Chapter 67: Mivelo

"Who’s sitting in the great Zoldia family’s room? Anyone recognize him?"

"...Did Zoldia genuinely become this careless? Was the card stolen or something?"

"Hmm... he actually looks kind of familiar, doesn’t he?"

"....."

VIP seating, or rather, the rooms specifically reserved for members of the great families. That was exactly the room Julian now found himself occupying.

He found himself in a genuinely awkward situation within seconds. Sitting there, in a seat that clearly wasn’t his to begin with.

"Look at his expression, he doesn’t look confused or guilty at all? Somebody, please do something about him! And where the hell is Lord Lurker anyway?"

Whispers kept rippling through the air, and even envoys from other great families seated to Julian’s left and right all turned to stare directly at him, question marks practically hanging over their heads.

Wondering where exactly this lost stranger had come from, ending up in the Zoldia family’s room out of nowhere?

Had the guards simply let him through? Or had he just gotten lucky enough to slip in unnoticed?

Julian sat there holding his plate of pastries, frozen completely stiff, his expression blank and flat, though deep inside, he genuinely felt like crying.

’No way, no way, what’s actually happening here? LURKER! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?’

Julian had somehow lost every ounce of respect he’d held for Lurker over this whole mess. I mean, Julian had finally pieced together every strange incident that had happened to him so far.

The reason the guard had been so shocked handing over that card, the reason Daren had kept insulting him. All of it because the card Lurker had given him was a VIP card, one meant exclusively for great families.

’I-I need to get out of here, right?’ Yes, Julian was absolutely certain he needed to leave this place immediately. But with every single gaze locked onto him, his body had frozen so completely he couldn’t move a muscle.

That’s when Julian tried his absolute best to lift his head, genuinely trying his hardest, searching for some way to escape this place, but...

"Hey, you’re Julian Clair, right? Master and Guardian of that little monster."

"....!"

Julian was startled by a voice coming from the neighboring room. He glanced over and found a man with a strikingly familiar appearance. Not just familiar because he resembled someone, but because Julian genuinely recognized him, having seen him on social media before.

Neatly combed black hair, skin as pale as milk, and eyes radiating overwhelming confidence, the exact same blue as the sky.

Cessel Mivelo.

Kina’s second older brother.

Julian’s expression darkened the instant he recognized the figure standing opposite him. Not just opposite, but they were, fundamentally, siblings by blood, even if from different mothers.

’What does this thug want from me? He looks so damn arrogant... Meanwhile Kina, sure, she’s short-tempered, but she doesn’t carry that same arrogant look on her face at all.’

Julian genuinely felt the urge to throw the pastry off his plate straight into that face. But he simply stayed still and nodded.

"That’s me."

He answered as coldly as he possibly could, not entirely because of his Talent’s effect, but because Julian did it deliberately, on purpose.

Of course, nothing actually changed on the outside either way.

Cessel nodded back and laughed. "Ah, I’ve heard a lot about you, haha. But, I’m curious, what are you doing sitting there? Do you know that’s Lurker’s seat, you know?"

The moment that question was raised, the door behind Julian suddenly swung open, revealing Lurker stepping in.

"So? What’s wrong with that?" Lurker moved forward, standing across from Julian. "I don’t recall the Mivelo family ever being this eager to meddle in other people’s business."

"Hmm..." Cessel looked genuinely startled, clearly not expecting Lurker to have deliberately handed over his own seat. The man paused for a moment, then suddenly seemed to catch on. "Ah! I see. Haha, sorry if I got a bit curious. But turns out you actually know how to use your head, Lurker? I never expected you’d get close to his guardian just to sway his sponsorship choice in your favor later."

Listening to their exchange made Julian realize just how completely in the dark he’d genuinely been.

’So, fundamentally, this was Lurker’s plan all along, being kind to me just to make sure I’d choose him as Kina’s sponsor later?’

Was that actually it?

If that really was the case, then clearly, Lurker had already succeeded. Ah, even without all this kindness, Lurker would’ve almost certainly been chosen anyway. After all, he knew Kina’s true identity, yet had been willing to keep that secret safe.

That alone was already more than honest enough.

"Could you two stop arguing already? It’s incredibly noisy, you know?"

Then, a different voice rang out from across the way, from Julian’s other side. It belonged to a woman with pink hair flowing down to her waist, a woman wearing glasses, her orange-colored eyes visible behind the lenses.

Julian also recognized this woman, the wife of the head of the great Remielle family.

Alena Remielle.

The woman lifted one leg, crossing it over the other. She raised her hand, revealing a cigar before finally taking a drag from it.

Puff!

She exhaled, releasing a stream of smoke curling up toward the ceiling.

"The event’s been delayed because of you two. I think you should both just save whatever you’re arguing about for later, once this whole thing wraps up."

Cessel shot the woman a look of obvious irritation, a smile still on his face, clearly displeased at being interrupted. But since what Alena had said was true, Cessel didn’t push back, simply looking away with a light huff.

Meanwhile, Lurker said nothing. That was because Julian was currently staring at him with that same blank expression, which immediately made Lurker feel genuinely anxious.

"...Lord Lurker, why didn’t you tell me this was your seat? If I’d known, things probably would’ve gone a lot smoother."

Lurker recognized clearly enough that he’d made a mistake here. So he didn’t hesitate to apologize, well, why would he hesitate at all?

"I apologize for that, Lord Julian. I genuinely had no idea this would happen. Either way, my intention behind doing this was to demonstrate that I will always stand firmly on Lord Julian’s side."

’Oh?’ Julian felt a flicker of surprise hearing that. He studied Lurker’s expression and found the man looked genuinely serious about what he’d just said. ’So he really didn’t mean for this to happen. And beyond that... he did this to prove his sincerity?’

Julian blinked a few times. ’What exactly has he misunderstood about me to go this far?’

Julian tried to recall, just in case he’d somehow developed amnesia or something. But he couldn’t remember anything at all, it felt reasonable enough that everyone else might misunderstand things, even Lurker himself made sense to some degree.

Still, Lurker felt like he was taking things a bit too far. Wasn’t he from a great family in the Elite Region?

So why was he the one being the most dramatic about all this?

Why was this man acting as though he’d just crossed paths with someone on a level far above his own?

His behavior genuinely made no sense.

"In that case, I’ll stand up. This is your seat after all."

It was hard to wrap his head around, and Julian could only hope he’d get his answers soon enough. He started to rise, but, well, just as expected, Lurker stopped him.

"You should stay seated right there, Lord Julian."