Chapter 82: The Devil Child Nurtured for Ten Years

Fleur left the residence she shared with Professor Healy. She had not, as she claimed, gone to attend to the affairs of the Clark family. In truth, most of the Clark family’s power now lay in her hands; even if she never set foot outside, there would always be someone to handle matters for her.

Professor Healy was now the strongest member of the Clark family, and everyone knew that the headmaster of Grim Academy, Rothman, was nearing the end of his days. Professor Healy had thus become the leading candidate for the next headmaster of Grim Academy. Accordingly, Fleur’s status had soared.

Professor Healy was devoted to the study of witchcraft and experimentation, but he cared little for power. Had it not been for his old weakness for women, Fleur believed he could have achieved even greater heights. After attaching herself to Professor Healy, Fleur quickly realized that mere beauty would not long hold his interest. So she diligently studied the relevant knowledge with him—not out of any unrealistic dreams of becoming a great sorceress, but to learn, as she assisted him, everything about the properties, prices, and acquisition channels of the materials used in his experiments.

Soon enough, Fleur established her own network of connections under Professor Healy’s name, becoming his capable helper. Professor Healy no longer needed to worry about these trifling matters, able to devote himself entirely to meditation, research, and experiment. Fleur always arranged everything flawlessly.

Within the Clark family, she naturally became Professor Healy’s spokesperson.

Fleur understood deeply that everything she had now was given by Healy Clark. Without Healy, she would be nothing. This, coupled with other secrets she harbored, filled her with insecurity.

She desperately wanted to grasp something that could give her lasting security, and Fleur believed that was power.

She began to infiltrate and win over other members of the Clark family. Whether at Grim Academy or within the family, Healy Clark held an exalted position, so Fleur, in managing his daily affairs, controlled vast resources. Over the years, through relentless alliances and maneuvering, she had nearly half the Clark family under her sway.

Not as Healy Clark’s, but truly as Fleur Orianna’s own. Blood ties could never be as reliable as a web of genuine interests.

But it was not enough, for Healy’s son, Peter Clark, vied with her for power. She needed new strength. Unwilling to spare resources, Fleur recruited many beautiful witch apprentices and young girls from ordinary families, secretly trained them with professional expertise, and quietly established a society.

The society was called "Hive." And Fleur was their Queen Bee. Now, throughout the capital, among the great nobles and some senior staff of Grim Academy, the industrious "worker bees" of Hive could be seen everywhere.

Hive’s hierarchy was strict: subordinates could not know the identities of their superiors. Fleur used this society to gather vital intelligence and learned many secrets of powerful people.

This information, of course, would be put to perfect use. Fleur firmly believed her diligent little bees would weave a vast web across the capital, and one day, she would be the uncrowned queen of this nation.

Because she now had something to rely on, Fleur’s attitude toward Healy Clark was no longer as submissive as before. Besides, the old man had genuinely angered her. She was at the peak of her vitality and energy; how could she bear a life of enforced chastity? Still, though she harbored resentment, she remained restrained—for now was not the time to break with him.

Fleur left Grim Academy, boarded the carriage she had arranged, and headed toward the inner city of Prondra. After passing through several streets, she arrived at her destination: the entrance to a small shop.

It was a shop selling candied chestnuts. The flavor was excellent and the reputation good, so there was often a queue of customers.

Fleur refused the coachman's offer to queue for her, walked quietly to join the line herself, and patiently waited until she bought a portion of candied chestnuts.

She hurried back into the carriage and told the coachman to speed up, for candied chestnuts tasted best when eaten hot.

This treat was for her son. Fleur had always felt guilty toward him and thus doted on him all the more. Her son’s name was Woody Stein.

Yes, he was the child she had with Stein years ago.

At that time, Fleur and Stein had already broken up, and she was Healy Clark’s lover. Then, one day, she discovered she was three months pregnant.

Fleur was alarmed. Her position then was far less secure than it was now. If Healy Clark learned of the pregnancy, she would surely face abandonment. She resolved to terminate the child.

Through certain channels, she bought a bottle of abortive potion and drank it with determination.

Upon secretly checking with alchemical equipment, she found the child still there.

Thinking she had been sold a fake, Fleur tried several other brands of abortive potions, drinking them one by one.

Strangely, the child persisted!

Fleur grew anxious, buying large quantities of abortive potions and taking one every day. She found the child was not expelled, but its growth seemed to be suppressed.

Still, Fleur dared not let her pregnancy drag on for months and risk exposure. Wizards had their own ways to discern bloodlines, and she was at a critical moment in her rise beside Professor Healy. She could not afford complications.

Thus began Fleur’s years-long, secret regimen of abortive potions, which lasted ten years. Because of her, the price of abortive potions on the market tripled in a decade.

At last, ten years later, Healy Clark had to leave for an important matter for a year. Fleur seized the opportunity to bear the child, entrusting him to her brother's family, naming him Woody Stein.

As for why he bore Stein’s surname—it was a tribute to her lost, pure, beautiful youth.

After birth, whether from spending too long in his mother’s womb or for some other reason, the child’s body stopped growing at the size of a five- or six-year-old. Worse, his mind seemed forever fixed at that age.

This left Fleur deeply remorseful. When she noticed her son’s promising talent for witchcraft, she taught him the Clark family’s secret meditation technique, “Spirit of the Storm.”

Approaching Woody’s residence, Fleur dismissed the coachman and carried the candied chestnuts to the gate.

Before she reached the door, she heard a childish voice: “It’s finally done—Delta Transformation!”

Boom! The roof ahead burst open, and Woody, as large as a young giant, poked his head through the hole.

He did not notice Fleur approaching, but laughed loudly, “Feel the storm!”

With Woody’s shout, endless winds swept through the courtyard, bricks and tiles flying everywhere. Fleur had to activate her protective field to shield herself and the candied chestnuts.

She whispered joyfully, “This surge of magic—has he reached Bronze Sorcerer?”