Leaving the mansion, Victor and his father, Theodore, took a fifteen-minute car trip to the island's small harbor, where a fully serviced yacht was waiting for them.
"The boat is ready, Master," the female captain saluted respectfully as soon as Theodore stepped down from the car.
"Go get a seat, Victor…" Theodore said to his son, then began to discuss something with the captain.
Victor nodded then slowly boarded the yacht, trying to act absentminded.
Inside the lavish cabin, he sat down on a fancy seat and then relaxed as he looked out of the window to watch the waves. Everything was on schedule… Would she be there too this time? Definitely. Hopefully, this would not go bad.
A few moments later, his father, who just finished discussing the sailing course, entered the cabin and sat on the adjacent seat then gestured to a servant for some refreshment. His butler George was not here, as he would travel by helicopter with Victor's luggage. The boat trip was ceremonial.
"We will be there in 3 hours. The captain informed me that we need to make a detour to pick up some other participants, the boat that should have been picking them up was damaged by some idiot!" Theodore said with a sigh, "Try to relax your mind. It will be over soon," he added.
Victor nodded just as the Yacht started its engines and began its trip across the Von Weise Archipelago just like it did in his previous life.
The family-owned this entire archipelago where each island contains facilities that have specified functions such as training, research, or residential. On normal occasions, the residential islands would house the lonely wives and their children with some servants. The husbands are busy doing business or, ahem…. searching for other potential wives on the mainland.
Their trip's destination was the central island. It houses the main seat of the family, the elders' halls, as well as the treasury and punishment halls. The ceremony will take place at the ancestral hall at the center of the island.
Victor watched the waves go by as he reminisced about this same trip in his past life. He was so nervous back then that he could not focus on anything. Turning his head from the window, he began to observe the servants who were busy preparing drinks for him and his father.
While they are called servants by the family, Technically, they were all slaves. The family has brought and trained them from their youth so that they would be faithful and loyal to their masters. The family had too many secrets to risk hiring normal staff.
His father caught his gaze and could not help but chuckle a little "Don't worry, after the ceremony, if you managed to survive, depending on your rank you would be given a chance to get your own servants. But if you didn't, I will let a few of these girls accompany you in your grave," he said with an evil smile, making the poor girls who were listening shiver in fright and pray for Victor's success.
Victor nervously nodded his head, then took a sip of his freshly brewed coffee that a still-shivering servant girl just handed him.
His father's poor sense of humor, which always frightened people, never changed. But Victor knew that Theodore was subtly encouraging him, like any father he wished for his son's success.
Soon, the yacht came to a stop in a small harbor, and a few passengers boarded. Two girls and three boys. They were Victor's cousins from some branch families, they will also join the ceremony today.
They saluted Theodore and Victor then sat down in their seats nervously. They did not dare make a noise in the presence of the main branch members. The family hierarchy was engraved in their bones.
After a few similar stops, the small cabin was almost full, but still, no one dared to sit near the domineering father and son.
The ceremony usually included family members from different classes, Including the direct heirs, disciples, and some talented servants who had to spend their trip on deck.
The yacht made one last stop, however, this time only two passengers boarded. One middle-aged man with a pointy beard and one burly proud youth who had his nose pointed to the ceiling. They were dressed in ceremonial grabs similar to the ones Theodore and Victor were wearing. When they entered the cabin all the 20 participants seated inside stood up and saluted in respect, but the two didn't even look at them, just continued their way till they reached Victor and his father.
They were Victor's third uncle Patrick and his son Ron, who saluted Theodore and then sat down following his father on the two seats opposing Victor.
"It's been a while, Theodore, How is your business these days?" Patrick said as he relaxed in his seat while his son kept looking at Victor mockingly as if he was already a dead man.
"It's all good, You have been busy yourself lately, I heard you opened a new pharmaceutical company…"
"Yeah, it's not bad! The new herb that was found in the dungeon lately proved perfect for treating EDs. So sales are soaring!"
