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Chapter 224: Preparation For The Banquet

The Spider Queen

(Virtual Reality Realm- Room A- 193829)

Sophie could see that Leona had to take a few moments to process her frank admittance that she was now dating a princess.

She waited patiently as Leona adjusted her thoughts and brought the conversation back to her original goal.

"Should we go to the meeting together?" Leona asked carefully.

Sophie took another sip of tea and replied in an even tone,

"Yes. Our fathers are in the same faction, so we need to meet up with the other noble heirs that are aligned with us."

"This meeting with the Emperor has an unknown purpose but the different noble families will definitely be taking note of the situation."

Why would an Emperor that had previously shown no interest in politics suddenly invite the most powerful families in the Federation to a royal banquet?

Sophie was secretly a bit worried as she could vaguely sense that this meeting would definitely have a hidden purpose.

"I see," Leona replied softly but was inwardly very happy that she would be accompanying Sophie to the banquet.

It would be a long road ahead to mend or maybe even restore their relationship, but Leona was satisfied with the small progress so far.

"How many people do you think we can draw to our side?" Sophie placed down her cup gracefully and stared at Leona.

"Our fathers' faction only has four high nobles including themselves. I can probably get one of my friends from university to join our group during the banquet but that only means five people."

"Why do we need a large group surrounding us?" Leona frowned with an expression of confusion.

"Image," Sophie replied with a steely glint in her eye.

"No one knows why the meeting with the Emperor was initiated. Some say that the Imperial Teacher is behind it, but my father disagrees."

"There is no political benefit to gather all the noble heirs of high families all in one place."

"Especially considering that it is unlikely that any new alliances will form as pre-existing ones are too steady."

"But what does that have to do with image?" Leona asked curiously.

Sophie leaned forward and her golden eyes narrowed sharply. There was a dark dangerous aura surrounding her body that made cold sweat appear on Leona's forehead.

Leona could see the shadow of a proud indifferent queen in Sophie's posture and she had to resist the urge to kneel down and worship.

"I need to appear as the leader of a powerful up and coming new faction. All eyes will probably be on me since I am the only hybrid heir to a duke family."

"We can take that opportunity to advertise the strength and unity of our faction. The bigger we appear will also increase our attractiveness to noble families who have not picked a side yet."

Sophie did not want to take on a leadership role and would ideally just lurk in the background of the banquet.

But she had no choice.

There was no way that she would not draw attention to herself and this was the perfect chance to project an image of great strength.

Duke Peterlor had been completely honest with his daughter about the difficult battle he was currently having with the Imperial Teacher and the Human Supremacy faction.

The current situation was now a slim advantage for Duke Peterlor as Rokan's faction had managed to secure several key victories in parliament, but this situation could flip at any time.

Most of the other noble families did not have strong opinions on the matter so both sides needed to appeal to the neutrals.

Politics was a dangerous game where one's cultivation realm would not necessarily correspond to great influence or power.

Still, Sophie was not going to lie to Luna about what showing up with her to the meeting would represent.

It was beneath her to intentionally drag Luna's family into a political battle that they did not want to take part in.

"Hmm… I think I can get three other girls to join our group but that is the limit," Leona thought for a moment and then spoke.

Atlas University had the highest population of nobles among the four great universities and Leona had maintained a decent relationship with some of her peers.

Three may seem like a small number but considering that in Duke Peterlor's faction there were only four noble heirs of high status….

It was quite the increase to the group.

"You were always better at making social connections," Sophie smiled lightly as Leona looked down with reddened cheeks.

"But make sure that you don't lie to them. It would be another handle for our enemies to grasp if it became known that we tricked people to stand on our side during the banquet."

"I may not be able to get them to join us then…. is that still okay?" Leona asked hesitantly.

"It's fine. Our original group number was enough but any other nobles who can stand on our side during the banquet would be a welcome bonus," came the swift reply.

"Did your father also tell you about those three nobles to avoid?" Sophie spoke in a strange tone as she scanned Leona's face.

"Viktor Devonshire, Raven Calarook and Allison Rosenberg," Leona rattled off the names with a serious expression.

It was not that among the thousands of noble heirs that would be present at the banquet there was no one else other than those three to be wary of.

They were simply the most dangerous of the bunch.

Sophie did not want to start any unnecessary conflicts, but she was not going to let herself be wronged.

Leona's father had the same level of information that Duke Peterlor had provided Sophie to read so there was nothing that she did not know already.

Viktor Devonshire and Raven Calarook were both easy to spot in a crowd as pictures of their faces were circulated among the virtual Net.

The only unknown factor would be Allison Rosenberg whose portrait had been intentionally wiped from all websites on the digital space.

Even information guilds had not been able to come close to revealing her true appearance as she always wore facial changing masks in both public and private.

Well, there was no use worrying about this now…

Sophie turned the conversation towards the topic of dresses and gradually Leona started to relax, and the conversation flowed more smoothly.

It was almost like the two girls had gone back in time to a more innocent past.

The rest of the night was spent devising a plan together to accomplish the goal of leaving a good impression at the meeting.

Hours passed by like a blur until the bleeping clock in the corner of Sophie's vision reminded her that it was time to sleep.

Sophie got up from her chair, shook Leona's hand firmly and gazed into the eyes of her former friend.

"I look forward to our upcoming visit to the royal palace," Sophie spoke in a steady tone.

"Yes... yes… me too!" Leona stammered nervously.