{13} Empresses Banquet! [4]

The Empress herself was a well-known beauty with long dark red hair and a seductive figure, she was an eye-catching diamond amongst everyone else here at the banquet. Partner that with the fact that this was her own personal event and she had the title of Empress, one of the highest positions in the Maxwell Dynasty, only having to lower herself to the Emperor and no one else.

It was safe to say that she was the envy of every woman here.

Still, this woman was at the moment, at least outwardly, annoyed. "Why is that boy here?"

She spoke with her voice slightly raised, enough to be heard by the Emperor even if he wasn't giving his full attention to her.

Hearing her words, although the Emperor didn't see her in any romantic way, he still bothered to at least listen to her at times. Turning his head he followed the direction the Empress was staring at and before long he found the problem at its root cause.

His eyes landed on a young man, dressed in a high quality dark black suit. His hair was cut recently and he had the family trait of the royal family, blood-red eyes! He didn't lose his cool, nor did he speak. He had trained himself to withhold showing his emotions so visibly in the eyes of lurking nobles. A necessity of a King that was supposed to rule over his subjects.

However, with all of that training and discipline, his right upper eyebrow twitched. It was hard to understand the emotions behind that sudden movement and not many would actually spot something of this finer level but the observing Empress did...

She smiled inwardly at the result she had gained from her plans but it still wasn't over yet. She composed herself and regained her calm before speaking once more, "My king, shall I have my attendant, pull him from the side, giving him an excuse to leave. The last thing we want is a fool, tarnishing the reputation of the royal family!"

The Empress specifically emphasised the word 'tarnishing' as she knew the King viewed the youngest prince as a bastard son. Refusing to give him any love, or even his basic recognition that he was his father.

The Emperor just stayed silent for a moment or two as he looked at the boy that was now smiling calmly and interacting with the few nobles around him. But he spoke shortly after, "That's not necessary, let him be..."

"After all, he will have to learn sooner or later to involve himself in these types of events, that's if he plans to at least do something worthy of his position and his empire..."

The Empress seeing that the King didn't immediately banish him from the palace was still a little reluctant but she quickly got rid of that thought as she showed a smile with a hidden viciousness.

"I see, the King is benevolent as always!"

The king didn't reply to her blatant flattery and started to descend the steps to the main hall, leaving the Empress and the others by themselves. If they stayed any longer then the nobles would begin to question their hosts and complain.

The Empress waited for the King to walk out of hearing distance before her facade partly broke, muttering hateful words to vent her anger, "Damm, I guess the king is more patient than before, holding his own frustrations back just to stay in control of the nobles. Ah, that boy is way too lucky..."

Her eyes darted back to Leon as he too looked at her and gave her a subtle smile, "Just you wait... Sooner or later you will make a mistake and fall victim to your normal criticism of the nobles that bow before me and my son..."

All while the conversation was being played, stood a nervous girl with long blonde hair and red eyes, clenching her fists tightly, standing in the shadow of the Empress.

This girl was Rosie Maxwell, also attending the Banquet under orders of the Empress herself. She was being used as a puppet to be displayed today as her coming of age ceremony was fast approaching. When that day passed, she would be legally allowed to marry in the Maxwell dynasty.

And for someone in the position of Empress, she of course had the final say as to who Rosie would marry and join for the rest of her life. The Empress planned to use this to her advantage and gain a crucial ally for her son when he ascended to the throne.

With her venting out the way, she turned to Rosie and gave her a glare of great intensity that caused Rosie to slightly whimper in fear, "Rosie, make sure you do your best to impress the candidates for your marriage. If you mess up, you'll come to regret it, do you understand?"

Rosie was filled with anger and frustrations towards this witch standing in front of her, so vicious yet pretending to be perfect around others, yet she couldn't do anything but give in to the situation, "I understand, now shall we go?"

She responded with a coldness, making her displeasure evident but this was nothing new to the Empress and when she heard the response she just smiled it off and descended the steps.

*****

-Leon's POV-

As soon as he saw the doors at the top of the stairs opening, he was filled with many conflicting emotions. One he didn't want to see the face of his 'father', as that man, even to the end, didn't do a single thing for him in his troubling times in his past life.

Second, he didn't want to even lay eyes on the old witch of a woman, the Empress. Since if he did he didn't know if he could withhold his anger from erupting and shocking the entire capital.

But the final thing he was in fact impatient to witness, was his older sister's face once again.

When he saw the Emperor and Empress, conversing at the top of the stairs he began to take part in the conversation around him about the entrance of the royal family, some more daring Nobles even asked him about their designers and complemented their appearances. Trying to gain contacts or chances to flatter the prince in the hopes of receiving a reward.

To which, Leon just smiled and cursed inwardly that they were all stupid imbeciles, riddled with greed. However, all while he felt a gaze burning through the side of his skull, not wanting to give away his ability to pick up on such a thing he didn't meet the gaze. Since that would cause some questions to be asked for whoever it was so focused on him with such emotions behind them.

[That old man really doesn't like me aha, It's funny how I can recognise these things now I have knowledge and experiences of awareness and senses!]

Finally, after a few moments after the gaze retracted he looked towards the staircase, searching for the one thing he had mainly come here for...

[Rosie... Where are you...]

His thoughts abruptly stopped, as his eyes lay upon a beautiful lady descending the red silked staircase.

"Rosie!" He instinctively called out for.

Hearing the voice of her little brother, Rosie Maxwell, couldn't help but show a smile, slightly increasing her speed at descending the steps.

"Brother Leon, I've missed you!" Her smile was radiant that lit up the room.

Leon seeing it after so long was unburdened by many things he was still carrying around with him from his past life. It was almost as if at that moment he fully accepted his reincarnation into his younger self.

"I've missed you too, big sis!" Leon's eyes showed a small tear, as he smiled brightly.

Rosie was comforting as she rustled his hair slightly and wiped his tear from his right eye before giving him a small warning out of concern, "Listen, Leon, you have to maintain your appearance here, many people are watching right now!"

"Hmm, I understand sis! Shall we go get a drink and catch up? I have loads to talk about!" Leon got back to his conversation.

"Mhm, let's go but I have responsibilities to take care of soon, so let's catch up after as well! Ok!"

Their behaviour was slightly awkward as Leon just wanted to hug his sister and tell her about everything that had happened but he at least had the mindest of a 29-year-old to help him not make a fool of himself and his sister at the banquet!

[Even in this situation, I can't be myself, always having to be mindful of my behaviour. So god damm tiring!]

[Still, I'll make the most out of this situation! Who cares about some stupid, brainless nobles!]