155 Water Thicker Than Blood (1/2)
Brushing the dirt off his body, Greyson did not continue to pay any attention to the mysterious crazy dungeon creator and instead turned back towards where the crowd was waiting. Their entrance did gain decent attention as they were the first to exit after Eris' group. His teacher did not opt to watch and wait during this portion of the exam since it would take too long, therefore Greyson only noticed the Old King and the two brothers in the crowd. He knew that they were most likely here for Palmira not for him. Since they were not too close, Greyson decided to just stay with Leilena on the edge. When they rejoined the crowd, people whispered while glancing at Greyson since they recognized him as the black horse from before. True to his reputation, he placed high up during this part of the competition as well. This noise lasted only a couple moments before everyone was silenced by a resounding *SLAP!* Shocked by the sharp sound, all heads including Greyson's turned to the origin of the sound. Holding her already swelling cheek and spitting blood was the very Eris that Greyson just fought. Furrowing his eyebrows, Greyson had to admit that he felt a little guilty. He could already imagine the reason the man in front of Eris was so angry.
”Useless wench! What is the point of your so-called fairness?! We have sent you to win glory for the kingdom! If first is in reach, why settle for some measly second? Truly, girls are such a useless bunch!” The incensed middle-aged man harshly scolded. Although Greyson was unsure of this man's exact identity, it could not be low if he was allowed to so violently lay a hand on a favored princess. But this man was truly inviting hate onto himself. Almost all the women, and even some of the men, were all glaring at the man due to his last sentence. Snow Country was a place that accepted Queens and some kingdoms thought that their Queens were better rulers than their male counterparts. By shouting such clearly misogynistic words, he was causing lots of people to take offense. It was one thing to say such things in a private space and another to paint yourself into a such a person in public.
”Yes, little sister, you have to know that you are representing the kingdom not just yourself. You clearly held the advantage to sweep the first five places and won glory for our Maewen Kingdom. To just selfishly give that up for your pride does not seem right!” The younger man beside the older gentleman chimed in on the side. His hair was dark blue while his eyes were more of a paler blue. One could tell that he bore some faint resemblance to Eris, but his looks were much more common and the concentration of the Yce bloodline was not as strong. He seemed to be scolding her gently like a true brother, but any discerning person could tell he was just fanning the flames. His eyes gave away the fact that he was truly enjoying this situation.
”Hah, Grand Duke and my 'dear' elder brother, are you encouraging me to shamelessly gang up on someone and take first place through power in numbers? This is truly an eye-opener. I'll admit that fairness is not too important in real life-or-death situations, but this is just a competition. What honor would I truly be winning if I received things in such a fashion? I feel that I would instead look foolish taking every route to try to win some first-place title. I understand people of such mediocre talent as yourselves would not understand, but every genius has their own pride.” Not backing down one step, Eris just scoffed and retorted back.
The Grand Duke's face turned red in what seemed to be a mixture of pure fury and also embarrassment. The older prince's face also turned pale as if he had been physically struck by those words. Some of his hatred leaked to the surface and he no longer held the look of a loving older brother. The older man moved to strike Eris once again, but the servant behind him whispered something that made his arm stop. Glancing around at the crowd that was observing him with clear disdain in their eyes, he took a deep breath and no longer tried to hit Eris again. Although he looked extremely unreconciled with letting her go, the Grand Duke did not seem to want to continue causing a scene. Huffing angrily, he turned around and quickly departed from the group with the prince in tow. They did not care to wait for the results of the rest of the Maewen Kingdom participants as continuing to stand there would only invite more embarrassment. Watching the two speed away, Eris just sneered and no longer paid them any attention.
A little concerned seeing that her face was only turning darker from bruising, Greyson walked over silently to offer his help.
”Do you want me to heal that for you?” He softly inquired while gesturing towards her face.
”Haha, it's not necessary.” Laughing in spite of the situation, Eris whipped out an unknown cream and gently covered her cheek with it. Almost immediately, her face began responding and the swelling and bruising of her cheek continually went down until it vanished. Looking good as new, Eris resumed her normal devil-may-care attitude.
”Thanks for the offer. It's not as if this is the first time nor will it be the last. That Uncle of mine just wants his son to be the one to take the throne while my older brother has always thought that I was an eyesore. We are not born of the same mother, so he does not really hold any type of sibling affection for me. If I was still not prepared for something like this then I would be a truly hopeless idiot.” Shrugging the scene off nonchalantly, Eris did not seem to want to dwell on the issue.
”Until the next stage, Greyson! I won't hold back so easily next time or else the old geezers and hags back home will never let me hear the end of it.” Playfully winking at him, she made a cool exit with those maids of hers still trailing behind. Each of them did not forget to send another death glare at Greyson as they seemed to blame him for their master's injury.
Watching the proud girl stalk off, Greyson just heaved a sigh in his heart. Truly, it would seem that the saying 'blood was thicker than water' did not always hold true. These family members of Eris' were no better than her mortal enemies that were just waiting with bated breath to stab her in the back. Plus, it was not just her. Even Leilena was in a similar situation where she had no one to trust or lean on in her family. They all treated her like an outsider. Maybe Greyson was not missing much? He liked to believe there was no worthy incentive for true siblings and family to turn against each other. But perhaps even familial relationships were cheap.
...
”Do you want to head back?”
”Don't we need to wait to take the teleportation formation back?”
”I mean, we could since that is faster, but we don't know when the last person will finally finish up. There is usually only one teleportation charm that you use to reverse teleport back from where we landed. The prince will probably use it once all 32 participants come out or a time limit they have set passes. Some of the participants may never come out after all and they cannot continue to wait aimlessly. I'm not completely sure about this time limit, but it is surely not too short. I don't want to continue wasting time here. Don't you have your dragon partner? Let's just start flying back now. We will probably still beat everyone.”
”Hmm... that's also true.” Greyson also did not see any point in continuing to wait around.
However, before the two could set off, he caught someone approaching him from the side of his eye. Turning his body to look, he was surprised to see the Tenth Prince, Braiden Yce. This time the Prince was joined by another petite, pretty girl. She had the same black hair and blue-grey eyes that represented the Yce family bloodline. From their clear resemblance, Greyson assumed that they were siblings so this girl must be a princess.
”Hello, Greyson. I'm pretty sure I don't need to introduce myself, but just to be sure, I am Braiden Yce. This is my sister, the 14th princess, Beline Yce.” Braiden warmly smiled and greeted. The young girl beside him also curtsied.
”Hello, nice to meet you.” Wondering why the Prince approached him, Greyson just responded politely.
”I've really wanted to introduce myself to you since the first part of the selection. You really stood out as a genius of our Snow Country from the very beginning. Our Uncle even mentioned that we should pay attention to you. That picky Uncle of mine usually doesn't have anything positive to say about anyone, so I was especially curious about you.”