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Dinners
🕑 Added 2022-09-21 11:10:00 +0000 UTCSeth and Maya arrived at a large mansion inside the inner city and Maya thanked the two guards at the entrance before leading Seth straight inside. The mansion was one of the bigger ones, even when compared to the other residences inside the inner ring.
After stepping through the door of the main building, a butler took their coats while another started leading them further inside through the long entrance corridor.
Seth looked at the gold-plated chandeliers, vases, and other ornaments all around before muttering: “Your family isn’t living half bad.”
Maya nodded with a smile and Seth observed how even the butler was peeking at him with a sense of superiority. He could imagine how the others will act just from the butler’s attitude toward an ascended.
‘This is going to be some dinner.’ thought Seth as he continued following the butler to a grand dining hall.
Inside the dining hall, there were two middle-aged men already seated at the table, each with a plump woman next to him. For such a large table, being able to seat over 50 people, the scene looked strange.
The man sitting at the head of the table simply stood up and smiled at Maya and Seth before pointing toward two empty seats for them to sit at.
Smirking slightly, Seth stopped Maya from walking forward before saying: “I think it’s customary for even nobles to bow in front of an ascended. If my memory serves me right, commoners kneel, nobles bow and royals nod. I am curious since when did the Cantory family start to act like they are above even the king?”
The servants’ eyes around the place widened, and a frown appeared on the faces of the Cantory Family seated at the table. They looked towards Maya, but seeing she wasn’t saying anything, they ultimately sat up and bowed as was the custom.
“I apologize for the rudeness, but Maya is our family and we have long dismissed the etiquette between us.”, said the one sitting at the head of the table.
“Oh, my apologies then. I didn’t know.” replied Seth with a subtle smile before helping Maya take a seat first and following to sit down right after.
The first half of the dinner was quite normal as Maya made some quick introductions and the servants brought food and drink for everyone. The food was quite lavish, but Seth was not that much of a foodie, so he just ate a few things here in there.
After everyone finished eating, mostly in silence, with the Cantory family only saying a few words between each other or to Maya from time to time, the servants took the food and left the room.
Once the last servant left, the family head turned towards Seth and said: “Seth, can you tell us more about your origins?”
Seth nodded and told him about his home village without caring too much about what they thought, curious more about what they planned.
“Ascended Seth’s story is nothing short of impressive and it’s for sure a great boon for our kingdom to finally have a destruction ascended in our academy, but don’t you think marrying into a noble family with no achievements on your name other than the power you were born with is too much?” Said the head after listening to Seth’s story.
The other man from the family at the table added: “Yes, our Cantory family is a reputable family in the kingdom, and having someone that is not a noble joining…” he let his words trail off at the end.
‘What do these two clowns even mean? Is this supposed to be the direct approach or something?’
Maya frowned and was about to speak when Seth squeezed her hand under the table to stop her and said: “Indeed, but I’m curious what achievements you two have. I mean, other than latching onto Maya’s name to throw your might around for your entire lives, that is. You also talk about the reputable Cantory family, but isn’t all that reputation gained by Maya? I never even heard of you two before today.”
Since the two just spoke directly, he figured it was right to do the same.
The two men’s faces darkened and even the women had small frowns. They expected Seth to be just a country bumpkin that won’t even dare to speak back, but the way he acted up to now left them quite stumped.
Suddenly, the woman next to the clan lead seemed to have an idea and said: “Ascended Seth, you just recently came from a small village and probably didn’t know, but elder Maya is not exactly known for her restraint with men. Are you…”
Before she could finish her words, a thread of destruction energy came from Seth and coiled around her neck, making her not dare to open her mouth again. A panicked look appeared on the other two members as well, and the lead said: “Maya, you’ve brought someone who would attack our family here?”
Maya looked between her cousin, who she had known ever since he was just a baby brat, and the woman he took as his wife from another noble house before just shaking her head and not saying a thing. She knew Seth was angry for her sake, and she was angry herself, so she just wanted to let things play out.
Seth sat up and walked toward the woman before saying: “So, what are you trying to say about my future wife?” He knew he promised Maya he won't kill them, but this was only if they talked shit about him and not Maya.
Maya smiled with a small blush when Seth called her his future wife, but she quickly regained her composure.
Seeing the sharp look in Seth’s eyes, the woman didn’t even dare to speak another word and her husband, the family head, had to intervene.
“Seth, even as an ascended, you have no right to act like this in a noble house. This is still a crime. You are not above the law.”
Seth looked at the chubby man that was yelling spit at his face and frowned. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he calmed down before wiping Maya’s entire family. Releasing his hold on the woman, Seth walked back to Maya’s side.
Extending a hand to help her up, he smiled wryly and said: “Love, we should leave or I’m going to kill them all.”
