The Glintworm Gathering (1)

Of course, it was grand, but the atmosphere had been laced with malice as even though everybody had masks of smiling expressions sewed to their faces, just below them were hungry eyes waiting for the chance to pounce.

"Now that everybody is here let us bring in the main woman of tonight! The treasurer of the Glintworm family! Dalla Glintworm!"

Oh… I completely forgot this was a birthday party… maybe I should've bought a gift.

"You didn't bring a gift, did you?"

"...I forgot," I lightly chuckled, and as Faye just smiled back, two even grander doors opened at the end of the hall.

A beautiful older woman with long white hair and shimmering blue eyes stepped through the door, covered with a long silver dress.

She was dripping with jewelry from head to toe, and everybody couldn't help but pause for just a moment as they looked at this woman in awe.

It was as if the entire world had slowed down- no, stopped for just a second in order to allow the passage of this woman through our reality.

"She's my type," I lightly smirked but covered my mouth with my hand.

Faye looked at me with an expression filled to the brim with disgust and then elbowed me in the ribs.

"Fuck you," She whispered.

"Now, can we get a resounding happy birthday for the main attraction!?"

Everybody let out a loud shout, yet some people couldn't hold back the disinterest from slipping into their voices, making them sound monotone and flat.

The festivities soon began as children and teens gathered together to go walk around the mansion with their servants, conversing and just playing with each other.

And the remaining people all began to converse, attempting to form connections but, in reality, just sitting there and waiting for their chance at screwing this place up.

Of course, there were some families loyal to the connections of the Glintworm family, but they were mostly subsidiary leeches growing and fattening themselves with the fame and cash of the main family.

"So, what should we do now?" I asked Faye, but she didn't even reply as she took my hand and dragged me to her father, who was supposedly the announcer.

I don't know… I've never seen her father or her mother since whenever I came here, they were never around.

"Oh, Faye, I'm busy right now. Come to me later to ask your question… developing connections and making sure everybody here is happy is the top priority," He immediately brushed off her daughter, and I couldn't help but look down on his failing role.

Faye looked a bit sad as she saw her father walk off, but it seemed she overcame a wall and grabbed onto the sleeve of his coat.

"Like I said-"

"This is my girlfriend Helu,"

Her words garnered the attention of various people around, some losing interest not long after but some keeping their eyes glued to us as our conversation proceeded.

"Ah… it's nice to meet you," He said, looking me up and down as if evaluating my status right before my very eyes.

What a rude son of a bitch.

I placed out my hand for a light handshake, but his eyes just grazed over it before returning to the people he had been entertaining.

Helu looked disappointed, as if she thought this would be a good time to receive attention from her father, but it ultimately failed, and I couldn't help but reevaluate the legitimacy of her previous statements.

As we walked to a table for us to sit at and partake in some of the delicious meals being handed out by top-tier chefs, Faye let out a long sigh.

Her disappointment disappeared, and she was left with a completely dead expression and a harsh glare directed at both of her parents.

"*sigh*... like I give a shit about you old bags,"

"How cliche," I lightly chuckled before grabbing a wine bottle off of a passing waiter.

"E-Excuse me. That is for somebody else. I-If you would like, I could get one for you, but please hand that back to me,"

"Just get another one for that person," I rolled my eyes and attempted to wave him off, but just as I turned towards the waiter, I felt a hand grab the wine bottle I was holding by the base.

I turned towards the man, and as his smile greeted me, he said,

"Excuse me, but I presume this is mine. I was sure you never liked wine in the first place," He muttered with his long white hair slightly covering his covering his eyes.

When he slicked it back with his hands, a pair of cold gray eyes greeted me, but they held a bit of warmth exclusively for me.

"F-Forgive me, sir, this woman just-"

"No, it's fine. I'll be joining her anyway," The man muttered before pulling up the chair next to me and sitting down, completely ignoring Faye, who sat at the other chair opposite from me.

"Hey, who the hell said you could sit here," She angrily protested.

"It's fine… Faye, this is my friend Albus from the Pixland family. He's one of the owners of the Angel Tech guild and the co-owner of the Angel Tech Production brand,"

"Ah, so you're the dude my girlfriend was talking about," Faye lightly smirked as if trying to make the man jealous, but as his eyebrows raised up with a bit of surprise, they soon came back down with a light chuckle.

"Trust me… you're not her type,"

Faye shook with anger as we began to catch up from what had happened, and I mixed in some lies and truths about my disappearance.

He also informed me of how Silas had disagreed, so I told him what he had been doing.

"Geez, that guy… Wasting his precious energy and time on something so trifling… did you seriously lose everything?"

"What you see right now is what I've managed to gather back. Still got my smoke magic and some new things in my arsenal, but my angel title is gone, so…"

"He dropped you? Shouldn't he have reached out by now?"

"Well, he did… but I'm apparently way too weak to receive it without dying,"