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It was to commemorate the Emperor's 30th year on the throne, but also because the Black Dragon, the symbol of the Empire, had appeared for the first time in about a hundred years.
The people considered it a blessing from God, and the Emperor seemed proud of the fact.
Perhaps because of this, the nobles admired the lavishly decorated banquet hall more than ever.
"Look at these crystal glasses. They are all imported from the Serenian Islands."
"The curtains seem to have been replaced with imperial silk for this banquet."
"And what about the dragon sculpture at the entrance? I heard it was made of pure gold."
The noblewomen fluttered their fans and exchanged meaningful glances.
"My goodness, does His Majesty want to show off the newly appeared Divine Beast that much?"
"Who doesn't? Besides, Princess Peony has been making a lot of money recently with her cosmetics business."
"I heard that Count Arman was on the verge of bankruptcy because of that business..."
"Shh. Be quiet. Such talk is taboo in front of His Majesty. Let's only talk about good things."
This banquet was solely to praise the Emperor's reign, so the nobles tried to keep their words to a minimum.
Soon, they craned their necks and looked around.
"By the way, I heard the Black Dragon is also attending the banquet, but I haven't seen it yet?"
"I want to see it with my own eyes soon. I can't imagine how big and magnificent it will be."
The opportunity to see an actual Dragon was extremely rare, so all the invited nobles seemed expectant.
At that moment, a solemn trumpet sound echoed from the entrance of the banquet hall.
Soon, a Chamberlain stepped forward and shouted loudly.
"Duke Argenta is entering."
As the door opened, a man in a black cloak walked smoothly into the hall, followed by several Kistar Knights.
Their imposing appearance instantly drew people's attention.
"I didn't expect the Duke Argenta to attend the banquet."
"He seems to be attending social events more frequently since finding his son after more than a decade."
"But where did he leave his son and come alone?"
As people murmured, the Chamberlain continued to shout.
"Felix Argenta and his partner, Ayla, the owner of the Black Dragon, are entering together."
The banquet hall fell silent in an instant. Even the occasional conversations were completely cut off.
All the nobles' eyes were fixed on Duke Argenta and the two people entering behind him.
"Felix Argenta is quite handsome. But the woman next to him is definitely... the woman who was kicked out of the Blanche Noble house a long time ago, right?"
"That's right, she was just a commoner pretending to be the Blanche Duchess."
"But how are they entering together?"
"Didn't you know? They met at the academy and are dating."
"Duke Argenta is amazing, even if she is the owner of the Black Dragon, how could he allow her to date a commoner?"
The noblewomen's eyes narrowed one after another.
"But who is that child holding Ayla's hand?"
"Could he be a distant relative of the Argenta Noble house?"
"I don't know, I've never seen his face before."
The boy's flawless features clearly indicated that he had inherited noble blood.
The problem was that his appearance did not resemble Felix Argenta or Ayla, who were standing next to him.
The nobles, filled with curiosity, put their heads together and began to speculate about the boy's identity.
"Could he be a distant relative of the Argenta Noble house? He must be a noble if he was invited to the banquet... but I've never seen his face before."
"That's right. If I had seen him once, I wouldn't have forgotten such a cute face."
Naturally, the attention in the banquet hall began to focus on the young boy.
A boy with black hair tied with a red satin ribbon and a lace cravat.
He exuded an elegant atmosphere like any Young Master from a noble family.
But as if something was so uncomfortable, the boy was busy pouting with a sullen face.
"How long do I have to stay here, Ayla? I want to go home soon."
The boy tugged on Ayla's hand and whined. Then Ayla put her finger on her lips and gently coaxed him.
"Shh, let's just bear with it for two hours. Then we'll go back right away."
"But these clothes are so stuffy!"
Piyo pulled at the cravat around his neck as if dissatisfied.
Perhaps because of his Dragon nature, he extremely disliked wearing anything on his body.
He had to wear several layers of human clothes to attend the banquet, so it was understandable that he felt so stuffy.
"How do I untie this?"
Piyo struggled to untie the cravat around his neck. Then Felix quickly grabbed his hand.
"Tsk, stay still. Do you know how annoying it is to tie it again?"
Then Piyo ignored his words and slapped his hand away.
"I don't care, I'm stuffy!"
The way he raised his eyes and spoke clearly was extremely arrogant.
Piyo, who had transformed into a human, was truly a mischievous troublemaker.
He was still young and didn't know the etiquette of the human world properly, so he often committed rude acts.
It was just when Felix was closing and opening his eyes to suppress his rising anger.
"Wow! What's that?"
Piyo, who had been twisting his body in discomfort, suddenly shook off Ayla's hand and ran somewhere, as if he was curious about something.
"A huge cake!"
Before anyone could do anything, Piyo pushed through the Chamberlain and headed to the table where the food was set.
As a result, a noblewoman almost tripped and fell, and gentlemen who had their feet stepped on groaned, causing minor commotions.
"...I knew this would happen. I'll go catch him, Ayla."
Felix wiped his face and hurriedly followed Piyo.
As soon as he left, Ayla sighed involuntarily.
"I didn't know taking care of a child would be this difficult."
Still, thanks to Felix going to catch Piyo instead of her, Ayla finally had the leisure to look around leisurely.
'There seem to be more attendees today than usual.'
It was then, as she slowly examined the faces of the nobles, that a familiar hair color caught her eye in the distance.
'...Rosia.'
Ayla's eyes narrowed.
She was having a conversation with the Young Masters of the Blanche Noble house, completely unaware that she was staring at her.
She had a bright smile on her face, as if she was having so much fun.
Then suddenly, Cedric's gaze, who was standing in front of Rosia, met hers.
"......"
His Adam's apple moved slowly, and then he pretended not to know and turned back to Rosia.
But even while talking, his eyes were glancing at her from time to time.
"......"
Perhaps he was faithfully keeping her request to maintain the family act in front of Rosia.
Ayla was relieved by that fact and turned around.
Felix, looking much more tired than before, appeared with Piyo.
"What should we do, Ayla? This kid's clothes are a mess?"
As he said, Piyo's appearance was a mess, as if something had happened in a short time.
Judging by the yellow liquid dripping from his clothes, he seemed to have caused another big accident at the food table.
"Oh my, Piyo. What accident did you cause again?"
Ayla approached Piyo and stroked the child's head.
"I told you not to run around here."
"...But it was too stuffy."
At Ayla's words, Piyo lowered his head with a sullen face.
Felix burst out laughing at the sight.
He was speechless because he was a tyrant when he was with him, but he acted like a gentle lamb in front of Ayla.
Then Ayla said in a stern voice.
"Apologize to Felix quickly."
Piyo pouted and looked back at Felix.
"Hurry."
As Ayla repeated, Piyo fidgeted with his fingers. He hesitated for a long time and then opened his mouth in a small voice.
"I'm sorry, Felix..."
Felix stared at the boy expressionlessly and nodded silently.
"Don't do that again."
Ayla held Piyo's hand tightly with one hand and gently stroked his head with the other.
"Good job, Piyo."
Then she took out a handkerchief from her arms and wiped Piyo's hands and clothes.
Piyo obediently gave in and smiled happily.
"The clothes can be solved with cleaning Magic... but your hair is already very disheveled. I'll go to the lounge with Piyo for a while."
"Shall I go with you?"
"No, I can do it alone."
Ayla held Piyo's hand tightly and slowly walked towards the lounge.
She was completely unaware that there was a gaze following her from behind.
Cedric left his family with the excuse that he was going out for some fresh air and quietly followed her.
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