Chapter 61 - Depressing Atmosphere

Aile realized that these people had wild imaginations, and they are very self-centred profit seekers.

However, what surprised him was that so many people believed he was Duke White's child. This seemed odd, why would the Duke not clarify this. A lot of stuff was not making sense to Aile today.

He kept his vigilance high and his senses wide to keep on filling the gaps in his knowledge and also find out the reason for the foreboding vibes.

There was another cause for anxiety, making Aile even more perplexed. Hazel did not give them a list of what to do and what not to do. Thus, he looked around to meet her eyes and hoped that she would explain the situation.

He did not know the customs and traditions and was expecting Hazel to explain.

He looked and saw a little bit haggard and unwilling expression on her face. It seemed that this is not a location she wanted to be at. Aile understood from the conversations that she would not have a great time here. Being ignored by one group or used as a possible gamble stake by the other group of nobles. She was at her weakest, she had no allies, and everyone wanted to benefit from her hard times. Thus, it was very understandable that she forgot to explain the etiquette of this meeting.

She quickly noticed Aile's gaze at her, and with a sigh, she had woken up from whatever train of thought that she had. She lowered herself looked at Sara eye to eye and said, "There might be more rude people today, I do not want to see you behave as you did at your half-brother's place."

Sara looked at her in confusion and nodded.

She then pointed at a distance further away from where the good looking younger people gathered, "Both of you go there and do not cause any trouble." She had an exasperated expression.

They slowly headed in that direction, Aile, in fact, was happier as he did not want to talk to those slimy group of people. However, he also felt sad about what Hazel would face. Slowly they walked when Sara held his hand said, "Aile, is something bad going to happen?"

Aile did not know how to respond. He could predict that Hazel is going to get the scorn of one group and try to get advantage off by another. So, the simple answer was yes. But he did not want to make Sara feel bad. This was her first time getting out of Port Kiar.

She had met a terrible half-brother, her mood only lightened up when she found a friend in the princess.

There was going to be much more disappointment seeing these nobles today. Let alone rude comments much more drama is possible. To top it all of a large portion of them will offer a political marriage to her, something that has scared her for a long time.

Plus, these candidates will be the future heir and heiress of the noble clans and the people they are going to meet soon.

If Hazel rejects them, it will surely make Sara a lot of enemies, after they are declined publicly.

If she accepts it, it will be her nightmare turned to reality.

So, her question was hard to answer because the chances are a lot of bad things will happen. Hazel might not know, but Aile had heard many conversations that were going in a very negative direction.

Aile sighed and wrapped his hand around her shoulder and squeezed it. He then said, "Yeah, something is not right, so there will be some bad stuff happening, and some people might be rude. You have to be strong, and make sure not to cause a scene here, because it will become more troublesome for Hazel."

Sara shook her head and snuggled into his arm, "No if anyone is rude to her, I will slap them."

Aile sighed then explained, "When you slapped your half-brother, nothing happened because Hazel is strong. However, there are so many people here. Hazel cannot fight them all. So, if you make trouble, she will be in danger."

Sara then looked at Aile with a disappointed look, "I do not like that."

He replied, "Only when you are powerful, you can do what you want."

Aile looked at the less lively Sara, and he felt hurt. He wanted to comfort her or promise her strength and support. However, Aile knew that it was not possible. He helplessly looked at Sara, who was dejected and walked with less vigour.

Aile clenched his jaw and with his hand by his side, he rolled it very firmly forming a fist.

After a few steps, Sara looked at Aile again and said, "Do you know, how I can become stronger."

Aile felt a little better because he knew that he could help her in this area. He nodded. "I can help you become strong."

"Stronger than the people in here?" She asked again to confirm.

Aile replied, "Yes!"

"Can you please make me stronger when we leave here. I do not want anyone to be rude to me or anyone I care about."

"Ok, I will train you when we go back to Port Kiar!"

"I will wake up early, like Sophie to run and do those fighting stuff and stay up late to learn the blade like you. I promise to practice every day."

The atmosphere turned gloomy. Sara was less cheerful as they walked towards the group of noble heirs and heiresses. Aile too became depressed and gave off a cold and an unapproachable aura after that painful talk.

They walked and soon arrived close to the group of future dukes and duchesses. Aile felt very incompetent, and as a result of deep frustration and anger, he gave off a cold and icy glare at everyone.

Sara had lost her cheery attitude and was gloomy.

When the younger generation looked at the new arrivals, they felt superior, taking Sara's smaller presence and gloomy expression as shyness and lack of influence. A lot of them wanted to come closer and flaunt themselves. However, the cold eyes of Aile brought the whole area to silence. Everyone that made eye contact with him got a dreadful feeling. They wanted to do nothing but stay away from him. No one wanted to break the new silence that was established.

Aile never valued the group of nobles, thus when he looked at them, he just found them worthless. This stare was, of course, translated to the nobles and they felt a very cold-carelessness from his eyes. This was the first time they had seen such a look. They had always been revered, the total disregard for them had a strong mental impact. Aile, on the other hand, was thinking about a method to soften the blow to Sara. Unbeknownst to him, his cold stare had already prevented this group of nobles from talking not to mention making things hard for Sara.

The dead silence was finally broken when a sweet voice exclaimed, "Hello, nice to meet you! I am Laila."

Everyone had schadenfreude expression hearing that voice. The gleam of interest and curiosity was given off by the crowd expecting an entertaining show.

Aile turned to the side and saw a girl around the age of 12. She had a beautiful countenance and a fake smile on her face. She was dressed in moderately high-end clothing. Nonetheless, she seemed underdressed compared to the other nobles. A bit of melancholy could be seen in her face as if she was facing a lot of difficulties. The most uncharacteristic thing about her was her crystalline greyish iris.

After talking, she took a firmer stance on the ground expecting some sort of retaliation. Her face was distraught. Aile sighed, seeing her behave this way. It seemed that she did not have a great time here either, being blind. At first look, Aile identified her disability. Her eyes although very beautiful, would not allow her to see. Being born blind in a world that is focused on strength would surely increase her disadvantage and make her a bullying target.

What he did not understand was why she was attracting everyone's attention. Was this some sort of punishment, or was she bullied into doing this?

He had no interest in being a bully now, so he just said quite emotionlessly, "I am Aile and next to me is Sara!"

Although he felt sad for Laila, he was going to face a rubbish day. So he was not in the mood to cheer up another person. He was not here to make friends, along with the bad-omen he had felt, he had no time to lower his guard in front of another person.

She was quite surprised at Aile's unthreatening tone and had a grateful smile. She had been prepared for some sort of abuse.

She bowed a little to Aile and slowly walked back.

Her feet would barely leave the ground as she stepped back slowly. But what was surprising was the fact that she had no stick or any other thing that would aide her in her movement.