The Simulacrum - Chapter 85~ Part 2

“Have I ever told you that I really don’t like parties that much?”

“Only five times in the last half an hour,” Judy responded flatly and fixed my collar again. “Here. Looks good to me.”

“Wow. I never thought you would look that intimidating in a suit,” Josh commented from the other side of the room, which was rich coming from him, considering he was also wearing one with his hair slicked back, and it made him look like a young gangster.

“I know, right?” Elly agreed maybe just a touch too enthusiastically. “He looks so awesome! Hey, Leo? Can you try glaring at me?”

“Like this?” I indulged her, and she let out an honest to goodness squee.

“Your standards for attractiveness are weird,” my dearest assistant noted with feigned disinterest, and my draconic girlfriend all but jumped on her.

“No, it’s not! Even you can’t deny that he looks great in that suit!”

“I never did. I really don’t want him to glare at me though.”

“Must be a dragon-thing,” I surmised and raised my arms in a T-pose. “So, do I look decent enough to appear in public with you two?”

“More than decent enough,” Judy stated emphatically, then added, “Maybe a bit too decent. You might steal the spotlight.”

“I sincerely doubt it. You two aren’t exactly wearing potato sacks either, you know?”

In fact, my girlfriends looked even lovelier than usual this evening. They already had their makeup done in preparation for the banquet, and the two of them wore matching evening dresses; Elly’s a fiery red, while Judy’s a calmer beige just a shade darker than the bow in her hair. She had a couple of different ones by now, but she insisted on wearing this one, as it was my first-month anniversary gift to her, and so she picked a dress that would complement it. I was pretty sure normally it was the other way around, with people choosing accessories that fit their outfit, but she was really attached to that bow, so I accommodated her wish. Or rather the Dracis maids did, but I paid for the dress, so six of one, half a dozen the other.

As for my outfit, Sebastian absolutely insisted that I had to make a strong first impression, so on top of the usual black shirt and trousers, I was given leather shoes, a richly embroidered high-collar black tuxedo right out of a Victorian period movie set, a bright red tie, and an actual silver pocket watch with its chain hanging out of a pocked designed just to hold it. That was already a bit of an overkill in my opinion, but then they even wanted me to have a silver cane with a dragon-head handle too, which I managed to avoid with a combination of logical reasoning, firm denial, and just a hint of pleading.

Considering how much Sebastian was fussing over my ensemble, I had a feeling these might’ve been his hand-me-downs. Josh, on the other hand, was wearing a simple modern business suit Lord Grandpa loaned to him. That was a story in and of itself, and if this was a sitcom, this would’ve been the point where the screen would go all wavy and we’d have a flashback to this morning. Nobody got time for that, so here’s the footnotes version of the events leading to the current situation:

Lord Grandpa got invited to the banquet. Since he was invited, Ammy also got an invitation as his only kin. Because she’s bad with crowds (or at least Angie insisted so), Josh volunteered to accompany her, but then the childhood friends got into an argument over it, Josh admitted he had ulterior motives (read: the exotic food), so Angie volunteered herself as his escort to keep him in check (read: so that she could have some of those delicacies too). Speaking of which…

“Wow! Leo looks snazzy!” the energetic celestial exclaimed as she entered the room. She was wearing a light blue dress that Judy identified as a ‘halter’. She also had her hair up in a fancy woven bun and looked even prettier than usual. Objectively speaking, of course. Subjectively, Judy and Elly looked better, but I wasn’t insensitive enough to voice that out loud, even if I was obviously right and anyone saying otherwise was just asking for a smack upside their head.

But back to the morning: After they made up their minds all on their own, the childhood friend duo soon realized that they had no fitting clothes for the occasion. As it turned out, Josh’s suit for the Christmas ball was at the tailor, because he grew out of it since last year, while Angie insisted that her ball gown was fine for the Christmas dance, but it was too old-fashioned for a high-society party. Since they weren’t in the original plans, and I didn’t want to impose on my in-laws the last second, I had to gently persuade the resident Arch-Mage to kindly take care of the problem.

