Reverse scale

Standing up, Felix removed three hundred Lower Grade Astral Stones and placed them on the table after which he silently left causing the three women to turn nervous from not knowing what he was thinking about.

Rubbing the low grade spatial ring which he purchased after spending hundred and fifty Lower Grade Astral Stones, Felix chose to keep it and the remaining forty-five Astral Stones inside it for himself.

"You don't have to involve yourself in this. I can take... "

Turning towards Anna who turned silent from the oppressive aura pressing down on her, Felix despite knowing that she was many times stronger than him spoke in a determined tone, "I'll take care of it."

Once he said that, Anna no longer said anything else and remained silent as he walked inside his room.

Felix was a peculiar boy who no one understood despite living with him for three years. After all, most of the time he was in the house was spent inside his room and behaving as if he had nothing to do with any of the others.

However, at the end of every month it was the same young man who gave many Low-Grade Astral Stones to his stepmother whom he never spoke a single word to so that she'd be able to manage both the household and the business more easily.

That too on the very same day that the Astral Rune Designs and Ink Formulas arrived from the 'secret' supporter who had yet to even ask for a single payment and literally gave them away for free.

Honestly, no one would've said anything even if Felix kept everything that he earned to himself because he literally had no relation with any of the four women.

After all, one should know that Felix's father had never actually managed to marry Sarah due to dying on the day before their wedding was set to take place.

Thinking the same thing until here, both Anna and her niece silently looked towards the woman whom they knew why he was doing all of this.

...

"What are you thinking of, Felix? If I'm not wrong, that Rune which you inscribed is a passive one which grants you no abilities. So rushing inside the Asta Family is pure suicide."

Nor replying to Anastasia who had entered through the window, Felix placed all the Jadewood boxes that were still inside the cupboard inside his spatial ring.

Checking what was inside those boxes before he did so, Felix made a not of all the items he lacked to inscribe his second Rune.

"There's nothing wrong in asking for my help, Felix. I can get rid of something like the Asta Family very.... "

"I. Can. Take. Care. Of. It."

Frowning at how adamant Felix remained, Anastasia to not say anything else when he himself suddenly spoke.

"If I take your help for every little thing, what will I do when someday it is you who need my help?"

"So, let me do this by myself. I'll ask for your help when I truly need it."

Since Felix had gone so far as to say those words, Anastasia's frown completely disappeared.

Nodding her head, the Pheonix Empress flew outside the window while feeling curious to find out what was the reason behind her turning so serious and cold all of a sudden.

Having heard the contents of what Ria had told Felix, she didn't think as if there was anything that happened which could justify why Felix was literally reeking of anger bloodthirst.

After all, some people from the Asta Family threatened his stepmother and told her to hand over both the shop and everything inside it if she didn't want to be killed.

And when the little girl tried to step up, someone pushed her away causing her to hit her head against something and get hurt.

Therefore, it could only mean that it was due to someone and not something which was causing Felix to behave like this.

Who was his reverse scale ?

That little girl?

No. Not her.

Then was it...

...

Once he wrote the handful of ingredients he was missing to inscribe his second Rune, Felix took two more pieces of paper and wrote something else on them and placed them inside his spatial ring as well.

After doing all of this, Felix didn't leave through the door and chose to jump outside the window.

Unfortunately, due to how riled up he was from having heard the story, Felix's senses failed to pick up the fact that someone was waiting for him right next to the window.

"Felix."

Trembling and looking in the other direction as soon as he heard the soul-warming gentle voice, Felix didn't say anything while the woman who had been waiting for him walked towards him.

As someone who was always concerned about him, how could Sarah not know that Felix always used the window to leave and come back?

"Where are you going, Felix?"

Not replying to his stepmother since he didn't even dare look at her in the face, Felix began trying to walk away when the woman once again stopped him.

"You don't need to.... Stop!"

Stopping Felix from moving, Sarah moved even closer to him and spoke in the same gentle tone he heard her speak in since the day he first met her.

"What happened that day.... It wasn't your fault, Felix.... You... You were just a kid who was seeking for some warm.... As the adult, I should've tried to stop you.... But even I.... "

Listening until here Felix began walking away when Sarah who saw this stretched her slender arm and grabbed his hand.

"St.. "

Turning around in a moment of surprise, Felix who saw Sarah's face from such a close distance after a long time was a little stunned when the woman herself hastily looked away with fear written all over it.

Seeing this, Felix couldn't help but wryly smile and think that he deserved this and continued walking away.

With her eyes turning wide in realisation of what she just did, Sarah was about to turn around when she felt Felix pull his hand away and disappear from in front of her and left only two words behind.

"I'm sorry."

Listening to those words which seemed to make no sense and no spectator would be able to understand, Sarah herself knew that Felix was apologising for the reason behind what had caused her to feel scared of him right now.

"Wait Felix.... I'm not....!"

Trying to run in the direction that she last saw Felix disappear in, Sarah didn't manage to even take a few steps before tripping on the long traditional robes she always wore and started to fall down.

But before she could fall, Sarah felt a warm hand wrap itself around her waist and stop her from falling down.

Following this, she felt another hand hold her near her thighs and together raise her up entirely.

Of course, it was Felix who came back and kept her from falling, but even though Sarah herself knew that, she didn't dare look at him after what she just did.

Walking back inside the house, Felix who himself didn't look at her face even once after he picked her up, placed her on her bed and turned around to leave.

"Felix I... "

Stopping Sarah who wanted to say something, Felix this time didn't pull his hand which she caught and instead used his other hand to slowly open her fingers and then left for real this time.