The conversation in Marcus’s office had ended, but the rest of the estate remained occupied with its own quiet conversations.
Leon sat against his mother’s side in another room of the residence as he listened vaguely to Vera, Sofia and Elara.
Iris had already went to sleep in a nearby room as she was tired from playing all day. Roland had also returned from his surveying and stood near the window, gazing outside.
Leon’s attention had shifted to Kellan and Elara as they were preparing to go to their quarters.
Earlier, during the gift ceremony when he stood this close to them, he’d felt something. A fleeting brush against a sense he hadn’t known he had but it was gone before he could name it. He tried to remember the same feeling and turned it over in his mind ever since.
Elara noticed Leon’s absent minded gaze and smiled. "He’s watching me again."
Kellan also nodded as he glanced down at Leon. "He’s been watching us since the gift ceremony."
Vera gave a quiet laugh. "He does that with everyone, just observing around quietly."
Kellan crouched in front of Leon.
"Little one, now this is our last meeting as we’ll depart early tomorrow," he said. "What if I gift you something again? A small farewell blessing. What do you think, Vera?"
Kellan gazed towards Vera, asking for permission.
Vera thought about the offer for a moment. ’The pendant restricts searching his mind strength, it’ll be fine.’
"Kellan, it is a huge opportunity for Leon’s body to be cleansed by pure essence of elves, also directly from someone of your standing," Vera smiled as she accepted Kellan’s offer.
Kellan nodded and he started the blessing process.
A thin current gathered at his fingertips. It was faint enough that an ordinary child would barely notice it as it was not meant to be forceful.
The pure essence simply drifted in the air around his hand before he projected it gently into the Leon’s body.
Leon felt it immediately as his eyes widened.
The library’s books had never come close to this. It wasn’t information. It was a sense, like sight or sound and until this moment he was blind to it.
He tried to reach for it not with his hand but with the same feeling he felt earlier. The loose current bent toward him instead of fading.
The room had always been full of something. He had simply never been able to perceive it.
Essence.
It moved through the walls, the floors and the bodies around him. It was everywhere. He sensed that essence flowed through the surroundings like an invisible current.
Leon tried to perceive it more clearly. The loose essence changed direction as it bent towards him.
Kellan’s hand stopped in place.
At his side, Elara was shocked as she stared at Leon. "Kellan."
"I know."
Leon no longer heard them. He forgot everything around him and only focused on himself trying to perceive it more clearly.
The essence around him gathered faster as it was drawn inward by something he did not understand.
His breathing slowed as his body became still. The surroundings also grew denser with every passing moment.
The air blew loudly inside the room as the candles flickered.
At the side of the room, Roland, Vera and Sofia also felt that, and the pulse came.
It was not an explosion but a single wave of essence that burst from Leon and spread through the residence and went across the entire estate in an instant.
Everyone felt it as conversations stopped.
Outside servants paused without knowing why. Towards the guest wing, Dorren who was going towards this quarter stopped walking as he gazed towards the main residence. Bram also followed beside him, confused.
"Master?" Bram nearly walked straight into his back. Dorren didn’t answer him as he went back towards the main residence.
Inside the office, Marcus stopped mid sentence. The next moment, he was gone from his seat.
One moment he had been seated and the next, he appeared beside Vera.
His eyes went straight to Leon. "Leon."
A second later, Asher and Thomas also appeared behind him.
"What happened?" Asher asked, already staring at the child surrounded by gathering essence.
Thomas looked towards Leon as he was dumbfounded.
The four royal guards arrived almost immediately after them, moving into the room with their weapons half drawn as they had also felt the pulse from the corridor. They surrounded Asher and put on defensive stance.
But after a while they also stood in silence, looking at the same scene as everyone else.
Kellan had also gone completely still. At his side, Elara, stared at Leon as though she were witnessing something that should not have been possible.
"He’s resonating," Kellan said. His voice was quiet, but everyone heard him.
"No," he corrected himself a moment later. "He’s already breaking through."
The essence surrounding Leon grew denser. His small body trembled again as the room seemed to shrink around him as the current continued flowing inward.
Seeing this, Marcus stepped forward. Then he released his pressure, that struck almost everyone at once.
The entire room was buried beneath the weight of his essence. Except Vera, Sofia, Thomas and his kids everyone was caught under the pressure of his aura.
As soon as the aura descended, Kellan’s eyes narrowed as he quickly fought against the pressure, also securing Elara at his side.
Dorren, who had just arrived inside the room, widened his stance as he gritted his teeth. Behind him Bram who had followed him, fainted for the second time today.
But, Asher felt it most clearly of all. So did the royal guards. He felt Marcus’s power similar to his father’s but he couldn’t pinpoint it exactly.
None of them could measure Marcus’s actual strength. Their senses reached outward and found no clear boundary, no point at which they could say where his power ended.
They could only feel it. It was vast and heavy.
For the first time, the royal guards understood that whatever they had believed about Viscount Marcus Hayes had been incomplete.
Marcus held the pressure for only a few seconds before pulling it back. "Nobody moves," he commanded.
For a few moments, no one moved.
Beside Marcus, Leon remained completely still as his body was surrounded by the dense Essence. His breathing had slowed but the flow of essence didn’t stop. Instead, it had become steadier.
Kellan watched closely as his expression became more serious.
He had expected the blessing to cleanse Leon’s body and remove any impurities. He had not expected this.
The Essence gathering around Leon was no longer chaotic as it was slowly stabilizing. It was settling into Leon’s body as if it had always belonged there.