When Lucas entered the hall, all eyes were on him. First of all, he was the last to enter the hall, and second, he was looking dashing. The plain-coloured but stylish clothing on him made him look suave and elegant.
Alice's eyes sparkled when she saw her brother, and now her love, enter the hall.
After she spent some time alone in the room, she gradually came to terms with their new relationship. It was nothing new as she always felt attracted towards Lucas, whether it was the 'fake' proposal in the sect arena or her subconscious desire to kiss him.
And now, seeing the man she loved being dressed up so dashingly and becoming the centre of everyone's attention, she felt proud.
She had also dressed up beautifully specifically to attract Lucas's attention. She had specifically worn a new skater dress to enhance her cuteness. But he just looked at her only one time, and that too when he scanned the whole hall after entering. And even though his seat was just opposite to hers, he never directly looked at her and was once again much more focused on Anais, who was wearing the same dress from the morning.
Alice became sulky seeing his behaviour. Even if he couldn't praise her directly, at least he could take a few more glimpses in her direction.
(What is with his indifference to my looks? Doesn't he love me? Shouldn't he give more attention to me? Am I not as attractive as Anais?)
She became lost in her depressing thoughts and lost her earlier high-spiritedness.
The others didn't notice the change in her expressions and focused on the host of the banquet, the duke. The only ones who detected her shift in mood were the Luna sisters, who were sitting by her side, and her brother, who was the reason behind her discontent.
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Seeing Alice's despondent expression, I felt a complicated mix of happiness and sadness. I was sad because of her bitter mood. And happy because I was the reason for her melancholic mood, indicating that she had come to terms with our new relationship.
Even though I didn't care what the others may think about it, this public gathering was no place to demonstrate our love openly.
Also, while entering the hall, I used 'Color Feel' to check for any anomalous intentions from the guest present, and surprisingly found an abnormality with Anais. That grabbed my attention more because of her furtive behaviour earlier during the day.
The most predominant 'colour' of hers that I had felt the last time, perseverance, was acting chaotically. Normally, it was like a warm, unyielding flame that burned brightly. But now, a sinister purple flame was trying to corrupt it. Although the warm flame had kept it at bay, it seemed that the sinister flame could take over any moment.
No matter how trustworthy Anais seemed to me, these changes surrounding her today could not be taken lightly any more. Some sort of foul play may be afoot.
Thus, for the whole banquet, I kept my eyes peeled and ears opened to detect any abnormalities. But fortunately, nothing happened.
All the invited guests ate and drank heartily. The old duke also jovially partook in the revelry. The banquet went on till late night before the guests took their leave.
After sending off the guests, the duke offered us siblings to stay for a little longer. He wanted to share one of his finest wine collections with us as a token of gratitude. As he got to know that Anais was also our friend, she was also invited, along with the Luna sisters.
So, a total of 6 people were remaining in the dining hall enjoying the few favourite wines of the old connoisseur.
In the middle of our small wine party, Anais took out a bottle of wine of her own. She mentioned that it was her homemade brew made from the essence of flowers.
She poured it into a few cups and served it to each of us. She also took one cup for herself, and after raising the cup in toast, she took a sip. The flowery smell of the wine was intoxicating and different from the wines we tasted before. And seeing her taste the wine with a blissful expression, we all were tempted and took a sip of our own.
As soon as the wine touched the tongue, it seemed as if a wide variety of flowers bloomed at the same time and emitted their fragrances simultaneously. The mix of the aroma and taste was superb. And I couldn't help but take another sip after drinking the previous one. And what was surprising was that the new sip had a different combination of aroma and taste.
After savouring the taste for a while, we all couldn't help but express gratitude to Anais for allowing us to witness such exquisite wine.
We all slowly emptied the cups of wine and longed for another sip. This wine was on a completely different level compared to the duke's favourite wines. Anais detected our emotions and served us another round of wine.
We all enjoyed the whole bottle of wine before feeling satisfied.
