Capítulo 83: She Knew?
White porcelain outer shell; two storied Mansion. Crystal-clear water running around the mansion parameters through a well-crafted stone canal. Believe it or not this water was drinkable, not salty. And it even had transparent fish in it. Yes, transparent as in I could see the insides of the fish.
"Weren't these things like super expensive?" I mumbled.
"Yes," Sibrian said. "My lord, you should do the talking," he said, eyeing the front gates and the people there. We both knew what he meant by that.
"Leave it to me," I said. If we let Shia do the talking, she was probably going to screw up way more than she'd already done.
I thought her attitude would change when we got to the city, I thought she would turn all noble lady like and be proper. I thought wrong.
"Greeting sire, I am the head butler of the great house of Alzania, Siberto. I welcome you, the first born of the Barack family, lord Soler Barack, in my master's stead. Please forgive him for he must entertain other guests."
Well, that's a considerate way of you saying I'm not important enough.
I noticed it a little late but most of the high nobility, didn't mention the A in my name. I suppose it was their way of being considerate since the A suggested I was merely a bastard child and would be replaced by the official heir the moment one would pop up. Unfortunately, the Barack family didn't have one yet. They had a hot feisty young lady though.
"Thank you, Mr. Siberto. And yes, I do forgive him," I said, leaning forward, and smirking.
Shia almost broke into a snicker as Sibrian sighed and slapped his forehead but also seemed to be in a good mood. The butler? He didn't have a change of facial expression. He just… smiled as usual. I did feel he was irritated though. Heh.
Maybe letting me do the talking wasn't that better of an idea either.
We went in through the big fat double door at the front. "Good one," Shia whispered.
Blindingly bright colors. Mostly golden. They had at least a hundred or so Magical lamps just scattered across the whole area. I suppose this was the reception hall? Pretty big with stairs at the very end and people of all kinds just sprayed out. I didn't really recognize much of anyone. No, wait there were two familiar faces. Mike and his father. They were pretty far and I had no real reason to even remotely approach them.
"That's probably Duke Alzania," Shia said.
I traced her gaze to a well-rounded man in the other corner. He wasn't as tall as the people in here, but he was quite handsome even though he was probably fifty-something. "How'd you know?"
"I saw a painting of him once."
Maybe I should have too.
Shia and I trudged through the reception hall, ignoring everyone, straight to the Duke. We waited for him to finish pleasantries with his guest and turn to us.
It was customary to wait for the host to welcome us.
"Welcome. The Baracks I'd assume?"
"This is correct my lord. Soler A. Barack," I said. "This my elder sister."
"Shia Barack."
"Nimber Al Alzania." He offered me a noble bow and eyed me, almost curiously. Before smiling faintly. "My daughter spoke fondly of you. Please make yourselves at home." He was a busy man and he got even busier just after we finished talking.
The moment people heard we were Baracks, a lot of people came to introduce themselves. At first, I thought they were probably just interested in Shia but nope, they were interested in me, the next possible head of the Barack family. They were buttering me up and saying stuff like it had been a while since there was a genius like me. I couldn't help but notice how all of their impression of me was a bit too exaggerated. Who's spreading so many damn rumors?
They were also introducing their daughters and stuff…. Now granted noble ladies always had some sort of allure to them and they were beautiful by nature since their parents were beautiful but these women were odd. They were white as milk. Like they'd spray painted their faces or something. What is up with the beauty standards of this place?
I was actually glad my family weren't makeup fanatics. Shia did seem a little out of place since she was the only one with light makeup so far. But again, we weren't necessarily dressed for the occasion. The actual party was still three days away and we were merely wearing travel gear so things were fine… for now.
After an exhausting round, we somehow snuck away from the reception hall into the back gardens. Our gang was here, the guards and the escort knight. Apparently, since we weren't the only ones who came early, there weren't enough rooms for everyone. Naturally, this meant we'd be booking rooms in the city but since we were privately invited by the duke himself, even our guards were provided with rooms, albeit not good rooms. Then again even 'not good' rooms in a duke's mansion were still better than my dorm room so this was fine.
"Shouldn't Nisa have arrived already?" I said.
"Lady Nisa usually rests in the second-floor balcony," the knight said. His job wasn't just done yet I guess.
The mansion was only two floors but it was pretty big. The reception alone took the space of about fifty or so of my dorm rooms. The rest of the mansion had like a hundred rooms. This mansion came with a basement, and rooms there too.
They had separate towers just in the corners, next to the canals for servants where our guards would be staying over.
"Seems a bit elaborate for a tea party," Shia whispered.
"My thoughts exactly."
Perhaps Barack senior anticipated this and hence sent guards and even Shia with me. This was definitely not an ordinary tea party. Then again, these people were just filthy rich people, so there was always a chance things were simpler than I was thinking.
We passed by the maids, the gardeners and took the back stairs to the second floor. There were a bunch of nobles here too and they probably arrived even earlier than us. Some of them recognized Shia and started buttering her up while ignoring me altogether. I didn't care though and just passed them by.
"Who's the runt?" A big man said. Bald, a big scar on his eye.
"He's Soler, my little brother."
"Another half? Why bring him here? Thought Sharmon only valued legitimate heirs."
"Technically he's also from the Borges family," Shia said.
The man's face paled. He was big but he was quite… sensitive? Huh, I again felt a sense of familiarity. He gulped. "My apologies my lord," he said.
The hell was he apologizing? Also… the fuck? Shia knew?
Now I'm even more confused….
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