60 Aura

Prussia, November 13th 1796

8:30 AM

Lukas was sitting with everyone at the table for breakfast. Today was the day of the party, and Lukas was particularly anxious for that, this was a plan that he had been thinking about for a very long time.

Tobias looked at Violett. "Violett, I forgot to ask you yesterday. Have you already chosen your dress for the party?" he asked.

Violett smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, I have. Sophia helped me to choose it," she replied.

Sophia was one of the servants who worked in the house. They apparently arrived there a few days before Lukas and everyone else's arrival for cleaning and preparing the rooms.

Tobias nodded his head. "I see. Very good," he said, before getting back to eating.

After finishing eating, Lukas leaned back on his chair. 'Well, I guess this is one of the most stressful and difficult plans that I have ever devised. It's very dangerous, because it might bring internal problems to the Von Neumann house, but I'm not willing to marry Violett either, so I'm going ahead with this plan,' he thought.

Not long after, Tobias also finished eating and looked at Lukas. "Are you ready for the party, too, Lukas?" he asked.

Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "Yep, I mean, it's just a party," he said.

Tobias nodded his head. "Great," he said, finishing with a smile.

Lukas sighed. 'I have already put part of my plan into practice, I have been giving a few hints to my father about the financial state of the Von Neumann house that, despite being much better than before, it's still not very favorable. That's mainly due to the fact that the members of the Von Neumann house are very ostentatious. They like buying expensive things, which, consequently makes them spend more than they can.'

'With the hints that I have been giving to my father, I guess it'll be easier for him to accept the marriage... actually, I guess he'll not think twice before accepting the marriage, he doesn't seem very happy that I'm going to get married with a member of the Von Neumann house. On top of that, that member is Tobias's child, so my father actually is not the problem.'

'My real problem is the Head of the Von Neumann house, because he might not accept it, however, what makes me have some hope is that I'm not a pure member of the Von Neumann house, so, since my blood is already "dirty," it might be possible that he'll not mind it that much. The money can also be a good argument because the Santen house is quite wealthy, however, I'll have to be careful with that argument, since it may backfire due to the Head's pride,' he thought.

Tobias smiled. "Okay, you may leave the table," he said.

Violett nodded her head and immediately stood up from her chair.

Tobias's sentence woke up Lukas from his trance, and he also stood up from his chair. 'The party is in the afternoon, I still have some time to finish a few details of my plan,' he thought.

Lukas then walked to his room and closed the door behind him. After that, he laid on his bed and sighed. 'Okay, here is what I should do...'

-----

Prussia, November 13th 1796

1:55 PM

Lukas, Tobias, Violett and Elias were on their way to the party.

"Get ready! We are very close already," Tobias said.

Although Lukas was not showing, he was very nervous regarding that. He could only hide his anxiety because he was used to it, he had to do it in every meeting he had had with Karl.

Finally, the carriage stopped. The place of the mansion was a huge castle, the strong scent of perfume was already invading Lukas's nostrils.

'Great,' Lukas thought as he smelled the scent of perfume coming from the party.

Tobias and Elias left the carriage first. When Lukas placed his hand on the door of the carriage he took a deep breath and then he opened it, promptly leaving the vehicle.

Followed by him, Violett immediately left the carriage and stood beside Lukas.

Tobias and Elias then entered the party. There were some guards at the door of the castle, one was holding a pile of papers, which was the list of the people who had been invited to the party.

"Name, please, lady and gentlemen," the guard asked.

Lukas raised his brow. '"Gentlemen"? Who are you referring to?' he wondered sarcastically.

Tobias kept his usual smile as he talked to the guard. "Tobias Von Neumann," he said.

Elias looked at the guard. "Elias Hügel," he said.

Violett looked at the guard with a smile. "Violett Von Neumann," she said.

Lastly, it was Lukas's turn. "Lukas Von Neumann Hügel," he said.

