Inside the luxurious hall, the light from the crystal chandelier seemed to become dazzling the moment Isabella appeared.
Isabella’s gaze swept over Ailiya twice. Her eyes were cold, sharp enough to peel off a layer of skin. It was the look of a superior assessing the value of prey, devoid of any emotion.
However, what surprised her was that the silver-haired girl in the deep blue evening gown did not avoid her gaze like the other servants or lesser nobles. Instead, she met her scrutiny with an extremely calm, even slightly indifferent expression.
Those ice-blue eyes held no fear, no panic—only a stillness like stagnant water.
‘Interesting.’
Isabella made that assessment in her mind.
No wonder that idiot Cedric, whose head was full of women, had been so attentive to affairs in Fengyue City lately, like a dog in heat.
The woman who could make him so obsessed was indeed not a fragile vase that could be crushed with a flick of the wrist.
Isabella withdrew her gaze and looked back at Leo, whose body was still tense.
Unlike Cedric’s undisguised malice, Isabella’s eyes showed no obvious hostility or disgust toward her illegitimate brother.
She simply looked at him as if he were an object that occasionally provided some novelty.
“It’s been a while, Leo.”
Isabella’s tone was flat, carrying a businesslike politeness.
“That strike you just threw was much better than how you used to scurry around like a rat in the royal capital, only knowing how to protect your head while running away. It seems you haven’t completely wasted your time in a country place like Fengyue City.”
Leo’s clenched fists relaxed slightly. He straightened his body and performed a very formal noble salute.
“Thank you for the praise, Second Sister. I must also thank you for your… guidance back in the royal capital. I have always kept it in my heart.”
“Guidance?”
Ailiya, standing behind Leo, raised an eyebrow slightly.
Wasn’t this guy supposed to be playing the role of a useless illegitimate son who was bullied by everyone, even treated worse than a dog in the main family?
“That wasn’t really guidance. I just saw you were useless and used you as a punching bag to loosen my muscles a few times.”
Isabella’s lips curled into a faint, noncommittal arc.
She turned and looked at Ailiya again. This time, her tone had less scrutiny and more of a substantial attempt at recruitment.
“You’re Ailiya, right?”
Isabella looked at her striking silver short hair and the furry ears hidden among the strands, her tone flat but hitting the mark.
“In the royal capital, a demi-human with outstanding looks won’t live long if she only relies on an illegitimate son who can barely protect himself.”
“I don’t like beating around the bush. If you’re willing, I can offer you a position where you can truly realize your value. Under me, you’ll receive resources and protection a hundred times greater than in Fengyue City, and you won’t have to deal with the harassment of fools like Cedric.”
This was an extremely generous offer.
For any demi-human trying to establish a foothold in the royal capital, it was an olive branch that could elevate them to the heavens.
However, Ailiya didn’t even think for a second.
“Thank you for your kind offer, Miss Isabella.”
Ailiya folded her hands in front of her and gave a slight bow. Her tone was as cold and blunt as ever.
“However, I currently have no interest in switching jobs.”
As soon as she said this, several nobles nearby who had been eavesdropping drew in sharp breaths.
Was this demi-human insane?!
To dare refuse Isabella’s recruitment to her face.
Isabella’s eyes instantly turned cold. But she didn’t explode. She just gave Ailiya a deep look.
“Is that so? I hope your strength can match your arrogance.”
With that, she didn’t bother with Leo and Ailiya anymore. She turned, clicked her heels, and walked back to the core area of the banquet hall with the same cold arrogance she had entered with, surrounded by the reverent gazes of the crowd.
As Isabella left, the suffocating pressure finally dissipated.
Leo let out a long breath. He felt as if he had collapsed, but his gaze involuntarily followed that tall figure and lingered for a long time.
A soft voice drifted beside his ear, carrying a familiar, scalp-tingling chill.
“Still looking, Young Master?”
“If your soul hasn’t floated away with that lady’s shoe soles, could you please pull your eyes back from sticking to her back?”
Leo shuddered and snapped back to reality.
“I wasn’t staring!”
He jumped up like he’d been stepped on, his face turning bright red.
“I was just thinking about something!”
“Oh? Thinking about what? Thinking about how to become Miss Isabella’s punching bag?”
Ailiya exposed him mercilessly.
“You seem to have a very special opinion of this Second Sister?”
“Not at all!”
Leo looked away guiltily and stammered an explanation.
“Actually… back in the royal capital, she was a bit different from the others.”
“Even though she always looked down on people with her nose in the air and was extremely arrogant, she never bullied me or insulted me with dirty tricks like Cedric and the others.”
Leo scratched his head, recalling his childhood.
“She would… when she was in a bad mood, call me to the training ground, claim it was sparring, and beat me half to death.”
Leo paused, his voice dropping.
“Also, a long time ago, she caught a strange illness. The main family’s physicians couldn’t cure her. My mother brewed a potion of Elsa and saved her. So, even though she looked down on me, she never really had any real hostility toward me or my mother.”
After listening to Leo’s rambling explanation, Ailiya fell into a brief silence.
She ran those words through her mind.
“Oh—I see.”
Ailiya dragged out the last syllable. Her ice-blue eyes shimmered with something extremely dangerous and full of malicious amusement.
“See what?”
Leo looked at her blankly.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Her stare made his hair stand on end. He instinctively hugged his arms.
Ailiya’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. She looked Leo up and down, then delivered her final diagnosis.
“So, Young Master likes this type.”
“This pitiful childhood trauma has actually awakened such an astonishing tendency in you.”
“No wonder you looked at her so intently just now. It turns out you have an extremely rare and perverse special preference.”
“What special preference?!”
Leo was dumbfounded.
