First Meet

The soft music of the piano was coming from upstairs to keep the guests entertained. All the noble youngsters were enjoying the fine tea with sweets but only the atmosphere around Viktor was different.

All the eyes were on Viktor, but he wasn't feeling pressured by it. Instead, it was the crowd who felt pressured. Viktor was already a dangerous figure, but his bloodline was from Harvort and it made the fact scarier.

"Feros, are you scared of me?" Viktor asked.

"No? Why would I be scared of my elder brother? The gift you gave us last night is more expensive than our whole territory."

"Is it that expensive?"

"Brother! Do you think a pure mana stone-crafted sword is worth some silver?" Henry smirked at Viktor and said, "If you were harmful to us, you'd never talk to us or give those things in the first place. You might be our dearest elder brother, but to them, you are a monster."

"Henry, you just hurt my pride. I'm trying my best to get along with you guys. And you're calling me a monster."

"Hahaha! I'm complimenting you by that title, not insulting you."

At that moment, the other table members came close to Viktor and said, "Oh my, I can't believe the new family member is my table mate. Nice to meet you. I'm Terris Revenil."

A young lady with light green hair greeted Viktor with a seductive smile.

"Hello, I'm Viktor Harvort."

"Mind if I take my seat beside you? Looks like our fate made quite the connection today."

"Yes, please have a seat, my lady." 

Viktor looked around and saw the female lead enter through the gate with the third male lead. The choice of her dress was so luxurious that it made her look like a walking vendor.

He laughed a little by seeing her walk like that.

Suddenly, her charming aura spread throughout the hall and all the people's negativity changed about her. She quickly became the centre of attention.

"Brother, my head suddenly feels heavy." Viktor looked at Henry and saw he was rubbing his forehead in pain.

"Brother? What's wrong?" Feros asked.

"Oh, you guys aren't affected by the aura because of the gifts I gave you last night. You didn't forget to carry it with you right?"

"No, it's with us. But what is happening?" Feros was struggling to keep a cool head while keeping a normal face.

   It's a good thing that my younger brothers won't fight with me for that sly dog. But I must keep them out of her business. They might ruin the whole story.

"Oh my! Look, Lady Elena is here! The lady beside Viktor stood up and ran closer to the crowd around the female lead.

The situation made Henry and Feros confused.

"Both of you listen and do as I say. Don't walk around saying anything negative about her. Just pretend that you are under her charms and act like a dog. But it will be better if you just stay away from her."

"But why? Is there any problem?" Henry asked.

"I was ordered to watch over her for 8 years. Then I have to capture her. So, don't do anything to her. She's a powerful dark magician."

Henry understood the situation, so he kept quiet and chose to stay out of Viktor's business. Instead, he wanted to know what was going on with the crowd. So he answered that they are all under her charm spell.

"The weapons I gave you two have holy power blessed by the guardian of the dark eclipse. So, when you two come across dark magic or any bad aura, you will immediately get a headache. And that's the effect of your body fighting back to get rid of bad aura.

So, if you feel a sharp pain in your head, get away from there. You don't have to fight, nor even look back. Walk straight out of the situation." 

"Yes, elder brother."

Both of them understood the explanation. And they both knew that he was a 9th-circle magician. So, Viktor must've said what's good for them.

They kept quiet and hammered the advice into their heads.

 Suddenly, Viktor saw the female lead walking towards him. Her accessories were making a ringing sound as she took her steps forward. Her choice was worse than pub dancers or red light district candies.

"Hello, I am Elena Pearlroy. It's nice to meet you."

 "I am Viktor Harvort."

He turned his head to his teacup and took a sip of his warm honey tea. The eyes were on him from everywhere.

"Um. You know, I'm a great painter. I am a fan of "Gigato" which was painted in the 108 Ekro Era."

Her eyes were pure red. She was desperately trying to charm Viktor with her seductive aura but it wasn't working at all. So she leaned closer to him and grabbed his hand to charm him with all of her power. But…

SNAP!!!!

The connection to her power got cut off immediately after she applied her power to Viktor's body.

Her core aura formed a crack and she puked out blood from her mouth. 

Her eyes were filled with terror.

"Someone take her to the healer. You don't want to leave the lady to suffer alone, right?"

Viktor gazed at her right chest and then he looked right into her eyes while enjoying his tea in peace. He was looking down at her.

"You..you hurt me!!!"Elena screamed.

The crowd around her stayed silent. Because there was no reason for him to hurt the lady. Even if he did, they will still choose to stay quiet.

"My lady, we just introduced ourselves to each other. And why would I hurt the lady and the lover of a strong knight?"

All the nobles around him agreed to his speech. So, she was dragged outside by her lover and the tea party continued as planned.

I forgot about one thing. Since I know her name, I must look into her record and check who was the person she ordered to look into my files. 

Viktor closed one of his eyes and went inside his library of record to look for the person. All the information about her was instantly analysed inside his head right the moment he touched her book and found the mastermind behind it.

It was her father.

Well, I'm not surprised. Because she's been controlling her father for years now. She must've messed up with his brain already. But, why did she target me instead of the prince? Isn't it too odd?

I have messed up with the storyline, seriously. And there's no way of fixing it.

I can just kill her and leave the kingdom for my next journey. But I need her to summon the guardian she borrowed her power from. In order to summon the guardian, she needs to kill lots of people. Without a minimum amount of kill count, she can't summon him.

So, I'm genuinely stuck in a spiderweb.

The only thing I can do now is to annoy her to death and make her come at me with her people. That's how I can make her summon the demon guardian.

And when she does that, I can take over the demon guardian's fragment.

That demon guardian needs to die no matter what.

Viktor looked at his cup of tea and quickly removed his head from a thin arrow which was fired by aiming at his head. It missed Viktor's head and pierced through an apple on the table.

"Brother, looks like we got some company."

But Viktor and his younger brother stayed still because there was already a group of people taking care of them from outside.

*Adonis. Nobody saw any attack inside the party, right?*

*Yes, master. It's all clean now.*

*Good work then. Keep the leader alive. We have a lot to investigate.*

*Sure, master. Enjoy the party. I will take my leave.*

Both of them used magic to talk in secret with each other. It's an advanced magic created by Viktor and he only gave it to Adonis. This magic can work between a great distance.

"Brother, is it over outside?" Feros asked.

"Yes. Adonis took care of it."

"You mean that man who wore a mask 24 hours?" 

"Yes."

I told Adonis to use a thin piece of fabric to cover his face to avoid unwanted attention. Since we moved into a house which is full of people, it's not safe for him to walk around to attract people like insects buzzing around the bulb at night. And his beauty is enough to crack the whole set up of the female lead.

So, it's best to avoid the red flags. 

The tower bell rang from afar to announce the noon hour and all the maids came out to clean the table. The second phase of the tea party was announced and all noble youngsters went outside to enjoy the garden and fresh air.

Henry came close to Viktor and said, "Elder brother, I don't see that girl."

"She's busy with someone else. Look at her lover there. She's not with him, right?"

"Yes?"

"She's with the crown prince in that room.", he pointed his finger to the building's upper floor window.

    Heh! Enjoy your honeymoon for now. I will show you the real face of the demon guardian when the time comes. For now, I have to search for the main villain of the story. Because, 

An enemy of my enemy is a great friend of mine.