The royal guards stationed at the wide, open entrance of the ballroom immediately stepped aside, lowering their heads in deep, synchronized bows.

The orchestra didn’t stop playing this time, but the music suddenly felt a lot quieter as the atmosphere in the room grew heavy. The relaxed, cheerful energy of the banquet vanished in a single heartbeat, replaced by a cold, sharp tension.

Hajin watched from a quiet corner of the ballroom, his eyes narrowing as three distinct groups of people walked into the light of the chandeliers.

"The three pillars," Didi murmured, her voice losing all of its previous amusement. She stood a little straighter, her expression shifting into the perfect, unreadable mask of a royal.

The Top Three Major Houses of the kingdom had arrived.

They were the absolute peak of the Great Families, holding incredible power, wealth, and military strength, forcing even the Crown to tread carefully around them. Instead of just participating in the kingdom’s politics, they fundamentally shaped them.

The group on the left marched in terrifying synchronization. They were the Linus Family, the absolute pinnacle of defense, known entirely for their impenetrable knights.

Even at a formal banquet, they wore heavy, dark gunmetal plating over their formal wear. The thick, matte-black metal absorbed the light from the chandeliers, making them look like a highly armed strike force instead of a group of nobles.

In the center walked the Helza Family, the indisputable masters of magic. They wore elegant, deep purple robes that practically hummed with compressed energy instead of armor.

Every single one of their mages carried a heavy, dense aura, warping the ambient mana in the ballroom around them.

The group on the right moved with an aggressive, predatory grace. They were the Paqune Family, the undisputed lords of the sword. Wearing lightweight, dark formalwear that didn’t restrict their movement, their hands rested casually near the empty scabbards on their belts.

They moved with perfect balance, completely relaxed but capable of explosive violence at any given second.

Hajin scanned the three groups, feeling his instincts flare up as he measured their collective strength.

’They are incredibly strong,’ he thought, feeling a dull ache starting to build behind his eyes. ’But something feels off.’

He wasn’t the only one who noticed.

A low, nervous murmur began to spread through the surrounding nobles as they realized what was missing.

"Wait," a baron whispered, leaning closer to his companion. "Where are the Patriarchs?"

"The family heads aren’t here," an older noble replied, his voice laced with shock. "They didn’t come."

Hajin looked closer at the three groups.

The people leading each faction weren’t hardened veterans or seasoned politicians. They were young, they were the official representatives, the direct heirs, and the most talented children of each house.

Their pride and joy.

They walked with absolute arrogance, their chins held high as they looked down on the rest of the ballroom.

"They sent their kids?" Hajin asked, glancing over at Didi. "Isn’t that a massive insult to the King?"

"It is," Didi said, her voice dropping into a cold whisper. "It is a calculated display of dominance. By refusing to attend personally, the family heads are making a statement. They are telling my father that a banquet thrown for such a trivial thing isn’t worth their time."

She gripped the fabric of her dress, her eyes narrowing as she watched the heirs fan out into the room.

"And by sending their most talented children," she continued, "they are showing off their future. They came to remind everyone in this room that their bloodlines are completely untouchable."

Hajin let out a long, exhausted sigh, bringing a hand up to rub the back of his neck.

He didn’t care about their political posturing, nor did he care about their inflated egos. He just wanted to eat some good food, keep a low profile, and get back to the inn without drawing any more unwanted attention.

Unfortunately, with three groups of highly arrogant, incredibly powerful nobles now flooding into the ballroom, keeping a low profile was going to be much harder than he thought.

"Princess Didi!" a loud, familiar voice suddenly called out making Hajin flinch.

He turned his head just in time to see Bekky pushing her way through the crowd, dragging two other academy students behind her. She waved her hand enthusiastically, her greeting easily carrying over the quiet chatter of the ballroom.

"We’ve been looking all over for you!" She yelled, completely ignoring standard court etiquette as she rushed toward their corner.

Hajin felt his stomach drop.

Across the room, the heirs of the Linus, Helza, and Paqune families instantly stopped what they were doing. The moment they heard the Princess’s name, their heads snapped in Didi’s direction, their sharp, calculating eyes locking directly onto her and the boy standing right next to her.

’You have got to be kidding me,’ Hajin thought, feeling a massive headache starting to form.

This was going to be an absolute nightmare.

Normally, an interaction with the Great Families wouldn’t escalate into anything dangerous at a royal banquet. The presence of the King and the Patriarchs usually kept the younger generation firmly in line.

But Hajin quickly scanned the upper balconies and the VIP tables, realizing exactly why the heirs were acting with such unchecked arrogance.

The King was gone.

All of the high-ranking political figures, the dukes, and the elder council members had quietly slipped away to a private parlor to discuss actual state politics, leaving the main ballroom entirely to the younger generation.

Even his own father had already left. After ordering his oldest son to deal with the Uriel situation, the Flint Patriarch had immediately joined the King’s inner circle, abandoning the main floor completely.

Right now, in this massive ballroom, there was not a single major political head left to supervise.

It was just Hajin, the Princess, and a room full of the most powerful, arrogant, and highly trained teenagers in the entire kingdom.

Across the room, standing at the forefront of the Helza group, a young girl tilted her head.

"Who is that standing next to Her Highness?" she asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I have never seen him at a royal function before."

The servant standing obediently to her right bowed his head.

"I apologize, my lady," the servant replied quietly. "I do not know his identity. I will find out immediately."

"There is no rush," the mage said, raising a hand to stop him.

She continued staring directly at Hajin and Juna, slowly licking her bottom lip.

"What interesting mana circulation they have," she whispered, a slow, hungry smile forming on her face.