As for why I was so accommodating, it was because this was a blindingly obvious setup to get Josh involved in the ‘main plot’, and I had a feeling that if I shut him out, he was probably going to get entangled in it some unexpected and eminently annoying way anyway, so it was best to keep him where I could see him. I also had a hunch that this might be another ‘event’ between him and Angie, and getting in the way of that would’ve been a dick move. Speaking of which, considering they were experiencing a lot more of those as of late, could it be that the Simulacrum also acknowledged their relationship slowly growing past the UST stage? And if so, could we be on the cusp of potentially entering one of those fabled ‘routes’ we theorized so much about?

All of that was beside the point though, at least for the time being. Right now, I had three things to worry about: making a good first impression on the gathered Draconians, rebuffing Elly’s suitor firmly enough so that he’d get the message, but not so harshly where he would screw my plans over out of spite, and keeping an eye on any possibility of a tournament arc and, if necessary, shutting it down with extreme prejudice.

“Are you ready?” We all turned towards the source of the impatient question, the recently arrived butler. He looked over me in turn, and let out a thoughtful hum. “It is true after all. Clothes do make the man. In that outfit, you’re almost dashing, my boy.”

I graciously ignored the unnecessary ‘almost’ he wedged into his compliment and pointed at the old man’s head instead.

“Isn’t the monocle a bit too much?”

Sebastian all but scoffed at my comment and theatrically readjusted the piece of glass sitting in his orbit.

“Don’t be daft, my boy. A prestigious meeting like this demands a certain level of elegance from every participant. Even I, the lowly steward, must abide by the rules of high society.”

“Sure, that’s your excuse, but what’s the true reason behind you wearing it?”

“I like it,” he answered so frankly it stumped me for a moment.

“Then I suppose it’s lucky it suits you,” I said after gathering my wits, and the incognito dragon gave me an appreciative facial expression that was like a repeating decimal fraction; infinitely approaching a smile, but never really getting there.

“Are the Eastern Draconians at the banquet yet?” Judy inquired on the side, and the old butler shook his head.

“No, I’m afraid not. Only the guests from the more distinguished Western bloodlines have arrived so far. If I would have to hazard a guess, I would say our Eastern kin are gathering somewhere else, and they are planning to arrive together in a show of unity.”

“In other words, they are going to make a grand entrance and try to one-up everyone present,” I posited, and the old man agreed with a smirk.

“Precisely. And that’s why we must make your entrance one that would not pale in comparison.”

“Personally, I’d prefer to quietly slip in. There’s going to be plenty of opportunities to draw everyone’s attention later.”

“Chief, you’re jinxing it again.”

“No, I’m not. I’m just being a realist. If this banquet ends without a single incident, I’ll eat my hat.”

“You don’t even have a hat,” Josh ever so helpfully pointed out, earning a sideways look for his trouble.

“I just told you I’m a realist. I’m hedging my bets.”

“So you want to make a subtle entrance?” Sebastian grabbed the reins of the conversation again.

“Yes. We should mingle a little first. Once dad-in-law announces the engagement, we’ll be in the center of attention and gossiping anyway, and at that point we wouldn’t be able to do it even if we tried.”

“Everyone present already knows of your engagement. The rascal made sure to notify the guests ahead of time, but knowing him, the official proclamation is sure to be needlessly attention-grabbing.” He silently considered things again, and ultimately nodded his head. “Very well. You do make a fair point. It would be certainly beneficial if you could make some connections before the announcement.”

I didn’t expect Sebastian to agree with me so easily, so I hit the iron while it was still hot.

“Precisely. Let’s go with that plan.”

“Seconded,” Josh supported my motion with a raised hand. “I don’t like being in the center of attention either.”

