At the other end of the table, the one that was sitting at the head was naturally the head of the family.
The one sitting in the most important position was the current queen, her majesty Queen Elizabeth.
Even at her age, she looked very youthful because of the introduction of magic to this world.
Those that awakened all had stronger bodies because they had been strengthened by magic. The queen was also an awakener, so her body had also been strengthened by the magic that she awakened.
She wasn't a S Ranker like Alexander, but she was still an A Ranker with a "Ruler" skill, so she wasn't weak at all.
This allowed her to reverse her aged appearance to a certain extent and returned to how she looked when she was younger.
Beside the queen was her immediate family and then after them were Alexander's mother and father. Even though Alexander's parents had received such a high spot at the table, Alexander himself was given such a low spot…
After his parents came his various aunts and uncles, as well as other relatives that didn't have any power other than their titles.
Then when it came to Alexander's generation, he was sitting at the very end of the table because he was the youngest.
But Maria was surprised to find that Alexander didn't mind this at all and just accepted his family's arrangement.
If it was her, being disrespected like this would have made her blow a fuse, but this wasn't her family. There wasn't anything she could do if Alexander chose to accept this, so she just stayed silent and stayed out of the way.
Her plan was to keep a low profile this entire dinner, but Alexander's family wouldn't allow her to do so.
As the appetizer course came, the subject suddenly changed to the topic of marriage.
Some of Alexander's cousins were married and some were not, so their marriages were discussed first. But eventually, the topic reached Alexander as the youngest one, so attention fell onto Maria.
Alexander's mother was the first one to address Maria, who had been ignored by the rest of his family the entire time. The first thing she said to her was, "Introduce yourself."
It wasn't a question or casual chatter, it was almost like she was ordering Maria to introduce herself.
Maria also felt the eyes of the other members of Alexander's family falling onto her at this time. The way that they looked at her was like they were scrutinizing her, but at the same time, Maria could clearly feel the disdain that was in their eyes.
Still, she endured it and said, "My name is Su Ma Li Ah, but you can call me Maria."
Alexander's mother gave a nod before asking, "And what do you do? What is your awakened power?"
There was no respect in that voice at all, it was as if she was speaking down on her. It was like she was being interviewed instead of being asked a question.
Maria couldn't help slightly knitting her brows when she heard this, but since this was Alexander's mother, she couldn't say anything harsh. So she replied with a smile, "I'm the owner of a cafe. My awakened power is Cook."
When they heard this, all of Alexander's relatives knitted their brows as they looked at Maria.
Even a fool would be able to see the look of disappointment in their eyes. It was clear as day that they clearly didn't approve of Maria.
But Maria didn't mind since the only reason that she was here was to help Alexander.
Alexander couldn't help knitting his brows as well when he saw the reactions of his relatives.
He knew that this would be their reaction, so he wasn't surprised to see them acting like this and he even expected it. But he didn't know why he felt a bit of discomfort when he saw their expressions.
He should have already prepared his heart for this, but for some reason, he couldn't help feeling this feeling.
But since they were the royal family and they cared about appearances, Alexander's mother revealed a smile in the end as she said, "Is that so?"
Then the conversation ended there as if they were done with her.
For the rest of dinner, they completely phased Alexander and Maria out of the conversation. With the way that they acted, it was almost as if the two of them didn't exist at all.
Maria didn't mind any of this since she was too busy enjoying the food.
As the royal family, naturally they would have the best chefs.
Even if she thought that her cooking was the best, she didn't look down on the cooking of other cooks. She was even secretly going through what she thought were the recipes for the dishes that she ate in her mind, as if she was trying to integrate it into her own cooking.
Seeing this, Alexander helped her by giving her a few pieces of advice based on what he had heard from the chef.
The two of them went into their own world during this time.
After dessert was served and dinner was finished, all of Alexander's relatives left the table without a single word to Maria, chatting amongst themselves. They all left the dining room and headed into the parlour for some after dinner talks.
Even the servants acted as if Maria wasn't there, only asking Alexander if they could take the plates even when taking Maria's plates.
But once again, the two of them ignored this as they got up and followed everyone into the parlour.
Once they entered the parlour, they saw that all of the seats had been taken by the other family members. There wasn't a single free spot that had been left for them to sit in.
So the two of them walked over to the fire and just relaxed on their own.
Refreshments were served, but none of the servants paid any attention to them. So Alexander decided to go over and get some refreshments for Maria himself.
It was when he left her alone that his family finally made their move.
