Chapter 284: Gift!
Cassandra dragged me directly onto the polished marble of the main dance floor. The orchestra was just transitioning into a slow, elegant waltz, the string instruments swelling with a rich, classical melody.
Without a shred of hesitation, she spun around to face me.
She placed her cool, silk-gloved hand firmly on my shoulder, while her other hand securely gripped my palm, forcing me into the traditional starting frame of the dance.
"Let’s just get this over with," Cassandra murmured in a cool, level voice, her grey eyes locking onto mine with absolute, unbothered stillness. "I have much better tasks to attend to tonight than playing social butterfly."
I didn’t retort. Just simply fell into the rhythm, my feet moving with a practiced, seamless precision that the original Jin had been forced to learn through years of rigorous etiquette training.
I kept my posture straight, matching her steady, fluid steps as we began to glide across the floor.
"If you have so many better things to do," I said quietly, keeping my face a neutral mask for the watching crowd, "then why are you dancing with me now?"
Cassandra didn’t look away.
"Because you are a convenient shield, brother," she replied smoothly, her voice barely carrying past the small space between us.
"Even though Leonard is only the third prince, and arguably far less influential than his older brothers, he is still royalty. It is unwise to directly offend a prince of the blood over trivial matters like a dance when a slight can be properly averted using a family obligation."
She swept past me as we executed a tight turn, her midnight-silk gown rustling against my trousers.
"By choosing my newly recognized brother on his coming-of-age night, it appears as a display of familial solidarity rather than a political rejection of the royal family," she continued, her logic perfectly cold and entirely pragmatic. "It keeps his hands off me, keeps the gossip focused on your sudden favor, and saves me the headache of a royal courtship conversation."
"So I’m just a tool for your efficiency," I muttered, a small, cynical smirk touching my lips.
"Could be," Cassandra said, her voice dropping to a sharp whisper as the music began to build toward its crescendo. "Everything and everyone is a tool. You should know that better than anyone now."
The final notes of the waltz drifted up toward the high ceiling, and Cassandra smoothly stepped back, releasing my hand with her usual detached precision. She didn’t say another word, just simply offering a shallow nod before turning on her heel to melt back into the crowd.
As I began walking away from the center floor, I suddenly felt a burning, intensely hostile stare piercing through the crowd.
I paused, turning my head slightly to track the source. Standing near the massive chocolate cake, tightly gripping a crystal goblet, was Cedric Raith, my younger half-brother. His face was twisted into a dark, silent glare, his knuckles turning white against the glass as he watched me.
This little bastard still hasn’t learned his lesson yet, I thought, letting my gaze slide past him as if he were nothing more than a piece of scenery.
The rest of the banquet proceeded in a blur of hollow aristocratic chatter. The hours bled away until the heavy chimes of the grandfather clock signaled the final event of the evening: the formal gifting ceremony.
I stood near the main dais as the attending nobles lined up to present their offerings. Even though the current House of Raith held only the rank of Baron and was far from its historical peak, the family name carried an immense, heavy legacy.
During my long nights of research, I had read the ancient, dust-covered chronicles detailing the glorious days of the Raiths, centuries ago, they were a legendary martial and magical powerhouse whose name once made empires tremble.
The nobles in attendance weren’t just gifting the current Baron’s son; they were paying respects to a sleeping giant.
A minor Baron from the neighboring province stepped forward first.
"Congratulations for the young lord’s coming of age. This set of raw, high-grade lightning crystals harvested from the northern crags."
Another wealthy merchant presented a beautifully crafted, silver-plated dagger enchanted with minor agility parameters. I accepted them all with a flawless, practiced smile, passing the items to the estate butler standing right behind me.
Then, the crowd parted as Lord Matthew Vance stepped forward, carrying a small, intricately carved mahogany box.
"My gift to you, Jin," Matthew said, his intelligent amber eyes flashing with a deep, intensely calculating glint as he opened the lid.
"A rare specimen recently acquired by our Guild’s market. They call it the Vanguard’s Elixir, a newly surfaced, incredibly high-density recovery potion that has been completely disrupting the capital’s trade networks."
My heart did a violent, silent thud against my ribs.
I looked down into the velvet lining of the box. There sat a sleek glass vial filled with a shimmering, deep purple fluid that hummed with a specific, highly optimized mana frequency.
It was my potion. Or rather, a flawless, structurally identical copy of it.
I offered a slow, cold smile, dipping my head. "An... intriguing gift, Lord Vance. I will be sure to study its composition very closely."
"I am certain you will," Matthew murmured as stepped back.
Then suddenly...
The crowd parted once more as Cassandra walked forward. She didn’t carry a box or a decorative ribbon. She stopped directly in front of me, her icy grey eyes boring straight into mine.
With a slow, deliberate movement, she reached into the folds of her midnight-silk gown and produced an iron key.
She pressed the cold iron directly into my palm.
"A gift from my personal collection," Cassandra said, her voice smooth, level, and entirely unreadable.
"It is the key to the sealed lower archives of the old Raith estate... the ones Father boarded up a decade ago. If you truly intend to keep that newly grown spine of yours, brother, you’re going to need this."
I stared down at the heavy iron key resting in my hand, completely stunned.
An unexpected gift, carrying a piece of the family’s history, handed directly to me by the very sister who had threatened to kill me in the carriage just hours prior.