“You’re just saying that because you want to sneakily raid the smorgasbord,” Angie quipped on the side, and her childhood friend didn’t even bother to deny the accusation.

“You are definitely not going to be in the center of attention in any case, but very well,” Sebastian noted a tad sourly before turning back to be. “Let us not tarry any longer. Follow me.”

As if waiting for their cue, the girls lined up by my sides, while Josh and Angie trailed just a few steps behind us as we followed in the old butler’s footsteps and headed for the venue of the banquet. Unsurprisingly enough, the Dracis mansion had a hall specifically for this purpose, and while normally it was supposed to be accessed through the large double-doors opening to the gardens, due to the weather, we used the second entrance to get in.

Needless to say, the grand hall was about as uselessly opulent as one would’ve expected, with enough marble to make a small Greek temple, more hardwood than it takes to make forestry mascots cry, and an enormous crystal chandelier I wouldn’t want to stand under. Structurally speaking, the place could be divided into three main zones. On the two sides, there were tables full of cold cuts, pastries, and various drinks, and this is where most of the guests mingled. In the middle, there was an open space for dancing, but at the moment only a few people idled there. As for the music, it was provided by the quartet sitting on the raised area at the far end of the hall. The same area also had a long table with chairs only on one side, arranged so that they could overlook the whole place, and obviously reserved for the guests of honor. At the moment, only mom-in-law, Lord Grandpa, and a few older folks I couldn’t recognize were sitting there, already engrossed in discussion.

“I don’t see Ammy anywhere,” Angie spoke with a hand over her eyes like she was shielding them from the sun, kind of ruining the refined look her outfit gave her.

“Let’s find her,” Josh declared at once, and after a curt nod towards the rest of us, they disappeared into the crowd.

After carefully looking over the place, searching for familiar faces, I got just slightly alarmed by actually finding one. I took a second glance, just to be sure, and even verified it with Far Sight, just to be extra sure. Only after confirming my hunch beyond the shadow of a doubt, and steeling my face, did I turn to the girls and propose, “Let’s split. If we are together, they’ll immediately figure out who we are.”

“Chief. You do remember what happened the last time you left the two of us alone, right?”

“You mean at the ice rink? Please, Dormouse. This isn’t a public place with random helpful people trying to be nice to you and nothing else, without any ulterior motives whatsoever.”

“No matter how much you keep insisting on your version of the events, it won’t change the fact that we were hit on by a group of scary hooligans.”

“I don’t know why you keep saying that. I thought it was funny,” Elly chimed in, but my dearest assistant remained steadfast.

“Well, there aren’t any hooligans here, so you should be fine.”

“… Chief, I don’t want to question your character or anything, but are you purposefully setting us up for a similar situation again, just so that you can swoop in the last second like a prince on a white horse?”

“No, I’m not. Also, nothing of the like would happen, because Sebastian will be looking after you.”

“Will I?”

“Yes, you certainly will,” I emphasized, but the old man only shook his head.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to welcome the other guests, and…” It was at this point he finally noticed the insistent glare I was giving him, and after a short but intense session of eyebrow-based communications, he finally relented with a grudging, “But I suppose I can spare a few minutes.”

One appreciative nod later I turned back to the girls and flashed my best smile.

“You see. Nothing bad could happen with him hovering around you. Now, shoo, and have as much fun as you can before the inevitable kerfuffle.”

“You’re still jinxing it,” my dearest assistant grumbled, but my other girlfriend didn’t care and grabbed hold of her hand.

“Come on, Judy! I’ll introduce you to some people I know! I hope Vivien is here too. I used to go to school with her back in Berlin, and I haven’t seen her in years!”

“Yes, you do that. Socializing is important.”

