Chapter 672: Born Into Expectations

"Lian, can I ask you something a little more personal?"

"Depends on how personal it is." Lian turned toward her.

The girl gave a small smile.

"About your family."

"I know the Vorhelm name, I mean, everyone knows it, and as far as I know, they have the most influence in this world." Even her father, who was part of the British government, spoke about the Vorhelms with caution and respect.

Then she added more carefully.

"If independence is so important to you, can I ask why you don’t return to your family? With your current position, you’d probably receive a different welcome."

Lian turned his gaze back toward the path ahead.

The Vorhelm family...

For a few moments, familiar faces appeared in his mind.

His father, his brothers and sisters, and two women who had greatly influenced the family’s current structure.

Celestia.

And Victoria Vorhelm.

His return was no longer impossible as it had been in the past.

With his current level and power, even those who had once refused to take him seriously would probably be forced to look at him differently.

But that very fact created a new problem.

The Vorhelm family was not just a wealthy family.

The competition between its different branches, political relationships, and the matter of succession meant that the power of each child directly affected the positions of the others.

Victoria was a clear example of this situation.

She was the daughter of the Secretary-General of the World Union, and her influence was not limited to the walls of the family residence.

The family’s eldest son, Cassias, was her child.

Darian was also her son; the same person Lian had previously encountered in the Special Area, who had practically been given the mission of killing him.

Victoria also had another daughter who was studying in Europe, Lian had not even seen her at Diana’s birthday celebration.

Three children and a mother who belonged to one of the most powerful political families in the world.

On the other hand, Celestia also had her own position and interests within the family.

Even if I returned, my presence wouldn’t be good news for many people.

He knew that some of the conflicts of the past no longer mattered much to him, but forgetting past insults was different from ignoring present dangers.

Especially when he suspected that one of his brothers had actually planned to kill him before.

In the end, he was not someone who forgot grudges either, especially when those people still intended to get rid of him.

Finally, he looked at Alicia.

"A different welcome? Probably."

The girl waited for him to continue.

Young Vorhelm gave a faint smile.

"But a better welcome doesn’t necessarily mean a better life."

"Because of what happened before?" Alicia tilted her head slightly.

"That’s part of it too."

Lian looked at his own hands for a moment.

"But my main problem isn’t how they treated me in the past anymore, the current structure of the Vorhelm family isn’t something I want to become part of again."

Rindo said nothing.

He knew part of Lian’s past and understood that this answer was not a simple one.

Lian continued.

"In large families, power isn’t just something you possess, it also affects the positions of others, and sometimes even one person’s return can ruin plans that others have spent years preparing."

Alicia thought for a moment and then said.

"So some members of your family would oppose your return?"

"Most likely."

"Especially now that I’m no longer that talentless boy I used to be." Lian gave a short smile.

The girl looked at him for several seconds and then asked quietly.

"So you never plan to return?"

Lian thought about this before answering.

He could not say that he would never return.

There were still people and unresolved matters within the family, and there might even come a day when returning would be his best choice.

Besides, he could not ignore the fact that some people had planned to kill him, he needed to deal with that matter.

"Not for now, but I guess I’ll return one day to settle this matter once and for all."

Alicia slowly nodded.

"I understand."

Lian looked at her for a moment, there was something in the girl’s tone that seemed to be more than just a polite answer.

As if part of what he had said was familiar to her too.

Young Vorhelm thought for several seconds and then spoke in a calmer tone.

"By the way, you talked about your brother, but there’s something you didn’t mention."

Alicia looked at him.

"What?"

"In my family, competition between brothers and sisters can sometimes be truly deadly, I hope your relationship with your brother isn’t like that."

At first, the girl was about to answer.

But when she heard her brother mentioned, her gaze fell on the sword at her waist for a moment.

Noah noticed the change in her expression and added with a smile.

"Looks like things aren’t so simple in your family either."

She let out a short sigh.

"No, although the problem isn’t between my brother and me."

"Then?"

The girl looked into the distance.

