Suddenly, Mera sat up from the bed, went into the bathroom, and called out, "I'm going to take a bath first."

Right after Mera spoke, Kain heard the sound of water gushing into the tub, along with the sound of Mera taking off her clothes.

"If Mr. Wilfred knew, he'd risk his life to fight me." Kain sighed, a self-deprecating laugh in his heart. It was true. Even though they had confirmed their feelings for each other, Mera was too comfortable around him, though he had no problem with it. In fact, he quite "liked" it.

To say Kain had no desires would be a lie, but the feeling that made his heart beat faster was that someone was willing to completely open the door to her heart without him needing to use a sharp scalpel to cut a hole. And he wanted to protect that feeling.

He could do it to others, but not to Mera. And others would absolutely not be able to, even those on his level.

Thinking about this, Kain's expression sharpened. He sat by the bed, thinking about the difficult battlefield ahead and about Faith - the person he thought he wouldn't confront for a long time, but whom he was now meeting again so soon.

Before, Faith had the advantage of making the first move, but Kain had used that to make an even earlier move himself, leading to Faith's defeat in the final steps. Now, they were both at the same starting point, but Kain wasn't letting that make him relax.

Because through the academy tournament, they had already grasped each other's mindset, this would still be an incredibly difficult battle. And that's not even considering the other factors that would surely not be foolish.

At the same time, a certain doubt lingered in Kain's mind.

"Kain, could you get me some fresh clothes? They're in the closet." Mera's voice interrupted Kain's train of thought.

"Coming right up." Kain called back, then went to open the closet. Sure enough, there was a closet full of clothes for guests. Based on the material and style, each outfit was nice enough to be in a high-end fashion store in the outer city, yet here they were stacked up, just for overnight guests.

"Tsk, the nobility really is extravagant." The first nobles Kain had ever met were Mera's family. Although they were nobles, they were a newer generation of nobility that had been semi-institutionalized. They were called nobles, but in reality, they were government officials.

This, however, was true nobility.

Kain chose the nightgown that looked the most comfortable, then "discreetly" entered the bathroom that Mera hadn't even locked.

Mera was comfortably soaking in a large bathtub, her hair tied up high. Her entire body was submerged in the water, with only her neck and head visible. Nevertheless, her hazy figure combined with her fair neck made Kain unconsciously swallow.

And Mera, how could she miss such an interesting moment?

"Oh, my, Kain, your face is a little red. Is it because it's... a little too hot in here?"

As she said this, Mera slightly raised her body, revealing her shoulders and collarbone, as if to provoke Kain. Although her own heart was pounding, after all, this was too "flirtatious!" She had never even let another person of the opposite sex touch her before. But she couldn't resist teasing him to get him to show his true feelings.

Although Kain did show his true feelings when he was with her, for the most part, he maintained a cold, expressionless face, where his mind was working and absolutely in control of the situation.

Mera had once asked if the world in Kain's eyes - a world of logic, reason, and orderly gears, was cold. He said it was, but he still had to stay there because that was who he was.

But Mera just wanted him to know that even so, he was still human, the human she loved.

And just as she predicted, or perhaps reluctantly predicted, Kain suddenly became serious, then let out a sound like a bull, stripped off his clothes, and jumped into the bathtub with Mera.

Of course, this was just playful fun. Kain understood Mera's intention, and he also wanted to relax his mind a bit.

...

The next day, Kain and Mera were personally led by the butler to meet the "master." They entered a large, luxurious drawing room. Sitting in the center of the room was a beautiful young woman with white hair as pristine as the feathers of a rare bird. Her emerald green pupils glanced toward the two guests, especially at Kain, directly facing his golden pupils.

If this young woman was a noble full of grace and elegance, from her aura to her demeanor, then Kain was like a hidden hunter, despite his appearance being more noble than a noble himself.

"Young man Kain and young lady Mera, this is Miss Jamie, the mistress of this place, and also the sponsor of the transaction."

After the butler's introduction, Kain and Jamie stopped their staring contest.

"I had someone investigate you, Kain, and I must say it's more impressive than I expected," Jamie said politely. Although she sounded friendly, her expression was completely blank.

Of course, when a noble wants to hire someone, they naturally have to check the background of the person being hired. And that was what shocked Jamie.

According to the information, Kain was just a person from an unidentified small village who joined the entrance exam in Whesling and got into Kanzax Academy. Not only that, he then led a team to win the championship in the first-year student competition. An extremely impressive achievement.

But after all, information from others is only one-sided. Jamie thought Kain's victory was largely based on his power and magical talent. Intellect was not listed among them. And the fact that he exposed her game in the very first minute was why Jamie now felt his terrifying presence.

Yes, Jamie was the one who had designed these two-tiered talent-recruitment challenges. The first challenge wasn't that special, though it was still difficult. But for the second challenge, Jamie herself admitted that if she hadn't been the one to create the rules, she might have fallen into the trap herself.

That's why she was looking for people who could overcome them, and Kain had appeared.

"No need for pleasantries, I want to know what my objective is. And what I need to do," Kain said coldly. Jamie gave a slight nod, agreeing with his point. Clearly, neither of them wanted to waste words.

"The game you will participate in is the resource distribution game in Adia, among the nobility. And our opponents are other noble families."

"Read this contract, and if you agree, you can stamp it."

With that, Jamie pushed a contract toward Kain. He picked it up to read, and Mera, sitting next to him, also leaned over to look.

The contract was straightforward: it essentially asked for his full assistance to the family, along with a bonus of over two million Cents.

Two million Cents, an amount of money that would drive many people insane. It was worth noting that the long-term cooperation contract between him and Wilfred previously was only in the tens of thousands of Cents and was calculated annually. But here, the amount was a hundred times that.

Even among nobles, the gap was vast.

Mera's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the two million Cents. Even though she didn't care much for money, she had never seen such a large sum in her life. Her jaw dropped in astonishment, which was completely understandable.

Jamie watched closely. Seeing Mera's reaction, she was slightly pleased. This was the expression she wanted. Only when a hired hand was interested in the reward would they work their hardest. That's why when it came to spending money, nobles in general, and Jamie in particular, were never stingy. Being stingy at the wrong time and place would only lead to the destruction of their own interests.

But when she observed Kain, she slightly frowned.

He showed no reaction at all. No interest, not even a hint of evaluation, just a mirror reflecting the contract.

This kind of person was the most difficult to pin down. And nobles disliked anything that was beyond their control.

After a moment, Kain placed the contract back on the table, and Jamie spoke up.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Kain? You don't seem very satisfied."