My insistence only made Judy more suspicious. Elly, on the other hand, agreed wholeheartedly, and quickly dragged my skeptical assistant away, with the grouchy butler following after them. I waved them goodbye, and waited until they were out of sight before I zeroed in on my target and walked over to him at a brisk pace. He had his back turned to me, and since he didn’t react when I pointedly cleared my throat right behind him, I reached out and placed a firm hand on the familiar waiter’s shoulder.

“Care to explain what you’re doing?”

The young man let out a frightened yelp as he threw me off and frantically whirled around, only to then freeze and let out a weird noise that I interpreted as a sign of relief, and then he whispered, “Why did you have to scare me like that?! I thought my cover got blown!”

“Do I look like I care? Now, please answer the first question.”

The young man under the obviously fake moustache and wig conspicuously glanced around, and gestured towards the nearest corner with a few empty tables. I followed him over, and once we were out of earshot from most of the guests, Mike whispered, “I’m here to provide reconnaissance for the Intelligence Network.”

“Obviously. I want to know why you’re dressed like that.”

“Oh, you mean the waiter’s uniform?” He flashed me a cocky smile and straightened his clothes. “I’ve learned that the Dracis matriarch contracted a catering company for providing cold cuts for the banquet, so I sneakily infiltrated them. This way, I can stay completely inconspicuous as I listen to the newest internal gossip without anyone being suspicious.”

He was so proud of himself, he completely failed to notice the sideways look I was giving him, forcing me to address the elephant in the room.

“Michael, I’ll be honest with you for your own good. You are suspicious as all hell.”

“Am I? B-But, I put on a disguise!”

“You have a fake Salvadore Dali moustache and a platinum blonde mullet! I probably wouldn’t have picked you out of the crowd if you didn’t stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Really? But… nobody else said anything about it…”

I almost blurted out that it was probably because he was hanging out around a group of placeholders, but instead I took a couple of deep breaths.

“Doesn’t matter at this point. So, what have you learned?”

“Erm… not much? I couldn’t get close to the important people yet,” he admitted a tad sheepishly.

“Important people. Such as?” I inquired with a brow raised, and when he didn’t answer, I added, “I’m checking if you did your homework.”

“Oh, I certainly did,” he declared with a confident smile, so I figured I might as well use the opportunity to exploit someone else’s hard work for my own benefit, as my research on the topic of the potential troublemakers at this event was surface-deep at most. Too much time spent on side-projects and last-minute preparations.

As such, I looked around and picked out the first person with a unique hairstyle I laid my eyes upon.

“In that case, what can you tell me about that guy?”

“Who?” Mike followed the direction of my eyes and took a sharp breath. “Oh. The short blonde man? He’s Falla, the heir of the Peluda family. Small-time stock trader based in Galicia. Why?”

“I’ve already told you; I’m checking how well you’ve prepared. So far, I’m not particularly floored.”

“Oh, I know more! Erm… Lemme see… He should be on bad terms with his father because of some kind of money laundering scandal, and his inheritance is on shaky legs. He also started his own fishing business a few years ago, but it’s been doing poorly, so he’s probably here to look for someone to bail him out. Oh, and he has three older sisters, but he’s the heir because the family is very traditional about male inheritance.”

“Interesting. What about him,” I pointed to my next target, a tall guy with sunken cheeks and slick black hair. Mike squinted to take a better look, but then he let out a delighted ‘Ah!’.

“I barely recognized him without the beard, but that’s Dobry Smock for sure. Second in line of the Smok clan, and something of a black sheep. Considering it’s the Smoks we are talking about, that’s saying something. I don’t recommend associating with him if at all possible.”

“Duly noted. What about the woman with the beehive hairdo over there?”

“Who? Oh, that’s easy: that’s Yseult Albion. Big family from England. They were the biggest in the past, but then the British colonies went poof, and a lot of their influence with it. It was around the time the Dracis rose to their current position, and there was some friction between them, but I think it’s already in the past. They are generally okay. Or, at least, I haven’t read about them exterminating any misbehaving branch families in the past couple of decades.”

