Westminster Bank

The crowd turned to see a magnificently dressed young nobleman. The more discerning guests immediately recognized him from the family crest on his bespoke suit and his transcendent bearing. It was Jill Hestia, the Young Master of the Hestia Family. No one had expected him to attend this auction.

The guests mused privately. 'With so many Old Blood Clans in attendance, the items up for auction must be extraordinarily valuable.'

Zick gave Jill a curt nod, then turned to Aile with a cold smile. "Mr. Aile, I hope by our next meeting, you'll have managed to advance to Bronze Tier...

"You won't need to send an invitation. I'll personally come to participate in your gang beating... oh, my mistake, I mean the 'brawl.'"

With that, he entered the auction hall with Dewey and a few young scions from other families.

"Mr. Ji'er..." Aile gave Jill a Knight's salute, then glanced around. "Where's Freya?"

Jill returned the salute and shook his head. "I don't know. The Thirteenth Elder was supposed to have informed her at Buckingham Palace... I checked the hotel where she was supposed to be staying, but there was no Griffin Carriage from the Lancelot Family."

"Does that mean Freya isn't coming?"

Aile had been notified by the Lion Eye Knight Order, so he had come to the auction with his parents, accompanied by fellow members of the Order who had also received invitations. He hadn't traveled with the Lancelot Family's Griffin Carriage.

'So Freya really didn't come...' Jill shook his head. "I'm not sure... The auction is about to begin. In any case, we should head inside."

As they entered, they overheard nearby guests still buzzing about the confrontation between Aile and Zick over Baron Constantin:

"The Constantine Family is truly worthy of their Old Blood Clan status. First, they produced a Wizard from the London Tower, and now a Bronze Tier Dragon Knight. That's what you call family heritage."

Another guest of the Old Race added:

"I wonder what that Baron Constantin is really like... I heard he appeared in London City this morning, and for all their efforts, numerous Old Blood Clans and the Law Enforcement Organization couldn't even catch him..."

"What do you mean 'couldn't catch'? Even if they did, what then? Constantine is a Dragon Knight. The proper term is that they were 'powerless against him.'"

An Old Race guest scoffed, "He even escaped from the legendary Silver Lion Wilder himself on several occasions. If you ask me, once this Dragon Knight reaches the Silver Tier, there won't be a single person in all of Inner London who can handle him—aside from the London Tower Master, of course."

"Who says there isn't? What Dragon Knight? He's nothing but a showboating Lawbreaker!"

Aile stopped in his tracks and shot a cold glare at the guest. "As a Lion-eyed Knight, I swear I will carry on my brother Anthony's final wish and bring that man to justice! I will not fail!"

Without another word, he stormed into the auction hall, leaving the stunned guests in his wake.

The guests outside were left staring at one another, clearly still processing Aile's outburst.

Jill watched Aile's retreating back and whispered, 'Baron Constantin... for killing my brother... I will have my revenge.'

Baron sneezed and rubbed his nose. 'Who could possibly be thinking about me at a time like this?' he wondered.

Freya presented her invitation to the guard at the entrance. After inspecting it, the guard and his companion bowed deeply, offering words of welcome for the esteemed arrival of the Legitimate Daughter of the Lancelot Clan.

All eyes turned toward her. Dignitaries, handsome young elites, and the daughters of prominent houses alike could not hide the amazement in their gazes.

This was only natural. First, the guards' grand welcome had set the stage perfectly. Second, Freya's appearance was truly stunning.

She wore a form-fitting, aqua-blue gown, its skirt dotted with mercury-silver rhinestones that shimmered like sunlight on the ocean waves, accentuating her slender waist. A matching pair of mercury-silver heels hugged her feet, tracing the elegant lines of her long, pale calves.

As a daughter of the Lancelot Clan, her figure was but one of her many exceptional qualities, and hardly the most noteworthy. What truly made her stand out among the socialites in the hall—beyond her lineage, physique, and personal power—was undoubtedly a face so picturesque it needed not a speck of makeup.

