His irritation kept climbing the more he listened.

He knew his reputation wasn’t great. He’d made peace with that years ago. Failure, talentless, dead weight, he’d heard every version of it growing up. But slave owner? That was new.

Arlott, sensing the air around his son shifting, found a sudden and pressing reason to be elsewhere.

"I’ll be back," he said, already walking off toward a cluster of nobles near the far wall. Whether he genuinely had business over there or simply didn’t want to be standing too close when Leon’s mood finished souring, Leon couldn’t say. Probably both.

They found their table. Sat.

Lena, oblivious to the storm quietly brewing beside her, immediately launched into an update.

"So I finished that C+ rank mission last week," she said, leaning toward him. "It was a transport escort, nothing too crazy, but there was this ambush near the river crossing, bandits mostly, and I—"

Yuki, meanwhile, had located the table’s portion of the dessert spread and was working through it with focused dedication, cheeks slightly puffed, completely unbothered by anything happening around her.

"—and then I used the footwork you showed me, the one where you pivot off the back foot instead of the front, and it actually worked, Leon, it actually—"

Leon felt it before he could place it.

A gaze.

Then another.

He glanced up, and across the ballroom, near the raised platform, several pairs of eyes were on him. The royal family. He recognized the king easily enough, hard not to, and the rest by general posture and positioning.

One gaze in particular lingered.

A boy. Blonde hair, young, sitting beside the second princess. Watching Leon with an expression that kept flickering between a polite smile and something sharper underneath it, like he was looking at someone he already had a score to settle with.

Leon had no idea who he was.

He searched his memory briefly. Nothing. He’d never seen this kid before in his life.

But the way the boy was looking at him, it was the kind of look that said they’d already met, like he had a beef with him. Like something had already happened between them, at least in this kid’s head.

Leon held the gaze for exactly one second.

Then looked away, back toward Lena, completely unbothered.

’Whatever,’ he thought. ’Not my problem.’

He wasn’t the type to get invested in side characters.

Just then, a figure approached.

Lena’s words trailed off mid sentence.

The girl stopped a few feet from their table. Purple hair, purple eyes, a dress that probably cost more than most people’s houses, and an expression that suggested she had walked over here with a very specific purpose and intended to see it through.

Lena’s eyes widened slightly.

"Sera?" she said, surprised, already half rising. "It’s been a while, how have—"

"Lena," Sera said, not unkindly, but with the tone of someone cutting straight past pleasantries. "Step aside. I need to speak with the failure."

The table went quiet.

Lena’s expression shifted instantly. The surprise was gone, replaced by something sharper.

"Don’t call him that," she said.

Sera blinked, like she hadn’t expected pushback. "I’m simply stating—"

"He has a name," Lena said. "Use it."

Around them, the nearby clusters of nobles who had been pretending not to listen stopped pretending entirely. Murmurs picked up again, quieter this time but no less present.

"...see, even his own sister has to defend him..."

"...told you, he can’t do anything without her..."

"...kind of pathetic honestly..."

Leon sat there through all of it, mostly because he genuinely had no idea what was happening.

He looked at the girl. Tried to place her. Came up with nothing.

He looked at Lena, who was now standing slightly in front of him in a way that was probably meant to be protective but mostly just confused him further.

He looked at Yuki, who had paused mid bite and was watching the new arrival with the flat, evaluating stare of someone deciding how much of a problem this was going to be.

’Okay,’ Leon thought. ’I’m lost.’

He had no idea who this girl was, why she was here, or why she apparently already hated him.

But everyone else seemed to know exactly what was going on.

Which, somehow, made it worse.

Leon’s irritation softened the moment he looked at his sister.

Lena had always been like this. Quick to defend, quick to step in front of him without thinking twice. It was sweet, in its own way, even if it usually left him more confused than anything.

But curiosity, as they say, killed the cat.

"It’s fine, Lena," he said quietly. "Let her through."

Lena hesitated, clearly wanting to argue, but stepped back anyway, arms crossed, glaring at Sera the entire time.

Sera’s attention shifted fully onto Leon now. She studied him for a moment, like she was confirming something.

"So you’re the failure everyone’s been talking about," she said. Flat. Almost bored.

Leon raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" he said. "And you are?"

Sera’s expression cracked, just slightly.

She stared at him.

"You’re joking," she said.

"I’m not."

"You don’t know who I am."

"Should I?"

For a moment Sera looked genuinely thrown, like the conversation had derailed before it even started and she wasn’t sure how to get it back on track. Was he playing dumb? Was this some kind of act? Nobody, surely, could be this clueless about something this important.

Her jaw tightened.

"Unbelievable," she muttered. Then, straightening, voice firmer. "Fine. Let me make this simple for you, then. I don’t like you. And I will not accept an engagement to a failure like you, regardless of your background."

Leon blinked.

"Engagement?" he repeated.

He turned to Lena. "What is she talking about?"

Lena opened her mouth, clearly about to launch into something, when a voice rang out across the ballroom, amplified, smooth, cutting through the noise of the crowd.

The royal family had risen.

The ball was officially beginning.

Sera shot Leon one last look, somewhere between irritation and something else she didn’t have a name for, then turned with a sharp "Hmph" and walked back toward her seat without another word.

Leon watched her go.

Then looked at Lena again.

"Seriously," he said. "What engagement."

Lena leaned in and explained, quick and quiet, just enough for Leon to piece it together.

His expression didn’t change.

Not at first.

Then, slowly, something in his face shifted, and Lena actually took a small step back without quite meaning to.

"Let me get this straight," Leon said, very calmly. Too calmly. "Dad. Went to the Vorn estate,and tried to get me. Engaged. Without telling me."

"...Yes," Lena said.

"And it’s still ongoing."

"...Also yes, depending on the situation, you might have to face Prince Cedric in the collouseum."

Now it all made sense to him why the kid was glaring at him, it’s all his father’s fault, that old geezer.

Leon’s irritation, which had already climbed considerably over the last ten minutes, finished its ascent.

And then, as if summoned by the sheer force of Leon’s mounting fury, Arlott reappeared.

He walked back toward the table with the easy, unhurried pace of a man who had absolutely no idea what was waiting for him. Or, more likely, every idea, and had simply decided to deal with it whenever it became unavoidable.

Lena and Yuki both looked at him. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Neither of them said anything.

Both of their expressions carried the same quiet sentiment, the kind reserved for someone about to walk into hell and had no way of escaping, pity.

Arlott slowed.

Looked at Leon.

Looked at Leon’s face specifically.

"...Ah," he said.

Just now as he returned he was just about to tell him about it all, but right now he knew Leon already found out himself, so he knew it.

He’s was cooked .

For those wondering, carefully take note that Leon’s relationship with Arlott over the past few years is more like a rebelius son and a submissive father, both of them had grown closer than the normal father son relationship, this is why Arlott can’t force Leon to do anything but simply give advice as his father and they are really close.