabbed the now unconscious young man and dragged him away mercilessly.

“Prostitutes are scary these days….” Michael sighed. He needed to be careful. He reminded himself.