Chapter 328: Everything is Strangely Normal
Leon successfully slipped out of Veronica’s field of vision, knowing full well that she would eventually get to him again.
’You cannot stop me from drinking, sis.’
He muttered to himself.
There were so many varieties of wine here that even Leon himself had never gotten the chance to taste them all before.
No matter how much wealth the Valentine Dukedom held, there were still some things which were only ever meant for a royal occasion like this.
Leon’s eyes first drifted across all the people as he quietly walked toward the table which had the wine placed on top of it.
Several eyes soon settled onto him, and Leon took careful note of each and every one of them.
He had asked Eula to provide him with the list of everyone who was invited, so before coming here, he had already memorized every single detail about them. From how their lives were going, to what problems they were all currently facing, to what they truly thought about the King, along with their past experiences, and everything else which would seem even remotely useful to Leon.
Clearly, there were over a hundred families here, with more than a dozen members from each of them attending today’s banquet.
Leon had spent a brief portion of his afternoon during the classes just to study all about them. It was rather easy for Leon to simply remember the important highlights about every single one of them, and with Rumi alongside him, he felt even more confident about it.
1487.
That was the exact number of people who were officially invited. And among them, only 1365 people had arrived so far.
All of them held close ties with the King, and not only that, some officials from the Merlin Kingdom were also present here.
"Are you available for a small chat at this moment?"
An elderly man, who looked quite old, even older than Headmaster Raizen himself, walked toward him.
He stopped right in front of Leon, and bowed his head, showing Leon his almost bald head in the process.
"I am Jinner Asmuth, the Duke of House Asmuth from the East of Liora."
Leon, who was about to reach for a wine glass, paused, and with a clear ’do not bother me’ face, turned toward him.
"O-oh my, is it a bad timing?"
’Yes, old man. It is. Can you not see I am busy trying to sneak out from my sister and drink some wine here?’
He almost said it out loud, but then he remembered exactly who this person in front of him really was.
Jinner Asmuth, the Duke of the Asmuth Dukedom, was an elderly man of eighty nine years of age, with seventeen wives to his name. He held one of the largest bloodlines among all the Duke houses in the entire Liora Kingdom.
Leon glanced at him from head to toe.
Despite his old age, he looked rather fit. In fact, his body looked perfectly healthy for someone his age.
’Maybe all his wives kept him busy.’
"Not at all, Duke Asmuth." Leon flashed him a polite smile.
Seeing that smile, Jinner Asmuth felt delighted, and even somewhat prideful.
"Ho ho, quite diligent, are you not. I see your father has shaped you rather well."
He rubbed his chin and straightened his back, trying to match Leon’s height.
"Haha. Well, it was actually my sister who shaped me this way. My father has done nothing for me."
Except for giving him an allowance every week.
Jinner’s face twitched slightly, hearing Leon talk this way about his own father. But he did not point it out at all, because right now, his main objective was to get on the good side of Leon.
"Why, yes! You are absolutely right. It was Lady Veronica, or how else would you be rising this high?"
’Look at this guy, I know he came here to lick my boots.’
It was always the same.
Leon had seen this exact behavior in his previous life as well.
After Leon had been revealed to be a light affinity user, and moreover, a very close acquaintance of Princess Eula, someone she personally took a stance for, Leon’s name was now on the lips of every noble here, even across borders.
And right now, right after Veronica herself, it was Leon who had the most eyes settled upon him.
Leon stood and chatted with the Duke for a short while, and then quietly moved away from him toward the other side of the hall.
It was not like he was avoiding them.
In fact, it was the complete opposite.
He wanted them to see it as if he was deliberately avoiding them, so that some might start to think that he had grown a little ignorant and arrogant after gaining all this sudden attention.
The nobles kept on approaching him regardless.
Some came simply to greet him while some came asking for his hand in marriage for their daughters and some came for business, and some for something else entirely.
Leon interacted with every single one of them very politely. But he made sure to make all of them realize that Leon preferred distant and straightforward interactions only.
So after a few minutes, people stopped asking him about nonsense things, and only came to him when they had something actually worth talking about.
And while doing all of that, Leon had deliberately shown favor to some of them, while acting all indifferent toward the others.
It became clear to everyone watching that Leon had been showing favor specifically to the nobles who favored Eula Lunovar.
Leon made absolutely sure it looked that way.
’The first step towards division is to display favorism.’
Leon nodded to himself.
He honestly just could not wait to see the outcome. It will lead the Lunovar kingdom towards the future he had planned.
The banquet had not even officially started yet and there were still around twenty minutes left before Evana’s guests would finally arrive.
And by that time, Leon had fully made the entire banquet aware of one thing.
That Leon Valentine only favored those nobles who favored Eula.
Some of them were really happy about it.
While others... they just did not even want to look at Leon anymore.
’Perfection.’
Five minutes passed, and Alice arrived and walked towards Leon.
"Why are you hiding from Sister Veronica?" She asked.