"Good… I see your son has grown up," Theodore replied as he examined Ron, "He should be able to succeed today as his big brother did back then, I hope."
"Yes, he has already reached the 5th level of the secret art. I have high expectations for him!" Patrick said while casting an approving gaze onto his son, who raised his chin again, trying to look valiant. Enjoying the worshiping looks on his cousins from the branch families and the maids who were trying hard to tempt him… If one of them were to be chosen by him, she would be able to save her life. None of them wanted to accompany Victor to the grave! And even if Victor lived, they didn't want to be anywhere near him, they heard some very disturbing rumors about him.
Patrick, totally unaware of the drama unfolding around him, continued talking to his brother "I heard you found a new concubine, it had been said that she is already pregnant, you already have three wives and three Player sons, aren't you planning on stopping with this wife hunting routine? it's not good for your health!" he asked with little annoyance and envy on his face.
"My health is perfectly fine!" answered Theodore with a proud look. "And it's not like I am actively hunting for wives, but I do run a media production company after all!"
Victor's grandfather, the current patriarch of the Von Weise family had only one wife who gave birth to five sons and one daughter. Theodore, who was the fifth and youngest child already had three wives and many heirs while his older brothers only had one wife each and one or two qualified heirs. It is not that they are faithful to their wives though, but finding a spouse who gives birth to a pureblood heir is no easy feat, each of his uncles has already slept with hundreds of women but only a handful of women were suitable. Theodore was really gifted in that regard and in this Yacht, only Victor who was playing dumb knew the reason why!
Ron looked at his uncle with envy. After the ceremony, he intended to sleep with a hundred women in one go. He looked at Victor with contempt. "Not like this cripple who would probably die tonight," he thought. He had heard the rumors of Victor being a loser, who didn't only fail to practice the family art, he was also a pervert who couldn't control himself in front of a maid, he almost forced the poor lass to do some really perverted things! There were also some other rumors about him trying to seduce his stepmother, that's why Theodore sent him to a boarding school! Ron didn't fully believe those, but they can't be all wrong!
He had no idea that Victor had figured out exactly what he was thinking about, it was easy to tell from the perverted look in his eyes.
Victor didn't care though, the rumors were all false, and more than one person spread them on purpose to discredit him.
Ron who was looking smug now, would not live past tonight anyway, the ceremony hall's graveyard would be his final resting ground.
The cabin was silent for the remainder of the journey, as both Theodore and Patrick, despite their relaxed looks, were nervous for their sons, and the rest of the passengers dared not make any noise. It was almost late afternoon when the yacht came to its final destination.
The central island was the biggest in the archipelago. It contained the central administration of the family as well as a fully functioning military base and an on-water airport. In fact, in the past world war, some idiot tried to invade the islands but ended up having his entire fleet decimated before getting executed by an 'accidental' nuclear bomb test… Since then, no one dared to make a move on the family.
"The Island looked as magnificent as ever," thought Victor as he gazed upon the towering mountain in the center of the island, there, in the awakening hall he would take his first step.
The yacht was soon anchored in the grand harbor, and the passengers stood up in respect while waiting for the main branch members to disembark first.
The two father and son pairs quickly went ashore followed by the rest, where there was a full convoy of cars waiting to take them up the mountain.
During the journey, Victor made sure to keep a timid anxious look on his face, which made all the participants unconsciously give him a disgusting look. Everyone had heard the rumors of him trying to assault a maid when he was younger. They thought that they were better than him.
Victor did not care. He knew that many of them would not survive the ceremony. He was just pondering on how he should play this after the ceremony. He had two options, the first is to keep his timid approach, then slowly change into a confident young man as time progressed, maybe appearing inexperienced every once in a while. This would result in slowing all of his future plans though.
The second option was to take advantage of the rumors surrounding him and immediately change course to reveal his 'true' depraved nature, making everyone unsure about his next move and how to act toward him. This would make a mess but would give him the ability to act fast and more openly.
He was sure that his ceremony results would be spectacular, so he had to make sure that his enemies would not be alerted.