Auditory Hallucinations

Donellan without raising any attention to himself, proceeded to cast a barrier over the entire palace making sure to leave no place untouched. 

"Projicio omne malum et maleficium, quod etiam in me est, nullum telum, nullum incantamentum, nulla mendacia, nulla in me ficta fraus succedet. Accende lumen meum et revela inimicos meos."  He said in a barely audible voice. 

No one in the entire place could feel the barrier being cast at all.

That's how powerful Donellan was. If it hadn't been for the King's sensitivity to all things magic related, even he wouldn't have been able to feel it being cast.

Asmodeus sensing the difference could only smile to himself. 

"So it's started huh?" Beside him a voice said: "What started father?" Asmodeus turned to look at his eldest son, who had just arrived. 

"Nothing for you to worry about, go join Johannes and your brother over there." He said while pushing his son toward that direction.

This action did bother him a little, but he obeyed his father nonetheless and went on to find his little brother. 

Meanwhile, Simuel who had found the guys, was laughing and having fun while listening to Amethyst's complaints.

Suddenly, his face that had been adorned with a smile got crestfallen.

Looking a bit confused by the sudden change in his demeanour, I sensed a presence behind me and quickly turned around only to find a young boy, who looked about the same age as Johannes, with long dark blue hair being contained in a ponytail.

The youth had almond shaped eyes, with an iridescent blue hue to them.

His features were soft and delicate, but there was a certain calculating manner in the way he was looking at us, as if he was evaluating everyone and everything in the room.

Despite his delicate features, the energy around him was enough to make event the strongest man do a double take. I could only describe him with a singular word.

Intense.

For awhile, no one really said anything. Both Amethyst and the newcomer had been staring at each other for what felt like hours.

It wasn't until Johannes spoke up that the two broke away from their staring contest. Which I was thankful for, since it was starting to get a little awkward. 

"Alexandria, you finally made it!" Johannes said enthusiastically. 

The person in question immediately changed his bearings and smiled brightly upon seeing Johannes address him.

"Of course, I wouldn't miss it for the world. I was so caught up in my training, that I lost track of time." He said regrettably. 

"As long as you're here all is well." Johannes replied back, while patting him on the shoulder. 

Alexandria then as if finally noticing my presence, turned to look at me.

"Who is this?" He asked, his eyes eyeing me with curiosity. 

"Right, this is Simuel Grey. We recently got acquainted back when he visited the capital and quickly became friends. Simuel, this is Prince Alexandria, Amethyst's older brother." Johannes said, introducing us. 

I gave Alexandria a warm smile while saying: "It is a pleasure to meet you your Highness." I said politely.

"Likewise. I heard a lot about you from Johannes." He said. 

"Oh, only good things I hope." I said jokingly in order to lighten the mood. Sensing what I was trying to do, Johannes gave me a thankful smile. 

"Of course, Johannes isn't one to speak ill of others. But I must say it rather surprising to see you here." 

"Right, it took a bit of convincing from my dad to get me here." I laughed nonchalantly. 

Of course this was a lie, dad was rather eager to come, given his plan and what not, but I certainly couldn't admit that the only reason we came here was to catch the psycho that ruined my life.

Although I was smiling politely, the tone that I used with my last comment indicated that I didn't want to pursue to subject any longer.

And person with sense could piece that together, and luckily for me, these people knew how to read the room.

While we continued to converse, I could see from the corner of my eye that Serya was signalling to my dad that something was going on.

The look on his face suddenly turned dark, and although Serya tried to keep a calm and composed face, she was panicking a little. 

After their little interaction, the both of them left the ballroom without arousing any suspicion or causing a commotion.

Feeling a little worried, I wanted to follow them in order to make sure everything was okay, when suddenly I heard a voice in my head telling me not to move. The voice I heard, sounded both familiar and unfamiliar to me.

At first, I thought I might've been hearing things, but when I heard the voice for a second time, I knew that this wasn't a mere illusion or my mind playing tricks on me.

The voice was much more distinct and clear. This was a man talking to me via voice transmission or what seemed like voice transmission.

Normally a person on my level, no matter how powerful the Grey blood ran through my veins, I was not at a level where I could hear voice transmissions. 

A little lesson on voice transmission for those of you who are not familiar with this concept.

It is the ability to speak to someone without having to say anything out loud.

This technique was once used by soldiers and spies for covert missions back in the day but has since been used my anyone with the talent to learn it.

It's basically telepathic communication, and takes a high level of mana to execute it.

Therefore me hearing this voice in my head shouldn't be possible. This could only mean one thing.

I remember back in the capital when we visited Ms. Levinseon.

When someone performs a mental attack on you, they essentially have partial control over your psyche, meaning they can speak to you through your mind.

So when you hear a voice in your head, it's usually your attacker trying to control you. ( Or you could be suffering from auditory hallucinations and need to seek help immediately.)  This realization made my entire body freeze. 

I knew exactly who this person was, and what they wanted. I didn't make another move but slowly started to move my eyes, looking around the entire room, in hopes I would find the bastard.

I then made eye contact with one particular gentleman who looked like he had been observing me for some time.

Now I couldn't confirm wether or not the guy we had been looking for was in fact this gentleman considering how I could never get a clear image of the scarred mans face.

And the guy in front of me had half his face covered in a mask.

But anyone who has a brain and knows how to use it correctly, can deduce that, one, it's very weird to show up to a party like this with half their face covered, standing in a corner, not mingling or interacting with anyone, and quietly observing a six year-old child is not normal. (I would hope it's not).

And even if I hadn't deduced any of this, I could tell with my gut that this was Mathias Braunt.