"My parents."

Alicia remained silent for a while.

At that moment, Two crossed a narrow crack and landed on the platform ahead, but this time, the girl barely paid attention to the wolf’s movement.

Her fingers slowly moved over the handle of her sword.

"My father always said that someone with our family’s position shouldn’t risk their life unless it was truly necessary."

"According to him, I should learn more about politics, management, and relationships between families, he said that if I wanted to help people, I could make a greater difference through good decisions than by swinging a sword a thousand times."

"Well, he’s not completely wrong." Noah looked at her for a moment.

"I know."

The girl let out a short sigh.

"That was my problem too, I couldn’t say his words were meaningless, my father really has a lot of experience, and I’ve learned many things from him."

She remained silent for several seconds.

"But whenever he talked about my future, it was as if everything had already been decided."

Lian turned his head slightly.

"So he expected you to follow the path he had chosen for you."

"Yes."

Alicia slowly nodded.

"Since childhood, different teachers were chosen for me, manners, family history, negotiation, and things like that, most of them were actually useful too."

Then she gave a very faint smile.

"But whenever I talked about swordsmanship, my father said that one day I’d grow tired of that childish interest."

"And your mother?" Noah raised an eyebrow.

"She was more concerned about what position I would achieve in the future."

Alicia looked at her own white armor for a moment.

"My mother wanted me to be a worthy representative of the family, in her opinion, attending important events and building proper relationships were the main parts of my responsibilities."

Rindo was listening carefully.

"So they opposed you entering the Academy?"

"Not completely, studying at the English Academy is a great honor for our family, but they expected me to focus more on my social position and future duties."

The girl removed her hand from the handle of her sword.

"Wanting to become a real swordswoman was not something they had planned for me."

Lian looked at her for a moment.

Considering Alicia’s abilities and the way she stood, it was clear that she had spent many years trying to master the sword.

But now he understood better why the girl was so serious about this path.

And he found it a little interesting, so there really was a family that preferred their child to follow the path of a politician instead of becoming an Awakened.

Perhaps deep in their hearts, they were simply worried about their daughter’s life.

"Then why the sword?"

Alicia looked at him, for several seconds, she said nothing.... she sighed and then answered.

"Because it was the first thing I truly chose for myself."

Lian remained silent.

The girl slowly continued.

"When I was a child, most of my daily plans were already decided, when I should study, when I should train, and even the people I should meet."

She gave a small smile.

"But when I held a training sword for the first time, no one had told me that I had to do it, I wanted to do it myself."

Alicia thought about the past for a moment.

"A few years later, I took part in one of the Academy’s difficult exams, by the end of the exam, my wrist was injured and I could barely hold my sword properly."

She raised her right hand and looked at her wrist for a moment.

"But I succeeded."

"That must have felt good." Rindo smiled.

"Very."

The girl’s smile became a little brighter, but a few moments later, she lowered her gaze.

"When I returned home, I thought my parents would be happy. They didn’t need to hold a celebration or do anything special, I just wanted them to know that I had finally achieved something I’d worked hard for."

She paused for a moment.

"My father mostly talked about how dangerous it had been to take part in that exam, and when my mother saw my wrist, she asked why I would put myself in a situation where I couldn’t even attend the ceremony the following week."

"Ouch." Noah pressed his lips together.

Alicia nodded.

"I know they were worried about me, at least I’d like to believe that was the reason."

She looked into the distance.

"But that day, I felt like the result of my exam didn’t matter to them at all."

Lian slowly breathed out, this feeling was not unfamiliar to him, there had also been a time when he hoped his achievements could change the way his family looked at him.

But Alicia’s situation had an important difference from his own past.

In the Vorhelm family, his failed awakening had lowered Lian’s position in the eyes of others, and they had practically treated him like trash.

Even so, before that, because he had no mother to support him, he had never held a particularly important position in the family.

Alicia, on the other hand, had always had a clear position from the beginning.

Her problem was that she did not want to spend her entire life in the position that others had chosen for her.