On Leo's call, the bulky elder walked towards him and looked in the direction he was pointing at.
"Elder look, doesn't something seem odd?"
"Hm?" The bulky elder tried to find the odd thing Leo had mentioned.
Knowing he didn't get it, Leo pointed at the servants near Yu.
"Young miss Yu's servants, elder. Look at them. Don't you think they're a lot?" Leo said and turned to look at Yu with a smile.
Yu frowned and stepped in between Leo and her servants, blocking his sight. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Oh, so beautiful…" Leo clasped his hand and said with a smile.
Yu frowned harder. "Know your place, you—"
"Indeed, really very beautiful," said Leo after cutting her off and walking past her. He stood in front of a brown-haired butler with a similar thin physique as his, looking at him with an amicable grin.
The people around Yu gasped in shock as they saw her get insulted so openly, adding fuel to the fire, and making her turn red from anger.
Before the situation escalated, Leo turned around to see the bulky elder again.
"Elder, I want this butler."
He placed his hand around the guy's shoulder and pulled his cheek. "Look, this guy looks so similar to me. Almost like a twin. Something tells me that we'll become best friends, haha!"
"…"
The elder had no idea what to say in such a situation. The youngsters of the family were spoiled brats without a doubt, but they weren't as informal as Leo and mingled with mere servants.
To say something like becoming best friends with a servant…
It was an unofficial taboo in the family as servants were seen no different than slaves, a class even lower than the commoners.
The butler had his head bowed and did not dare look up. Saying anything will have dire consequences.
Yu was speechless hearing something like that too. Leo may be a bastard son, but he still belonged to the Ignis. His status in society was higher than most aristocrats. To say something so disgusting as a noble…
Yu felt her stomach churn just by thinking of being best friends with a servant.
Still, the servant was hers. She could not let Leo lay a hand on him as that would be a tight slap in her face in front of everyone present.
Walking close to Leo, Yu said, "You, know your place—"
"Oh right. Elder, what I wanted to say was young Miss Yu has a lot of servants, and isn't that out of the rules?"
Leo totally ignored Yu for the nth time, cut her off, and walked past her while holding the butler's wrist.
Yu who wanted to erupt in anger suddenly found herself in a messy situation and knitted her brows.
Knowing Leo would cut her off if she spoke, she decided to stay silent and watch what this fool was trying to do. Her eyes lay on the bulky elder in front of her and she waited to hear his response.
"Hm?" The bulky elder gestured to Leo to elaborate.
Leo pointed his finger at the people behind Yu. "Before awakening, the youngest generation is not allowed to have more than two servants. Since that's the case, why does young miss Yu have twelve of them? Do family rules not apply to someone like her?"
The elder had a clear displeased look on his face with the frown he was expressing. Leo's words weren't wrong and he too was aware of it. However, as nobody had complained, this matter was overlooked by the Disciplinary Hall.
With him bringing this topic up in front of so many youngsters of the main and branch families along with their many servants, this matter could not be ignored.
The elder placed a hand on Leo's shoulder and firmly gripped him, causing a stinging pain that made him grunt.
"You are right, young master Leonard," said the elder. He sounded quite displeased but kept his tone subtle for face. "This matter won't be overlooked."
The elder's gaze shifted to Yu who was standing with a dumbfounded expression, her brows knitted, and her palms curled into fists.
"Young miss Yu, please report to the Disciplinary Hall after the awakening ceremony. As for now, you are only allowed to take two servants inside."
The elder then looked around.
"This goes for everyone present. You are not allowed to take more than two servants."
Yu gritted her teeth and wanted to say some really awful words. The only reason she didn't do so yet was because the awakening ceremony was important and causing a scene would delay things. She could deal with the current situation later on.
Yu gave Leo a hateful look, staring daggers at him.
Leo smiled in response, creeping her out. Her face was even more twisted than before.
"Alright, we should leave too," Leo said to the brown-haired butler he had just picked up.
The butler looked at Leo, then at Yu with a worried expression. Servants were not allowed to question what the masters were making them do. The struggle now was whom should the servant listen to?