“Liking to be violently beaten by a cold, expressionless woman, and in the process of getting your teeth knocked out, developing a morbid gratitude and dependency.”
Ailiya dissected his psychological activity without mercy.
“Especially liking a strong woman who looks at you coldly, shows full disdain, and uses the excuse of guidance to beat you until you’re picking your teeth off the floor, right?”
The air seemed to freeze at that moment.
Leo’s eyes widened little by little. After his brain ran at full speed for nine seconds, he finally realized the terrifying logic hidden in Ailiya’s words.
Cold as ice, full of disdain, using the excuse of guidance to beat him…
Wasn’t that exactly describing Ailiya herself?!
“No! That’s not it! Let me explain!”
Leo’s face instantly turned as red as a steam boiler about to explode. He waved his hands frantically, trying to refute her incoherently.
“I definitely don’t have that weird masochistic fetish! I’m not that kind of pervert!”
“Young Master doesn’t need to explain. This is your personal privacy. As a professionally trained maid, I would never discriminate against your special psychological needs, nor would I mock them.”
Ailiya gave a slight bow. Her tone was serious, but every word pierced the heart.
“To accommodate your ‘preferences’ and satisfy your fragile psychological reliance, during tomorrow morning’s training, I will double the weight of the mop and guarantee that I will not show you even a single smile the entire time.”
“Please enjoy it thoroughly.”
With that, Ailiya mercilessly turned around, leaving Leo a beautiful yet ice-cold back.
In the corner of the banquet hall, the desperate and pale wail of a certain young master echoed.
“Help—! I’m really not a masochist!!!”
Leo was frantic, like an ant on a hot pan. His voice involuntarily rose an octave.
“I’m not! I’m definitely not what you said! Woman, don’t just put a hat on me for no reason!”
“Oh, is that so?”
Ailiya tilted her head slightly, her tone still that infuriatingly flat monotone.
“Then who was it that, when I knocked him all over the floor with a practice wooden blade, asked for ‘one more round’?”
A glint of mockery flashed in her ice-blue eyes.
“If this is what Young Master calls ‘enduring humiliation,’ then I can only say that your threshold for ‘humiliation’ is truly extraordinary.”
Leo was left speechless. His handsome face was flushed red. He stammered, trying to explain.
“That… that was… that was the joy of victory, you understand! It wasn’t because I liked being beaten by you! It was because I saw my dodging speed improve! And I definitely don’t like your cold type!”
However, to the ears of the young nobles nearby who were eavesdropping, Leo’s increasingly loud “denials” to clear himself were instantly amplified countless times, and their brains automatically filled in all sorts of unspeakable content.
Especially the phrase “like being beaten by you” and “cold type.” Because of his intense emotions, it stood out even more oddly.
“Pfft—”
Someone started it. Immediately, from the small circles around them, a wave of low, malicious snickers burst out.
“Did you hear that? That country illegitimate son of the Kastian clan has this kind of special hobby?”
“No wonder he follows a demi-human maid around all day. He likes being bossed around by a servant.”
“What a disgrace to the nobility. Shouting such shameless words in public. The Kastian family’s upbringing is truly an eye-opener.”
At first, it was just a few low taunts. But as curious gazes gathered, the laughter and whispers spread like a plague.
Those royal capital youths who had been hostile and contemptuous toward Leo, the “illegitimate son,” now showed undisguised disdain.
They gathered in twos and threes, pointing at Leo, their eyes full of mocking entertainment.
Under the simultaneous gaze of dozens of malicious eyes, Leo’s explanations stopped short.
The little confidence he had just regained collapsed instantly under the overwhelming wave of ridicule.
His face went from bright red to pale white. His hands clenched tightly at the hem of his clothes, his nails almost digging into the flesh.
He felt as if he had been stripped naked and thrown onto the street, utterly humiliated.
He wanted to escape this suffocating place, but his legs felt like lead, unable to move an inch.
Ailiya stood behind him. Her brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.
It seemed… she had gone a bit too far.
She had only meant to tease the kid appropriately.
But she had underestimated how wretched these royal capital nobles could be, and overestimated Leo’s current mental endurance.
Ailiya suppressed her earlier frivolous thoughts and was about to explain.
But before she could speak.
A low, deep voice, not loud but carrying an unquestionable absolute authority, suddenly came from the main entrance of the hall.
“Silence.”
That voice seemed to carry a special magic fluctuation, overpowering all the laughter and chatter in the hall, instantly plunging the entire banquet into deathly stillness.
Everyone instinctively shut their mouths and turned to look toward the door.
Then, the previously crowded crowd parted like it was cut by an invisible sword. People stepped aside spontaneously, with reverence, creating a wide path.
Accompanied by the steady sound of boots hitting the floor.
A tall, imposing middle-aged man dressed in an extremely luxurious dark gold noble’s formal attire walked slowly into the hall from the main entrance, escorted by four fully armed guards.
The man’s face was as cold and sharp as a knife’s edge. Time had left dignified marks on his features.
His deep, piercing eyes swept across the entire hall like an eagle inspecting its territory, making every person who met his gaze lower their heads involuntarily.
The moment this figure appeared, the previously arrogant royal capital youths put away all their pride and bowed their heads in respect.
Even Cedric, who had been standing at the center enjoying flattery, immediately restrained his smile and quickly stepped forward, bowing deeply.
“Father, you’ve arrived.”
Jeffrey Kastian.
The Marquis of the Kingdom of Roland, the current head of the Kastian clan.
And also… Leo’s biological father.
Marquis Jeffrey ignored Cedric’s greeting.
His gaze passed over the crowd, landing on Leo, who stood at the edge of the hall, isolated and pale-faced.
Those deep eyes showed no trace of emotion—neither the joy of reunion nor disgust.