“How very okay of them,” I noted a touch flatly.

“So? Do I pass?”

“Barely, but here’s an extra question for a better grade: who are the women giving us amorous glances over there?”

“What? Amorous? What?” Mike hastily glanced around, and once he found the group I was talking about, he muttered, “I have no idea. I based on their skin color and dresses, I’d guess they are probably Lotans.”

“Probably?”

“Surely. They are surely Lotans. I don’t recognize them, so they must be from a branch family.”

“They also seem to be about to come here to say hi, so I guess I better move on before I get entangled in something stupid. Two pieces of advice before I leave: ditch the moustache, and look out for Ammy.”

“Wait, she’s here?!” I gave him my best ‘Well, duh,’ look and used my chin to point towards Lord Grandpa up at the main table. The hapless Celestial’s eyes opened wide with recognition. “W-Wait, hold on! So when she said she needed an escort today, she meant this?” I nodded, and his face completely blanched. “But… I turned her down because I already had this disguise planned, and if I didn’t, I could have come here anyway together, and… Oh, shit. I messed up. I messed up big time.”

“That, you did,” I told him as I patted him on the shoulder, and I was about to leave when he grabbed hold of me.

“Wait, don’t go!” The presumed Lotan girls were just about to head over to us, but I couldn’t shake him off. I mean that literally; he clamped onto me like I was his lifeline. I weighed my options, and in the end, decided to help him out in exchange for the last-minute refresher he gave me on the people I should keep an eye on in this banquet hall.

I had to be sure I didn’t look too eager to help though, or he might just start relying on me. As such, I carefully pried his fingers off my arm and let out a dramatic groan before giving my instructions.

“Go and find Melinda. Blonde maid, braids, always frowns, currently at the back entrance. Tell her the ‘future young master’ sent you, and that you need a suit and a place to change into it. Also tell her that if she helps, I’ll owe her one. Once you’re changed, go find Ammy, and tell her you just wanted to surprise her with a sudden appearance, but you got held up by security and I had to bail you out. That’s the best I can do for you.”

“Thanks! You’re a lifesaver!”

“Yeah, sure. Now shoo.”

After waving the unprofessional yet eager Celestial agent away, I also turned on my heels and headed into the thick of the crowd to break sight-line with the women staring at me. Once I felt out of the crosshair, I slowed my steps and attempted to listen to the conversations around me with an aloof, disinterested expression, but soon I didn’t have to force it, as it was almost exclusively placeholder chatter.

By the looks of it, the three unique characters I noted notwithstanding, the rest of the important players were either up at the main table with mom-in-law, or they haven’t arrived yet. I made sure to keep an eye out for Josh, and I soon found him in the company of Angie and the class rep, the latter wearing a fairly conservative blue one-shoulder dress. The three of them were in the process of raiding one of the pastry tables, so I left them to their devices and headed for my girlfriends’ direction. I used Far Sight to get their rough location, and my steps faltered when I noticed the small group gathered there.

“Oh for the love of—!” I whispered under my breath as my legs picked up the pace again. “Judy’s right. I really can’t leave them alone for five minutes in public…”

Breaking through the circle of onlookers, I found Elly and Judy standing side by side, shielding a short, brunette girl behind them. In front of them, there was a young man, about our age, and his face was beet red from outrage.

“You bitch! This is none of your business!” he bellowed, and raised a hand high… at which point the sound of a loud slap rang out as Sebastian stepped in from the sidelines so fast I could barely see more than a sharply dressed blur.

The young man, startled and shaken by the sudden impact, staggered back a step, his hand still raised high. That just wouldn’t do, I moved behind him and clamped my hand on his wrist, and twisted it behind his back. For the record, I did all that very calmly, and I wasn’t angry at all.

“Huh…? Who the fuck are you?!” the guy bellowed. On closer look, he had a square-ish face with small eyes sitting under thick eyebrows, and a bit of an under-bite, though that might’ve been just the aftereffect of getting slapped by a dragon.