Honestly, Baron had to admit that if judged on looks alone, his former fiancée was in no way inferior to the likes of Carmen Isabella. It was just that his own preconceptions, coupled with the life-or-death urgency he always felt around Freya, had never given him the chance to appreciate her beauty at his leisure—the way he might have appreciated some beauty-filtered, hip-swaying streamer on a video app in his past life.

'Though comparing Freya to a streamer from a video app definitely feels like I'm lowering her standards a bit,' Baron thought.

As they walked the short distance from the entrance to the main hall, the guards, in addition to reciting words of welcome, also began to sing a song in a strange dialect. The tune reminded Baron of the folk song "Grandma's Penghu Bay."

Freya quietly explained to Baron that this was the Lancelot Clan's family anthem, sung in the Ancient Celtic Language. The Lancelot Clan were descendants of the legendary Round Table Knight, Sir Lancelot.

'Holy crap,' Baron thought, 'is this what a top-tier Old Blood Clan's heritage looks like? I've heard school songs, city anthems, state anthems, and national anthems, but I've never heard a family anthem... And this so-called Ancient Celtic Language sounds less like a real language and more like me in the shower, forgetting the lyrics to a foreign song and just humming and mumbling my way through it.'

'I know this is all part of the performance to showcase the Old Blood Clan's power and prestige, but for some reason, I can't help but feel a strange sense of secondhand embarrassment. Am I just too thin-skinned?' Baron wondered.

Baron, disguised as an Attendant, followed Freya into the auction hall.

The moment they stepped into the main hall, they were approached by a crowd of high-ranking Law Enforcers and members of the Old Blood Nobility, all eager to speak with Freya.

They had clearly heard the commotion the guards had made at the entrance and knew that the elegantly dressed, graceful young woman before them was the Legitimate Daughter of the Lancelot Clan.

As one of the Holy Hall's Six Great Knights and an Old Blood Clan that had once produced a Golden Knight, the Lancelot Clan was, for the socialites present, the ultimate connection to make.

The more powerful the family, the more discrimination there was based on bloodline. To preserve the purity and tradition of the [Old Blood], they adhered strictly to a system of succession through the Direct Lineage.

And in the current generation, the Direct Lineage of the Lancelot Clan consisted of only two people.

One was Anthony Lancelot, the former Knight Order Leader of the Lion Eye Knight Order, who had been widely regarded as the next Patriarch of the Lancelot Clan.

The other was Freya, the very woman now surrounded by the crowd.

As everyone knew, Anthony was dead.

That left Freya as the sole heir of the Direct Lineage.

An Old Blood Clan's survival depended on its Direct Lineage. Therefore, it was a certainty that Freya would become the next Patriarch of the Lancelot Clan—even though she was already engaged to Jill, the Young Master of the Hestia Family.

This, however, was also one of the conditions the Lancelot Clan had demanded for the marriage alliance with the Hestia Family.

This was precisely why all these socialites were now flocking to her side.

It was the same in any high society circle: as long as you were useful, you were the center of the universe; the moment you weren't, you were cast aside like a worn-out shoe.

Stepping into her element, this Freya was a completely different person from the proud, prickly girl from before. She moved through the social gauntlet with practiced ease, her every word earning praise from the surrounding gentlemen and ladies as if she were speaking golden pronouncements.

Baron grumbled to himself, 'So this is the world of the rich and powerful. A little different from the corporate team-building exercises in my past life, huh.'

————————————

[Zhou Yike's Diary from His Past Life

XX/XX/20XX / Star City / Sunny

Got ripped off by a street-side fortune teller today. Spent two hundred and fifty bucks on a "Lucky Stone." Looking back, I really am an idiot.

Passed a convenience store. The kid running the place looked like a college student. I went in to buy some instant noodles and we chatted for a bit. Turns out he goes to my old school.

He offered to give me the noodles for free, but I insisted on paying. Got home and found out they were all expired. Damn it.]

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