Toby wanted to chase Aaron. However, remembering the beating, he stopped.
"Fuck," he hit the floor
How did he figure it out? There should be no way he should've known about the stone, so how?
'What do I do now?'
"My, my, it seems that you were discovered," recognizing the familiar voice, Toby quickly turned as he looked to see the woman with long white hair. Quickly getting up, he bowed to the second lady, Eloise, while sweat poured down his back.
"I knew we should've had another servant do it," he heard the other voice, causing him to grit his teeth.
'This little shit!'
Michael, Eloise's third son, was the bastard who gave him the opportunity to sabotage that bastard Aaron. In exchange, he would be able to manage a business in his brother's name
However, he quickly remembered something, "H-he never took out the stone! He still has it!" he quickly replied
Eloise raised her eyebrow before she spread her fan to hide her face, which now had a smile.
"Then this could work," she muttered, "in fact, this worked out better than expected."
She looked at Toby coldly, "Goodjob,"
Toby quickly let out a sigh of relief however, but his head then slammed into the ground and he was knocked out. A pretty woman wearing a maid's dress stood over the knocked-out Toby.
"Take him to the punishment hall."
***
Following Victor, I looked at the man beside him. His name was Jake, and he was my father's loyal servant. He was currently carrying my bags with ease.
The ceremony was going to take place on one of the islands in this archipelago.
The archipelago belonged to the family; however, to the world, it was just an island that was there to preserve wildlife. In a previous world war, some guy tried to take the island, but he and his fleet "mysteriously" disappeared.
Jake soon separated from us and boarded a helicopter. However, my father and I walked to a boat.
I remember asking my father last time why we took the boat, and my father replied with "Our ancestors found this place on a boat, so we shall go there by boat."
Remembering that, I couldn't help but twitch my eye.
I boarded the boat and made my way to the lobby. There, I was able to see a few more people, some heirs and their servants, along with their guardians. Ignoring them, I sat in a chair, but a few minutes later, my father appeared with an annoyed expression.
"We will have to make a few more stops," he said. "One of the boats was destroyed by some idiot."
I nodded and waited for the boat to move.
Actually, calling it a boat would be an insult. This thing was a glorified yacht with a lot of rooms, a bar, and a restaurant.
The entire archipelago was owned by the family. While there were many mansions, there were also training facilities along with other facilities to groom the young heirs.
Where the boat was headed was the central island where the awakening artifact was. Due to that, the entire archipelago was under 24/7 watch through guards and beasts. Many guards on the island had a class known as [Beast Tamer], which allowed them to tame beasts and control them. The archipelago was flooded with them. There were flying beasts, beasts that acted like guard dogs, and even creatures that swam in the water.
Closing my eyes, I went over my plan and the one thing I needed to do, and felt the withering rune in my pocket. This thing was a big part of my plan however, it wasn't exactly the main thing I needed. No, there was something far more valuable than this thing on the central island.
As I was going over what to say, I heard some footsteps before I heard everyone stand up, apart from me and my father. Opening my eyes, I saw 2 people enter the lobby. One was a slightly handsome youth who was walking next to a handsome man who seemed to be in his early 30s. As they came closer, I couldn't help but hold back a sneer as I saw the youth's arrogant expression.
Seeing that everyone, aside from me and my father to stand up and bow.
I, of course, knew who these guys were.
The guy was my first Uncle David. He was my father's oldest sibling and also held an elder position. The kid next to him was my cousin Zeke Van Bismarck
"Ah, Victor, it has been a while. How's your business these days?" David asked as he sat next to Victor
"It is going well," my father said, "but you've been busy yourself lately, I heard you were able to make a new pharmaceutical company,"
"Haha, indeed, that new dungeon that Xander found had some amazing herbs for treating STDs," he said with a chuckle
"Good for you," Victor said "I see that Quentin has grown,"
"Indeed, Quentin here has already reached the 4th level of the family art. I have high expectations of him," he said proudly
I glanced at Quentin, who was puffing his chest proudly.
Everyone here was glancing at both of us with reverence and some were giving some tempting looks. However, I didn't bother looking at them but Quentin on the other hand seemed to be enjoying the looks.
'Well I guess he should enjoy what he can get'
Quentin was going to die in the ceremony. Despite being considered "talented" he couldn't even pass the ceremony, resulting in his death.
"Oh, speaking of which, I heard you impregnated another concubine," David said, slightly annoyed "Aren't you getting tired of this?"
"Of course not, besides, I own media companies, it shouldn't be surprising," Victor defended himself
Hearing that conversation couldn't help but make me remember the patriarch. Unlike his son's and other members of the family, he only had 1 wife whom had 5 children, my father being the youngest. Many members of the family have multiple lovers; however, they weren't actual wives due to the fact that they didn't give birth to children with a pure bloodline.
While I was thinking that I ignored Quentin's jealous gaze as he looked at Victor.
His thoughts were easily read on his face.
'Might as well get some rest'
Closing my eyes, I effectively ignored everyone, even the maids who were tempting me.
_
Quentin couldn't help but swallow, and not show the drool that was going to go down his chin. However, even though some were tempting him most were trying to tempt the bastard next to him.
Aaron Van Bismark was considered a prodigy. No one in the family could match his talent. However, with those talents came some very unsavory rumors.
For example, there was a rumour that he had almost assaulted a maid when he was young. There was also a rumour that he tried to sleep with his stepmother, which he had doubts about.
All of the servants had heard these rumours, but did they care?
Of course not…
Seeing that Aaron was ignoring him, he couldn't help but feel irritated. Despite being considered talented, he wasn't considered at that level.
'Just wait, you bastard, I'll show you what I can actually do'
***
"Wake up."
*Smack*
"Ow," feeling the slap, I instantly opened my eyes. Looking at my father with an annoyed expression, I slowly got up.
I turned to look at the sea and was able to see islands with giant buildings. In the sky, I saw flying creatures that weren't birds but rather beasts.
I watched as they perched on the giant pillars and started to look around.
I ignored them, though, and followed my father out of the yacht.
As we exited the yacht I waited.
'Right about now'
"Raw!"
"Who are you!?"
I smirked 'There were go'
"Who are you? How dare you trespass on this land?" Hearing a shout, I looked at the drama seeing an old man grabbing a girl. Next to him was a beast that resembled a wolf, which was growling.
Walking over, I was carefully watching my uncle, who now had an annoyed expression.
"What is going on here?" I watched David approch the other elder who was also wearing an orangish robe with golden patterns, much like everyone else. I watched the other guy look at David before he bowed.
"Ah, Master David, this girl is a trainee from the assassin's hall. I caught her after trying to sneak into the ancestral palace," he said
I looked at David and clenched my fist before I stepped forward. I quickly grabbed the girl by the wrist and lifted her bangs, revealing crystal blue eyes.
'I guess that confirms it.'
Smiling, I then spoke, "I like you."