Chapter 92: The Difficult Brothers

Chapter 92: The Difficult Brothers

When the two arrived at the castle, Georges was already outside waiting for them.

Seeing them arrive on time, Georges immediately smiled and said, “Welcome, Mr. Axi and Miss Ailia.”

His gaze first landed on Axi, then on Airael.

He felt a bit disappointed.

Airael was still wearing her cloak, just as before.

Though she hadn’t consciously tried to diminish her presence, she was still obscuring her appearance.

Georges had hoped to catch a glimpse of Airael’s face at tonight’s banquet.

Actually, it wasn’t just him; even his royal cousin had the same expectation.

After all, Airael’s beauty had been exaggerated by Hudeman and others, claiming she was unparalleled, rivaling even any elven queen.

They wanted to see if Airael’s looks were truly as phenomenal as rumored.

Noticing Georges’ gaze linger on her, Airael frowned and asked, “Is there something wrong with my appearance?”

Georges quickly snapped back to reality and replied, “No! Nothing at all!”

Then he gentlemanly apologized, “Sorry, I just blanked out for a moment.”

“So, can we go inside now?”

Airael didn’t want to say much.

She knew that her outfit was quite inappropriate for a banquet.

But unless absolutely necessary, she really didn’t want to reveal herself.

What a shame, being too pretty is really a curse!

“Of course! Please follow me,” Georges said, turning to lead them into the castle.

After passing through several checkpoints, they finally arrived at the venue of the banquet.

Inside the castle’s dining hall.

Seeing a few people approaching, the guard at the entrance actively opened the grand door for them.

Airael and Axi followed Georges into the dining hall.

As Georges mentioned earlier, this gathering was a small affair.

There weren’t many attendees.

Including Airael and Axi, there were only seven people total.

The other five were Crown, Duke Ogg, heir Georges, Count Hudeman, and Baron Powell.

As the host of the banquet, Duke Ogg cheerfully greeted them, “Welcome, Mr. Axi and Miss Ailia!”

He seemed to completely ignore Airael’s unusual attire.

In contrast, Hudeman and Baron Powell had grown accustomed to it.

After all, Airael had always dressed this way.

In their eyes, this must be Airael’s unique personality.

Just like Axi had his own flair.

However, they had all seen Airael’s face beneath her hood before.

That unforgettable visage was indeed hard to forget.

Even though they were now middle-aged and had become quite indifferent to certain matters, Airael’s beauty was truly breathtaking.

This gave them some understanding of why Airael chose to hide her face.

It was simply too stunning!

Compared to the others, Crown seemed quite anxious.

As mentioned earlier, he and his cousin Georges were keen to seize this opportunity to catch a glimpse of Airael, to validate the tales told by Hudeman and others.

The notion that someone could rival an elven queen’s beauty was enough to ignite his curiosity.

Especially for Crown, the prince of Nick Kingdom.

With fertile land and thriving maritime trade, the Nick Kingdom was indeed a strong presence among human kingdoms, making Crown one of Airael’s potential suitors.

Everyone around accepted this fact.

Thus, even he gradually felt it was his goal to pursue the elven queen.

Suddenly, before him appeared a figure who could rival the elven queen, at least in terms of looks, which was enough to pique his interest.

He wanted to discover what kind of beauty could possibly match that of the elven queen.

While rumors circulated on the continent proclaiming the elven queen to be the world’s most beautiful woman, no one had truly laid eyes on her.

They could only make educated guesses.

With the belief that elves were seldom ugly, and the elven queen as their leader must be exceptionally beautiful.

Unfortunately, Airael didn’t give them that opportunity.

Though some present had glimpsed her face, seeing it in person was different—words could only say so much.

Even if they spread the word, if no one else had seen her visage, doubts would linger.

They might think that while she was probably beautiful, she couldn’t possibly live up to the rumors.

Feeling disappointed, Crown exchanged a glance with Georges, and for a brief moment, their mutual “difficult brothers” understanding surfaced without a word.

Georges: Bro, it’s not meant to be; she didn’t follow the script!

Crown: I know, brother, we’ll just have to wait for our next chance.

After a fleeting exchange, the two averted their gazes, pretending everything was fine.

Their silent communication was lost on the others.

“It’s our honor to attend this banquet, Your Grace!”

In response to Duke Ogg’s welcome, Airael politely replied.

She knew Axi didn’t want to interact too much with these people, so she would lend a hand on his behalf.

Axi, of course, had no objection, watching as Airael engaged in courteous conversation with Duke Ogg.

After a round of pleasantries, Airael and Axi took their seats at Duke Ogg and the others’ invitation.

Duke Ogg sat at the head of the table, while Airael and Axi took a seat next to each other, facing Crown and the others.

Airael quickly sized up Crown, then averted her gaze.

Among the group, Crown seemed the most unfamiliar to her.

But judging by his seating position, his status was undoubtedly significant.

Once seated, Duke Ogg spoke up, “Miss Ailia, Mr. Axi, allow me to introduce you to His Highness, Prince Crown of Nick Kingdom!”

Since Airael had been conversing with Duke Ogg, this time he directly mentioned Airael’s name before Axi’s.

Upon hearing the introduction, Crown nodded politely at the two.

His expression was tense, but his eyes were secretly observing Airael, waiting for a chance to glimpse the beauty beneath her cloak.

Airael sensed something was off but could only endure it, nodding politely alongside Axi.