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Thank you ‘GeoJersey’ for the magic castle! It is the first super gift I ever received and it will always have a special place in my heart. Thank you again for the massive support you have shown; it means a lot to me. Stay tuned!

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His authoritative voice echoed through the empty hall. But the response- was dead silence.

A minute later, people clad in extravagant attires streamed in through the grand entrance. Ladies and gents looked up at the royals who were watching over the entire chamber, slightly bowed before carefully picking a seat.

They had to think at least twice before selecting a seat because that would state their support towards a candidate. Those who sat on the left segment would be supporting the Crown prince Reynolds while those on the right would side with the third princess- Evelyn Greatwoods. The ones sitting at the centre would be neutral.

The empty hall was becoming livelier and livelier every minute. Everyone on the top floor were nonchalant of their arrivals- except the candidate princess. She would mentally count everyone sitting on the left and those on the right every single minute. She would occasionally bit her lips while her legs kept voluntarily trembling.

Her mother on her right was indifferent of her actions. And Adrian on her left only smiled for a moment.

Fifteen minutes passed by and almost half of the round tables were occupied. But the long magnificent dining tables were empty as before.

“The representatives of the Royal Academy of Nemphis have arrives.” A loud, sound property infused, declaration silenced the not-so-rowdy atmosphere. Everyone present looked at the entrance.

The Royal family ruled above all. But below them, two exceedingly powerful parties held their spot. And one of them- was the Academy. An organisation that had connections to almost every powerful houses of the kingdom and beyond.

After all, a majority of the family heads were alumni of the institution. Everyone in the hall, be it the ones on the prince’s side, the princess’s faction or the neutral party, looked at the newcomers with utmost respect.

Five persons stepped in and one of them seemed to be a uniformed student. Principal Rastia Bell was leading the representatives. Just a step behind her was the new vice principal of the Academy- Braveheart. He was promoted five months ago, just after the Hunt. Beside him was old lady- Dean Gistre, the head of the department of magic circle research. And behind them was Abegail. Right beside her was the only student- Isabella.

Rastia suddenly stopped, prompting everyone to stop in their own tracks, and turned around. She gave Isabella a nod. Isabella nodded back and headed for the stairs. Rastia again went on her own route, towards her destination- the long table at the centre.

Isabella ran up the stairs, not giving a damn to the fact that she was in a royal palace, and rushed to Adrian. She silently stood behind him, not uttering a single word. Adrian turned back to her and gave a smile. Isabella smiled back. He looked back to the hall.

The higher ups of the Academy sat together on the large dining table at the centre. As the educational pillar of the whole kingdom, it was their duty to stay neutral and serve the Kingdom in any case. But the principal’s previous action had already hinted that they were inclining to the side of the princess.

But none of them were surprised by this, considering the Academy was the natural opposition of the Noble Supremacist faction.

Meanwhile, all of the royals, except Evelyn, looked at the newcomer. The average looking girl was a tier 5, a talent capable of reaching level 9, after all. But everyone had different reactions.

The High King, the High Queen and Maria smiled at Isabella while the blue eyed Queen was nonchalant. The King frowned while his son, the Crown Prince’s betrayed the most complicated feelings.

The high king spoke. “Welcome, child, to our abode. You will be-” his face suddenly grimaced “Ouch.”

The high queen looked at her husband with glaring eyes, two of her fingers were pinching the old man’s thigh.

“Oh.” He smiled wryly. “Enjoy.” He turned back to the hall, so did everyone else.

Isabella made quite the bond with the high king when she ‘scammed’ him. So, she did not bother bowing to him.

“Members of the Bradley house have arrived!” Another shout resonated through the palace. But it did not have the same effect as before on the crowd.

Marquess Bradley and four members of the family entered and went to the giant table on the left, the side affiliated to the Crown prince. Midway, Eric Bradley separated from the his family and went up the stairs.

He bowed towards the royal family before sitting beside the prince, with one empty chair separating the two. Anyone of them did not say anything. After all, both of them were in the presence of ‘true’ royalties.