“First, mind your language, dipshit. There are ladies present.” For emphasis, I twisted his hand a little more, just enough to hear the bones creak. By the way, still not angry. “Secondly, I’m curious just what exactly you were thinking a few seconds ago.”

“Let me go, you bastard!” He tried to kick me, so I applied just a touch more pressure, very calmly pushing his wrist into his back until he could barely stand.

“Well, it’s apparent we’re not getting anything useful out of you.” I paused here to send Sebastian an appreciative nod, and he gave me a very butlery bow that said something along the lines of ‘All in a day’s work’. He was also unusually approving of my conduct. I didn’t know which part, so out of curiosity, I put a tiny bit more strength into my grasp and made the guy hiss. With the serenity of a newborn lamb, of course. The old man almost smiled at that, and then casually backed out of the situation.

“Hey! What the fuck? Someone apprehend that servant! And you! Let me go at once, or face the conse— O-Ouch!”

I ignored the squealing guy and turned to my dear assistant.

“This guy is useless. Dormouse, sitrep please.”

Before doing so, Judy readjusted her dress and swiped a lock of hair away from her forehead before stepping up to me and stoically stating, “Before I start, I would like to point out that I called it. Again.”

“Yes, you did.”

She let out a triumphant huff, and took a sharp breath in preparation of a dry summary of the events.

“Elly found her old school friend. This person is her ex-fiancé. He came over to talk to her, but she didn’t want to. There was an argument. Lots of shouting. You were already here for the last part.”

“Oh, so it’s some high-society drama? Lovely.” I paused here to glance over at my other girlfriend and the girl who was presumably her friend, her makeup smudged from crying. “Is she all right?”

“She must’ve been frightened. Elly said she’ll take care of her.”

“Let me go already!” the guy in my grasp bellowed and struggled to break free. In fact, I could see some grey scales forming around his jaw, so I immediately put my other hand on his shoulder and clenched fingers hard, my thumb practically sinking into his muscles. I also reaffirmed my grasp on his arm, at which point he let out a pained hiss and stopped struggling. “Do… Do you know who I am!?”

“I haven’t the foggiest,” I admitted.

“I’m Dupek Smok! Unhand me at once!”

“Really? The Dupek Smok? Of the Smok family?”

“Yes!”

“Never heard of you.”

“Wha—?”

“All right, let’s play a game,” I proposed just in time for Elly to also come over. The younger girl was apparently taken away by her maids to clean up, so since it was just the three of us (plus about two dozen amused onlookers), I said, “Let’s try to figure out who I am. I’m going to give you a clue: the man who slapped you just now was the steward of the Dracis household looking after the young miss of the family. That makes her…?”

“Eleanor Dracis?” he muttered, his resistance snuffed out like candlelight under a bucket of water.

“Bingo. She’s also the girl you tried to slap in public.”

“No, I didn’t!”

“Oh, then I must be mistaken, and you only raised your hand for a friendly high-five. How terrible of me to presume the worst of you just because you looked like you were threatening my girlfriend.”

Once he stopped squirming under the administration of my homebrew pressure point torment, he blurted out an alarmed, “G-Girlfriend?”

“Yes. Can you guess which one of the two I’m talking about?”

“Is it… her?”

He feebly gestured towards Judy, and I feigned a good-natured chuckle.

“Yes indeed, but you only get half a point for that. The correct answer is both.”

The moment I uttered that, the guy’s face blanched and his whole body broke out in cold sweat.

“You… You’re Leonard Blackcloak…” he whispered with wide-open eyes.

“Some call me by that name, yes,” I confirmed and slightly loosened my grip on his shoulder. “Though, on second thought, they are my fiancées now, aren’t they? I wonder, does that make your situation worse, or much worse?”

