Chương 17: Celebration — Part 2

The chatting noises were too much, and so were the conversations for my three-second-attention-span-addicted brain to keep track of everything going on around me. Literally, too much was happening at once. It was all so chaotic. For starters, there was the musical group that kept playing melodic music. They were using some kind of voice amplification tool. It looked like big rods placed in three different positions on their stage. Was it something like a booster or a sound system? I didn't know.

It looked interesting, though. I hoped to see how they worked. But not right now. Because what was happening in front of me was even more interesting. Cecilia was having a conversation with her siblings, and I was honestly surprised that she hadn't thrown her hands at any of them yet. Her face looked like someone who hadn't just stepped in shit but had stepped in an entire pile of it. I found it hilarious, to be honest.

Then there were all these branch family members trying to suck up to Roseline and other siblings. But I couldn't find Mira anywhere. Had she not been invited? If that was the case, then it didn't make any sense for her to be in the Main household. Well, why did I even care. It wasn't my problem. No one was really approaching me, though. And why would they. I was just a humble butler, standing around in a corner. When I spotted a servant passing by with a glass of red wine, I took it from him. I sniffed it.

It was more of a gesture than anything else. I couldn't tell the difference between good wine and bad wine. I just figured the wine had to be different, considering these people were basically the Rothschilds of this world. But sadly, my nose picked up no difference, and neither did my tongue. So, I placed the glass back onto a different servant's tray. As I stood there, I couldn't help but wonder what exactly would trigger that exile situation. I still hadn't found any clues.

Then, the ballroom doors opened once again. This time, everyone's attention shifted toward them. One by one, people began entering the room. I could tell they were old by their gray hair. Some had entire heads full of it, while others only had a little. But, you know, it was a damn fantasy world, so even its old people looked better than Earth's forty-year-olds. In total, seven people entered the room: four women and three men. I didn't recognize most of them.

But judging by how respectfully Cecilia's siblings behaved around them, I figured they were pretty important people. Then, suddenly, a presence descended upon the entire ballroom. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. One by one, people throughout the ballroom collapsed unconscious under the overwhelming spiritual pressure. Only the strongest people remained conscious. In the corner I saw Bella on the ground, cake still in her mouth, foaming.

The sheer weight of the spiritual pressure released was so overwhelming it forced my knees to bend slightly, making it difficult to remain standing, but just as I was about to lose my balance. [Sovereign Aura activated.] I felt a sudden pressure being released from my body, countering the overwhelming spiritual pressure of the other being and forcing me to stand back up straight, and it was then that I noticed a woman standing in the middle of the room, staring directly at Roseline.

The moment I looked at her, I felt a sense of mortal danger, and I immediately realized who she was. Anemira Rosenkreuz. A freaking powerhouse of the Rosenkreuz family, the leader of the Red Rose, an elite force consisting of only a handful of the strongest members of the Rosenkreuz family. But what truly terrified me about this woman wasn't just her overwhelming strength. It was the fact that she was batshit crazy.

She was so crazy that she had once even attempted to kill Lord Rosenkreuz himself, and you needed to be completely insane to even consider attempting something like that. And the last thing I wanted was to catch her attention. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

So I immediately tried to deactivate my Sovereign Aura, but goddamn it, it wasn't working, and no matter how many times I tried to shut it down, the damn thing simply refused to deactivate, leaving me with no choice but to stand there and hope that she wouldn't notice me. Then Roseline fell to one knee on the ground, and Anemira spoke, her voice so cold yet strangely sweet to hear that it sent an entirely different kind of shiver down my spine.

"Roseline Von Rosenkreuz, you have successfully completed the mission assigned to you, and you have earned the right to become a member of the Red Rose, unless the elders of the house say otherwise." She then turned her gaze toward the elders and continued.

"Elder Eleanor."

"Elder Margaret."

"Elder Charlotte."

"Elder Victoria."

"Elder Arthur."

"Elder Frederick."

"Elder Edmund."

"Do you object?" One by one, the elders began to respond.

"I do not." They all appeared satisfied with the current proceedings, but most of their attention wasn't focused on Roseline, as their eyes remained fixed on Cecilia. The way they looked at her made it seem as though they wanted to tear her apart and devour her alive.

