Chapter Ten: The Blackwood Mansion Party

Everyone walked up to the Blackwood mansion and was immediately greeted with cheers by the other nobles. Anna and Lyanna stole the show as single and married men alike were drawn into their beauty. Women looked at the two in envy of their perfect looks and the fact that some of their husbands were more interested in those two than their own wives. Kaede, who was behind the two of them, was also gathering some attention as a beautiful woman behind the two. None of them knew she was a maid of Anna and Lyanna; some thought she was a noble daughter adopted into the Blackwood family secretly, which in a way she kind of was. Kaede had become part of Anna's family since they took her in, and she never really treated Kaede like a maid or servant.

Meanwhile, following them were Alex and Raven, who both looked a little nervous from the attention around them. Alex kept up a good poker face, but internally, he was freaking out. He was never one for large social events, even in his previous life, and now he was surrounded by high-profile nobles, all focusing their attention on them and his family.

Eventually, two guards wearing black steel armor walked up to Anna and told her "A table has been set up for you and your family by Master Blackwood. If all of you would follow us."

The guards wearing the black armor were Edward's personal guards. Soldiers that had been trained by his family for nearly their entire lives and were only loyal to one person alone, him. While they weren't large in number—about two dozen total guards—each of them had plenty of combat experience, and that in itself was something to worry about. Edward also hired some mercenaries to help patrol the grounds of his mansion for protection. After all, he couldn't risk something happening to any of the nobles inside his own home. He hired about thirty of them, ranging from B-Class to even a few S-Class mercenaries. Nothing but the best.

As the group walked down the hallway, they noticed just how fancy the mansion was in comparison to their home. The mansion had golden chandeliers, marble floors, and, not to mention, seemingly custom-made or rare vases and other items on display around the house. Even specially made swords and other weapons.

Edward was one of the richest men in the Western part of the Empire, and he made sure everyone who entered his house knew it. With tons of rare things on display being marveled at by the adoring public, Alex just knew Edward was feeding his insane ego on nights like these.

The group were escorted to their seats, where they talked a little bit. Alex and Raven looked around the mansion since this was their first time really inside of it. However, it wasn't long before Edward and his son Edmund walked into the room, both wearing nice suits made of the finest materials they could find. The crowd clapped as they walked in with smiles and waving hands. Ana wasn't with them since she was just a mistress, and instead she was in the crowd chatting up some of the nobles.

Edward noticed Alex and the others but didn't really acknowledge them, as he thanked his guests for attending despite it being a party for Alex. You see, if it were up to Edward, there wouldn't be a party at all, but because his son is on paper at least, a tenth birthday party celebration was necessary due to it being about him fully showing the world his magical ability, but Edward was not going to let this day be wasted by something as small as the party. He made sure to invite four high-ranking noble families to the party in order to settle marriage arrangements with Alex and Raven. The Goldburn and Hawthorne families would both speak to Alex and introduce their daughters to him, while the Tarren and St. Claire families would speak to Raven. Edward already had behind-the-scenes plans with the Goldburn and Tarren families but needed this to look as official as possible.

Soon a man with short brown hair and brown eyes walked up to Alex and introduced himself: "Hello, my name is Evan Hawthorne. I am here to introduce Alex to my daughter." Behind Evan was a young girl with short brown hair in a bobcut style. She was wearing a red dress and looked very shy. "This is my daughter, Ashley."

Ashley shyly waved at Alex but didn't say a word to him before she ran off from them.

Evan called out to her but received no response before he turned around and bowed to Alex "I apologize for my daughter's rudeness."

Alex then said "It's fine; she's just shy. No harm done."

Evan took a breath of relief before running off to find his daughter in the crowd.

"You handled that well, Alex." Lyanna said complimenting him.

"Nothing to handle." Alex said. "She was just shy; it's fine."

Soon, one of the guards approached the table and asked for Raven to come with him. Alex stood in the guard's way and looked at the guard with anger in his eyes. He wouldn't let Raven be taken alone without someone with her to protect her that he trusted. "Kaede, do you mind?" Alex asked Kaede, who nodded her head in agreement.

Kaede followed Raven, who was still unsure about following the guard. Kaede assured her, and Raven knew Kaede wouldn't let anything happen to her.

Alex, meanwhile, kept sitting there until he was approached yet again.

This time it was a man in a nice dark red suit and a black tie. He had short brown hair with blue eyes, and he looked as if he were in his mid-30s. He bowed in front of Alex and introduced himself.

"Hello Alex, My name is Henry Goldburn; it's an honor to meet you. Happy birthday."

Alex nodded and said "I appreciate it. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Goldburn."

"Please call me Henry; after all, I may be your father-in-law soon enough." Henry said it with a slight smirk. "May I introduce to you my daughter Sophia?"

Walking up from behind Henry was a young girl who was maybe a year older than Alex and had long blonde hair. She had a poise and elegance to her that typical eleven-year-olds should not have. She definitely had the attitude of a rich, noble girl. What surprised Alex the most were her eyes, which were a piercing crimson red color that drew Alex in.

She was wearing a black dress with fine materials, and she said to Alex "Hello, Alex, my name is Sophia Goldburn; it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." as she curtsied elegantly.

Alex stood up and gave her the usual pleasantries.

Anna, Lyanna, and Amelie saw how Sophia had gotten Alex's attention in a different way than Ashley before. Alex seemed more drawn into Sophia as the two started talking.

Anna, most of all, was not happy with this development. She not only didn't want Edward's plan to succeed, but something about the idea of losing Alex to Sophia made her feel angry. She then had the idea of perhaps cutting the meeting short, but that's when everyone heard a scream from another side of the room.

Alex and Anna ran towards the scream since it was in the same direction as where Raven and the guard went, and sure enough, it came from their table, but not from Raven.

*A few minutes earlier*

Raven and Kaede were escorted over to another table, and sitting there was a young male, maybe the age of 12, wearing a nice light blue suit and a white tie. He had blonde hair that reached just above his shoulders and blue eyes. He had a smug look on his face, like he believed he was perfect. Once he saw Raven and Kaede approaching, he got out of his seat and bowed down before reaching his hand out as if he were asking Raven for hers for him to kiss. He thought she wouldn't hesitate to do so. After all, he was handsome in his eyes; what girl could refuse his charms?

"Tch." Raven clicked her tongue before walking past him and sitting down.

And just like that, everything the boy thought of himself nearly shattered.

"What..." the boy said, shocked.

How could she just ignore him as if he wasn't there? She clicked her tongue when he was generous enough to bow before her. What kind of girl would just ignore him?!

The boy turned around and tried to reintroduce himself this time without the hand kiss. "Hello, beautiful, my name is Oliver Tarren. It's an honor to meet you."

Oliver wanted to try to sweeten her up. In his eyes, it seemed that she was an ice princess who just needed a little bit of warming up.

"Tch"

And once again, his expectations were shattered. Oliver started to get annoyed with this girl, and in a measure of revenge in his mind, he started to generate magic in his palm. He turned around and attempted to splash Raven with water; however, Kaede and Raven both realized what he was doing. He was letting his ego get the best of him, but even before Kaede could react, a purple lightning strike hit Oliver, sending him flying backwards as he landed on top of another table, and it broke from under him, causing him to crash to the ground. He screamed out in pain, causing everyone in the party to now look over at him.

Alex and Anna ran and saw this sight, and all Alex could think of while having a proud smile on his face.

"Good job, sis."

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