“Fuck… I’m fucked…” he muttered in a daze, and since there didn’t seem to be any more fight in him, I let go of him, only to immediately grab his upper arms and force him standing up, face to face with me.

“Now, now. Don’t be so negative. I’m a reasonable guy, and in my opinion, everyone is entitled to do something monumentally stupid. Once. With this, we clear your allowance. Water under the bridge. Everything’s good. Just, one small thing to remember.” I leaned closer, and he remained stiff as a frightened lamb as I whispered directly into his ear, “You’ve run out of second chances. Now is the time to rethink your life choices and turn a new leaf. From this day onward, I have my eyes on you. I’ll know your every move. If I catch even a whiff of you trying to come after my fiancées or their friends, I will show you the reason why nobody dares to even whisper my name in the Abyssal house of Inanna. Are we clear on that?”

He feebly nodded in place of a proper answer, so I stepped back and patted him on the shoulder in a friendly and not an all joint-dislocating manner.

“See? Everything’s good. Off you go now.”

I didn’t have to say it twice, and the lad scurried away with his proverbial tail between his legs like the devil was at his heels. Once he left, the peanut gallery also lost interest, and the onlookers soon began to drift away from us.

“I was under the impression you were trying not to become a villain,” Judy noted with just a hint of disapproval.

“That wasn’t villainous. I was very nice and only restrained him so we could have a civil conversation.”

“I don’t even know where to begin dissecting that,” she grumbled. “And what was that last bit about house Inanna?”

“It wasn’t exactly lying. I mean, they can’t say my name because it makes Crowey throw a hissy-fit, not because they are afraid of me, but I was technically telling the truth.”

“Chief, has technical truths ever not bit you in the butt?”

“I… have no idea. I’ve been telling so many of them, it’s hard to keep track.”

It was at this point that Judy finally gave up.

“Fine, have your own head-canon then. I guess I should just be happy we aren’t getting any odd looks for resorting to violence.”

“That wasn’t violent,” Elly cut in, and she simultaneously attached herself to me.

“He nearly broke his arm,” Judy pointed out, but the princess didn’t seem to see any issues with that.

“Well, if he didn’t cut in, I would have broken his nose. These kinds of things are fairly common when we gather.”

“They are?” my dearest assistant uttered in sincere bafflement, and Elly grunted in the affirmative.

“Sure. Didn’t I tell you that you should stay close to me because things between Draconians can get intense?”

“I thought you meant there would be taunting and backtalk.”

“That’s how it usually starts, and then they are followed by bruised jaws and some dislocated joints.” She must’ve noticed the way we were both looking at her, because she hastily added, “They’re not that big of a deal. We heal quickly.”

“So the thing that the Chief just did wasn’t a social faux pas?”

“No. In fact…” She paused here to squeeze my arm and declared, “He was so cool! He showed dominance and subdued his opponent with superior strength and authority, and didn’t even need to break any bones in the process! If we weren’t already engaged, half the eligible girls in the room would be lining up to introduce themselves to him by now.”

Judy remained silent for a good while, massaging her temple, and she ultimately stated, “I have a feeling I’ll have to unlearn my common sense if I want to fit into this family.”

“Don’t worry Dormouse. We’ll do it together.”

“You already seem to be doing really well on your own,” she griped, but soon decided to just go with the flow by grabbing hold of my free arm. “Speaking of which, when do you think Abram will publicly announce our engagement.”

“I guess they want to do it after everyone arrived.”

Just as I said that, our attention was grabbed by the main doors of the hall opening wide. The music stopped, and Sebastian’s voice exclaimed, “The prestigious Long family and their companions have arrived.”

“Oh, speak of the devil,” I muttered and held the girls closer. “Let’s go take a look.”

And with that, we followed the currents of the crowd towards the people promising to be the main source of my headaches for the foreseeable future. On the bright side, one random incident already happened, so I won’t have to eat my nonexistent hat. Not much of a silver lining, but it’s something.