"Roseline Von Rosenkreuz, with the agreement of the elders, in the presence of all the honorable members of the Rosenkreuz family, and by the authority granted to me by the Lord of this house, and by his will, I hereby declare you a member of the Red Rose." As soon as she finished speaking, Roseline slowly stood up and swept her hair to one side of her neck, exposing her skin, and Anemira then burned a magical stamp of Red Rose onto her neck.

And then, without giving anyone else a chance to react, both of them disappeared from the ballroom. The spiritual pressure disappeared from the room at once, and I could see the people who hadn't fallen unconscious suddenly fall to their knees, as it took a lot more from them just to maintain their consciousness. This marked the end of the celebration, and the people started to leave one by one. I noticed Cecilia was gestured at by the elder to follow them to another room.

I wanted the still-unconscious Bella to wake up, but I didn't have time, Cecilia was already moving. So, I cast two Butler Care on her from a distance and followed behind her.

We left the ballroom and arrived at the next door, which was still a 2-minute walk away. I also noticed that the 8th child, 5th child, and 7th child were following behind the elders too. Then they all entered the room one by one, but as I was about to, Carl stopped me with his hand.

"This is a family matter, you're not allowed." Damn it, is this as far as I can go? Am I not her butler? Shouldn't I be with her. But I knew this was nothing more than a hopeful expectation. But as I was feeling dejected, I heard Cecilia's voice: "Let him come." I looked at Cecilia with my eyes twinkling. Why did she look so huggable right now.

"This is a family matter, Cecilia, and I hope you don't want someone else to see you getting scolded by the elders," Leif, the 7th child, said in a very innocent voice. The kind of voice that could tell someone the earth was flat and they'd believe it.

"He's coming," Cecilia's reply was firm. And seeing that even the elders didn't object, they let me in.

"But I do wonder why you're following me," Cecilia asked her siblings.

"I don't know what you did again this time to get in trouble with the elders, but I wasn't just going to miss this opportunity to see you getting scolded." Carl answered. Then he looked at Frya, the 5th child.

"But why are you here, sis?" Cecilia also looked at Frya.

"I'm wondering that too. Why are you here? Carl and Leif are a bunch of monkeys who don't have anything better to do, but why are you here? Don't tell me that in the absence of mine you also acquired a deep trait of liking my suffering, like everyone else in our family."

"Don't think too much of it, I'm just here to keep an eye on Leif..." Then we finally reached our destination. It was a room within a room, with 7 seats, and one by one all the elders took their seats. Then Charlotte, who had black hair and an aged face, started speaking.

"I will take it Sebastian has already told you why you've been summoned here."

"It would be better if he hadn't lied about Roseline."

"If we had told you it was Roseline and not your brother, would you have come?" said Arthur, a 6-foot-tall man who looked like an Englishman around the age of 37, with a good build. He looked strong.

"Well, you are correct about that."

"Now, Carl, Leif, Frya and you butler..." She pointed at me.

".. can all leave. What happens here will be a private meeting."

"Edwin stays," Cecilia said once again in a firm voice.

"You look like you're misunderstanding something again, Cecilia. What we say is what you must do," said Margaret. She was a heavyset woman in purple clothing.

"I said he stays, and I will not hear otherwise."

"Why do you insist?" asked Victoria. She had beautiful long black hair and a veiled body, from which her face couldn't be seen. But I do also wonder about that question. Why does she insist on it so much. If I remember correctly, she doesn't have much affection toward me, so why the sudden change of pace. Don't tell me it's because of Heirflame.

"Hey... if the butler stays, we also stay," said Carl. But too bad, they were thrown out in the end. I just stood there beside Cecilia like a statue.

"Now listen, girl, I will say this only once. You are a disgrace to the Lord Rosenkreuz name, and if you share even the slightest gene of his, then do not lose in the trial of worth," said Edmund. He seemed kind of pissed, full of hatred, glaring at Cecilia. Did he just say trial of worth? I knew about the trial of worth. It was one of the small side lore bits tied to a game character. But there shouldn't be any trial-of-worth event with Cecilia. There's no such thing in the game. Did the event change somehow?

Am I responsible for it? Hopefully not, I don't want to take any responsibility.

"I don't know which buffoon thinks he can beat me. Just let me know who he is, and when we fight, no way In hell I'm going to lose to any branch family member." Then Charlotte said, "You can come in." The door opened, and a person entered the room, and I recognized her immediately, of course I would, I'd just met her yesterday. It was Mira.

"She is your opponent, and the trial takes place right now."