Evelyn finally managed to close down his mouth, but she still could not stop her body from trembling.

Fireworks were exploding in her mind. What? How? When? Tens of questions began to revolve around her consciousness.

She somewhat composed herself as she turned left, towards him. Adrian was still looking down upon the highest echelons of the second strongest nation of the continent. A slight smile which conveyed ‘these puny creatures are quite interesting’ was plastered on his face.

“Ha… how?” She stuttered. “How did you get the Lochtear family to join us?”

“I was just lucky. Some unlucky fellow stumbled out of nowhere and made the plan I was brewing for those blue eyed humans much easier.”

The princess on his right failed to understand anything he said.

But Sirius to his left forced a wry smile. He knew who was that ‘unlucky fellow’ was.

Maria who was standing behind her cousin, on the other hand, squinted. ‘Blue eyed humans?’

“What the fuck do you mean by that?” She blurted out. That motherfucker only knew how to arouse curiosity, not quench it.

“Evelyn, language!” The queen, for the first time since her greetings, opened her mouth. But her face was as devoid of any sort of emotion as before.

Evelyn’s face flinched as she gently bit her tongue. “I am sorry, mother.” She looked at the queen and bowed.

The queen nodded and looked toward the hall with her beautiful blue eyes again.

“What do you mean?!” She whispered while her hand tugged the arm of his coat.

“Nothing special. I just had Sirius convince his family to join us.” He shrugged.

“And how did you do that?” She knitted her brows. Every one of his answers only led to a question or two.

“It’s a secret.” He whispered.

Evelyn stomped her foot under the table, prompting her mother to look at her again. And unlike before, she showed her emotion with a scowl.

“Sorry.” She whispered, putting a puppy smile on her face.

The queen relaxed and looked ahead again.

“I want answers.” She whispered, her voice even lower than before. “What do you need?”

“Darling, darling, darling.” Adrian shook his head before whispering to her sensitive ear, “What else can you give? Your ‘everything’ belongs to me now anyway.”

She gasped. Yes, that was right. She had already promised her ‘everything’ to him. And he indeed turned the table, making the most neutral and mighty Lochtear house join her faction.

“Was Sirius enough?” She sighed. “To convince his whole family.”

“No.” Adrian shook his head. “I had to send in some reinforcements?”

“Who?” She raised a brow.

“You don’t need to know.” Her mother’s voice sounded in her ears.

She turned to her right and knitted her brows.

“Don’t ask anymore questions.” The queen looked at her daughter in the eyes. “Or you might step foot into somewhere dangerous; somewhere even the Royal family cannot rescue you from.”

Evelyn gulped and barely gave a nod before looking down- not on the hall, but on the surface of the table. While her mother turned her eyes to the main table on her daughter’s side- at the middle aged man sitting there.

The two pairs of blue eyes- one magnificent, and the other exquisite- met. They locked onto each other for five whole seconds before they turned away again. The duke sighed, while the queen remained emotionless.

Evelyn sneaked a peek of the young man sitting serenely to her left. Did he take a stroll on that ‘dangerous place’ and returned without a scratch? Maybe it was easy for him. He was Adrian after all.

“Young master.” Isabella spoke. “How is his eyes blue now? Why was it black before?”

Adrian turned back and stared into her brown eyes. She gulped. His stare was really scary. But suddenly, she remembered something.

“Oooooooh… so that’s how.”

Adrian smiled and turned ahead.

On the other side of the table, the young lady with the red hair returned and sat on her spot. Her face was devoid of any of the happiness or smugness she had been conveying earlier. Eric to her right had his bottom lip bitten by his teeth while her fiancé to her left kept tapping on the table.

He looked left, to where his sister and her supporters were sitting, and standing at. But contrary to his expectations, she did not look happy. She seemed to be in thought with something. His cousin, Maria was deep in thought as well. The one he thought would be the variable, stood as if she were a maid. The first heir of the powerful Lochtear house was sitting leisurely at the extreme end.

But he was sure- the one behind the ruining of his grand plan was that exceedingly handsome youth, whose abyssal eyes were looking down on the crowd as if they were ants. Isabella was never the variable- he miscalculated. Heck! She was just a subordinate of the real variable. His eyes turned bloodshot; he wanted nothing more than the death of that bastard.

A gentle pat on his thigh woke him up, returning his composure back to normal. He looked. He looked at his father, and saw the king shook his head. The prince bit his lips and looked back at the crowd again.

Soon, nobles stopped coming in. The palace door closed.

Dozens of servants and maids entered the hall from the sides, bringing in fragrant and undoubtedly delicious food, cooked by some of the best chefs in all of Ervilia, let alone the Kingdom. The lower nobles were already drooling just from the smell, not being able to keep their noble demeanour.

On the top floor, the High King placed his hand on the table- a greenish magic circle showed on the surface. The table began to ‘grow’ to its left. The servants brought in two chairs and a table cloth to facilitate the seating of Isabella and Maria.

Isabella sat next to Sirius, and Maria- just like before- sat at the extreme left. Beautiful maids, who were handpicked from all over the Confederation, brought in extravagant meals and wines.

In half an hour, the feast was over.

Fifteen minutes later, the High King stood up. His announcement echoed through the halls, bringing the place to pin drop silence.

“I’ll now declare the next ruler of the Kingdom of Nemphis.”