"What did you whisper?"
Lillian blinked out of her thoughts and looked beside her, finding Marionette asking her about what she told Millis. She smiled and told her about it, and got back the response of:
"She’s right. These masks only hide the bare features." Marionette folded her arms, "Unless someone is highly unknowledgeable about noble affairs or has poor recognition abilities, then it’s not too difficult to figure out someone’s identity."
Marionette then pointed to the side, "Look at those two, for example."
Lillian turned her head and found a tall blonde man, wearing a masquerade mask and a white suit, staring at a butler with black hair.
Reph locked eyes with the butler, whom he recognised to be one of the two prodigies in the east, Kuro.
Kuro locked eyes with the blonde-haired man and inspected the person’s appearance and facial features. He had definitely seen this person before.
"Ah, I know who you are now... It was a shame we never got to our match in the tournament." Kuro held out a hand to Reph.
Grabbing Kuro’s hand and shaking it, Reph nodded, "It was. Although I do believe it would’ve been ideal for you to not seriously injure someone of ours like that."
"I do apologise, but please know it was never my intention to defeat her like that."
Pulling back his hand, Kuro watched as an arm wrapped around his neck. He glanced at Mizuki, whose face was hidden behind a mask.
"Heya, Kuro! Do you know this person? Since when?" Mizuki asked, trying to discern Reph’s identity behind his mask.
Kuro sighed at his friend’s poor ability to remember faces.
Lillian turned away from them with a crooked smile as she faced Marionette. "Wow... Two birds with one stone, you’ve definitely proven your point."
Soon enough, their wait came to an end as someone from the Darkhound family came to meet them.
"Ah~...! I see you all are wearing the finest outfits for tonight!"
Damien Von Darkhound walked around from the corner with a maid following closely behind him. He was dressed in an ash black suit with a masquerade mask of his own, which was highly redundant considering what he said next.
"I am Damien Von Darkhound, pleased to make all of your acquaintances. And for those of you who who aren’t wearing the finest outfits in your wardrobe, then do know that your beauty makes up for it."
Lillian looked around, finding some of the noblewomen to be charmed by his words, while the noblemen were more or less repulsed or unsettled.
There was an equal ratio between men and women.
Everyone was then asked to follow the Darkhound, who led them through an open path, which was decorated with stone statues of both hounds and wolves alike - as well as statues of Darkhound ancestors, which Damien gave a short and proud history of.
With him as the guide, it seemed more like a tour.
Lillian, however, ignored all of that. Instead, she focused on the glances Damien made towards the women in the group.
One by one, he subtly checked each woman’s appearance - making sure not to stare longer than a few seconds to make them think he had interest in them.
Just long enough for it to be seen as a casual or curious glance. But in reality, he was just finding his next prey, also taking the chance to look at the servants the nobles brought with them.
It was eventually her turn.
Damien’s eyes landed on a white-haired maid, who locked eyes with him. He paused his gaze on her, his eyes lingering for more than a second as he became captivated by her beauty.
Thus far, no other person in the group came close to the maid’s beauty.
From Lillian’s beautiful skin that appeared as smooth as polished jade, to her ensnaring sparkly blue eyes and long eyelashes, to her succulent-looking lips.
Fortunately, Lillian’s uniform helped in hiding her alluring curves from the man’s lecherous gaze.
If Damien wasn’t trying to keep up appearances, his jaw would’ve dropped by now.
"Jackpot..." He whispered under his breath.
Then, when his eyes lingered on Lillian longer than 5 seconds, he felt a death glare settle on him - a very familiar one at that.
Marionette’s eyes narrowed on Damien, her gaze as sharp as knives - if her glare could kill, Damien would’ve died a hundred times over from the most gruesome of wounds.
The Assassin wanted nothing more than to gouge his eyes out, but unless she had some physical proof or evidence of what he was trying to achieve, she couldn’t do anything without consequences.
However, if he did make a move on Lillian when no one was around, she would be sure to gouge out his intestines regardless of the lack of proof or witnesses.
Damien glanced at the black-haired woman and found himself pausing again. He recognised her.
Eyes as beautiful and attractive as the finest ruby, long and luscious black hair that was undoubtedly as soft as silk, and curves so irresistible that it made his hands twitch and clench into fists.
He smirked at her, winking before turning back around to keep on leading the group.
This made Marionette’s blood boil, as well as Lillian’s, whose gaze had turned extremely cold.
At this moment, the two had the same thoughts with one another.
’I’ll slaughter him when I get the chance.’
Damien soon led them to the entrance of his family’s mansion, which was ridiculously massive.
Built on a foundation of stone bricks, held up with pillars, and with fierce-looking dog statues that were like gargoyles, the mansion resembled more of a fortress than anything. It was almost five times larger than the Roselle mansion Lillian was in!
It was absurd!
Lillian grimaced at the thought of cleaning it, ’I wonder how many servants it takes to clean it.’
"Come all, everyone! We’ll begin the first activity of the Legacy Table in the meeting room!" Damien said with a charismatic look as he led everyone in.