After what Riven said, the room became silent. He walked over to a chair and sat down, crossed his legs, and leaned back.
"I don’t know why the kingdom has refused to punish you for your crimes, and I won’t question them or even try to push it anymore.
But you and I, rank one and rank two, we will never see eye to eye anymore." Riven stayed and leaned back into the chair. He threw his hands into the air, his cold detached expression fading like it was never there.
"It is nice to finally get back together with all of you," Riven said.
"I heard you ran off with all the ladies," Jack said with a grin.
"It wasn’t that, they just wanted to help at my hike out due to the demonized attacks," Riven stated.
"Oh, that. How was your town when you first got there, did you manage to stop it?" Jack asked.
"When I got there it was already over, but the destruction was there and the lives of lots of knights were lost," Riven said.
Robert listened to Riven and then spoke, "That attack took the kingdom unaware, it also made many of the nobles unsettled, as well as the Senate and other people.
This gala is not only for the recognition of certain people, it’s also to calm the nerves of the nobles, after all, they run the kingdom in a way." Robert said.
"So what about the commoners that had people die in battle?" Noel asked.
Robert was about to answer but then Riven spoke, "The commoners can be handled when the nobles are handled, that’s the mentality that the kingdom is working on." He said, then leaned forward.
"The kingdom is not caring about the lives of those on the street. As long as they can give the nobles happiness, and the people a sense of peace, they have handled the situation without needing to even handle it.
It’s honestly a power play, I can’t call it bad or good, all I can say is that people are being manipulated to give the idea of peace in a time of war," Riven said. His tone was normal, yet it brought a sense of heaviness on everyone.
Robert took a deep breath, "I guess I can’t deny that. All of us here are nobility in our own way, and we know how the running of a kingdom is filled with deceit. Our fathers have done it, and I’m sure they expect us to do it as well when we are older and our time has come.
Riven and Noel are the ones closest to the commoners, they see biting words from a leveled standpoint.
I knew the attack had caused losses, but I never thought of the state of things after the attacks," Robert said. He walked to a chair and sat down.
"I couldn’t even help the situation, my sister and I were immediately taken back to the castle and placed under high-level security.
There is also the risk that someone might attack this venue tonight, and so all of us will be under heavy security, but no one will be protecting those towns that were attacked," Robert said.
"What do you mean we’ll be under protection?" Noel asked.
"Oh yeah, I should have said that a while back. Every special person that is the star of this gala is going to have a security detail, at least one person watching them, a knight in the fourth or fifth circle," Robert said.
"What the hell? You mean we are going to be watched all through?" Riven asked.
"The simple answer, yes. Outsiders are not the only ones that want to harm some of you," Robert stated.
"Sigh, I hate it, but I guess we can’t stop it," Riven said.
Everyone finally settled down after that, and Riven noticed something. He spotted Noel glancing at Chloe every few seconds.
He was confused a bit, but then after watching Noel for a bit longer, he realized that he was looking at her, and he had a soft look in his eyes.
’You have to be kidding me, there is no way,’ Riven thought. Just before he could meet Noel, a butler came into the room, opened the door, and placed his hands behind his back.
"Young masters and young mistresses, your presence is awaited in the hall," the butler said. Everyone got on their feet and headed out.
Before Riven could leave, the three girls grabbed him and pulled him back. Liana had a pissed expression, Mia was angry, and Sofia straight up had killing intent in her eyes.
"Heyyyyy ladies," Riven said nervously.
"It’s bad enough that you allowed us to leave your town without seeing us, but now you couldn’t even compliment us or talk to us," Mia said.
The three of them were dressed beautifully, Mia in a black and purple gown, Sofia in a white and gold dress, and Liana in a beautiful red dress. All of them looked stunning, but he had said nothing.
And that made all of them angry.
"I’m sorry ladies, I was angry with the whole lance issue," he tried to defend himself.
"Hmph." They all scoffed and walked past him angrily.
"Arghhh." He palmed his face and dragged his hands down.
"This is going to be a long night," he said, and turned around only to see Noel standing there with a smug look.
"Don’t say anything or I’ll shove a sword down your throat," Riven warned.
"Whatever, bro. Haha, you already have a lot to handle tonight," Noel said.
"What about you, I caught you glancing at Chloe. I never knew she was your type. Look at you, aiming for the princess, you are one sneaky bastard," Riven said.
And immediately Noel was caught off guard. He waved his hand and stepped back.
"No no no, bro, that’s definitely not what it looked like," Noel denied.
"Yeah yeah, tell yourself whatever you want. I saw what I saw, and I saw love," Riven said and started walking.