Rumors spread quickly in the Lix Estate.
The long marble hallway echoed with quiet whispers as maids passed by carrying trays and linens.
"Did you hear about what happened?" soone said in a whisper. "Felicia lost her mind yesterday."
"What are you talking about?"
"I heard a rumor that says it’s because of the person Alia brought with her from the Royal Capital."
It had been only a day, and all kinds of rumors about had already been circulating throughout the Lix Estate. It seed that this nasty maid hadn’t kept her mouth shut and spread so annoying rumors about .
"Shush! H-He might hear you..."
I rolled my eyes internally at how stupid those maids were. I couldn’t care less. With Felicia gone, Alia was bound to be slightly more comfortable around the Lix Estate.
"Still... where do you think she found him?"
"Did she hire him as a bodyguard?"
Just as I was about to ignore them and move about my day, Alia, who had been walking next to , suddenly clenched her fists. Her shoulders stiffened before she turned sharply toward the maids.
"Stop talking about soone you know nothing about!"
I glanced into her eyes and saw a glimpse of hatred flashing across them.
The maids who had been whispering about all froze mid-step, their faces turning pale. After all, they were probably shocked to see Alia angry. It was probably the first ti they had seen her like that.
It was already clear after spending a few days with her, but Alia really was always nice to those around her. She never showed her true feelings, keeping them locked on the inside only for her to see.
"W-We’re sorry, Lady Alia..." one of them said with a stutter before bowing quickly, lowering her head. "W-We didn’t an any harm."
"F-Fine! J-Just don’t do it again!" Alia said, stuttering.
She clearly wasn’t used to ordering them around. As crazy as it might sound, she looked sorry for the maid in front of her even after everything she had said.
But then, just as we were about to leave, a new person appeared at the end of the hallway.
His footsteps echoed lightly against the polished floor.
He had short red hair, red eyes, and a certain aura with each step he took. His posture was straight, confident, the kind of presence that made the nearby servants instinctively move aside.
There was no doubt that he was just like Alia, a direct mber of the Lix Family.
"Are you really the harmless Alia I know~?" he teased as he leisurely walked in our direction, his lips curling into a playful smile. "To think that a year in the Royal Capital would change you that much."
Alia, who had just shown a hint of self-confidence, instantly lost her composure. Her shoulders tensed and she instinctively took a step back. Not saying a word, she hid behind as if asking to protect her from the person approaching.
"Oh~!" he smiled at as he extended his right hand. "Nice to et you, I’m Alia’s older brother, Oliver Lix."
I glanced at his hand and imdiately felt a strong aura coming from it. His fingers were slightly tense, as if waiting for the mont I grabbed it.
It seed he wanted to show the difference between our statuses.
’Mhm. So that’s how you want to play it, huh?’
I grabbed his hand as I watched Oliver’s friendly smile slowly turn into a wicked one.
Our hands tightened.
I could tell that he was trying as hard as he could to crush my hand. His knuckles turned white as he applied more pressure, veins appearing on the back of his hand.
But no matter how hard he tried, nothing would work.
’He seems to have a decent Physical Body. It seems he doesn’t completely rely on his Mana to fight against others, not bad. Still, I can hardly call this a challenge.’
Acting as if I couldn’t feel his strength, I greeted him back.
"Nice to et you, my na is Yike Vale."
Flustered, he tried his best to keep his composure. His smile twitched slightly.
"Vale? I’ve never heard of this noble family. Where is it from?"
"Ah, it seems you got sothing mixed up. I’m not a noble."
His eyes widened for a split second.
However, he quickly hid his reaction and straightened his posture, though I could still see what he thought of .
Disgust.
"I see. Well, it was nice to et you, commoner." He tapped my shoulder with forced politeness. "I’ll take a walk with my sister now. You’re dismissed."
I could feel Alia’s fingers tightly holding onto the back of my shirt.
Right as Oliver was about to walk past , I stopped him by raising my arm in his way.
"Hm. Right... I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can let you do that."
Oliver slowly turned his head toward , his expression darkening.
"A commoner is ordering around? Have you lost your damn mind?"
I stayed emotionless.
It wasn’t the first ti that soone had looked down on . The more they underestimated , the better.
Seeing as I was not moving, Oliver changed tactics.
"Alia. Co and take a walk with ." His tone beca colder. "If you don’t, then you know what will happen to your new friend here, right?"
The mont I heard those words coming out of his mouth, everything I had witnessed made a lot more sense.
Felicia, the maid, was overconfident because of Oliver.
He was probably the one making sure Alia was living a hell inside the Lix Estate. He might not be the sole reason, but it seed that this kind of situation happened often in the past from the way he spoke.
"Y-Yes, brother..." Alia instinctively walked forward and forced a smile, though her voice trembled slightly. "I’ll be fine. You can go now."
"Do you really want to go on this walk?" I asked.
Alia seed stunned for a mont as she stopped in her tracks.
However, she stayed silent.
I stared back into her eyes and asked again,
"Do you want to go?"
I could see her glance nervously between her brother and , hesitating.
There was no doubt that she didn’t want to go. However, it wasn’t like I could force her to make the choice.
Still, I could influence her.
"Forget about everything else. What is it that you want to do?"
The look of hesitation suddenly disappeared.
Instead, both her cheeks turned bright red, and she lowered her gaze, unable to et my eyes.
"I-I want to stay here with you..."
Just as she began walking in my direction, Oliver placed his hand on her right shoulder.
"Alia."
Just by calling out her na did she stop.
It looked as if Oliver was her master.
A sigh escaped my mouth as I grabbed Oliver’s hand and forcefully removed it from his sister.
"I’m sorry. It doesn’t seem like she’s interested in spending ti with you."
"You’re only a commoner! Do you think you can handle the consequences of ssing with ?"
Oliver’s body shook with anger.
His expression twisted before he suddenly clenched his left fist and swung it toward my face.
I moved out of the way with ease, humiliating him even more.
His fist cut through empty air.
"Guards! Detain this commoner right away!"
Heavy footsteps echoed down the hallway.
I smirked as I was face-first on the ground with my arms tightly held behind my back by two armored guards.
’It seems that I will be eting with the Lix Patriarch, after all.’
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