Elsewhere, the empress of the Walentia Empire was chatting and laughing with Lady Dorothia at the banquet.
Dorothia Angelos was the only daughter of the Duke of Angelos, a true noble princess of exalted birth. Although it had not been publicly announced, the Duke of Angelos was backing the second prince as the next emperor, and Empress Salvaselite had close ties with the Angelos family.
Dorothia was certain that she would be the main star of this banquet, but soon her spotlight would be stolen by Elodie.
She noticed that the mercenary king Ryan had never appeared at any imperial function before. Yet now he was standing with the ruffian of House Pedia, which made Dorothia instantly burn with jealousy. What angered her even more was that the entire Duke of Pedia's family had shown up in full, shredding to pieces right then and there all the rumors about discord in House Pedia.
In Dorothia's eyes, the star of the banquet, the center of social attention, the social butterfly — Elodie effortlessly took everything she had wanted. And so Dorothia began to hate her.
Meanwhile, the first prince had just finished his work. His secretary reported, "Lady Elodie has appeared in full dress at the empress's banquet."
The first prince frowned. "Who did she go with?"
The secretary answered, "Apparently with an unfamiliar man."
Upon hearing this, the first prince immediately threw on his cloak and headed straight for the banquet.
At the banquet, Elodie was hemmed in by her two brothers, who insisted on dragging her off to dance. If not for the Duchess stepping in to stop them in time, she would have died of embarrassment on the spot.
Other nobles whispered among themselves. Since when did the Duke's family get along so well?
Even Elodie herself started to question reality. What on earth is going on with our family?
What followed was that inexplicable sense of inferiority within her. The Duke of Pedia, one of the four great family power holders. The Duchess, one of the continent's foremost poison makers. Plus two sons who had inherited authority. Everyone wanted to curry favor with House Pedia and envied them as a perfect family.
Yet stuck in the middle, Elodie was slowly becoming an anomaly, a flaw, a defect, an ugly duckling.
Sensing that something was off with her, Ryan quietly asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"
But Elodie found him too handsome and only felt increasingly awkward. So as not to be found out, she brushed it off with some casual excuse.
From a distance, the first prince stood quietly watching them.
After the ball, Elodie and Ryan found a quiet corner to talk alone, but of course there was always someone who loved to cut in. Dorothia was very interested in the Ryan at Elodie's side and asked for an introduction. The moment she heard that he was the famous mercenary king Ryan, she turned into an instant fangirl.
Dorothia smiled and said, "Instead of hiding in a corner with Lady Elodie, why not come over there and talk with me?"
But Ryan rejected her bluntly and without hesitation.
Dorothia had never expected Ryan to be a man of iron walls, so she immediately used a charm spell, putting on the act of a frail little white flower. Seeing the slightest reaction from Ryan, she intensified her act, even saying she wanted to properly repay him.
But not only did Ryan ignore her, he even took out a handkerchief and slowly wiped his hand.
This humiliation left Dorothia so embarrassed she trembled, and she cursed Ryan as a rude idiot before storming off. She had never imagined that a commoner would dare humiliate a noble lady.
Elodie worried that Ryan would be retaliated against. After all, Dorothia's methods were both stupid and vicious. So she said to Ryan, "Whatever happens, I'll protect you." With House Pedia's power, even if Lady Angelos had a family backing her, she would not dare act recklessly.
Feeling that it was getting late, Elodie was about to head back when the first prince, who had been waiting outside the door, stopped her, his tone mocking. "Surely you're not planning to abandon your fiancé and go home alone."
Elodie explained, "At this kind of banquet, it's normal to leave after a while." She was even more puzzled as to why the first prince had come. He usually avoided the empress's banquets.
The first prince coldly asked, "Who's that man with you?"
Ryan gave the first prince a formal self-introduction. Once the first prince learned that he was Ryan, he said, "I heard Bertrand mention wanting to recruit you under his command." But Ryan clearly had not been interested.
The first prince coolly warned, "Then keep it that way."
What the first prince never expected was that Ryan would end up as Elodie's bodyguard. And a duke's daughter ditching her fiancé to attend a banquet with another man was bound to become noble gossip. From the first prince's point of view, that was actually a good thing.
Yet, watching them stand together, the first prince felt inexplicably irritated. He could not help asking Elodie, "Is he the man you mentioned before?"
Because Elodie had once told him that she was in love with someone. That had been just a lie she made up on the spot.
She countered, "And if I say yes, what will you do?"
The first prince looked indifferent. "Nothing at all. Go home."
From the start, what the first prince had coveted was only House Pedia's backing. As for whom Elodie liked, he did not care.
But at this very moment, the first prince secretly made up his mind. No matter what happened, he would never break off the engagement.
At this moment, the humiliated Dorothia returned home and vented her emotions like crazy, convinced that not only had Elodie reduced her to a supporting role, she had also caused her to suffer that level of humiliation.
Seeing her daughter come back with such an ugly expression, her mother asked, "Were you wronged at the banquet?"
Dorothia threw herself into her mother's arms, crying that Elodie's lowly little guard had ignored her, and that this guard was actually the mercenary king Ryan.
When her mother heard "leader of the Sky Eagles, mercenary king," she clearly hesitated for a moment. But the thought of her daughter being humiliated like that stirred her protective instincts at once. "Who cares whether he's some king of mercenaries? If he dares bully my precious daughter, he won't get off lightly."