Chương 286: Chapter : 286

Ira froze. Every muscle in her body went rigid, and her hands clenched at her sides. She knew that voice. She had heard it a thousand times in her childhood, and every single time it had made her feel like she was shrinking. Niro stepped out of a private elevator on the far side of the lobby. He was tall and sharp-featured, with the same silver-white hair as Ira but styled with meticulous precision. His uniform was that of the 1st Prince's Royal Advisor, an outfit that practically dripped with political authority.

His cold eyes swept across the 13th Unit and settled on his sister with an expression of pure disgust.

"Still stuck in that pathetic little unit, Ira? I would have thought you'd have been expelled by now for incompetence." Ira didn't respond. She stood perfectly still, her face an unreadable mask, but Ken could see the slight tremble in her hands. It was subtle, almost invisible, but he noticed it because he noticed everything about his teammates.

"Niro," Iris said, her voice carefully controlled.

"What are you doing here?"

"I serve as the official Royal Advisor to the 1st Prince, Zeus Belmontia," Niro replied, straightening his already perfect collar.

"The Benjamin Group has been a valued partner in the Prince's economic initiatives. I am here on his behalf." It was a thinly veiled threat. The 1st Prince's involvement meant that any action against the Benjamin Group could be framed as an attack on the Prince's political interests. Niro was using his position as a shield for the corporation. His gaze returned to Ira, and his lip curled.

"A failure like you will never achieve any real success or elevate our noble bloodline. You should have accepted father's offer to return home and accept a ceremonial position. At least then you wouldn't be embarrassing the family." The elite girls of the 13th Unit bristled visibly. Laxmi's hands burst into flames that she barely managed to suppress. Naomi's fingers twitched toward her daggers. Even Sayma's pen snapped in half inside her clenched fist. But they hesitated to draw their weapons, and Niro knew it.

Attacking the 1st Prince's Advisor in a corporate lobby would spark a massive political war that they were not yet ready to fight. It would give their enemies the excuse they needed. Niro was counting on this. His smile widened as he took a step toward Ira, looming over her with the easy confidence of someone who had never been challenged by anyone he couldn't destroy.

"Look at you," he said, his voice dropping.

"Playing soldier with a group of misfits and rejects. You're not a warrior, Ira. You never were. You're just a disappointment who couldn't even meet the family's lowest expectations." Ira's mask cracked, just barely. A flicker of pain crossed her features before she suppressed it. But the damage was done. Niro had seen her flinch, and he fed on it like a predator scenting blood in the water. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Risa looked like she might cry, her hands balled into fists at her sides, her face pale with suppressed anger. Even Zinia had stopped writing, her pen hovering frozen above her notebook. The corporate staff watched with uncomfortable expressions, pretending not to see while clearly unable to look away. Family disputes among the nobility were a spectator sport in the capital, and this one was particularly vicious.

The nobility treated their own children as investments, and a failed investment was a source of public shame. The fact that Ira had been assigned to the 13th Unit, widely regarded as the least prestigious Royal Unit in the Empire, was considered proof of her inadequacy by her family. The 13th Unit had been the butt of jokes in noble circles since its formation. A unit led by a bookish princess, staffed by rejects and misfits, with a lazy nobleman's son as its most prominent member. Nobody took them seriously.

But perhaps, Niro was beginning to realize, that was exactly the point. An underestimated unit could go places that a respected one could not. It could investigate freely while its targets dismissed it as harmless. It could gather evidence while its enemies were busy laughing at it. And it could strike when no one was watching. The realization made Niro deeply uncomfortable. If the 13th Unit was not the joke that everyone thought it was, then the entire political calculus changed.

And if Ken Eliot was not the buffoon he pretended to be, then the balance of power in the capital might be far more precarious than anyone realized. And Niro Voss did not like feeling uncomfortable. He liked it even less than he liked being humiliated in corporate lobbies by lazy young men with messy hair.

Ken stepped between them. It was such a casual movement that it took everyone a moment to register what had happened. One second Niro was towering over Ira, and the next second Ken was standing directly between them, his shoulders slouched and his hands still buried in his pockets. He looked up at Niro with an expression of mild, almost friendly curiosity, the way someone might examine a suspicious stain on their shirt.

"Hey, you must be the brother. I've heard a lot about you. None of it good, but still. A lot." Niro looked down at Ken with obvious disdain.

"And you are?"

"Ken Eliot. Professional wall-breaker and part-time disappointment," Ken said, his voice light and conversational.

"I have to say, it's really something to meet someone who's even more of a disappointment than me. And I once accidentally set my own hair on fire. Twice." A few of the corporate staff snickered before catching themselves. Niro's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.

"You dare speak to me with such disrespect? Do you know who I am?"

"Oh, I know exactly who you are," Ken said, tilting his head like a confused puppy.

"You're the guy who stands in corporate lobbies bullying his own sister. Very impressive. Really living up to that Royal Advisor title."

"We are nothing alike," Niro spat, his composure beginning to crack.

"You're right, you're much taller," Ken agreed solemnly.

"And your hair is way more organized than mine. Seriously, what product do you use? It looks like each strand was individually placed by a team of professionals. Very intimidating." More snickers from the corporate staff. A secretary behind the reception desk covered her mouth to hide a smile. Even one of the security guards at the door seemed to be fighting a grin. Niro's face was beginning to redden, the perfect composure of a Royal Advisor crumbling under the relentless assault of Ken's casual mockery.

"You think you're clever? You're just a lazy nobleman's son playing at being a soldier. A joke. A nobody."

"Guilty as charged on the lazy part," Ken said with that infuriating casualness.

"But I'm not the one standing in a corporate lobby humiliating my own sister in front of strangers. I've done some pathetic things in my life, but that? That's a whole new level of sad." The lobby went quiet. Niro's face contorted with rage.

"You insolent, worthless..."