One of Alexander's cousins came over with a glass of brandy and "accidentally" tripped when he was walking by Maria. As he tripped, the glass of brandy spilled and all of it flew in Maria's direction.
The cousin couldn't help revealing a sly smile as he fell.
But to his surprise, at a speed that was too fast for his eyes to follow, Maria suddenly moved out of the way and the spilled brandy flew right by her. Since she had been standing by the fire, the brandy flew right into the flames and were instantly ignited, creating a large blaze that hit the cousin right in the face.
When the brandy had been burnt away, the cousin was left with smoke all over his face.
It was a good thing that he had been able to create a barrier with his magic power at the very last second, or it was certain that he would have been injured.
Everyone couldn't help clicking their tongues when they heard this, but they quickly revealed calm expressions.
Alexander had heard the commotion and immediately came over to Maria's side. He looked her over before asking, "Are you alright? Did you get burned?"
Maria shook her head before saying, "Is your cousin alright?"
Alexander didn't even look at his cousin as he said with a nod, "He's fine, there's no need to worry about him." Of course, he didn't actually know if his cousin was fine because at that moment, his heart was filled with worry towards Maria.
But the cousin didn't let this matter end there as his face turned red with shame.
He had thought of the perfect plan, but now he had been turned into a fool. With the pride of a member of the royal family, how could he accept this result?
So he immediately stood up and turned around, pointing his finger at Maria as he shouted, "How dare you trip me? I was just walking by, minding my own business and you suddenly tripped me? Don't you know how dangerous that is?"
The other royal family members had been surprised at first, but then they quickly spoke up in support of this cousin.
"That's right, what kind of person does something like this?"
"This is clearly an attempted murder against a member of the royal family! You'll be arrested for this!"
"Guards, come and take her away."
When the last royal family member said this, there were fully armed guards that suddenly came into the room.
As the royal family, naturally the palace that they lived in was filled with guards. As soon as one of them called for the guards, the guards would come immediately.
Alexander knitted his brows as he stood in front of Maria, putting himself in between her and everyone else in the room.
Seeing this, Alexander's mother couldn't help saying in a sharp voice, "Alexander, what do you think you're doing?"
Hearing this, Alexander couldn't help giving a jolt before looking away from his mother's gaze. It was this gaze and this voice that scared him, but he also couldn't back down at this point, so he could only turn his head away.
But before anyone else could say anything, Maria was the one that suddenly said, "Look at you, are you really the royal family? Is this how people like you should act?"
Even a fool would be able to understand what these people were doing, so Maria could naturally tell what they were scheming. However, all that did was make her even more angry.
She wasn't angry for herself, but rather she was angry on Alexander's behalf.
Anyone with a brain would be able to understand how much he did for the family and this was how they treated him?
It was as if he was nothing more than a tool for them to use. But this was his family, the ones that should have loved him more than anything…
As someone who lost her parents in the monster outbreak years ago, she treasured her family more than anything and seeing people treat family like this, she couldn't help getting angry.
The royal family members were surprised, but then they all glared at her. Alexander's mother said, "Who do you think you are to say these words to us?"
As Alexander's mother, she naturally felt the slap to the face the strongest.
Maria didn't back down as she said, "You're his mother and you're doing something like this. Aren't you supposed to be the one that loves him and cares for him the most? Do you really think that you're qualified to be his mother?"
Alexander's mother's face turned red with rage when she heard this.
Maria ignored her and she turned to Alexander, "Sometimes you need courage to step away from the things that hurt you. I hope that you'll be able to take that step one day."
Then without caring about the rest of the royal family, she started heading to the door.
Alexander's mother wouldn't allow this to happen, so she shouted at the guards, "Grab her and take her away!"
Two guards suddenly moved forward as if they were going to grab Maria, but before they could take more than two steps, there were two bolts of lightning that hit them.
Everyone was shocked because those two bolts of lightning had come from Alexander.
When he saw these guards planning on doing something to Maria, he acted before he could even think. He raised his hand and two bolts of lightning shot out at these two guards.
Alexander's mother's face turned dark when she saw this and she said in a low roar, "Alexander, what do you think you're doing? If you dare do this again, wait and see how I take care of you!"
Then she said to the guards again, "What are you waiting for? Take her away!"
The guards hesitantly looked at each other before moving at Maria again.
Alexander had flinched when he heard his mother's words, but seeing those guards moving again, he firmly stood by Maria's side as if he was about to attack them.
But before anyone else could make a move, there was a powerful voice that rang out, "Enough!"