Declaration
"He must be cheating!" one noble heir exclaimed, pointing finger at Ryker.
"Yes, he must have done something!"
"There is no way for someone so weak to beat all three members of the Blas Family,"
"He should be punish for cheating!"
Ryker wanted to sigh. To think he had to deal with such nonsense. He really want to beat them all but restrained himself, knowing it will do no good to his reputation.
However, as the booing and insult get louder, a booming sound echoed, "The winner did not cheat,"
Everyone was surprise by the declaration before someone began to fan the flame once more.
"The person must be someone he paid to say he did not cheat!"
"Yes, there is no way he did not cheat!"
"The one who said he did not cheat should be punish!"
"Oh, you want to punish me," the voice said once more, but this time, the owner of the voice was revealed. At this moment, everyone who said Ryker cheated felt their blood running cold.
After all, they had just say the King is lying. Even if they did not say the exact wording, they heavily implied on it. As for the person who asked the King to be punish, he is sweating heavily, almost peeing himself as the King glared at him.
"The winner did not cheat. Are there anyone else that want to claim otherwise?" no one spoke. After all, the King had given his verdict. As a Sovereign realm expert, the King would be able to tell if someone used untoward means or not.
If the King said he did not cheat, unless one wanted to die that badly, then he did not cheat.
"To think there would be someone so strong in the capital,"
"Yeah, just at the 2nd Stage of Genesis Sea, and already able to contend with a Noble realm expert,"
"He is handsome to boot. Let's see if we can get closer to him,"
Ryker ignored all the attempt to butter up at him, especially the one that said he was cheating. While some persist, a mere glare, one he practiced for a long time, was more than sufficient to send the rest of the pest scattered.
Yet, there are some that remained persistent. And this one, he could not even scared off, mainly because of who the other man related to.
"To think, such excellent seedlings are present in the Gala," the blonde in front of him, with a wealthy aura as well as a majestic one said, giving him a smile.
He had seen the man before, to be more precise, the man's portrait. After all, he need to know the nemesis of his allies during the succession competition.
"Why don't you join my faction?" the 2nd Prince asked him, clearly thinking he would accept. So, it a surprise to many, except for the one already in the now, when he answered otherwise.
"Apologise, I cannot accept. After all, I already backed someone else," he answered before bowing to the prince. Surprised by the rejecttion, the man could not even react as he slowly walked away from the blonde.
The crowd began to whisper among themselves, before quieting as the prince looked at the man's direction.
"This is interesting," he said, though the one who knew the Second Prince could tell the man is angry.
"Find anything you can on him. He would regret not accepting my offer," as the Second Prince ordered his man, a hand land on his shoulder, making the prince shivered.
He turned around, before gulping, feeling the deathly stare of the King, his father, who clearly look unpleased by what happened.
"There is one thing that I will not allow to occur during the succession battle, namely, threatening innocents during the event, if not, I will personally remove you from the competition and gave you a severe punishemnt. Do you hear me?" the younger man nodded before the King removed his hand and walked away.
Yet, even as the hand was removed, he could still feel the lingering aura of his father.
"Why did he want to protect him?"
-x-
Ryker did not head straight towards the Crown Prince just yet. The other man had sent him a message asking him to make it into a bigger spectacle. While he think it is unnecessary, he did not refuse.
After all, there is no reason to not make them realize he already in Lariz's boat. So, he remained near the buffet table, Natali already covered with him as he begin to eat some more desserts as he observed Lariz.
The Crown Prince had been talking with a lot of people, some are likely his supporters with some should be people he want to align with him. There is nothing else he can do at the moment except for asking for a duel with some people.
He has a lot of grievance with the one trying to hurt his reputation. He did not care about such thing but it is still annoying for him to have worry about it. As he was drinking a cup of tea, a long gray-haired woman walked into his line of sight, surprising him and causing him to almost choke on his tea.
"What is your name?" the gray haired woman, Lariz sole female cousin if he remembered it correctly, asked.
"My name is Ryker," he answered, though he was not sure of how to address the woman.
"You can call me Brya," she said.
"Aren't you the daughter of the Grand Duke?" he said, causing the woman to pout slightly.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
'I have met with the man and his brother show an image of you,' "Lariz told me?" he said instead, causing the woman to nod.
"So, you are my cousin's subordinate?" Ryker shook his head. 'No, I am his ally," he corrected the woman.
"What the difference?" she asked again.
"A lot, namely, I will not be his subordinate and instead be allowed to do my own thing as long as I do what he asked for, and I am given the option to refuse," the two had already make a deal over it, giving him a lot of freedom and showing how important Lariz consider him to be.
"Is that so? Looks like Lariz is coming towards you now?" Brya said, turning her head towards the incoming Crown Prince.
Ryker did the same, preparing for his own part in the plan. As the Crown Prince get close, he asked, "So, should we let them know of your allegiance," the Cheshire smile on his face cause shiver to his fellow competitor.
"It is your stage. After all, I am merely your helper in this one," Ryker replied, bowing towards the Crown Prince.