The villainess shall be mine

:::[Third Person POV]:::

The room in which Adam was currently residing was spacious and it didn't feel in the least cramped even if seven people were gathered inside.

Redmond was one of the people who sat on a luxurious sofa-like chair inside this room. He came to talk to clarify various things Adam along with the Uriella but to his surprise, Adam's attitude suggested that he had already taken his arrival into account.

"Uncle, it seems like some people had misunderstood my intentions. I didn't, of course, expect to do this as such a thing is impossible, in the first place, but as I said before, insults toward me and my status are not tolerable," Adam said and he emphasized the fact that Uriella and the other participants would never be at the same level as him.

"Thus, let me explain the reason behind my actions for the sake of everyone," he added. "As I was observing the participants, an idea came to my mind as I discovered talented people. Uncle, I am not saying that the people you chose to instruct the participants are not competent but they aren't at the level where they could determine the extent of someone's hidden potential."

Adam talked with such confidence that Uriella began to show a hostile expression ok her face.

"Thus, I am going to gather all of the participants that I deem worthy and help them discover their potential. Rather than letting the Empire swallow them, I prefer to see those people use their ability for the sake of their own goal which would, in the long run, benefit the Raizel family," ignoring Uriella Adam continued.

What Adam said was something extremely offensive and sounded like a challenge for Redmond and the Empire itself.

Redmond was taken by surprise as he glanced at Adam who was waiting to see his reaction.

'This man...' Redmond was smart and understood what Adam implied when he said these words.

First, Adam didn't say that he was waiting for Redmond's approval and emphasized the fact that he was the only one who was going to do the job with or without Redmond's help.

If Adam succeeded, he would have control over the future Lords and this implied that he would be also the most influential person within the Raizel family in the future.

In addition to this, he also emphasized the fact that he didn't intend to let the Empire control him. Redmond might be thinking too much about this, or so he thought, but if Adam didn't want to be controlled by the Empire then it would mean that he was aiming for something else.

However, the most cunning thing that Adam said was that it would benefit the Raizel family.

By all means, this would benefit the Raizel family, considering that the family's influence had declined.

Having a few people at Adam's level, or so Redmond thought, would allow the family to increase their influence once in a near future.

Nonetheless, if Redmond agreed to this, it would mean that he was giving the reign to Adam inexplicitly.

In other words, the young man in front of him was testing him, even though he had a smile on his face as he said these words.

If he was against this, Adam would continue with his plan and an internal conflict would start within the Raizel family. If Redmond only cared about his interest, this would be unavoidable, and Adam would certainly not go easy on him.

Moreover, with just this, Adam had already proven that on top of being strong, he was smart and cunning. He also had charisma and the ability to manipulate people, or Redmond concluded, looking at the two girls who didn't look in the least afraid of Adam.

He was thinking about what kind of discussion they were having before he came, but if he did this with all of the other talented newcomers, it would be easy for him to make his words a reality.

At first, Redmond just felt that it would be nice if Adam was a talented individual with a character similar to Julius'.

After all, Redmond was the only one who prevented an internal conflict from happening, and unless he was gone, the Raizel family would be gone with him.

He had always thought about what Julius would have done if he was in his place, but at the end of the day, Redmond worked hard to not let his influence within the family weakened.

He needed to stand firm and keep the troublesome Lords in check. Therefore, the Holy Academy test was at the same time an opportunity and a dilemma.

If the Raizel family grows weaker after this event, in other words, if Redmond fails to raise the family's influence, it would be blamed solely on him, and those who were waiting for an opportunity to drag him down wouldn't miss this one.

Although the results depended on the performance of the participants, Redmond would still blame. The arguments that would be thrown at him would consist of something like he failed to nurture those talents, and then someone would declare that he wasn't thinking about the family and only focused on his interest, this he was incompetent.

Redmond knew that denying those claims would be easy, and he could even argue back with more logical arguments, but things wouldn't certainly stop there, leading to a lot of complications.

That was why he thought about having someone who led the new generation, someone that wasn't influenced by the older generation and was competent enough to lead the whole family even if he was gone.

He believed that someone like that would exist among the participants but he also knew that it would be difficult to prepare them for such an important task.

"Indeed, I wasn't wrong," Redmond said but it sounded like he was talking to himself. Nonetheless, he didn't expect Adam to have already exceeded some of his expectations.

"Ladies, what do you think of Adam?" Instead of answering Adam's question, Redmond turned his attention to the twins.

From their expressions, these two sisters didn't expect Redmond to be Adam's uncle, and they also didn't expect to meet the Lord of the Raizel family in such a way.

They began to feel extremely nervous in presence of two imposing figures such as Adam and Redmond and they didn't even make and just listened.

However, Redmond had unexpectedly inquired about their opinions and they had to answer him.

Even so, Azalea, in her case, didn't know exactly what to answer Redmond's question.

"H-he is strong," Azalea muttered in a small voice unlike how she usually talked. She was more nervous than she thought she was.

"Lor-ch Adam is smart!" Rose said, and her voice become high-pitched due to the stress.

"I see. Do you think that he would be able to help you to get stronger?" Redmond asked with a calm and gentle voice, seeing the twins' reaction to his question.

Azalea and Rose nodded in response to Redmond's question.

Redmond didn't know what exactly Adam said to these two nor did he know about what kind of method Adam had in mind to help them, but the twins looked like they trusted Adam.

Redmond was good at reading people's expressions, that was why he never judged someone before meeting them, and even though the girls were anxious, he could tell that they weren't speaking out of fear.

"Adam, tell me one thing, what is the most important thing for you in this world?" Redmond asked.

Hearing Redmond's question, Adam looked surprised for a split second before a smile appeared on his face.

"Is there anything more important than being able to sleep soundly every night?" Adam answered.

"Hahaha, I think that's asking too much," Redmond said, finding Adam's answer a bit amusing. "I guess you are doing all of this for the sake of this goal too, I am supporting you," he added.

Uriella looked puzzled seeing Redmond and Adam smiling at each other. 'Are they joking around or what?' She thought to herself.

Little did she know that the smarter someone had become, the harder was for them to be happy.

Adam and Redmond knew this and when Adam said these words, he was referring to a more complicated issue than how it sounded.

"Is that all you want to discuss?" Adam asked, seeing that Redmond stood up.

"What? Aren't you going to say anything about what happened?!" Uriella shouted, looking like she couldn't restrain herself anymore.

"What are talking about? Everything appears to be fine to me," Redmond said and once again looked at the twins. "What do you think would have happened if he didn't do anything while he was being insulted? Would these ladies say the same about him as they said earlier? And you, if you were in his place what would have you done? I believe that you are smart enough to find the answer to these questions by yourself, so I don't want to talk about this matter again."

Using rhetorical questions, Redmond the discussion and left with Uriella who didn't look pleased by this outcome. Nevertheless, Redmond believed that she would be able to calm down and think rationally after a few days of reflection.