The duke was so enamoured by the wine that he proposed to buy the remaining bottles from her, but to his dismay, Anais mentioned that it was the last bottle in her possession, and she could only deliver some the following year.
Afterwards, we couldn't drink any other wine, as the 'flowery' wine was still lingering on our tongues. After a little more chit-chat between the girls, and the gramps and me, we left for our respective rooms.
Anais, Alice and I were going to a different side, whereas the Luna sisters were accompanying the old duke to his chambers before going to their rooms.
Alice had forgotten about her earlier displeasure and was happily chatting away with Anais.
The main topic of discussion was obviously wine. Alice, being a foodie, wanted to taste the specialities of Anais's household and thus asked all about those things. Anais happily described the taste and texture of all those specialities.
But in between their talk, Alice started yawning. By the time we reached near our rooms, Alice's eyes had become droopy, and she entered the room after bidding farewell to Anais. She didn't say anything to me and directly fell on the bed and slept within a few seconds.
Even I was feeling sleepy, but not to the extent of Alice's. It was kind of abnormal, and the first time Alice had ever felt so exhausted that she would sleep without taking a bath or changing her clothes.
I was still standing outside the room with Anais. I looked at her and found her eyes to have become heavy too but were not like that of Alice's. I looked at her inquisitively.
Looking at my gaze, she laughed lightly and explained.
"You have good observation and deductive skills. It is the effect of my flower wine. The more mentally exhausted one's body is, the sleepier he will feel. Similarly, the deeper and longer your sleep will be."
Although she might be telling the truth, I felt that she hadn't mentioned everything. There was something that she was hiding. But her explanation was sufficient.
We cultivators don't need to sleep regularly, and we can alleviate a large amount of our mental stress through meditation and cultivation. But fatigue gets accumulated, and after a duration of time, one has to sleep to feel refreshed. The higher the cultivation, the longer one could sustain without sleep.
For our levels, we could remain awake for about a week or two. And Alice had spent all her previous days with the Luna sisters and her training. So, it was clear she had a good amount of fatigue accumulated inside her. And according to the effects of the 'flower wine', she slept instantaneously.
After her explanation, Anais waved at me and went inside her room.
I also went inside our room and decided to freshen up. I was also feeling a little drowsy, but I couldn't afford to sleep. I felt Anais's actions, which seemed natural and considerate, were covering up something shady.
After washing up, I moved to Alice's bed and looked at her. She was still wearing her full-sleeved, black mesh sweetheart skater dress and her heeled shoes.
I hadn't noticed her appearance in detail in the dining hall. But seeing her wear such a beautiful dress and laying on the bed with her lovely long legs exposed made me feel excited. I had never seen Alice so captivating before, or was it the effect of love in play…
I didn't know and didn't care. I wanted to kiss Alice and embrace her. But as she was asleep, I calmed myself by stroking her legs gently.
Afterwards, I removed her shoes. I thought of removing her dress but couldn't understand how to do so. So I let it be and just positioned her properly on the bed to prevent any soreness after waking up.
After taking care of her, I sat cross-legged on the other bed. I meditated to reduce my mental exhaustion and prevent myself from sleeping. I kept myself alert throughout the process.
After a few hours, I hear a faint sound of a door opening. It was coming from the direction of Anais's room. I had prepared myself for it, but I still felt sad and betrayed.
After some time, when I couldn't hear the nearly imperceptible sound of footsteps, I stood up from the bed. I moved towards the door and exited. My eyes had lost a little lustre, and my steps were heavy.
But nonetheless, I moved on. I climbed upstairs in the direction of the duke's chamber. The guards in front of the duke's room were dead with sharp wounds on their necks.
I didn't bat an eyelid to the dead bodies and moved over them to open the door of the duke's room.
After entering the room, I found the old duke lying on his bed and sleeping peacefully. But a knife had pierced into his chest by a woman standing by his bedside.