CHAPTER 123 — THE DISCREPANCY
No one spoke immediately after Old Man Shen's words.
Not because there was nothing to say.
But because everyone in the room understood something had already been said.
The Marquis did not answer.
He simply watched.
For a brief moment, his fingers stopped tapping against the arm of his throne, the faint rhythm that had been present since the beginning of the meeting coming to a halt.
Across the table, Celine's brows drew together slightly.
"The boy?" she repeated, quieter this time. "You called all of us… for a child?"
There was no mockery in her voice.
Only confusion.
Marvin exhaled through his nose, the toothpick shifting slightly as his gaze flicked toward the Marquis.
"If this is about lineage, you could have handled it without us," he said. "Unless he belongs to someone we're meant to care about."
The man adorned in gold chuckled under his breath, a low, rolling sound.
"Or someone we're meant to profit from."
No one acknowledged him.
The armored figure remained still.
The twins did not move.
Only Old Man Shen continued to look forward, his veiled eyes fixed on the Marquis as if waiting for something that had not yet been spoken.
The Marquis leaned forward slightly.
Not enough to signal urgency.
Just enough to shift the weight of the room.
"He has no lineage," he said.
That alone was enough to fracture the atmosphere.
Celine's expression sharpened.
Marvin's smile faded.
Even the man in gold stopped moving.
No lineage? Celine repeated. "That's not possible.
It is,the Marquis replied calmly. "Because he does not belong to any of ours.
Silence followed.He let it settle.
Let them process it.
Marvin was the first to lean back, eyes narrowing slightly.
"An outsider?" he said. From another domain?
The Marquis did not answer immediately.
Instead, his gaze drifted, not to the ones speaking, but to the one who hadn't.
Old Man Shen.
Tell them what you saw.
The old man did not move for a moment.
Then his fingers shifted slightly against the table.
When he entered the estate, Shen said slowly, his voice thin but steady, "the barrier did not reject him.
A pause.
"It hesitated."
That was worse.
Celine straightened.
The barrier doesn't hesitate," she said. It either accepts or it erases.
Correct, Shen replied.
"Then what are you saying?" Marvin asked, his tone losing its earlier ease.
Shen's head tilted slightly, as though considering the question.
"I am saying, he said, "that it did both.
No one spoke
The words did not make sense.
Which meant they mattered.
The man in gold leaned forward now, interest overtaking his earlier indifference.
"That's not how constructs work, he muttered. A system doesn't contradict itself unless something forces it to.
Or confuses it, Celine added.
The armored figure finally spoke, his voice low, sharp.
"Then the boy is either broken… or the system is.
The Marquis' lips curved faintly...Neither.
That drew their attention back to him.
He is functioning, the Marquis continued. And the system remains intact.
His gaze sharpened, just slightly.
Which leaves only one possibility.
No one interrupted.
Even Marvin remained silent now.
The room had shifted beyond speculation.
His existence, the Marquis said, does not register as a single answer.
The words settled heavily.
Across the table, one of the twins finally moved.
The woman.
Her voice was soft when she spoke.
"Then what does it register as?"
The Marquis' fingers resumed their slow, deliberate tapping.
Multiple.
That word did not land...it pressed.
The man in gold frowned.
That's not possible. A signature is singular. That's the foundation of
It is, the Marquis interrupted calmly.
Another pause.
Which is why this is a problem.
Celine's gaze hardened.
Or an opportunity.
Marvin let out a quiet breath, something sharper now behind his eyes.
"If what you're implying is true," he said, "then he's not just an outsider."
He leaned forward slightly.
"He's something the world hasn't decided on yet."
The room went still again.
That phrasing…felt closer.too close.
The armored figure's hand shifted slightly toward the blade at his side.
"Then he should be removed before it does."
A simple solution.A dangerous one.
The Marquis did not react.Instead, his gaze moved once more to Old Man Shen.
"And if it's too late?" he asked.
Shen's veiled eyes did not blink.
It already is.
Silence followed.Deep.Unmoving.
Then, for the first time since the meeting began, the Marquis' expression changed.
Not into concern.
Not into fear,Into interest.
"Good," he said softly.
That single word unsettled more than any warning could have.
Celine's eyes narrowed.
"You're not considering containment."
It wasn't a question.
The Marquis leaned back once more, the faint rhythm of his fingers continuing.
"No," he said.
A pause,then.."We're going to cultivate him."
That broke it.
Even the armored figure shifted.
That's reckless.
"That's control, the Marquis corrected.
Marvin's smile returned, slower this time.
"You're planning to align him to this world."
"Not align," the Marquis said.
Anchor.
The word lingered heavily
Across the table, Old Man Shen lowered his gaze slightly, as if the conclusion had already been reached long before this meeting began.
And if he cannot be anchored?" Celine asked.
The Marquis did not hesitate.
"Then we learn what happens," he said.
A pause.
"And we decide if it's worth surviving."
That was the first moment the room felt something close to unease.
Not from the unknown.But from the man leading them into it.
No one spoke after that.Because the truth had already settled.
This was no longer about a boy.It was about a variable.
And variables…changed everything.