"Ethan" a voice entered Ethan's left ear calling out to him and leaving from his right.
"Ethan!" The voice called out again but in vain as Ethan was In a state of solitariness.
Earlene, who had also freed herself from the crowd surrounding her, had moved aside to the corner, leaving her father and the other nobles behind.
Coincidentally, she had also chosen the sa corner at the window side where Ethan was standing, looking outside at the brightly lit city blanketed by the luminous luster of the half-moon.
Although his face was stoic, as soone who had spent a lot of ti with him in recent years, Earlene guessed that he seed to be in deep lancholy. And so she called out to him.
"Ethan!"
Earlene called out again as she gently tugged at Ethan's shoulder waking him out of his reverie.
"Oh… It's you." Ethan muttered nonchalantly as he looked at Earlene.
"Are you not happy? What is the matter?" Earlene asked with concern, looking doubtful.
This was not the first ti Ethan had acted this way. He would often fall in a daze fixedly staring at sothing in lancholy and desolation. Earlene could never understand why this was so. Why did Ethan feel like he yearned for sothing when in reality, he had everything?
"Would you believe if I said that I regret being born in a household like the White Family?" Ethan muttered, gazing at the city lights down below at a distance.
Earlene beca silent and thought for a second as a slight smile imdiately appeared on her face.
"You're such a liar." Said Earlene.
"Oh? Really?" Ethan asked in confusion.
"Hmph, you think that you can read anyone's mind, don't you? But the truth is that you don't even know what your own heart truly desires. Or maybe you know exactly what it is but refuse to acknowledge it." Earlene scoffed and said scornfully.
Ethan's eyes narrowed as he felt like his heart was just now pierced by a needle. "Shut up!" He uttered aggravatingly.
"See? You're such a liar that you even lie to yourself. Is it peace and quiet you wish for or you're simply trapped in a cage woven by your own mind?"
Suddenly an image from Ethan's past life flashed through his mind as he heard Earlene's words.
It was the hazy image of a dark room, a rope hanging by the ceiling fan. The sirens of ambulance ringing in the background—
Ethan's forehead was drenched with sweat for a short amount of ti as his hands trembled. Not wishing to imagine further, Ethan abruptly closed his eyes tightly, clenched his fists, and took deep breaths to calm himself. Earlene saw this as she stretched her eyes and understood that sothing was off. She did not pry further, simply standing by him and gazing outside. As if they had a tacit understanding, both fell into silence.
"I have sothing to say," Earlene said, moving her head downwards.
"Go ahead."
"I have been here for over a year now. And I can't believe that there is nothing more left to teach you. Usually, it would have taken at least two to three years for basic education. But I truly have nothing else to teach you…"
"Yes, since I had nothing else to do, I spent all my energy and ti on learning. You were a good tutor, Miss Earlene." Ethan said as he turned his head and looked at her with a smile.
"So you already realized?" Earlene asked as she smiled resignedly.
"How could I have not? As you said… I'm good at reading people." Ethan replied.
Earlene sighed in response, determination flashing through her eyes as she looked straight into Ethan's eyes.
"Although I was supposed to teach you, I think I have learned more from you. I truly believe that you will create big waves in this world if you wish for it. I also learned that my current self is not capable enough for what my aspirations are." Earlene said with a helpless tone.
"And thus you wish to leave. Then will you go back ho?" Ethan asked in a plain voice.
"No, I will go to the capital. There are more opportunities there."
"I see… I wish you good luck then. Although I do have so advice for you." Ethan said, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Oh? Please enlighten ." Earlene asked with interest in a curious tone.
"The world might soon fall into turbulence. You should be prepared but at the sa ti, chaos is the mother of opportunity. Do you understand?"
Earlene thought about it but couldn't comprehend why the world would fall into chaos all of a sudden when everything seed just fine. Although there were so situations brewing, surely not enough to bring about absolute chaos. This is what Earlene thought. But since this ca from Ethan she kept it in her mind although not believing it completely.
Ethan saw Earlene nod in skepticism. He didn't think anyone would believe him if he randomly began rambling that the world was going to crack open. He simply needed Earlene to subconsciously know the possibility so that it would affect her future decisions accordingly.
Both of them once again beca silent after the short conversation and turned to the window.
It was the early hour of the evening and thus the city was still bustling. This ti even more so as many travelers had co from afar and were enjoying the pleasures of twilight. This consisted of the guards of the various Lords who were feasting in the banquet at the castle, the underlings of the rchants, and personnel.
From the castle, the city looked as if countless stars had descended on the land due to the illumination of torches and lamps. This scene of prosperity brought a smile to Ethan's face amidst the lancholy.
At this mont, Albaer, who was conversing with a variety of guests, noticed that Ethan was not with him. His gaze wandered around the hall and finally halted on Ethan.
Excusing himself from the masses, Albaer walked up to Ethan and dragged Ethan with him away from the solidarity.
He then personally introduced various Lords and Sirs to him urging him to make everyone's acquaintance.
Ethan sighed hopelessly and then put on a fake smile on his face as he courteously talked with everyone with a respectable tone and graceful conduct, making good impressions left and right.
He even actively participated in intellectual discussions showing off a bit of his intellect but not at the point of attracting trepidation. Whoever spoke with him had their jaw dropped with amazent as they thought it was only natural for Ethan to have this much intellect as soone who had an early awakening.
As a side effect, so nobles shalessly tried to propose marriages but Albaer swiftly refused them politely. However, Ethan could sense faint ridicule in his eyes which made Ethan sigh inwardly with relief.
After the casual gossip and chit-chat, Albaer went to the business as he discussed a trade deal of food supply with the dignitary and rchants from the Kingdom of Kahnver.
The Kingdom of Kahnver had fertile lands and an agricultural-based economy. Naturally, this made the kingdom very important to its neighbors.
A deal was finally made after many negotiations as Albaer managed to secure two years' worth of food supply at a slightly increased price from the usual.
As the supply was low, even the Kingdom of Kahnver had been having problems and so the deal that Albaer managed to secure was already quite good.
Ethan did not think much of the low food supply as fluctuations due to unfortunate circumstances were normal especially in a 'non-peaceful' world like Akarxia. However, he did not completely ignore the detail either as he made a ntal note.
Then Albaer introduced Ethan to the branch manager of the Kuber rchant Company.
Ethan was very interested in this person as the Silva rchant Company was a rather mysterious entity in the Atrana Kingdom.
It started as small as any other but then recently exploded in its rise to the top overtaking any other rchant company. The most intriguing thing about this entity was that no one knew who owned the company.
With ingenious business strategies and maneuvers, it crushed all the opponents easily. Many tried to investigate the identity of the mysterious owner and the secret to their teoric successes but to no avail.
So even tried to make trouble for the company by malicious ans but the next day the heads of the culprits were seen thrown in front of the instigator rchant company's gates as a warning.
After that, no one dared to ss with the Kuber rchant Company, and those who did suffered the sa rciless fate.
This had piqued Ethan's interest and he thoroughly carved the image of the branch manager in his mind as he knew that sooner or later he would surely look into this enigmatic company.
Half an hour passed and Ethan was introduced to every significant person in the room and so more by Albaer. It seed as if the banquet was finally coming to an end, however, the final and most anticipated event was yet to take place.
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