Not So Subtle Warning

[Author's Note: Fluttering Star Order is NOT Leonel's grandmother. She is simply someone who sided with Leonel's grandmother at the time and received backlash for it. Now, she's trying to carve out a path for herself]

Fluttering Star Order no longer held back with her words. She knew well what kind of scar this was for Sparking Star Order, especially considering how she had lost her descendants to begin with, but Fluttering Star Order no longer cared about these matters of decorum. Considering how far these matters had gone, even if she wouldn't lay all her cards face up just yet, she wasn't far from doing so either.

Sparking Star Order's rage suddenly became a dark laughter. The smoldering heat of her fury simmered almost tangibly.

For a moment, she truly almost lost control of herself. After she began to use this façade of a short tempered woman, it had ironically been a very long time since anyone had blatantly provoked her in this way, so she was unused to it. It seemed that her acting skills had gotten just a bit too good.

"Good, good." Sparking Star Order nodded. "I'll take your words under advisement."

Sparking Star Order lightly tapped her bulbous walking stick, her body vanishing in a flutter of butterflies formed of flames. Before they knew it, she was gone.

Riah, who had just been politely bowing to Sparking Star Order straightened out her body and looked toward her grandmother. She never knew that her grandmother had such a sharp mouth, but this only made her feel even more guilty than usual. For a usually mild tempered woman like her grandmother to act like this now, it could be imagined how much hardship she had experienced in these past several years.

Riah gripped her fists tightly. She had to claim a spot in the Void Palace for her grandmother, only in that way could she wash away the years of humiliation she had suffered.

Fluttering Star Order patted her granddaughter's head with a doting expression before turning back to the rest.

"For the next month, you all can stay here. As I've said before, there are many areas you cannot cross into. If you die at the hands of someone you offend, there will be nothing I can do for you. Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.

"For the duration of these matters, you'll be under the leadership of my granddaughter." Her expression turned far more serious as she continued. "So long as you can follow instruction and work hard, there will be benefits. If not…"

Fluttering Star Order didn't finish her words, but the branch family youths, many of whom were still on the ground wheezing from the earlier confrontation, felt that this woman might very well be far less amiable and caring than they had originally thought.

Riah swept a gaze over the youths and shook her head. It landed on Leonel and Noah before her brows scrunched up.

She remembered Leonel and Noah, and even remembered how they had met. But, for some reason, she felt fuzzy on some things. She shook her head and everything seemed to go back to normal.

'They performed better than the others. I think their Bloodline Density was above 0.20? That must be why I have a good impression of them.' Riah thought to herself before sighing once again. 'Grandmother might be being a bit too harsh with this approach…'

Riah shook her head once more and threw such thoughts away.

"I'll leave these matters to you, Little Riah."

With that, Fluttering Star Order vanished as well, a gentle brush of wind being left in her wake.

Leonel stared at where the elder had disappeared, his expression fused with a mixture of amusement and coldness. He didn't need to understand the full story to know that even if Fluttering Star Order wasn't so bold as to call them trash like Sparking Star Order had, she didn't think of them very much differently at all.

There was no doubt in Leonel's mind that their role here was likely to act as canon fodder for Fluttering Star Order's granddaughter and her grandson as well. As for what they were needed as fodder for, it was likely to be the Void Palace's selection.

Leonel wasn't entirely sure how it worked, so he could only guess this to be the case. But, he didn't believe that he was very far off either.

'So this is the Luxnix family, huh?'

Leonel's expression gradually lost much of its amusement to be left with nothing but indifference.

Now that things had come this far, Leonel knew he couldn't leave. Never mind whether or not Fluttering Star Order would allow that, but considering how frequently that woman had mentioned how they weren't allowed to roam about the estate randomly, even mentioning how they might be killed, it was clear that this was a not so silent hint at just how caged they were.

Fluttering Star Order's stance couldn't have been more obvious. She hadn't gotten their names, didn't ask about their abilities, and she hadn't even double checked if they really had 0.10 Bloodline Density or not. It was as though it simply didn't matter to her.

Leonel crossed his arm over his chest, entering a state of absolute calm.

"Ah!" Riah suddenly snapped out of her own thoughts. "Right, I will see if I can call someone over from the Healing Arm to help you all out. I will be right back.

"In the meantime, feel free to choose your rooms if you can move. The door that's closed and locked is mine, but you can choose from any of the other ones."

Riah rushed away after saying these words. Clearly, the previous restrictions Fluttering Star Order had mentioned didn't apply to her in the slightest. But, this much was to be expected. After all, if the grand child of a Star Order elder couldn't move around freely, then who could?

Of course, Leonel had no idea just how ironic this thought of his was.

Without moving, Leonel turned his gaze over to Noah. The both of them made eye contact and the displeasure hidden deep within their irises didn't escape the other.

"I feel like you had something to tell me before, right?" Leonel asked.