Chapter 106: Looking At The Wrong Way

"Did you get it or not?"

That was the first question Felix asked Rei the moment his eyes opened.

"Shouldn’t you be asking me whether I’m okay first, Father?" Rei immediately frowned, his voice hoarse from the sudden awakening.

Felix’s expression stiffened, but before he could respond, Esther hurriedly leaned forward and grabbed Rei’s arm.

"Where are your sisters? Are they all right? The extraction didn’t hurt them, did it?"

Rei stared at his mother for a moment, his expression unreadable.

Now she remembers she has daughters?

He almost laughed.

Esther had been standing by while the Ascendant Order attempted to extract the twins’ ability, and she had known perfectly well what the procedure entailed.

Yet now that the entire basement had been reduced to rubble and their carefully arranged operation had fallen apart, she suddenly seemed concerned about her daughters’ well-being.

How touching.

"They’re alive," Rei answered dismissively, pulling his arm away from her grasp. "At least, they were when I last saw them."

"Where are they now?" Esther pressed, her face paling. "Did someone take them away? What about the extraction? Did it succeed?"

Rei’s expression darkened.

He had more pressing concerns than answering a string of questions, especially when his own memories were still fragmented and his head felt as though someone had tried to crush his skull from the inside.

"How would I know?" he snapped. "I just woke up!"

Esther flinched at his sudden outburst, while Felix’s patience finally wore thin.

"Enough!" Felix barked. "Both of you, stop wasting time. Rei, I want to know what happened here, and I want to know whether you obtained the Healing Guide’s power."

Rei slowly turned toward his father.

"I am the Leader, Father... shouldn’t you at least speak respectfully?"

Felix’s eyes narrowed."You know damn well you’re just a dummy!" Felix hissed through gritted teeth, his voice dropping as he leaned closer to his son. "Don’t forget your place. The real Leader is still—"

"Felix!" Esther abruptly interrupted him, her expression tightening as she glanced at their surroundings.

Felix stopped, his jaw clenching in irritation.

There was no point in finishing that sentence.

Everyone in the Ascendant Order already knew Rei was merely a stand-in for the real Leader, whose identity remained a secret to outsiders. Reminding Rei of his position in front of the others would accomplish nothing except provoke his son further.

"Failed the operation and still dare to show your face?" Felix sneered, his voice low and biting. "Try explaining that to him, and see whether you still have the courage to demand that I speak to you respectfully."

Rei’s expression darkened, but he kept his mouth shut, his fingers curling slightly against his knees.

Felix leaned closer, his eyes filled with contempt. "You should be grateful that you’re still useful enough to occupy that position. If you think calling yourself the Leader makes you untouchable, then perhaps you’ve forgotten who you’re actually answering to."

Rei stared at his father, the corners of his mouth twitching as he suppressed the urge to laugh.

’Useful enough to occupy that position? How generous.’

He had endured the humiliation for a reason, and he wasn’t foolish enough to forget the difference between the title he wore and the power he intended to claim.

However, the failure of the extraction, coupled with the awakening of Lumi’s ability, had complicated matters far beyond what he had anticipated.

And if the real Leader learned what had happened here, Rei wouldn’t be the only one facing the consequences.

Rei let out a quiet breath before finally answering.

"I managed to extract Celestine’s ability..." He paused, rubbing his temple as the lingering ache in his head reminded him of what had happened. "But it was merely ordinary Guiding energy. Nothing special."

Felix’s expression immediately darkened. "What do you mean, nothing special? She said she has a Healing ability!"

Rei glanced at his father, looking almost amused by his reaction.

"She said it, yes, but did she actually prove it?" He shrugged, then winced slightly as the movement aggravated the lingering pain in his head. "The extraction only yielded ordinary Guiding energy. Whatever Celestine possesses, it doesn’t match the power described in the prophecy."

"But she healed—"

"Father, I was there." Rei cut him off impatiently. "I know what happened during the extraction."

His expression gradually turned serious as he recalled Celestine’s suffering and the strange power that had erupted from Lumi afterward.

"Celestine might have believed she possessed a Healing ability, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she was the one we were looking for. Perhaps she misunderstood her own power, or perhaps..." He paused, a peculiar glint appearing in his eyes. "Perhaps the ability was never hers to begin with."

Esther’s face stiffened, "What are you saying?"

Rei slowly turned toward her.

"Think about it. The prophecy speaks of a Healing Guide born from twins, yet we’ve spent all this time focusing on Celestine simply because she’s the more talented one." His smile widened. "Meanwhile, the daughter you’ve dismissed as useless just unleashed enough power to nearly destroy this entire basement."

He lifted his hand to his temple, his smile fading as he remembered the unbearable pain that had forced him unconscious.

"And whatever that power was, it managed to penetrate my defenses and attack my mind directly."

For once, Felix had no immediate response.

Rei slowly straightened, a strange smile spreading across his face despite the lingering pain in his head.

"Perhaps we’ve been looking at this the wrong way," he murmured.

Felix frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Rei didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he recalled the book he had deliberately placed in Lumi’s hands, curious about whether it might trigger something within her.

At the time, it had been nothing more than an experiment, a suspicion he hadn’t been able to prove, even to himself.

After all, Lumi had shown no detectable Guiding energy since childhood. There had been no reason to believe she possessed anything extraordinary.

But he had sensed something was different about her.

That was why he had given her the book, hoping to see whether she would react to its contents.

"Who would’ve thought..." Rei chuckled under his breath, his gaze sharpening with satisfaction. "I was right. Her power simply hadn’t awakened yet."

His smile widened as the realization settled in.

"They’ve been searching for the Healing Guide all this time, and we kept testing Celestine, believing she was the answer."

He glanced toward the ruined formation.

"But the one we should have been watching was Lumi all along."