No more than two minutes after he started, Christian removed his hand from his sister's skin… the smile on his face already revealing the result.
And Annabelle, who seemed to have been holding her breath in fear that she didn't hold talent… not that something would happen to her, as that possibilities was not in her mind at all, finally breathed a sigh of relief. And then, with her big eyes, she stared at him eagerly.
Seemingly telling him to hurry up and tell her the result.
"Congratulations, Sis. You really have talent to start training in essence."
Christian was unable to continue giving her the good news, as Annabelle, unable to hold herself back any longer, couldn't help but jump on her brother and hug him.
She was that relieved. And Christian, feeling that, decided to return the hug. He wrapped an arm around her back while brushing her messy hair with the other.
It took more than a moment for Annabelle to gather herself and finally pull away in slight embarrassment, though happiness was still evident.
"So, have you finally calmed down?" Christian asked with a smile of his own, while looking at his sister's excited appearance.
He thought that maybe those who heard the good results of their final exams at school, would also react similarly. And he couldn't help but laugh too, in happiness, at her childish but still cute reactions.
"Y-yes," Annabelle replied, and Christian, waiting for her, finally started speaking again.
"So, to continue from where I stopped, you have an amazing talent…"
Christian suddenly took a pause to articulate his words, then said, "To make it more understandable for you, my test, which is a lot more precise than those used by ancient families and should be similar in accuracy to the one used at the Academy Olivia is in, has a result ranging from zero to ten."
"And your talent ranking is eight… so, it's amazing."
As he saw his sister's awkward reaction, which seemed happy, but not to the extent he expected, as she still didn't seem to understand how amazing her result really was, Christian couldn't help but shake his head.
"As for the power system that is most suitable for you…"
Christian, who intended to continue explaining things to her, suddenly took a pause as he caught Eva's appearance from the corner of his eye. She seemed to be quietly waiting for her turn as well.
He knew that this time, his explanation would take a while, as he had previously restricted Eva and his sister's access to information regarding essence techniques, in fear that they might not be able to hold themselves back and would start learning some technique on their own.
So, he would need to explain many things. And feeling like he couldn't make Eva wait that long, he apologized to his sister, telling her to wait until he finished Eva's test, then he would explain everything to both of them.
Before heading to Eva's side.
Looking at her smile, as she had already taken off her top but stayed silent while locking eyes with him, Christian didn't say anything either. He took a deep breath… and finally started.
'So, this is the reason the Ashvale family was unable to detect her talent,' Christian thought as he raised an eyebrow at the kind of reaction the essence had when it came into contact with Eva's body. Still, he continued undeterred.
As time went on, and Christian still had his hand on Eva while concentrating, Annabelle looked at the time and couldn't help but start wondering what went wrong.
… It already took more than double the time he had spent when testing her, after all.
'Nothing would go wrong, right?' She took in Eva's nervous appearance and couldn't help but think… as she too started feeling nervous.
The last thing she wanted was for something to go wrong at this point, after all.
No matter what disagreement or conflict had happened between them, she still didn't wish for anything bad to happen to her.
No matter what, Eva had already grown on her.
Time seemed to move even more slowly at that moment. And when Annabelle noticed the change in her brother's expression… the smile appearing on his face, she couldn't help but loosen her clenched hand.
… But it seemed that she was relieved too soon.
As, just after he smiled, he suddenly frowned, while also finally pulling his hand away from Eva's skin.
'What was the result?' she wanted to ask.
But, seeing how he stayed silent, and Eva, who was nervous, also seemed to want to take a moment to resolve herself, she didn't say anything.
After more than a few moments, when Eva finally exhaled slowly and signaled him with her gaze, Christian finally opened his mouth and said,
"There's good and bad news. Which one should I start with first?"
"The good news first," Eva instantly replied.
She had already had enough of bad things and wanted to hear something different. And Christian, respecting her wish, nodded and started speaking,
"…So, you have enormous talent. My current technique is unable to test how much it actually is."
"It's above rank ten, which is the current ceiling of my ability, by a huge extent."
Annabelle had a complex expression on her face when she heard what her brother said, and Eva smiled slightly in joy at that. But, knowing there was more to the situation… that there was probably a "BUT" coming after his statement, she restrained herself and said,
"Then, what about the bad news?"
Christian hesitated slightly this time, before finally sighing and speaking,
"But, there's some problem with you… more like your talent, whatever its nature is, has something wrong with it. And you… you probably wouldn't be able to train in essence techniques ."
Seeing Eva bite her lip, her expression downcast, he immediately followed,
"Don't worry, whatever the problem is, I'll solve it."
"... Thanks, and don't worry, I know," Eva said, giving a smile to her man, who had a troubled and worried expression on his face while trying to comfort her.
She closed her eyes and took a moment to gather her thoughts… and the room became silent.
Christian, who had many things to say to Eva, to comfort her… to raise her spirit back up, decided to give her the time she needed too, while also waiting.