'What the hell just happened?' Michael asked himself, still confused about the sudden proposal.
He was fortunate that Giuliana Seraph received a call before she could put more pressure on Michael, but that didn't change the fact that the matriarch of the Seraph family was hoping to engage Maria with him.
"Finally she left," Alice cursed quietly under her breath as the matriarch of the Seraph family left in a hurry.
Alice didn't look that well after listening to Giuliana Seraph's sudden proposal. She glanced in Michael's direction but was at a loss of words for a while.
"Will you consider marrying Maria? Her family is one of the wealthiest families and they're connected to almost all members of High Society," She asked Michael.
Michael was still quite shocked, but he shook his head, "I'm currently too busy to even think about committing to a relationship."
"At least, that's what I want to say. The bitter truth, however, is that even if I find someone I like romantically…it will be a mess," He mumbled. "The moment I commit to a relationship, the person I love would be frowned upon. Everyone would think she's an opportunist, or that she's a vixen for making me fall in love with her after my power's were exposed. One way or another, some households of High Society might attempt to approach my lover and manipulate her into becoming their tool to approach or harm me."
"I don't want to put anyone in danger, and even if the other party doesn't care about that…how can I be certain that they didn't approach me with an ulterior move?" Michael asked, sighing deeply.
He knew that he could use Mind Reader to read the mind of his lover whenever he wanted, but if he started doubting his lover…how was he supposed to create a firm bond of trust and dependence with someone?
Alice understood what Michael meant, but her heart ached to see Michael like that. Until a year ago, Michael had been an ordinary person. He wasn't part of High Society and nobody really cared about him. In fact, he was treated like a pushover by some children of small, and mid-sized families.
One year was all it took to change Michael's life drastically. He evolved into a bigshot who was strong enough to deal with Descendants several years older than him, and he attracted the attention of the High Society, in its entirety. Even the Tritan Alliance was interested in him and his power.
"Are you fine?" Michael asked Alice. She had been staring at him for quite a while, her expression filled with sadness. Her anger and confusion about Giuliana's proposal to Michael were washed away, sadness replacing her hate and helplessness.
She hated being part of the High Society since the family heads and elders could decide their future. They could order them to marry some other Descendant merely for the sake of strengthening the families' bonds. Alice was only fortunate that their families didn't find her a suitable groom yet. That was also why she was desperate to grow stronger. She had a 6-Star Soultrait and was already a Tier-5 Lord. Her parents wouldn't want her to marry someone weaker, someone with less potential. Her father wanted to create the strongest generation of the Zenovia family using her and strengthen their bloodline.
Thus, her father was in search of a bigshot with exceptional talent to marry her to. On the contrary, Alice was trying to advance to Tier-6 and grow beyond the control and dominance he exerted on the entire family. Now that she thought about it, Michael was much unluckier. He had no family to protect him. He was alone, yet, everyone wanted to make use of him.
"I'm…fine…" Alice responded to Michael after a while.
Michael observed her and felt a pang of guilt.
"I'm sorry."
"Huh? What? Why?" Alice was pulled out of her train of thought and stared at Michael.
"Well, you were injured because of me. And…" Michael started to explain, only for Alice to raise her hand, "What nonsense are you talking about? Sustaining injuries is normal. It's not the first time that I was injured, and it won't be the last time either. Why would you be sorry about that?"
She cleared her throat and some color returned to her face as she added, "If you're sorry, treat me to a meal, or something like that!"
Michael's stomach growled at that moment. It looked like his stomach agreed.
"Let's get something to eat then. I'm starving."
Alice and Michael went to a nearby restaurant and ordered a mountain of dishes. They heard some gossip about the recent events, including rumors about Michael's power, his relationship with other Descendants, and the attack of the four Lords. Apparently, Beast, Veronica, and the other Lord had been imprisoned, and their War Runes had been crushed into thousands of pieces to make an example.
"You're quite popular, aren't you?" Alice teased Michael, who could only shrug.
"Did they really break their War Rune?" Michael asked instead.
