CHAPTER 400: INSTANT REGRET

Since their first encounter a few months prior, Clara had expressed her disapproval of Lane countless times. She had even crossed the line every now and then, which led to her being reproached by her siblings. That was all fine, though - all they ever did was stop her from continuing with her harsh remarks. She still stood by most of the things she had said about Lane (aside from saying that he was a good-for-nothing, since he had already proved that he was at least good at his job), and didn’t regret insulting him. There were never any consequences of her actions, and she hadn’t ever been made to regret what she had said...

Until now, that is.

"You two should really break up... I need to talk to Damien..."

The moment the words left Clara’s mouth, Lane scoffed, rolling his eyes. They should break up because of what? Because they enjoy having sex with each other too much? Truly, she had always been a bit unhinged (at least in Lane’s humble opinion), but now she was getting simply too ridiculous... He didn’t even think it was worth responding to.

Not everyone felt that way, though. Nyla turned back to face Clara, giving the woman a sharp glare.

"Miss Moore, forgive me for being rude, but you should mind your own business," she said, the tone of her voice sharp and cold, very un-Nyla-like. "Your OLDER brother is an ADULT, and can make his own decisions. From what I can see, he is very happy with my brother, so it’s not your place to butt in and mess with their relationship."

"I-I..." Clara momentarily froze, her eyes widening. It was such a switch in Nyla’s attitude that she didn’t even know how to react... It felt completely different from when her siblings reproached her or when Lane argued with her. Even though Nyla still remained relatively polite, just the way she had said it made Clara instantly feel like she was in the wrong.

Which she was, of course, even though she normally wouldn’t think so.

Lane observed the scene from the side with an unreadable expression on his face, filled with mixed emotions. It was nice to see Clara being put in her place, but...

He wasn’t sure if he liked where it was all going. A while back, he had actually thought that it might be good to find Clara a boyfriend and a girlfriend, to keep her busy and out of his hair. Best if he could ship her off somewhere far away, but as long as she was preoccupied with her own relationship, it could have worked. And if her potential partner were to be on good terms with Lane, that would have been even better. Seeing Nyla shut Clara up so effortlessly seemed to confirm that his plan was viable, and at the same time, it put Nyla forward as a prime candidate...

But he couldn’t do it. Not Nyla. All of her life, she was being used by their parents. Lane couldn’t possibly do the same to her by pairing her up with Clara to deal with this nuisance of a woman.

Not to mention, Nyla deserved better. Clara was pretty enough for her, yes, and she had nice, supportive siblings... And she was also an A-rank Esper with a lot of potential... But her character left a lot to be desired. She was an absolute NIGHTMARE, and Lane couldn’t just sacrifice his twin sister to tame her. There was absolutely no way...

"Let’s go somewhere else," he said, grabbing Nyla by the arm and dragging her away to a different room, one that didn’t have any massacred beds, before Clara could recover. The situation was just too uncomfortable and disturbing to stay there any longer.

Nyla followed him without any protests, only throwing Clara one last cold glance, and soon, they disappeared behind the closed door.

"Alright, we can talk here," Lane said once they were alone. The rooms in the apartment weren’t soundproof, but as long as they didn’t raise their voices, the others shouldn’t be able to hear them. At least not without purposely trying to eavesdrop, which Lane was quite confident that no one would do. Clara might have wanted to... But she didn’t seem to be in a state to even think about it, and even if she were, Eloise would have stopped.

"Right..." Nyla pressed her lips, looking to the side. "First of all, I’m sorry for butting in... But... I just thought..."

"Oh, don’t worry about it," Lane waved his hand dismissively, easing his expression. He hadn’t realized it until now, but he seemed to have been frowning...

Had he caught it from Damien? Was frowning contagious?

Either way, he wasn’t angry or annoyed at Nyla, or anything. It was only Clara’s behavior that he had problems with, Nyla hadn’t done anything wrong. He didn’t want to discuss it with his sister, though, so he just changed the topic, getting to the main point, "So what did you have to discuss? Did anything happen?"

