Mixed Blessing System

As Anneke approached where Lothur was passing with Viktoria and Annaliese, a man dressed in a hood and with his face protected by a mask was watching them from afar.

'That wretch has tricked me!' He clenched his fists as he looked at Lothur's annoyed face, remembering the day a mere mortal tricked him.

'That day I ran away from Peters City terrified that the Becker family would hunt me down because of him... But the bastard had only shown me a common symbol of that house to frighten me.' Harry's master, the young man Lothur had killed in Lewerenz, thought of this in anger at this vile guy.

But he had not only been frightened by Lothur on that occasion. After that, Harry's master spent days hiding because of the beginning of Elke's family's investigations.

For that reason, he could not even show his identity in public and now had to walk around using a mask through the shadows to protect himself from the target 'engraved' in the middle of his back.

'But just wait, you bastard. My family will act against you and avenge all I have suffered since Harry's death!' He stopped watching Lothur and left that area, returning to his family's side.

His family was also from the province and would compete in this event. So he already had people to stand in Lothur's way!

The entries for the candidates in each test at the conference were public for anyone to see, so it would not be hard for his family group to identify where Lothur would be competing...

Anyway, while that fellow was plotting against Lothur, this young man was finally stopped by Anneke.

"Lothur, I finally can talk to you..." She sighed as she stopped her previous hurried walk while holding his right wrist.

Viktoria then looked at this academy student, whom she knew because of such a person's family, and asked. "From where do you know my husband, Anneke Koch? What do you want to talk to him about?"

Annaliese already knew who that woman was to Lothur, so she just watched Anneke while this black-haired woman answered Viktoria. "I was one of Lothur's teachers in Sector-1, First Miss Frost. So, I want to give some advice to my former student..."

"Oh?" Viktoria looked at Lothur, surprised by this but finding the behavior of this person from the Koch family suspicious. "Since when are teachers and students this close? What exactly do you want to talk to him about?"

Viktoria still did not love Lothur, but she was possessive with everything she had. Hence, since she had given herself to him, this brunette naturally would not like to see women approaching him without good reason.

Anneke smiled as she noticed how defensive Viktoria was with her. 'It looks like you managed to melt that ice heart, eh?' She looked at Lothur, who had a smile on his face at the moment.

Lothur enjoyed watching his women compete for him, so there was no reason to stop the two from exchanging a few barbs.

Anneke then replied to Viktoria. "True, it is unusual for teacher and student to get close. But Lothur is no longer my student. We are now just colleagues as Annaliese and I, or you and I are..."

"And what does this 'colleague' want?" Viktoria closed her eyes and smiled at this person from Sector-4, who strangely gave her a different feeling, something she did not like.

Anneke looked at Lothur and then said. "Some families are planning to act against your wife's house. You should expect that by now, right?"

"Hmm." Lothur nodded since none of this was new to him. 'Hell, there are even members of that family who plan to act against House Frost...'

She continued. "But some of them will act specifically against you. They will do everything not only to make you lose but end badly, very badly..."

"Act against my brother-in-law?" Annaliese was concerned by that woman's speech. "Why would anyone target my brother-in-law? What did he do? It's not like he's responsible for the future of the Frost family..."

Annaliese did not want to offend Lothur with that final comment of hers, as although he had the potential for it, no one but her, Viktoria, and Elke knew of his full capabilities. Hence, to her it made no sense to think that the enemies of House Frost wanted his head.

For what? Would it solve anything for these Frost family rivals if a son-in-law 'without' powers died or was brutally injured?

But while Annaliese did not understand the situation, Viktoria knew some reasons why someone would wish for Lothur's demise. 'That could be because of his father or someone who wants to separate him from me...'

Anneke answered Annaliese's question. "I don't know exactly. In some cases, it seems that these people are just trying to hurt the Frost family somehow. But in the case of House Baier, they seem to attribute what happened to their young master to Lothur."

"The Baier family?" Annaliese asked as she looked at Lothur. "Did you do something against Alric?"

"Yes, he thought Elke was his and not mine, so I smashed his little friend." He said in a low voice, startling the three women around him.

That was particularly true for Anneke, who was only suspicious about Lothur's involvement with the Alric incident. "Did you do that for just something like that?" She asked as she looked him in the eye.

"Just?" Lothur asked without feeling any remorse.

He was already fully adapted to the cultivation world, so using force to represent his will had already become normal for Lothur.

"If you want to know, he attacked me a few days before that situation. So, I returned every blow his group gave me that day." He added this comment since it made no sense now to hide information about this, even more so considering that he trusted these women around him.

"So he was the one who did that to you?" Viktoria asked as she remembered the day people took the beaten Lothur to her family's estate.

"Yes, he and his cronies attacked me. I think that must have happened after I kissed Elke. That fellow seemed to be in love with her..."

"Of course he was!" Anneke exclaimed. "He convinced his own family to engage with House Becker, so obviously, he wouldn't like to see you interacting with his future wife!"

"Is that so?" Lothur scratched his nose. "Well, Elke didn't know or want that. She preferred to be with me. So, like a man, I taught that fellow his place."

"Careless! Now you will have to face their wrath during the Province Conference!" Anneke shook her head in a disappointed manner at him.

But Lothur showed no regret. "I think they are the ones who should be careful. If they stand in my way, I won't hesitate to give them a real reason to make us enemies!"

Lothur did not like the idea of talking to enemies. To him, negotiations were meaningful, but only if both sides wanted the same thing.

When someone negotiated with another because they had no alternatives, that negotiation would already be a failure before it even happened. So, why negotiate with an enemy who secretly wishes your destruction?

He preferred total confrontation, with the stronger destroying the weaker side!

...