"I'm not too sure, but I don't think so. Punishing Lords of esteemed families usually takes a while. All I know is that I won't receive any punishment for killing James Walton and that the others have been put into jail, their energy veins severed. If they want to demonstrate what happens to anyone who tries to kidnap you, they'll break their War Runes publicly. If they want to divert everyone's attention from the kidnapping effort they will think of something else to do so," Alice responded.
"Maybe, I should message Kraft Viton and tell him to change the date of the Soultrait auction. Pulling everyone's attention to the Soultrait auction should do the trick."
"You decided to partner with the Bartholomew Corporation?" Alice inquired while playing with her fork, seemingly uninterested in the dishes.
Michael continued to devour the dishes around him like the Glutton he was.
"I did. They're not affiliated with anyone, so I'll have an easier time."
"How many Soultraits are you going to sell to the Bartholomew Corporation? Are you considering selling Soultraits privately as well?" Alice inquired all of a sudden.
"I gave Kraft Viton six Soultraits, two for each race. It's just an appetizer though. All Soultriats in my possession are 1-Star. Whoever manages to buy the Soultraits will have to come to me and ask for my help to upgrade them. As for private sales, I'm not sure. I was planning to use some Soultraits to get hold of some Adventurers. I should be able to lure a few dozen Adventurers into my group. All I'm missing are loyal and hard-working Adventurers and a bunch of Teleportation Tokens."
"So it's like that. That means you'll probably accept Zeron Polik and everyone else who wants to join your territory, right?" Alice asked.
"I like Zeron Polik, so…yeah, why not? Everyone will have to sign a Soul Pact and undergo a long interrogation under the scrutiny of Mind Reader, but that shouldn't be much of an issue."
"Can I buy a Soultrait as well? Not as part of the Zenovia family, but as Alice, a perfectly ordinary Awakened…"
'Hmm?' Michael peeked at Alice. He had a hard time keeping his mouth shut and not blurting out the thoughts that flashed through his mind.
Was she planning to slowly detach herself from the Zenovia family? Michael had no idea.
"Eh…sure. I owe you a lot. It's only fair for me to repay you. What Soultrait are you looking for?"
Alice smiled at Michael and rocked her head.
"Not now. I just wanted to ask if I'm allowed to buy a Soultrait from you."
That was weird, but Michael merely shrugged and switched his attention to the food in front of him.
They continued to enjoy their meal – at least, Michael did. He completed more than 15 plates overflowing with savory dishes in the next 20 minutes, yet his stomach was still empty. His body was in dire need of more nutrition and energy, therefore, he placed a few more orders. He only ordered an additional 30 plates stuffed with delicious food or so. It was not that much.
Alice eyed Michael as he evolved into the incarnation of Glutton with a smile. Sometimes she couldn't believe that Michael had become a bigshot. However, the hushed murmurs reaching her ears through all corners of the restaurant clarified that Michael's existence was much more impactful than most people wanted to acknowledge.
"Did you hear that the Park and Walton family made an official statement? They apologized publicly about the actions of their members, and hope that Michael Fang can forgive them for not raising their future generation Lords properly." One of the voices said.
"I heard something similar. James Walton, Veronica Park, and the two other Lords went out of control. Their families abandoned them, saying that they have nothing to do with Michael's kidnapping." A second voice revealed.
"Apparently, all four families have issues with their territories in the Origin Expanse and the businesses outside the Origin Expanse are slowing down as well. It looks like these poor Lords tried to alter their family's fate by kidnapping Michael. Unfortunately, it made everything worse. Poor idiots."
Michael raised his head from the plate in front of him and looked at Alice. She'd heard the three Berserkers' gossip as well.
"That's nonsense. Don't listen to them. Nobody can tell me that the Elders and Patriarchs didn't know anything about the kidnapping attempt," Alice grumbled, "The Investigator will find out the truth soon enough."
Michael didn't respond to anything. He returned to his meal and completed the last batch of dishes in the next 20 minutes. Once he was done eating, Michael paid for the meal and they departed the restaurant.
Only a few hours later the result of the Investigator's investigation was revealed. The three Lords couldn't remember anything. Their memories of the last 48 hours had been wiped out.
Weird.
