The Invitation

Emil Belmont stared at the invitation card in his hand with an inscrutable look in his grey eyes.

It was an invite to the Winter Solstice Ball. The most anticipated event of the year, where anyone who was anyone in the city of Linos was expected to be.

Emil had always been guaranteed an invitation due to his being the member and heir of one of Fiore's Founding families and due to his renown in the field of Healing, but he tended to avoid the event more often than not.

There were too many social climbers and gold diggers pushing themselves or their relatives at him in hopes of getting married into the Belmont family for him to bear attending it very frequently.

Emil also despised having to witness and partake in the peacocking, posturing, and social climbing that was abundant at any event involving Society.

At this point, he usually would have been composing a letter of polite rejection to whatever family that had taken on the task of hosting that year, but today Emil found himself hesitating.

While Emil himself would gain very little from attending, it would be a different story for his intern Yuliang Davos. Making connections with the upper class of Fiore would be very beneficial to his apprentice-brother, who would be expected to mingle among the elite frequently once his Certification was achieved.

What a waste it would be for Yuliang's future to be limited by something small like a lack of connections.

The young man just had too much potential for Emil to allow the risk of such a situation to occur.

It would also be a good opportunity for Yuliang to learn about how to conduct himself properly among the group of people who would choose to try exploiting him the most one day in the future.

With that in mind, Emil began composing his reply.