房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"Give it to Helteroses. They are doing well for themselves, throwing a party and then basically ignoring the person that the party was thrown for."

Thriteen-years-old Ehmi whose figure was already putting most young adult women to shame, scoffed, glancing with disgust at the snack table where two lords Helterose were drinking wine and making small talks with the representatives of the great families.

The mildly disgusted girl shook her head causing her long crimson hair to cascade through the air gathering the attention and longing looks of most of the male demographic – no matter their age.

"They are so dull and have no class or honor. The decision is up to my parents but in their current form, personally, I would be against them joining the six great families."

A prideful girl with long dark hair that stayed in an intimidating hairstyle without any visible pins or hairbands shrugged her shoulders and supped on the juice from the long glass she was holding up elegantly while leaning against the table with desserts.

Despite being around two years younger than her voluptuous friend, the dark-haired girl was definitely a close second in terms of the amount of attention she was gathering.

The two could be described as the brilliant jewels in the crown of the party.

Ehmi Gamemi Victureo in her flowy ballroom dress and elbow-long silky crimson gloves and...

Miriette Lisea Espine in a splendid emerald dress with black frills and wrist-long black lacy gloves.

In terms of jewelry, the young lady of the Victureo family donned an intricate necklace made of countless red, orange, and yellow gems that together imitated a raging flame, and delicate earrings with three gems in the same color variation as the necklace.

On the other hand, the only heir of the Espine family decided on silver bracelets with large chunks of milky crystals embedded into the chain links and a collar-like tightly-fit necklace with the same kind of gems cascading down her shoulders. Her earrings also had milky-white crystals and were perfectly visible in the background of her lovely waist-long dark hair.

None of the two were adults yet and yet the number of marriages towards them their families received was larger than the collective amount of invitation that was sent to every other female present at the party combined.

"Harsh. That's why the first prince cried to his mother to break off the engagement with you."

Ehmi discreetly raised a folding fan to her face and opened it to hide the mean smirk that crept its way on her face.

"You are trying to make it sound as if it wasn't exactly what I wanted. The way he is now, the pissy prince is just pathetic."

Miriette smiled softly looking down into her glass as if contemplating having another gulp.

"Is that so...? You would not mind if I snatch him away? He has a lot of mommy issues and I dare say am plenty motherly. Who knows? Maybe I will raise him into a proper man that even you will be jealous of?"

The cirmson-ahired girl chukled without putting down her fan and straingtened her back, putting one hand under her already impressive bust to excentuate it even further.

"Honestly? Go for it. Although do mind that you mind need to learn to change diapers even before conceiving your first child. I am not calling him the pissy prince without reason."

"Eh...? Ewww!"

The dark-haired girl glanced at her friend and shrugged her shoulders dismissively but in the end, her expression turned mean as she parted with some secret knowledge that made Ehmi gasp and frown in disgust.

"Alright, maybe I will hold on to the idea of becoming the queen until I will be sure that his highness can control his bowels."

Ehmi shook her head and snapped her folding fan close while glancing towards the young gold-haired boy in a whit,e gold-incrusted tuxedo taking with her younger brother wearing very similar clothes but with red accents instead of gold, and two more boys, one green-haired and one brown-haired that seemed about a year older than them.

"But then... if you don't like Helterose family and you aren't here to patch things up with the first prince... Why did you show up to this party, Miri? Your mother over there is by far more than that new money deserves."

The cirmson-ahired girl leaned against the table with desserts just like her dark-haired friend and asked curiously while glancing meaningfully towards a tall distinguished woman that both adult Helterose present desperately tried to keep in a good mood.

"Helterose family got wealthy because of their best quality servants, haven't they? And I've heard that the best of the best is serving under today's special girl. I happen to know a lot about perfect attendants so I wanted to check him out with my won two yes... and nose..."

Miriette lowered her head again as if the juice in her long glass became even more interesting than before and she explained with a soft sigh full of longing.

"Nose...? You are not going to try to grab and start sniffing him, are you?"

Ehmi raised her brow and hurriedly opened her fan, waving it with quick movements of the wrist as if she needed an ear.

"Of course not."

The dark-haired girl sent her an annoyed glare and shook her head in disbelief at the audacity of the suggestion.

"You know, you could always ask me. That boy is a martial artist so the moment the news about him started surfacing my father looked into him... and I just so happen to get y hands on the compiled report~"

The crimson-haired girl raised her head in pride so high that her chin was almost pointing towards the ceiling...

...it was obvious that she wanted the other girl to ask her for the information she had...

"Aku Kuro. The only survivor of the monster attack from the emigrant family of four. Found by accident by young lady Kierul when she sneaked out of her family mansion. Just as it is normal for the people from his homeland he can't use mana and instead utilizes spiritual energy to gain access to star power. Quite an exotic thing around our parts, but even so, by far the most special thing about him is his incredible talent as a servant. Mastering and clearing out the attendant training with the perfect score within less than a month of being saved he is now the number one candidate to become the next head butler of the main Helterose family. Even more interestingly, after being sent to the Derizno branch family for a trial period that every attendant has to complete, the Derizno family is adamant about convincing him to work for them, going as far as offering the same yearly payment a member of the King's Guard cash in... Despite having amazing offers like that available to him, he continues to refuse them each time they are made, hiding behind his loyalty towards the girl who saved him. Oh, and he is the same age as me and the pissy prince. He might be hiding his face behind a mask without fail, he isn't all that mysterious you want to paint him as, Ehmi."

"..."

But Miriette quickly brought her back to reality by proving that she and her family have ways of gathering intel that is in no way subpar to those of the Victureo family.

"Tsk... you know how to mess up my fun."

Ehmi scoffed in annoyance, making a sulky expression and reaching out for a cupcake to sweeten up the bitter defeat.