Chapter 140. A reunion meant to be

Chapter 140: 140. A reunion meant to be

The black vehicle did not take Carlos toward the part of the city where he and his mother lived. He noticed it within the first few turns.

The direction to his home was opposite to where they were going, which made Carlos sigh.

"With how high your rank was, Mr. Carlos, you will not be ignored by the family as you were before. Things have changed now." She spoke with a smile, as if that was supposed to please him, but Carlos frowned instead.

"I was happy with just my mother for a long time, Miss Evelyn. But thank you for the concern."

Evelyn just smiled when he said that. "Would you mind if I am a little formal with you, Mr. Carlos?" she asked.

Carlos looked at her for a moment and shrugged. He left the decision to her.

Evelyn did not seem to care. "I have escorted five lower-branch Goldwin heirs to the family office these past two years. They were all ecstatic to finally get noticed."

"With how they reacted, you would not find me strange if I thought of your reaction as rather interesting, Mr. Carlos." Her smile softened. She looked out the window once before making eye contact again.

But Carlos never broke eye contact. "I appreciate that I would interest you, Miss Evelyn. But you cannot expect me to give an answer to a question like that, can you?" he asked with a smile of his own.

Evelyn blinked once and giggled. "You really live up to the rumors, Mr. Carlos," she said.

"Hm? I mean pardon?" Carlos asked.

"You will know soon. We will be reaching the office in a few minutes."

Those few minutes passed without any conversation. Carlos was deeply curious about the rumors she had mentioned, but asking her now would be like begging for information when she had already said he would know soon.

He could not show desperation. His mother was there right now.

The car halted after a few minutes, and the man seated in the front passenger seat got out and opened the door for Carlos. It felt strange, but Carlos stepped out.

The building in front of them had large letters spelling out ’Goldwin Holdings.’ The Goldwin name was set in dark metal above the entrance, clean and restrained enough that it did not need to be made larger.

A wide set of steps led to glass doors taller than a house. Two low fountains stood on each side, their water falling over black stone without making much sound.

It was lavish, but in a quiet way.

But just as the name suggested, nothing was gold. Nothing was decorated to impress someone standing in the street. The building had been made for people who already knew what it was.

Evelyn came around the car and walked toward the entrance. She looked back once with a smile and nodded, making Carlos follow her.

The lobby was larger than the outside had suggested.

The ceiling rose three floors above him. A suspended arrangement of thin glass panels hung in the open space, turning slowly in the air-conditioning.

Behind the reception desk, a wall of dark wood carried the Goldwin crest in a dull silver finish. The floor beneath Carlos’s boots was pale marble with fine gray lines running through it like roots beneath ice.

He did not slow down because of any of it. But he noticed everything.

The guards near the side elevators did not stare at him. They looked once, recognized Evelyn, and returned to their work. The reception staff did not ask his name. A woman in a charcoal suit stood up before he reached the desk and gave Evelyn a quiet nod.

Carlos wondered how many people here already knew who he was. It could be everyone; this office did not seem like a place that had normal day-to-day activities.

Evelyn led him past the main elevator bank and through a corridor that curved away from the open lobby. The marble changed to dark wood underfoot. The bright city light behind the glass walls disappeared, replaced by softer lamps built into the ceiling.

Along one wall hung framed photographs.

Carlos saw old factories, shipping ports, construction sites, and buildings that carried the Goldwin name in small plaques near their entrances. In some photographs, people in work clothes stood in front of new machinery.

In others, men and women in formal clothes shook hands beside contracts or ceremonial ribbons.

Carlos froze at one particular portrait. It showed a man inside a territory with rows of barracks lined together. Carlos recognized one Blue Water Slime Barrack among them.

The image’s resolution was poor, as if it had been taken in the early nineties.

"How... was a picture taken inside a territory and brought here?"

Evelyn looked at the portrait too and then smiled while she saw Carlos’s dumbfounded expression.

"Oh, that’s nothing major. There are events inside the World of the Lords when you can bring certain items back from that world," she explained.

Carlos kept looking at the sheer number of barracks in the portrait, but one thing clicked when she gave her explanation.

"Did they bring the camera that took the picture from the real world, then?" he asked.

If things could go inside during certain events, that would mean Carlos could take powerful weapons at the right time and help his territory.

Evelyn looked at his face and, as if she could read it, started grinning.

"You were going to learn this later on your own, but I can tell you right now." She spoke teasingly, making Carlos wait restlessly.

"That camera that took the picture did not come from Earth. It was made inside the World of the Lords, Mr. Carlos."

Carlos nodded, but then he froze again, his face tightening in confusion. "What do you mean, made? It was a reward, right?" he asked.

"No, you misunderstand me," she said. "The camera was made using raw materials inside the World of the Lords. We have the knowledge of how it is made; we just needed to implement it."

Carlos heard her, and it felt as if his world had been shaken.

"I see..."

Evelyn looked quite happy at his expression. "If you liked this information, please look favorably on me in the future. I can already feel that you will do very well."

"I would appreciate if you don’t jinx it, but thank you and I will do my best."

Evelyn giggled, and Carlos followed her again.

At the end of the corridor, Evelyn pressed her hand against a narrow black panel. A door opened without a sound. The next hallway after that was quieter.

The silence was so isolating that even their footsteps echoed in his ears.

He had faced trolls, broken roads, and Lords who had come to take what was his.

Walking toward his mother inside a building owned by a family that had barely noticed him for most of his life should not have made his chest feel tight, but it still did. Their reunion would be under surveillance.

Evelyn stopped outside a set of double doors made from the same dark wood as the corridor walls. One door stood slightly open.

Carlos could see a sliver of the room beyond. A long window, a pale rug, and the edge of a low table with untouched water glasses on it.

Then he saw his mother, and his eyes stayed on her. Emotion welled inside him, and he took a deep breath.

She was sitting near the window with both hands clasped in her lap. She was not looking at the view. Her shoulders were held too straight, and the small handbag beside her chair looked out of place in the room.

Evelyn knocked once before opening the door, making Carlos’s mother look toward the entrance with anxious eyes.

For a second, none of them moved. Then Carlos could not take it anymore. He did not care that there were people inside the room.

He rushed toward his mother, who had stood up waiting for him, and hugged her tightly.

The warm embrace made Carlos feel like a kid again and tears waited to come out but he restrained them. He couldn’t show more emotions than he had just now.

"My boy, you are back," she whispered near his ear, and Carlos buried his head in her shoulder.

Soon, clapping began to resound through the room, making Carlos look in that direction.

An old man in a suit was seated nearby. He was clapping while looking at them with an unreadable smile.

"Such a loving relationship you have. It makes me remember the day my daughter came back from the Beginner Period too," he said while continuing to clap.

Carlos broke the hug and looked at the man with a calm expression this time.

On his suit, there was a green button on the right chest. Carlos knew what that button meant.

He was a man from the main branch of the Goldwins, the ones he needed to be wary of the most according to his mother.