CHAPTER 99: MASTER

Anna and Hanna sat on a sofa in the hall of the mansion. The hall was silent as Lavina only had a few servants, and most of them were busy with daily tasks. The silence stretched as both of them sat with a teacup in their hands, the steam of hot tea drifted like their thoughts as their lips parted to speak, but no words came out.

A few moments passed, and Anieal finally called out in a soft tone.

"Hanna..."

Hanna lifted her lowered head and looked at Anna, waiting for her to continue.

Anna also lifted her head and looked into Hanna’s bright green eyes, and continued.

"I know that you don’t want to take a path which leads to killing instead of saving... but this world needs both the destroyers and builders. Before building something, you must be ready to destroy. I can not, no, I would not force you to follow my path... but if you want to save something, you need the strength to save it, and right now we are too weak to save anything... we saved those islanders not because we were strong, it simply had all the pieces in the place. But what if it doesn’t happen again? What if we are not that lucky again?"

Hanna’s expression turned dark the more she heard Anna’s words. She lowered her head and didn’t say anything.

Anna stared at her for a few moments and stood up as she added.

"You have to choose if you want to stop here and continue to hide or take your decisions into your own hands... if you want the freedom to live without fear or not."

Anna stepped forward and left the room. Hanna lifted her head and stared at Anna’s departing back with complicated eyes. She heaved a sigh and collapsed on the sofa as she closed her eyes and a single word, a mere whisper, drifted out of her lips.

"Freedom..."

Anna stepped out and looked at Neo and Lavina, who stood staring at each other with intense eyes.

’Hmm? What happened between these two?’

Right then, Neo’s words reached her ears.

"Please, teach me, Warden Lavina."

Lavina gave him an annoyed look and responded.

"Why would I do that? Go in and have your little friends talk."

Neo didn’t reply and continued to stare at her. Soon, however, his expressions turned dark, and he questioned with a low voice.

"Is it because I’m a lowborn?"

Lavina raised her eyebrow and replied in a sharp tone.

"Lowborn? You? Are you stupid?"

Neo frowned at her words and asked.

"What do you mean by that?"

"It’s simply just as the saintess had said, you are not a lowborn... there’s some other reason for you not being able to awaken."

Neo furrowed his brows and lowered his head to look at his palms, and muttered.

"Other reason?"

Anna’s eyes glinted as she also heard Lavina’s words.

’The saintess knows about the real issue with Neo’s body?’

’She didn’t tell me about it...’

She had only seen Neo’s future once, and in that he was an awakened, she wanted to find the reason behind his awakening, but... she didn’t want to become indifferent to something that may change the life of the very people around her.

Her powers allowed her to become the most knowledgeable person alive, but what’s the point of it if it led to her no longer having the people she cared about beside her? All of this would be meaningless.

Cursing her trait for one more time, she stepped towards the duo, and just as she was about to reach them, a white pigeon landed beside the duo.

Anna lifted her eyebrow upon seeing the white pigeon. Lavina also turned towards the pigeon and spoke with a puzzled look.

"Saintess?"

The white pigeon shifted its head between the trio as Anna had already reached them.

"Anna... I have obtained access to one of the rifts suited for Seeker rank," the saintess spoke via the pigeon.

Anna nodded at her words, and Lavina’s expression darkened, hearing her.

"Rift? What do you mean? If they enter the rift, they would just walk to their deaths."

The white pigeon shifted its head towards her, and the saintess spoke.

"What do you want me to do then? They have to enter because of the crack in Anna’s star core."

Lavina frowned and looked at Anna before shifting her eyes towards Neo. She clenched her fists and spat with closed eyes.

"Alright, I would train them."

"Hmm? I never asked you to train them..." the saintess spoke playfully.

Lavina shot an annoyed look towards the pigeon and added.

"You spoke about it before me because you wanted me to train them."

The saintess didn’t say anything and turned towards Anna.

"Lavina would teach you combat and survival... and I would teach you about runes and star essence."

Anna nodded and gave a smile as she thanked her.

"Thank you, saintess."

The white pigeon shook its head, and the saintess replied.

"You should call me master from now on... You can see ’him’ after all."

Anna’s smile widened as she bowed and added.

"Thank you, master."

Neo looked and heard everything with a frown as he questioned.

"Is it right for Miss Aeliana to be the saintess’s student?"

Anna and the white pigeon turned towards him with tilted heads as they questioned at the same time.

"Why wouldn’t it be?"

Neo’s frown deepened as his eyes shifted to Lavina. Sensing his gaze, she shook her head and began walking away.

As she walked a few steps away, Neo answered.

"Would it not be an issue that Miss Anieal is a Starborne?"

Anna frowned at his question and turned towards the white pigeon.

The saintess answered his worries.

"It would be fine... she is not really known as a starborne right now, is she? Most don’t even know if there’s any alive Starborne ."

Neo frowned and gave a reluctant nod before looking at the departing figure of Lavina.