"Where are you taking him?" Yu asked with her gritted teeth.
"Hm?" Leo titled his head slightly.
"You. My servant. Where are you taking him?" Yu repeated word by word as if Leo was an idiot who couldn't understand basic vocabulary.
"I'm taking him to my table. Is there a problem with you?" Leo said. Before Yu could respond, he walked away while having his hand wrapped around the butler's shoulders, dragging him along. "If there is, young miss Yu can always say it to the elders. Please don't disturb me till the ceremony is over."
Leo waved his hand and left just like that, acquiring a new servant for himself.
The servant was panicking. There was no statement from his young miss stating she had relieved him off his duty. Defying Leo was also not an option. If things continued on, he may very well be beheaded!
"Elder! Elder, how can he take my servant like that!?" Yu raised her voice and asked the bulky elder.
The elder narrowed his eyes and said, "Young miss Yu, maintain decorum."
Yu walked close to the bulky elder, unafraid of him, and said, "Elder, that servant is bonded to me. I have the seal. How can he take him away? You said I can get two servants to the ceremony, right? I'd like that one to be one of the two."
Leo stopped in his tracks. He turned around and responded, "What are you saying, young miss Yu?"
Leo took out a red and black token from his pocket and showed it to Yu.
"I have already bonded with this servant here. How could you so shamelessly lie to the Elder? Tsk. Tsk. Elder, it seems like someone needs to be punished by the Disciplinary Hall for so blatantly framing an innocent person and lying."
"You…"
Blood rushed towards Yu's head and made her take rapid strides towards Leo.
"I am warning you, don't cross your limits."
"What limits?" Leo asked in an unhurried tone.
"Lying about the bond with the servant!" Yu exclaimed, this time in a louder tone as Leo wasn't an elder she had to watch her language in front of.
"Oh, that," Leo clasped his hand. "I didn't lie about it. Can't you see this token?"
Leo waved the red and black token in front of Yu.
"Lies! Total lies! There's no such bond in it. Give me that, I'll prove it to the Elder!"
Saying so, Yu extended her hands out and tried to snatch the token.
Fighting was prohibited in this hall and knowing no one could attack her, Yu had her guard down, thereby having many openings.
Taking advantage of this opening, Leo swiftly swiped his hand holding the token away from Yu, grazing the tip of her finger in the process and getting some of her blood smudged on the token.
That instant, the brown-haired servant beside him felt their stomach drop and a sense of weightlessness, as if they had just jumped from a cliff and falling freely down.
With Yu's blood on the token, Leo quickly pricked his finger with the token's sharp edges and dropped his blood on it.
The brown-haired butler felt the strange sensations vanish, and internally heaved a sigh of relief.
"Give me that!" Yu shouted and tried to take the token from Leo.
"Elder, please ask young miss Yu to stay in her place. If she keeps acting like this, I'm afraid I might have to break the hall's rules by hitting her."
The youngsters in the hall gasped in shock. From their perspective, Leo looked like an outsider or someone from the branch family with how his hair and eye color was. He didn't have a pure bloodline of the Ignis whereas Yu was someone way up in the hierarchy. Speaking so audaciously to someone like her… the youngsters in the room did not dare imagine what the consequences of that would be.
Yu too was taken aback by the comment. None of the people she had ever met had said something like that to her.
Her patience finally broke and she snapped. "How dare you—"
"Young miss Yu."
The bulky elder put himself between Leo and Yu. His tone contained a hint of authority, but it wasn't as domineering as the time he called Leo.
Yu stopped and frowned. Pointing her finger at Leo, she said, "Elder, that guy is clearly lying through his teeth. Check his token, there's absolutely nothing on it. I want my servant back."
Even after having plenty of servants, Yu wanted that particular one. The reason was pride. It hurt her pride to have someone be taken from her side so easily even though they meant nothing to her.
The bulky elder turned to look at Leo, who shrugged in response and gave him the token obediently.
As the elder checked it, his eyebrows were subtly raised in surprise.
What? When did he do this?