"Gulp."
The doctor sitting on the sofa gulped in fear as he stared straight ahead. Sitting opposite him was a woman—
A stunningly beautiful one at that. Her pure silver hair flowed freely down her back. Her sharp purple eyes were focused on the paper in her hand as she read silently. Dressed in a tailored suit, her pale, smooth skin glistened under the light. She looked no older than twenty.
Two women in black suits stood silently behind her.
"So what you're saying is that the kid who was being abused by his parents was only rescued because the neighbors noticed something odd and reported it, but the parents managed to escape, leaving the child behind. And the child after being rescued by the police, he was admitted to this hospital with injuries so severe that it would've taken over a year to recover. But just yesterday, he woke up fully healed, sitting upright when the nurse returned to check on him. And when you visited, you saw his golden, glowing eyes. But up until now, he was just a normal human with no signs of a God bloodline. Am I correct?" she said, summarizing the report in her hand.
"Yes," the doctor replied quickly. "And after that, I immediately contacted the Association to report it."
"I see," she said, putting the reports down and crossing one leg over the other.
The doctor continued, "And I didn't expect the Association president herself to come here to take him."
"Well of course I would. Do you know just how rare and special dormant bloodline possessors are—especially those who awaken their bloodline on their own, without any outside help? My father is one such example. Scorned and hated by every single member of our clan—until he awakened his bloodline on the verge of death, becoming the strongest descendant of the Silver Dragon… well, except for me, of course," she said proudly, her tone even more haughty on the last sentence.
"And there are only two others besides my father who have awakened their dormant bloodline like that, and both of them became the strongest of their respective Divine lineages," she added seriously.
"Now do you understand how important he is? Even if his bloodline isn't particularly powerful, just the fact that he awakened it on his own makes it likely that he'll become one of the strongest beings in the world."
"Yes, I understand!" he nodded his head rapidly, up and down.
"Good. Then show me where he is. We've already wasted quite a bit of time talking." She stood up.
"Okay," the doctor replied, standing quickly.
As she walked, she thought to herself, 'An eight-year-old who's been through extreme abuse at the hands of his parents… and yet managed to awaken his dormant bloodline? Maybe I should adopt him. He's still young. Making him loyal to the Association—and especially to me—wouldn't be too hard.'
She nodded to herself, approving of her own idea, and followed the doctor as he led the way.
They finally reached the child's room. Without waiting, she stepped ahead and entered.
Inside, she saw a child sitting upright on the bed, eating food while a nurse stood nearby watching over him.
The nurse immediately recognized her and quickly gave a slight bow.
Sylveraine acknowledged it with a nod before walking toward the child, who sat there staring at her without blinking.
'Huh. Is he mesmerized by my beauty?' she thought, amused.
And she was right, though not in the way she assumed.
'Amazing,' the child thought, his golden eyes studying her closely. Even though he hadn't activated his bloodline power yet, he could already tell—her body was extraordinary. The next second, his power activated on instinct.
Runes appeared in his irises, rotating slowly and glowing gold.
She flinched slightly at the sudden change in his eyes but calmed the moment she realized what had happened.
'So his bloodline is related to his eyes. Not bad,' she thought, quite pleased.
While she was lost in her thoughts, so was the child.
'Perfect,' he thought. Just one word echoed in his mind as he examined her. 'Perfect.' Every muscle, every fiber, every bone—everything was aligned flawlessly. It was a masterpiece of a body.
He stared at her for five full minutes, scanning from head to toe, before he was interrupted.
"Okay, now that you've had enough of a look, let me introduce myself," she said, drawing him out of his daze.
'He's cute,' she thought as she saw him flinch and his glowing eyes return to normal.
"I am Sylveraine Dreklara, president of the Association and a descendant of the Silver Dragon clan," she said, introducing herself.
"Umm," he nodded slowly.
"And what about you? What's your name?" Sylveraine asked.
"Me?" he pointed to himself.
"Yes, you," she said, smiling gently and using a soft, soothing tone.
"I… I—" he stuttered, memories surfacing—memories filled with screams, pain, and hate. Only one word echoed clearly from those days.
"Bastard," he finally said. "That's what they used to call me."
For a moment, the entire room fell into silence.
Everyone there slowly understood who "they" were. And in that moment, all of them thought the same thing, 'Were those monsters really his parents?'
"Haaa…" Sylveraine exhaled deeply before speaking again.
"How about I give you a cool name instead?" she said with a soft smile.
"Okay," the child replied without hesitation.
"Hmm… how about Zaephiel Dreklara? It means 'Heaven's Chosen Artisan,'" she said, explaining the name.
"How is it?" Sylveraine asked.
"Zaephiel Dreklara," he repeated slowly. "It's good. Very good," he answered in his small, childish voice.
"I'm happy you like it," she said warmly.
"But…" Zaephiel paused, tilting his head. "Why do I have the same last name as you?" he asked.
"Oh, that's because I'm going to adopt you," she said without hesitation—her mind already made up.