A heavy silence fell over the hall.
Hundreds of guests, dozens of great families, politicians, generals, CEOs of huge companies, and the elders of the Vorhelm family.
Everyone was waiting, waiting for Lian’s reaction.
Celestia Vorhelm was still standing in the center of the hall.
Her face looked calm, but anyone who knew her could understand how much pressure was hidden behind that calm expression.
She had asked that question on purpose, deliberately, because she wanted to put this boy in front of everyone, she wanted to see whether Lian was still the weak and inexperienced teenager from the past or not.
She wanted to see whether he could control his anger or not. If he answered the matriarch of the family in an insulting or disrespectful way, she could use that as an excuse to suppress him.
But Lian did not get angry, did not get upset, and did not even frown, he only looked at her for a few seconds.
After making that bet with Damian, he had changed his plans a little and wanted to act more carefully, but it seemed he had no choice, and he calmly said,
"If by embarrassing the family you mean losing, then don’t worry, until today I have never entered a fight to lose or to experience defeat."
"I only entered to win."
Silence, complete silence filled the hall, even the soft music in the background could no longer be heard.
Several politicians looked at each other in surprise.
One of the generals smiled.
Some of the young members of the Vorhelm family frowned, and several elders unconsciously raised their eyebrows.
Those words were not boasting, at least his tone did not sound like boasting, and that was exactly the problem, he had said them with such calmness that it sounded like he was simply stating an obvious fact.
And that was what made it dangerous, he spoke as if he had absolute confidence in every word he said and saw them as the truth.
More importantly, he said all of it with complete calmness.
At that moment Diana stepped forward, she clearly understood that things were moving toward a conflict, a gentle smile appeared on her face, then she looked at her mother and said,
"Mother." Her voice was soft, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Tonight is a birthday celebration, I don’t think anyone wants to talk about tomorrow’s competition." Then she looked at Lian and gave him a small smile.
"Right, big brother?"
Lian looked at her for a moment, then shrugged.
"I don’t have a problem with it." He was not the one who had started this discussion, he was only answering.
But the real event happened after that, the Pendragon family had been watching this whole scene from the beginning, and as the Vorhelm family’s long-time rivals... they naturally enjoyed it.
But unlike what many people expected, no one stepped in directly.
At least... not at first. A few seconds later, a woman stepped out from the crowd, she was wearing a formal black dress.
Long silver hair, silver eyes exactly like Seris, and a smile that looked a little too perfect, a woman whom many politicians in the country feared.
Lady Aurelia Pendragon, the chief diplomat of the Pendragon family, a woman who had served two terms as the Prime Minister of a country, and now worked as the Secretary General of Foreign Affairs for the Pendragon family.
She slowly walked forward and stopped directly in front of Lian, then smiled.
"So you’re Lian Vorhelm."
"And you must be Lady Aurelia Pendragon." Lian gave her a short look, it was hard not to know this woman, besides her stunning beauty, she was famous across all of North and South America.
Several people around them immediately paid more attention.
"Oh, it seems you know me quite well." Aurelia laughed.
"There is no need to know you, if I ever see a face as beautiful as yours anywhere, I will definitely remember it forever." Lian answered calmly.
Several members of the Pendragon family laughed, and even Aurelia’s smile became deeper, it was obvious that she liked that answer very much.
What woman would not be happy to have her beauty praised? Especially by a Vorhelm, by one of the Patriarch’s sons.
When Celestia saw that she had been completely pushed out of the conversation, she wanted to say something, but Aurelia did not give her the chance.
Then... the conversation began. At first it was only a simple conversation between the two of them, but little by little it changed.
Aurelia talked about politics, about the competition between neighboring countries, about other continents, about the new economic pressure, about the condition of mana crystal exports.
Her goal was simple, she wanted to test this boy, a boy who had almost become one of history’s forgotten people not long ago, and then suddenly? He drew everyone’s attention by saving one city.
If it had been someone else, maybe the Pendragon family would not have cared so much, but by fate, he was a Vorhelm, a Vorhelm who had been cast aside by his own family.
And Lian answered every question and every topic. As someone who truly thought deeply, he talked about border trade routes, about the effect monsters had on the economy of the outer regions, about how the market for Awakened equipment was growing, and about the real problems of the border cities.
He had always liked sharing his ideas about these subjects, he just had never had the chance before.
But now he could finally talk about these things with someone.
Little by little, Aurelia realized that something was strange, this boy was not only intelligent, he had reasons and logical arguments behind every opinion, and even she slowly started thinking that maybe they could make use of some of this boy’s ideas.
More and more people slowly came closer, they had become curious about their conversation.
First one politician came, then one company director, then one general, then several family elders, and then several more people.
Within only a few minutes, a small circle had formed around Lian.
"Boy, how old are you?" the old general asked with a laugh.
"Eighteen."
The general stayed silent for a few seconds, then said with admiration,
"When I was eighteen, I couldn’t even say half of these things."
Laughter spread through the group.
Their discussion became more and more lively, the more they talked with him, the more they enjoyed talking with him.
The people who only a few minutes ago wanted to leave the banquet as soon as possible, now no longer cared about the time, and simply spent their time talking with one young man.
Not too far away... Damian was watching the whole scene, another family elder was standing beside him.
"What is he doing?" he asked in surprise.
"Nothing, he’s just talking, and maybe that’s even more dangerous than using a sword, he stole everyone’s attention just by talking." Damian laughed.
On the other side of the hall... Celestia saw everything, all the politicians, generals, investors, family elders, they had all gathered around Lian.
And worst of all... even Diana was standing beside him, her own daughter!
This was the exact opposite of what she wanted, she wanted to make this boy look small, she wanted to remind everyone that Lian was only an exiled son.
But now... the entire banquet’s attention was focused on him, even the attention that should have belonged to Diana!
If this is how things are going to be, then it’s time for this banquet to end.
For a brief moment Celestia’s expression changed, only for a moment, but that one moment was enough, then her smile returned and she calmly said,
"The banquet has come to an end." Her voice echoed through the hall.
"Everyone may leave and get some rest."
Then without even looking at Lian one more time... she turned around and left the hall.
The crowd slowly began to scatter, and the guests started leaving. Aurelia was the last person still standing in front of Lian, she smiled.
"I think tomorrow’s competition will be very interesting, Mr. Vorhelm. I hope you do well, and it was a pleasure meeting you."
"I think so too." Lian smiled as well.
Aurelia nodded and left the hall together with the members of the Pendragon family.
After waving to Damian, Lian also returned to his residence. He had achieved what he wanted, he had stolen all the attention that was supposed to belong to the Vorhelm family and Celestia.
A few minutes later, when almost everyone had already left, one of the Vorhelm family elders who supported Celestia quietly looked toward the exit and muttered,
"Maybe..." He paused, his eyes stayed fixed on the place where Lian had been standing only moments before.
"...bringing that boy back was a huge mistake."