Novel's Extra: I Awakened The Strongest Physique From The Start

"Regrettably, my lady, we were unable to apprehend them."

The head butler of the mansion spoke, his head bowed and his fists clenched; it was clear that he wasn't satisfied with his performance as well, but what could he do? 

Neither he nor the head maid knew which direction Lucious, the archbishop, had run off to.

"Very well, you are dismissed."

As both of them—the head butler and maid—waited for their owner, their lord, to reply, they heard those cold words, as if unbothered by anything happening.

They, however, knew better to believe things as they seemed to be.

Both of them knew that it was just the way Vannesa, the grand duke of the Drakathor empire, was.

So with a nod, they left the room, leaving their master with her traumatized son and student—they were at the point of such a strong attack after all.

They had seen Alex Drakathor, their one and only young master, trembling in fright, unable to recover from the shock, even after he was saved by his mother.

They couldn't blame him though; they knew that it was a bit too much for a child like him.

*Creak**Thud*

The butler closed the door, his eyes catching the sight of Alex, who, unlike a second ago, didn't seem to be trembling; he was grinning instead.

He frowned his brow in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

The head maid, who saw his expression morphing into confusion, questioned him from the side, causing the guy to shake his head.

"Nothing," he muttered, not sure if he saw it correctly.

'I must be imagining things.'

With that thought, he left the place, moving toward the room where all the dead children, including his son, were kept.

The head maid, who saw this, followed behind him as well; she too had lost her daughter, and no matter how much she grieved or raged about it, she knew he wouldn't come back, but was there anything else she could do?

"Did you rescue one child from the crowd, Mother?"

Alex, on the other hand, unaware of the fact that he was almost caught by the butler, questioned Vannesa.

He had been trying to act terrified, as he didn't want to be seen as a guy with very strong willpower for now.

Right now, he wanted to appear as weak as he could, only to reveal his power when he was strong enough to defend himself against some people.

The awakening artifact was broken by one of Lucious's first attacks, so it was impossible for anyone to know what had happened and what kind of talent he had—exactly what Alex wanted.

If he were to play strong and not appear weak, though, then people would grow curious about his abilities.

How did a child of 16 years not get horrified by that incident? There must be something special about him.

This is what anyone would think, which would lead to them further investigating this case, and although they won't be able to get anything, one could never be sure.

"Yes."

Vannesa, who heard Alex's question, replied with a nod.

"What are your intentions for the one child you wished for me to save?"

Then she asked Alex for his plans for the girl she had saved a while ago.

Alex, however, just smiled at her question, not replying to her but questioning back.

"Where have you kept the one you saved?"

His mysterious behavior did cause Vannesa to frown for a moment, but in the end, she answered.

"She is placed with the other dead children, breathing but unconscious."

"I see, I see..."

Alex nodded his head, stroking his chin thoughtfully as he thought of what could be the best approach right now.

He had asked for Vannesa to save one child, but he never said where to take her, so Vannesa did what she thought was best, and honestly, even Alex thought that this was the best solution.

If they were to take the child away from her or let everyone know that she was saved by Vannesa, then people would start questioning.

'If she could save one, then why not all?'

This type of question will be asked the most.

But if she were to just make it seem like she never had a hand in the girl's life getting saved, then none of that would happen.

The girl was too weak to even notice that her body was frozen by Vannesa's ice, so there was no such thing as the girl revealing that she was saved by Vannesa.

"We will be killing her soon."

He finally replied to Vannesa's question, looking deep into her eyes, and although her expression remained the same, he knew that she wanted to know why he wanted to do it, as that would make things harder for them.

"She has no more use to us than working as a distraction; her death would mean that Lucious is still around, making people tense and have their minds focused on finding him."

Alex added with a smile as if he wasn't talking about something as big as killing an innocent girl for nothing, answering Vannesa's unasked question.

And yes, Alex wanted to kill that girl.

Why?

Because she saw everything that had happened in the hall.

She saw Lucious's wrist being chopped off, she saw the guy kneeling in front of Vannesa, and she also saw Vannesa saying something to him before everything went blank for her.

She wouldn't be able to tell what had happened on her own, but once she became aware of the things that played out, she might be able to connect the dots—a risk Alex didn't want to take.

"...why?"

Just then, a voice as low as a whisper was heard, causing both Alex and Vannesa to turn to look at Mira, who had been silent since the moment she was picked up by Vannesa, or more like she never spoke anything.

Her facial expression didn't change—they were still lifeless as if she were a robot that was unable to feel any emotion, but her lips were parted, quivering a bit as they were used for the first time ever.

Alex and Vannesa, on the other hand, had frowns on their heads, both for different reasons.

But soon they shook their heads, and Alex raised a brow at Mira.

"Could I have more context, please?"

Vannesa, who heard Alex's voice, also had her frown loosened, her eyes, however, kept scrutinizing Mira, observing her body closely, looking at things way differently than Alex or Mira could see.

"W-Why would the attention shift toward L-Lucious?"

Her voice was cracked as if she were having a really hard time speaking, but she didn't stop as she was doing it for the first time, and she wanted to keep going.

Talking somehow felt good to her.

Mira's large blue eyes locked on Alex as a single thought flashed through her mind.

'I like him.'

She didn't know what those words meant, nor did she know how one felt when one liked someone, but those words would flash past her mind the moment she looked at him.

All she could tell was that it was because of her desire to speak with Alex that she even let out those words.

What was happening? And what would this development lead to? Only time will tell.