Chapter Nine: Alex's Tenth Birthday

Alex was standing in front of his mirror. He was wearing a black suit with a purple tie. Eve was currently helping him straighten his tie since Alex had never worn a tie before, in both this life and his previous one. He had never had the occasion to do so. He wasn't rich, and his aunt in his previous life couldn't really afford fine dining, which he didn't mind, but now in his new life, he has gotten used to new things.

"Thanks for the help, Eve." Alex said, looking at Eve.

"No problem, master." Eve said as she bowed.

Alex sighed "Eve, I told you not to do all that, especially when it's just us here."

"But I have to; you're my master after all." Eve said, bowing. She was trained by both Kaede and Mary to be a good maid, and that included addressing Alex, Raven, and Anna all in the appropriate way a maid should.

Alex turned to look at Eve before grabbing her hands and looking at her in the eyes. "I'm only your master in name; to me, you're my close friend Eve, so please just call me Alex when it's just us, alright?"

Eve's head lowered before saying "Yes, Ma- I mean Alex."

"Good, I just need you to practice it." Alex said it with a smile. "By the way, Eve, do you know when it'll be time to get going?" Alex wasn't a fan of being addressed as Master, at least not in the way that Eve was using the term. He would rather be treated like he wasn't put on a pedestal since he wasn't used to that kind of treatment.

Eve nodded her head. "Twenty Minutes. Your mother and sister are currently getting ready. After that, Kaede and a local adventurer guild member will escort you to the party at the Blackwood Mansion."

"We hired a guild member?" Alex asked.

"Yes, her name is Leonora; she's an A-rank adventurer, and Anna has used her help before, so she's familiar with your family. She's trusted." Eve explained.

The Adventurers Guild was one of several types of guilds around the continent. The Adventurers Guild was used to investigate hostile areas, escort high-profile people around the empire, and take care of things in the cities and towns, for a price, of course. Then there was the Mercenary Guild, a more hardcore kind of guild that, instead of being more like public servants, used their services as hired soldiers for armies and private militias. They were filled with criminals who took a better path and soldiers who were discharged for...reasons. And finally, there was the Assassins Guild. A guild that hid itself in the underground and was only ever hired to kill people. Someone would hire them to take care of someone for a steep price, and the guild would send a nearby assassin to complete the job. The guild was illegal, of course, but the government could never find their headquarters. Nobody knew where the assassins would come from or be trained, but they were some of the deadliest killers you could ever meet.

"Good...knowing our 'father' can't afford not to take certain measures." Alex said. "Who picked this suit out, by the way?"

"Your mother and aunt designed your entire family's dresses and hired a local tailor to do the work." Eve explained.

Alex looked at the jacket; it was made of fine materials, so he knew these things weren't cheap. It was probably the most expensive outfit he had worn in both of his lives.

Alex also knew that Edmund and the new mistress of his father would not be in attendance, which means knowing both of them drama would be a guarantee. Edmund had backed off, provoking Alex and Raven since Alex completely wiped him out with his lightning, but he still saw the dirty looks that Edmund would give them when they saw each other. Not to mention Edward's mistress, who had tried to provoke Anna, which didn't end well for her. In short, Ada had talked trash about Alex and Raven, which didn't go well as Anna used her magic to zap Ada's hair, causing parts of it to burn. Afterwards, Ada begged Edward to do something, but he couldn't at the time, and Ada was now sporting a shorter hair style.

As Alex was talking to Eve about some small things, he heard a knock on his door and said "Come in."

The person who opened the door was Amelie, who was wearing a long red dress that matched her hair color.

"Hey Alex, everyone's almost ready." Amelie said it with a smile.

"Okay, I'll be out soon." Alex said while nodding his head.

Amelie left, and Alex finished getting ready before walking out to the living room.

When Alex arrived at the living room, the first person he saw was Kaede, who was wearing a bright blue long dress that Alex could only describe as elegant. She looked beautiful in it and made Alex slightly blush upon seeing it. Kaede, despite living with Alex for his entire life, still looked like she was in her late teens, which went against natural aging. When Alex asked his mother about this, she declined to answer but said one day he would learn why.

Next to Kaede was Raven, who was wearing a black dress with purple designs on the skirt of it, matching Alex's black suit and purple tie. Raven also had a purple hairband on her head.

"You two look beautiful." Alex said, walking in.

Kaede coldly said thanks, but in an opposite reaction, Raven asked Alex "Really?"

"Yeah, you look great, Raven." Alex said it with a smile.

Raven blushed after hearing this and said "You look handsome too, like a prince!"

As the two were talking, Lyanna, Anna, Amelie, and Mary all walked out of Anna's room.

Anna was wearing a long, dark purple dress that had an opening exposing part of her left leg. She was dressed very seductively, and Alex knew she would be the focus of everyone's attention when the party began. Lyanna, however, was wearing a similar dress to her sister, it being a long purple dress, but her dress exposed slightly more of her chest area and had a mostly open back part, once again another femme fatale, as Alex could tell the two of them would cause mouths to drop.

"Well, don't my children just look great!" Anna said, looking at both Alex and Raven.

Once everyone gathered in the living room, Anna decided to tell both Alex and Raven something important.

"Listen, this wasn't my idea, but I couldn't stop Edward from making his plans. Today both of you will meet two marriage candidates each, and more than likely Edward will push heavily to get both of you married."

"Marriage candidates?" Raven asked.

"Why, we're only ten; we can't even get engaged until we're sixteen." Alex said.

"Yes, but Edward wants to secure deals early. Alex, you will be meeting the second daughter of the Goldburn family, Sophia, and the third daughter of the Hawthorne family, Ashley. Raven, you will be meeting the first son of the Tarren family, Oliver, and the first son of the St. Claire family, Phillip."

"Do we have to?" Raven asked, almost begging her mother to not allow that.

Anna knelt down and looked at her daughter. "Only meet with them; trust me, I won't allow Edward to move any further with his plans."

Alex nodded, understanding what he must do. He would meet with both of his marriage candidates, but he would also make sure the Tarren and St. Claire boys stayed to themselves. Alex was always protective of Raven, and that wouldn't stop now. He also had to make sure Edward or anyone else didn't try to go after Anna and Lyanna. Despite just having learned magic two years prior, he was already well versed in his magical power and would be a capable threat to anyone he needed to fight.

"It'll be okay, Raven; I'll make sure they behave themselves." Alex said he was helping Raven calm down.

Raven made an internal vow to stick close to Alex, especially since he was meeting other girls there as well, which she didn't like very much. "Nobody's taking my brother away from me." she thought to herself.

The group left the house, and waiting for them was the adventurer that Anna and Lyanna had hired. She was tall and very well built, with dark skin and long silver hair. Her eye color was bright green, which shocked Alex since he had never seen bright green eyes like hers before.

"Hey Leonora!" Anna said, greeting the adventurer. "Thank you for accepting our deal."

"Hello, Ms. Blackwood. And no problem, a simple escort should be easy enough, but like you told me earlier, I'll keep my eye out for anything else." Leonora said.

With that, the three arrived at the Blackwood Mansion, and with tons of attention on them, they all felt uncomfortable here.

Alex said under his breath, "Into the wolf's den we go."

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