Half an hour into the party, Kyro realized that he had underestimated women's ability to change targets. Although all of them had surrounded Gale the moment he stepped in, like moths a flame, they soon realized that he was just one man and there were a couple dozen of them. Thus, a number of them broke off from the main gang and came after Kyro.
He did his best to not give them any hope, replying in a cold manner and being curt, but they didn't seem to care. They were like a pack of hyenas having sensed fresh meat.
It took him a good half an hour to escape from them into a balcony only for the family members. The sky was overcast, so there was little light there, and he breathed a sigh of relief. From up above, he saw Gale chatting with those around him like it was all he lived for and wouldn't change for the world.
"Why are you hiding already?" a seductive voice asked from behind, and two hands snaked around Kyro's waist.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then removed the hands from his waist. "Julia, you're no longer five years old," he told the woman hugging him from behind.
She pulled away from him, and upon turning around, he saw that she was pouting up at him. "Why are you always so unfun? It's my birthday today, spoil me!"
"Will you ever grow up?" he asked, tousling her carefully made hair and receiving a slap on the hand. He then returned to the railing and looked down below. "Aren't I spoiling you already? I brought Gale."
She laughed and moved to stand by his side. "I didn't actually think you'd do that," she said in a light voice, wonder evident in her tone. "His presence here will make me the talk of the school for years to come. He usually never attends events like this."
"You're my favorite cousin, of course I'd drag him along to help you out."
"Do you even have any others?" Julia asked suspiciously, and he laughed at how her face wrinkled up.
They talked about nothing for a few minutes more, then Julia stepped away to leave. She was the belle of the ball, so it wouldn't be good for her to go missing for a long time.
On her way out, she said, "Be careful below, a rumor has been spread among all women ages twenty-to-thirty in my circles."
Kyro instantly had a bad feeling about this, but he still asked, "What rumor?"
"It's said that a certain dark-haired billionaire bachelor has decided to marry within a year. I'll also give you a hint - he's in this party."
The moment she said that, Julia thought to run away, but Kyro grabbed her by the wrist. This was no longer fun and games. "Who spread it?" he asked, his voice having gone razor sharp.
Julia didn't fear it, though. "Aunt Jessica, if I were to guess." Her words were like a slap to his face, and she used that moment to escape his grasp while laughing at him. "Have fun at the party. From what I heard, every woman that isn't married—and even some who are—are planning to come after you. It's not every day that someone as rich, young, and handsome as you is eager to get married right away."
Her speech left a bitter taste in Kyro's mouth. He knew his parents wanted to marry him off, but this… Mom had went overboard this time. Even if she had just let it slip in a conversation with her friends, it had to have been done intentionally.
Had she grown senile to think that such a method would work against him? It would end up as nothing more than a huge nuisance for him.
He scowled at the grounds below and left the balcony. His cousin's reputation would suffer if he didn't stay for at least a few hours, but the moment that time was over, he was getting out of here.
The moment he reentered the main area, he was surrounded by a plethora of flowers of all colors and shapes, but he could see none of them. They were nothing more than unwitting tools that his mother employed for her own ends. They questioned him about all kinds of things, finding ways to compliment him while also suggesting how well they matched him, but not one of them thought to enquire about whether the rumor was true.
Without conscious thought, an image of a certain girl rose before his eyes. She wasn't dressed in a dress worth thousands, didn't have the air of someone with confidence in their social standing, nor had a worthwhile background. In more than one way, she could be seen as just another nobody. And yet he would rather be spending time with her than the dozen women surrounding him at this moment.
They were all beautiful and outstanding in their own right, but they were people he himself only pretended to be. The reason they flocked around him was not only his money and status—they had their own that weren't all that inferior—but because they admired his cold and serious facade. Yet it was just that. A facade.
'I should have been an actor,' he mused to himself, barely holding himself from checking the clock. Every extra minute he stayed here was a boost to Julia's reputation. 'Or a damn saint. The things I do for others only ever end me in trouble.'