The Rising Ceremony [2]

I looked at the princess as she moved toward us. She was about a meter away from us as she came closer. She stood still and looked at me. I looked straight into her eyes. I had done nothing wrong, so I was not afraid. After she understood my stance, she turned towards that girl and asked, "Miss Firestone, can you explain why you did that?"

When she heard what the princess asked, she trembled. She had already lost her manservant. This incident had already caused damage to the Firestone family. Losing a Level 8 Ability user is not a small thing, and now even the princess thought this was her mistake. "I... I made a mistake." she said with a trembling voice.

'That's how you should act,' I thought as I looked at her fearful expression and trembling voice. She is from the Firestone family, who is ranked first. That's why she thought she could do anything. But now, after losing a Level 8 ability user, she had to explain her decision to her family. After her pathetic display, the princess looked towards me. She also wanted me to explain myself.

"I just cleaned a bug," I said, my voice resounded in the room as everyone remained silent. 'One more remains,' I thought as I looked at Miss Firestone. She still had her head low, but she clenched her fists after my explanation. She must have a good bond with her manservant.

I rose from my seat and moved towards the princess. After stopping in front of her, about two steps away, I introduced myself. "Nice to meet you, Isabella Constantine. I am Asher Blackthorn," with a little bow.

Isabella replied, "The pleasure is mine." She accepted the topic change. We both wanted to close this topic. While we were interacting, Miss Firestone quickly escaped. I didn't stop her. I didn't want to attract more attention.

Isabella put a smile on her face and asked in a soothing tone, "Will you not introduce me to your maid?" As Isabella finished her question, everyone around us perked their ears to listen to our conversation. Everybody wanted to know about Olivia's origin. And why not? Witnessing the power of a level 10 ability user by a 15-year-old girl was unheard of. Not only that, she was even serving as a personal maid.

"She is just a maid, not worth introducing to someone of your level," I said, as I didn't want anyone to know about her. My family would also try to get their hands on Olivia once they knew about her power. But I had a way to prevent that. When I said she wasn't worth introducing, Isabella remained calm as she understood what I wanted to convey. However, some people looked at me with malice.

After hearing my response, Isabella said, "The Blackthorn family really has a lot of resources to assign a level 10 ability user as a personal maid to the third lord of their family," with a curious face. I knew she just wanted to know about Olivia's origin. This was my chance to remove Olivia from my family, so that after this incident, my family would not try to take her away from me.

"She is my personal maid. She was not given to me by my family. She is loyal to me and me alone," I declared, loud enough to be heard by onlookers. My declaration left everyone present confused. They all wondered why someone of Olivia's level would become my servant. Isabella was no different from them.

"Oh, let's talk another time. I have more guests to attend," Isabella said with a smile. Her smile was very captivating. 'I want to see her expression when I rob the Royal treasury,' I thought as I looked at her smile. She is a master at making expressions. Her smile froze for a second, then she put on an even brighter smile. I was confused, but I didn't mind.

"Of course," I replied with a bright smile. It was a good thing she was leaving now. I turned towards the bar counter and saw the person I had been looking for a long time. Our MC, Lux Stromborn, was looking in my direction. He had a somewhat disgusted expression. He must have been disgusted with that girl, or maybe with Olivia because she had just killed a person. I didn't know. He was looking at me, but I looked away. I didn't want to engage in a staring game with him. I sat on a chair near the bar counter, and Olivia stood beside me, waiting for my orders.

Time passed as I drank some drinks and occasionally observed what MC was doing. I saw all the children gather around Isabella. It seemed like the kids had a hard time controlling their pants. Some approached me to start a conversation, but I ignored them. Some even dared to directly engage with Olivia, but she didn't even acknowledge them.

After some time, it was time for dancing. This was the last part of the event, and I knew it wasn't a simple dance. Here, the princess would choose three candidates to be her fiance. The princess didn't possess any powerful abilities, so she was given the choice to find a suitable partner from this event. She would dance with only three people, and they would become her candidates for marriage. Royalty had the power to choose their own candidates, unlike other families who married for their families benefit.

In the novel, the princess was supposed to select two candidates from the seven great families, and another one was our MC. This shook everyone present at the event when the princess danced with MC. It also created a lot of trouble for MC, as many children from the top seven families targeted him and started causing trouble. It felt like a never-ending cycle of repeating the same nonsense.

When the music began, everybody looked at the princess, expecting her to be the first one to start dancing. I did the same, gazing at the princess, and Isabella looked in my direction and started moving towards me. I turned around to see if someone from the great families was behind me, but I found no one. I turned back to the princess and realized she was just a few feet away from me.

'No, please don't choose me. I know you are selecting your fiancé candidate, but I don't want unnecessary trouble. I've had enough of my own,' I thought, as I guess that she might choose me. After all, I rarely interacted with her, so I couldn't fathom why she would choose me.

"Will you dance with me?" Isabella asked as she stood in front of me. I looked at her, feeling everyone's eyes on me as if I had won a prize. Some were even jealous. I glanced at Isabella and offered a slight smile before replying, "No." My clear rejection echoed in the hall, instantly changing everyone's expressions. Some looked disappointed, while others seemed relieved. But Isabella's expression remained unchanged.

'It's not like she has a powerful ability or anything, and I know she won't mind my rejection,' I thought, already familiar with her character from the novel. She was very understanding, and while her ability was weak, her intelligence was on another level. She could easily be considered the most intelligent character in the novel.

Isabella simply said, "Okay," after being rejected and then turned around and left. Everything unfolded as it did in the novel. She went on to dance with Lux Stormborn, but this time, the hot topic of conversation was my rejection to princess. Some considered me arrogant, while others saw me as fearless person, but I didn't care.

From that point on, everything went smoothly. I sat in the chair near the bar counter, and no one approached me for a dance. Since I had already rejected Isabella, nobody thought I would accept any other advances.

I noticed Miss Firestone looking at me with eyes filled with malice. 'She still hasn't learned her lesson. Should I kill her?' I wondered, not wanting any trouble in the future. She could potentially cause problems. However, I heard a cough behind me, and when I turned toward the sound, I saw Isabella standing about a foot away.

I stood up from my seat and turned around, thinking, 'Finally, it's time for a goodbye.' I had grown bored at this event.

"Mister Blackthorn, you are quite different from others," Isabella said, maintaining her everlasting bright smile.

'Yeah, I don't act like a kid who can't control his pant,' I thought, responding with a bright smile that could rival hers. "Everyone has their own personality,"

"Well, you are correct," Isabella agreed, stretching her hand out for a handshake. I shook her hand.

"Let's meet again another time," she added, completing her sentence as we released each other's hands.

"Of course," I replied. Upon hearing my response, she smiled and left. I watched her leave the hall, and after some time, I also started making my way toward the exit. I had to proceed with my plan to rob the royal treasury.

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Please read this :

I am thinking of changing the Name from "Darkened Nexus" to "Insignificant Extra's rise". What are your thought on this comment.