After checking everyone's name, the guard nodded his head. "Very well, lady and gentlemen, you may go in," he said.

Tobias smiled. "Thank you," he said.

So, the four of them entered the castle where the part was occurring, it was the residence of the Prussian Royal Family.

After going through the entrance corridor, some noble families could already be seen. There were some children of Lukas's age, the girls who still were not betrothed winked at Lukas, whereas the boys decided to show just a gentle smile to Violett.

Lukas had to work hard not to roll his eyes, whereas Violett couldn't help but blush a bit.

'I wonder if in like... three hundred years, there will be a way for us to talk to a lot of people at the same time for a romantic purpose? I guess it may happen if this arranged marriage stuff doesn't go ahead,' Lukas thought. '...Actually I'm not a very good position to criticize, I'm going to this party with a romantic purpose even though I already have a fiancée,' he thought.

After going up a set of stairs, the four of them finally arrived to the place of the party.

If the scent of perfume was strong before, now it was pretty much unbearable for Lukas's sensitive nostrils, however, he had to pretend that he was fine.

'I'm gonna kill Herman for making me "train all the senses of my body"!' Lukas thought, revolted.

The four of them went close to a table where there was a lot of food. Lukas obviously was already willing to eat it.

"You may eat, Lukas," Tobias said with a smile.

Lukas looked at Tobias in confusion, but he still nodded his head.

Lukas started eating, however, he didn't like that Tobias noticed he was planning to eat. 'How did he know?' he wondered with a sulking face.

Tobias just laughed at the reaction Lukas had had, and looked around the party, watching the people.

Tobias soon widened his eyes. "Oh, I know those people, I am going to talk to them. You should also talk to someone else, bye," he said as he waved his hand walked towards the people.

Tobias easily got to talk with those nobles and in a few moments, they were casually speaking and laughing.

'... He's very sociable,' Lukas thought.

Violett fidgeted with her hands. "Huh... do we really have to interact with the other people in the party?" she asked.

"I'm not going to," Elias straightforwardly answered as he sipped on some wine.

'You didn't have to say that, though. We already knew it,' he thought.

Elias, on the other hand stealthily looked at Lukas. 'Knowing Lukas, he must be willing to interact with someone here. He's always liked to get out of his comfort zone,' he thought

Lukas was very willing to interact with someone before interacting Nathalie.

After looking around for a bit, Lukas spotted a boy who seemed to be the perfect person to interact with.

He had a very big family, however, all of them soon walked away and he stayed, sitting at some bench on the corner.

'He seems to be kinda shy. I prefer to interact with a shy person, for some reason,' Lukas thought.

So, Lukas cleared his throat. "I'm going too," he said with a smile.

Elias shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever," he replied.

So, Lukas walked away in order to talk to the boy who was sitting on the bench.

After a while, he stood in front of him, however he didn't seem to have noticed him.

"You should keep your head up," Lukas said.

The boy quickly looked up at him and raised his brow. He had light-brown hair and eyes.

For Lukas's surprise, the boy started speaking French. "What?" he asked.

Lukas almost panicked when he heard his answer. 'Damn it! I forgot there were people here who spoke more languages other than German! Okay, calm down, Lukas! This what you learned languages for!' he thought.

Lukas immediately chuckled and answered him in French. "Sorry, I forgot there were people of many nations here," he said.

The boy seemed a bit impressed when Lukas started speaking. "N-No, there's no problem about that. It's okay," he answered.

Lukas smiled. For some reason, he felt that that boy was somewhat similar to him. He didn't know how to explain, it was something like his "aura," like Herman used to say.

"What's wrong? Why are you here alone? Your whole family walked away," Lukas said.

The boy chuckled. "You've been watching me?" he said.

Lukas was impressed by the boy's sentence, but he still laughed. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I wanted to interact someone, so..." the blonde boy answered.

The boy shook his head as he showed a smile. "It's okay, I don't mind," he said. "At least you take the initiative to talk to someone."

