Chapter 8: The Power Struggle

Lumi slowly walked upstairs, her head still lowered. Once she reached her room, she quietly closed the door behind her and stood there for a moment before walking toward the mirror.

Her straight hair fell neatly over her shoulders, while the small beauty mark beneath her right eye sat exactly where it always had.

Turning around, she looked at her plain room. There was not much inside, a single bed, a two-door wardrobe, and a small vanity table. Nothing special, nothing expensive, but this had been her room for as long as she could remember.

She had lived like this for nineteen years.

But did she really have to continue living like this forever?

With a blank mind, she pulled open the drawer of her vanity table and took out a pair of scissors.

Lumi stood in front of the mirror again, looking at her reflection for a few moments. Her fingers slowly gathered a section of her straight hair, holding it just below her ear.

She hesitated but without giving herself any more time to think, she closed her eyes for a second and raised the scissors before cutting.

A long strand of hair fell onto the floor.

Lumi stared at it quietly before cutting another section. Soon, the long hair that had always reached past her shoulders was gone, leaving it just below her earlobes.

She lowered the scissors and looked at herself in the mirror.

It was still her face. The same eyes, the same small beauty mark beneath her right eye, the same plain expression she had always worn.

But there was something even her mother had forgotten... A birthmark right beneath her right ear.

A small smile appeared on Lumi’s lips as she touched the spot lightly. She was almost sure that Evan Caesar had noticed it when he checked her neck earlier. The birthmark was shaped slightly like a diamond, and it was not small enough to be easily overlooked.

"Let’s see..." Lumi brushed her newly cut hair aside and pressed her lips tightly together, trying hard to hold back the emotions that were threatening to spill out.

She looked at her reflection again, then slowly touched the birthmark beneath her right ear.

"I hope that crazy Sentinel is smart enough... I need to get out of this hell..."

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Meanwhile, Evan strode toward the headquarters, his long legs carrying him through the busy corridors without slowing down.

Darian followed beside him, glancing at Evan from time to time. He had been unusually quiet ever since they left the Pei residence, which usually meant he was thinking about something.

And considering what had happened last night, Darian had a pretty good idea what was on his mind.

"Young Master, do you really plan to tell them?" he asked.

"Can you stop calling me Young Master?" Evan glanced at him for only a second before continuing into the elevator.

"What do you mean?" Darian gritted his teeth and leaned closer to Evan’s ear. "We are at Headquarters. I should address you formally."

Evan pressed the button for the upper floors. "Then call me Evan."

Darian stared at him for a moment before sighing. "Right. Evan. The Evan who happens to be the youngest head of the Caesar family and the strongest Sentinel in the Empire."

Evan gave him a sideways glance.

Darian immediately cleared his throat. "I’ll stick with Young Master."

The elevator doors closed, cutting off the noise from the main corridor.

For a few moments, neither of them spoke.

Last night’s incident had already caused enough trouble for the Caesar family. An S-rank Anomaly had appeared in the middle of a civilian district, and Evan had entered the suppression zone before the rest of the reinforcement team arrived.

That alone was enough for the Sentinel Committee to question his actions.

What they conveniently left out was that Evan had already requested immediate backup the moment the Anomaly’s rank was confirmed.

The problem was that the Anomaly had not stayed where it was supposed to.

Its energy had suddenly spiked, breaking through the first containment line and sending several buildings into an unstable state. The evacuation was still incomplete, and the nearest reinforcement team was still several minutes away.

Waiting was no longer an option.

If Evan had stayed behind until the backup arrived, the number of casualties could have been much higher.

So he went in first.

And because Evan Caesar was the strongest Sentinel in the Empire, everyone knew he had the ability to do it.

Unfortunately, that was also the problem.

The other two major Sentinel families had never been particularly comfortable with the Caesar family holding the strongest position within the Empire. For years, the three families had maintained a fragile balance of power, with the Caesar family sitting firmly at the top because of Evan’s existence.

An incident like last night gave them exactly what they needed.

They could question his judgment.

They could accuse him of ignoring Headquarters’ command structure.

And, more importantly, they could use it to remind the Committee that even the strongest Sentinel should not be allowed to act without restrictions.

Darian glanced at Evan again. "They’re going to make a big deal out of it."

"They always do." Evan’s expression remained calm as the numbers above the elevator continued to rise.

"You know that they will say you broke the protocol, right?" Darian leaned against the elevator’s wall while still glancing at Evan.

"I know." He answered short.

"And you still went in first?" Darian sighed in frustration.

"The monster suddenly broke through the first containment line, and its energy had begun spreading toward the surrounding buildings. The evacuation was still incomplete, and I called for backup for the second time. They said they were on the way..."

Evan turned his head, finally giving Darian a proper explanation. His expression remained calm, but there was a faint coldness in his eyes.

"And you know what that means, right?"

"They purposely delayed the backup?" Darian guessed.

Evan nodded.

"Yesterday morning, my doctor told me someone had accessed my Sentinel energy records without authorization." His fingers curled slightly at his side. "Someone had been looking into the instability of my energy core."

Darian’s expression changed.

Evan continued, "And I believe they wanted to test how far the imbalance in my Sentinel energy could be pushed before I lost control."