Nyla stared at Lane for a moment longer. She had already been aware that Clara and Lane didn’t get along... She had read all of Ethan’s reports, after all, and the Guide hadn’t failed to mention that Lane and Damien’s relationship wasn’t supported by Damien’s family. It was just that with Ethan, Nyla couldn’t tell how exactly the situation was - since he had not been able to accomplish much until now, despite being at the Association for three months already, it was possible that Ethan exaggerated a few things, in order to make his mission look less like a failure - and on top of that... It was different to read about the alleged disapproval, and hear Clara straight-out say that Lane and Damien should break up. Of course, she didn’t know how Lane felt about Damien...

But Lane wasn’t the kind of person who would willingly put up with something he didn’t like. So, if he were together with Damien, even practically living together, he must have at least enjoyed being with him.

And on top of that, Damien seemed very reliable. He should be good for Lane.

She didn’t say anything more about it, though. If Lane didn’t want to talk about it, she wouldn’t meddle in. Instead, she said, fidgeting with the hem of her top, "Well, it’s... nothing all that urgent, really. I just thought that it would be best to warn you ahead of time, and I didn’t know when I would next have an opportunity... But... The Allen Guild is going to be in charge of the security at the next summit."

"...The next summit?"

"The International Awakened Summit."

Of course, that was kind of obvious. Although there were various events categorized as ’summits’ taking place throughout the year, there was only one that truly mattered to them. After all, the World Health Summit or the Environmental Summit had nothing to do with Lane. Even if the Allen Guild would take part in them - which they wouldn’t, because why would they? At most, the Allen group, that is their civilian corporate endeavor which was still in business, even though the family’s main area of operation had changed - it had nothing to do with Lane. The reason why he had asked about it with such surprise was...

"We are the ones hosting the next summit?"

Nyla nodded her head. "Yes. We were contacted by the Association’s Director, requesting cooperation. It will be held in the Capital in January..."

Lane went silent for a moment. He... hadn’t expected that. Because of what had happened at the previous summit, the next location hadn’t been publicly announced as of yet. Of course, the leaders of all the countries were still aware, since everyone needed some time to prepare... But it was all kept tightly under wraps. They didn’t want to cancel the event, as it could make them look as if they were afraid of the terrorists, but at the same time, they didn’t want any illegal, secret Awakened organizations to catch wind of it early on. It was all so that they would have less time to prepare anything, and the previous year’s incident wouldn’t repeat. But to think that it was going to take place in the Capital...

It was troublesome. Very much so.

Lane clicked his tongue, brushing his hair back. "So, are our beloved parents planning anything? Against me, I mean."

"I... don’t know," Nyla shook her head sadly. "I just... thought it might be possible."

Lane didn’t say anything, just nodded his head.

Yes, knowing their parents, it was possible. They were in charge of security, so it might have seemed unlikely that they would allow any ’accidents’ to happen... But that wasn’t necessarily the case. The Allens didn’t mind taking risks or loses, as long as the potential gains outweighed them. And since Lane had now ended their deal, and had become even more of a nuisance for them... Neutralizing him might just be worth it.

Not to mention, regardless of how their relations in private were, Lane was still their son, biologically and legally. If the only son of the Guild Leader were the victim of an ’accident’ at the summit, then the backlash that the Allen Guild would receive for failing to provide appropriate security would be lessened, as people would feel sympathetic towards them. They would be the ones who had suffered the biggest ’loss’, after all...

All that’s to say was that Lane had to be careful and plan ahead. Although he had confidence that he would be able to get out of any trap his parents might prepare for him, there was a risk that he might expose his other abilities in the process...

And that wasn’t all. The news about the summit’s location hadn’t spread yet... But once they did, Lane would have another problem on his head.

That is, the secret organization. Just as the summit’s organizers were likely fearing, there was also a large illegal organization operating in their country. And, while their boss was unwilling to crash the summit... His subordinates might not exactly feel the same.

Blanc wasn’t going to, that’s for sure. Once he learned about the location, he would once again start pressuring Lane to do something about it...