The members sat on the gigantic table at the left. Now, only the table on the princess’s side was completely unoccupied.

The princess had already begun to sweat. Reynold’s side had fifty percent more supporters than of her own. Moreover, her ‘main’ table was completely empty.

Soon, the announcer shouted again. “The Ironcross House sent forth its representatives.”

The effect of the announcement was much stronger than the previous case but it was still not at par with the arrival of the Academy.

A slender man led a party of four to where the Bradleys were sitting at, the left main table. All of the members from the marquess family stood up. They did not dare to show any sort of disrespect to the family that protected the kingdom from the Northern Wilderness.

Dolf Ironcross was among them. He looked up at the royal table and spotted Adrian and Isabella. He looked down again, staying quite during his stay at the table. It was etiquette after all.

No more major attendees arrived after the arrival of the Ironcross house. The nobles were chatting with each other, socialising. Ultimately, gathering of all nobles from the kingdom was not a common occurrence.

“You look quite confident.” Maria asked.

“Why wouldn’t I?” He said in his casual tone.

“But, you are not winning, are you?” She pointed at the left and right segments.

Evelyn scowled at her but did not say anything, leaving everything to her ‘fiancé’.

“Whatever the case, Evelyn is going to be the Queen.” His eyes were still on the countless tables below, looking down on those puny nobles as if they were ants.

Evelyn who was openly eavesdropping relaxed a bit. His statement washed away a lot of her nervousness.

“Ooh! What a loyal lover you are!” She lowered her tone and whispered. “Did you two have sex already?”

“Almost.” His answer was casual, but his voice lowered down to that of a whisper.

But Evelyn, on the other hand, scowled harder at Maria as her face reddened.

“Almost?” Maria squinted. “Let me guess, she is acting hard to get.”

“Wrong.” He shook his head. “If anything, she is thirsty. I am tired of princesses. I want to have a taste of something ‘more royal’.”

“Wow. U r helping her just so that you can fuck a queen?” She gasped and whisper, losing all of her royal demeanour. “Why don’t you make me the queen then?”

Evelyn’s nerves began to show on her skin. She really wanted to growl at Maria or pinch Adrian. She could not do the former as she was in the presence of her family and she could not do the latter because she did not even want to think of the consequences.

“I would have, if your cousin did not accept my offer that day.” He finally looked to his left, at her. “If Evelyn rejected my offer that day you would have been the one who sat to my right.”

Blood rushed to Maria’s face, knowing what he meant. “Forget it.” She looked away. “I want to live a life of debauchery anyway. Being the queen will only hold me back.” She said in a narcissistic tone; as if being a queen was her guaranteed fate which she was trying to deny.

“Debauchery you say?” He whispered. “You have yet to take anything in there.” He pointed at her crotch.

Her face flushed. She spoke dirty with a few of her female friends, even her cousin- Evelyn. And he was also the first male she ever spoke like that to; she only did that because she wanted to tease her cousin’s lover a bit. But she never expected the young man to speak like that to her. “I…”

“Would you let me have the honour?” He erotically touched her thigh over her dress.

Evelyn gasped as she moved a little forward, covering what her fiancé was publicly doing to her cousin from the family. She bit her lips in rage.

Isabella was completely nonchalant about it. It was that girl’s divine fortune that she had the opportunity to be touched by her young master.

On the other hand, Maria almost lost her mind. Her consciousness was clouded so much that she did not even think of screaming.

He brought his mouth a little closer to her ear. “Should I get ‘in’?” His voice was charming, and seductive. His left hand touched her skin through the slit of her dress, sending chills through her body.

“I… I… I…” Blood almost bursted out from her cheeks.

Adrian suddenly removed his hand and looked ahead, surprising both of the princesses- but pleasantly nonetheless.

“Little girl.” He said. “If you want to play with me, you better be prepared to be played yourself.”

She suddenly looked away and bit her lips, but did not forget to heave a sigh of relief.

The next announcement brought a smile on Adrian’s face.

“The Belfords have arrived!”