Maya chuckled and sat up without taking his hand. The air inside the entire room started feeling cold and heavy as she spoke.
“I expected you to make some trouble for Seth when I came here, but I never expected you to call him a peasant directly on his face. He’s still an ascended, and his rank is above you all. Also, your little sow of a wife dared to question me, almost calling me a whore. Seth is right, your lives have long been too easy so, nephew, from tomorrow you are all disowned from the Cantory family. You can take all the money and everything you want, I don’t care about any of that, but make sure this house is empty by tomorrow or I’ll throw you all out myself.”
“This is also available for these sows you call wives, if anyone of you still dares to introduce himself using the Cantory surname, I will personally kill them.”
Ignoring the terrified looks on their faces, she grabbed Seth’s hand and started walking towards the exit. Once she reached the servants at the door, she threw them a side glance and said: “You’ll all fired.”
“Are you sure about it? I don’t care that much about them.” Asked Seth as he was leading her back to the academy.
Maya sighed and nodded. “Me neither, but they went too far. I’ve kept them as my family and let them ride on the cottontails of my status since they were the descendants of my brothers and sisters, but I guess it’s time to let them go. My real family is long gone and I think I only wanted a place to call home as I passed through the long years.”
Looking up at Seth, she asked with teary eyes: “Can you be my home and family from now on?”
Seth smiled and rubbed her head before saying: “You are already my family and you have been for a long time.”
Maya smiled back and pecked his lips before her vision clouded slightly and she said: “Do you mind if we go see your parents?”
Seth frowned, not wishing to add another argument for tonight, but Maya added: “I want to speak with your mother and try to come to some sort of peace agreement. My family is one thing since they were far relatives, but I know you love your parents and I don’t want them to think the same way about me as those women do.”
Seeing the insistence in her eyes, Seth check if they were still awake and nodded in agreement before they changed direction, heading for the outer ring of the city. Once they arrived at Seth’s house, since it was way late into the evening, Seth asked Maya to wait in the dining room and went upstairs to get his parents.
After knocking on their door and hearing his father reply from the other side, Seth said: “Maya is downstairs and wants to speak to you two. Please come down and don’t make it too difficult for her.”
His parents didn’t reply, and Seth went back down. Seeing Maya nervously pacing around the dining room, he came to her and kissed her lips before saying: “Calm down. It’s not like they’re going to kill you and whatever happens, I’ll never leave you.”
Maya nodded and took a few deep breaths before sitting back down. Nash and Hilda took about five minutes until they came down the stairs. Nash didn’t seem to care that much, but Hilda had a hesitant look in her eyes. Seth could also see a trace of remorse on her aura, which almost made him heave a sigh of relief before anyone even spoke.
Maya immediately stood up and bowed toward them.
“I’m sorry to have bothered you both so late in the evening. I wonder if you two would listen to a few words I have to say?”
It surprised Seth to see Maya so serious and polite but didn’t intervene as he watched his parents nod and take a seat at the table.
“I know what everyone’s been saying about me and it is indeed true. Or more exactly, it was. Seth knew about it and I hid nothing from him, but… trust me when I say I love Seth.”
“I’ve loved him for a long time and my feelings for him only grew with that time. There are some things that I can’t and don’t want to change about me, but I swear I haven’t fooled around with anyone else ever since we’ve been together.”
“Mrs. Hilda, I know that there are probably women who deserve him more than I do, but I would like it if you could give me a chance.” Maya finished her small speech with another bow toward Seth’s mother.
Hilda sighed and looked at Maya before saying: “I’ve long known I was wrong with what I said that night, but I never got the chance to apologize either. I did not know an ascended could live for so long and didn’t know you were over 200 years old. What right did I ever have to judge someone so much older than me?”
“In 200 years, there are a lot of difficulties one must encounter and it’s not right to blame you for things that happened before you two met. The age difference doesn’t really sit well with me, but Seth is already a grown man and has all the right to make his own decisions.”
“What Hilda is trying to say is that you two should do whatever you want and don’t have to mind us too much.” Added Nash from the side.
Maya nodded with tears welling up in her eyes before whispering: “Thank you…”
The atmosphere around the dining table turned lukewarm and Seth even served some drinks as everyone spoke all the time until midnight. After his parents excused themselves to go upstairs and sleep, Seth and Maya also left and headed for the academy.
“I didn’t tell them, but you can move your parents inside my old mansion. There’s no need for them to stay in this place.” Said Maya on the way back.
“No. I need them here since I have someone to keep watch over the house. The inner ring might seem safer, but it’s too close to the royals.”
“Alright. Do you mind if I come and visit them from time to time? I know your mother still doesn’t like me, even after everything she said, and I want to slowly change that.”
“Sure.” replied Seth with a smile and they headed to spend the rest of the night together inside the academy.