"Why don't you do that, too?" Lukas asked.

"...I don't think I can," the boy answered.

'Oh, great, another Johan,' Lukas thought. 'A guy who I can see who has a lot of skill but has a low self-esteem,' he thought.

Only by the aura the boy was giving off, Lukas already suspected that the boy was very smart, and when he heard that the boy figured out that Lukas was watching him, he was sure about that.

"...Why do you think you can't?" Lukas asked.

"...At school, I... I don't along very well with most people, they... they mock my accent," the boy then sighed and looked back into Lukas's eyes. "I don't know why I'm telling you this! It's just that... I feel like I can trust you! I have the feeling that you are a bit similar to me," he said.

Lukas smiled. "Funny, I had that feeling too," he said.

Lukas then dragged a chair and sat beside the boy.

"Look, it's not because you do badly in one thing, that you will do in everyone," he started. "You said that you are mocked at school, right? So, perhaps you are dragged down a bit, so I'm going to tell you this," the blonde boy looked into the other boy's eyes. "I can see that you are a very skillful and special person. Don't you ever let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do."

The boy made a short break, but then, his eyes started to shine. "Y-You are right," he said, before smiling.

Lukas smiled. "Oh, by the way, my name is Lukas Von Neumann Hügel. What's your nam-?"

"Napoleon Bonaparte! There you are!" a feminine voice said, interrupting Lukas.

The boy immediately stood up, smiling. "Hi, Mom," he said.

'Napoleon Bonaparte... so that's his name,' Lukas thought.

Lukas immediately did the same as Napoleon and also stood up.

Besides his mother, Napoleon's family also seemed to have a father and, surprisingly, 7 siblings.

Napoleon's mother smiled and looked at Lukas. "Oh, and who's this gorgeous boy?" she asked.

'I would be careful, it really looked like you were hitting on me, Miss,' Lukas thought.

Lukas smiled. "My name is Lukas Von Neumann Hügel. It's nice to meet you," he said, before bowing.

Some of Napoleon's sisters blushed with Lukas's presence, however, they didn't do anything else.

Napoleon's mother smiled. "Oh, "Von Neumann"? You are Austrian, right?" she asked.

Lukas nodded his head. "Yes, I am. I hope there are no resentments," he said, before chuckling.

Napoleon's mother shook her head. "Oh, of course not! I am truly glad you are Napoleon's friend," she said.

Lukas smiled. "Yes, I noticed that we have a lot in common," he said.

Then Lukas turned to Napoleon and shook his hand. "I have to go now, but I had a good time," he said.

Napoleon smiled. "It's okay. You really motivated me just with a few words. I feel like I can do anything now," he said.

Lukas raised his brow with a smile. "Even conquer Europe?" he joked.

Napoleon laughed. "Who knows?" he said.

Lukas was a bit impressed with Napoleon's answer, but he truly liked it. "Well, goodbye," he said.

Napoleon nodded his head and Lukas turned around in order to go back to Elias and Violett.

Elias looked at Lukas. "So, who was that boy?" he asked.

Lukas shrugged his shoulders. "His name was Napoleon Bonaparte," he said.

"Their family served the French Royal Family," Elias said.

Lukas raised his brow. "Really?! Well, that I didn't know," he said.

Elias nodded his head. "There are rumours that they will continue serving the new French Royal Family, the one from the Habsburg," he said.

Lukas smiled. "Cool. I'm happy for that," he said.

As soon as Lukas finished his sentence, his eyes immediately caught a glimpse of a color that he had been looking for since the beginning of the party, red.

When he turned, he saw the girl who he was looking for, Nathalie. She had big, red hair tied into a high ponytail and light-brown eyes.

'Red hair... high ponytail... yep, I guess that's the one,' Lukas thought.

Lukas then took a few deep breaths and relaxed his shoulders. 'Alright! It's time, I'm going! I did everything I could!' he thought.