189 The Meeting 2 (1/2)

Sofony calmly met the warm yet scrutinizing gazes the kind-looking middle-aged man in a simple button up shirt and pants was giving her. She had just crossed the doorway to the wide balcony of the second floor. She ignored the stunning view of the place, her eyes settling on the man's face.

In one glance, she knew he was the person who summoned her here, finally, after making her wait for almost two years. The man's face, despite his age having entered the middle years of his life, resembled at least half of Gio's features. It's not unlikely for him to be mistaken as Gio's father due to his likeness with the younger man.

”You must be Sofony Silver.”

The woman's pace of breathing slowed down a bit. She purposely did so in hopes that this action would help her read through the eyes and expression of the person seated on the elegant brown wicker chair with white cushions and backrest on the left side. In response to his remark, instead of immediately taking the chair opposite his, she mustered all the elegance in her body to give him a respectful yet graceful bow.

”I'm indeed Sofony Silver. It's my pleasure to meet Your Majesty, Hidden King of Alina. May you always be happy and in good health.”

”Quite polite.” He simply commented along with a nod.

Conrad Albarez looked carefree and not very attached to or nitpicky of customs and mannerisms. His eyes were showing appreciation though, acknowledging through his stares that Sofony and her elegant bow was a beautiful sight to behold. Regarding the title she mentioned, his thick face enabled him to not be fazed before the woman. Or maybe he just grew used to the moniker, thus, no more reaction could be squeezed out of him.

”Come, take the seat across mine so we can speak more comfortably with each other.”

Sofony did as suggested, expressing her gratefulness for the older man's thoughtfulness while at it.

Gio's uncle then spoke up after giving one last glance to the direction of the open door. With his gaze back to the girl whose sitting figure laid bare to his perusal due to the lack of table or anything in between them, he began.

”I'm glad to finally meet you. I'm Conrad Albarez, Gio's uncle and the current head of the Albarez family.”

She merely nodded since her introduction had been said earlier.

The man continued with a wide and heartwarming smile, ”You did well in safeguarding his business empire. I sincerely thank you for all your efforts.”

”I'm only doing what I should do for him.” She said with only a polite smile on her delicate face.

Conrad laughed, the gesture magically made a few of the wrinkles on his forehead and the edge of his eyes disappear. ”You don't have to be so courteous in front of me. I know how close you are to that child.”

She argued in her head. 'Who won't be in front of a smiling cat who is actually a king tiger?'

Conrad was Gio's only remaining uncle and he once mentioned to her that he was almost his father. Yet Sofony didn't dare treat this meeting as a mere meeting between a father and a prospective daughter-in-law, but that of enemies. It was just hard for her to not do so considering the fact that aside from being a very competent and influential non-host, this man possibly had ties with someone at the same level or more probably higher than her. She also couldn't shake off the thoughts that he possibly had the means to help out that time, yet chose otherwise.

Sofony didn't erase her courteous smile from her lips, her eyes glittering like stars, as always, but without the edges of her eyes wrinkling. It was more like a forced smile. Something she purposely didn't conceal since it was obvious that no acting would go past the man's notice.

The talk between them had been dulled and uneventful. The older man would ask her random things, like, how're her parents doing, why didn't she bring a guard with her, what's her opinion about this and that.

Nothing about the system or Gio, to her dismay.

However, as a member of the junior generation, she had no choice but to remain courteous to the man, letting him have the lead in the conversation while she was in the passive.

Not once did she think, if only she could hypnotize this man to go straight to the point... and be done with it.

On the other hand, the Albarez' head was not blind to see the subtle touches of impatience and restlessness in the girl's eyes. Contrary to that, he was even perceptive enough to guess what the woman before him wanted to know the most from him. Despite having maintained a foolproof smiling facade, complicated feelings arose within the man's heart. He couldn't help but complain why the daughter of that lovestruck fool was as crazy as him in the matters of the heart.

'Is my clan destined to be filled with host supporters?'

He didn't like the idea because being one meant a life full of darkness, and threats from beings out of the league of regular humans.

The man's eyes went to the woman's hand which were resting atop her lap. Her left hand almost curled into a fist, trembling a bit even. He pretended to not have seen it, continuing with his story about marketing and campaigns.

Admirably, Sofony managed to hold on for another thirty minutes. The Albarez head then realized the current Ever Victorious' CEO was trying to bait him in, showing her impatience as to make him ask about it. Once he takes the bait, that would most likely when she would steer the conversation to what she truly desired to speak with today.

In other words, she was okay being in this for several hours straight, but if there was a way to make him speak, she was willing to try them on.