Zach didn't see fit to insist on getting answers. He just followed along George like the cabins of a train follow the engine without question as they move on the same path.
Of course, Luna wasn't going to separate from Zach even if it was the devil himself who had come for him.
When they exited the dressing room, the maids who were supposed to be there waiting for Zach were surprisingly nowhere to be seen. And in their place, stood two armed guards with a garb that was completely unfamiliar to Zach even though he had taken the pain to study the familial crests of the various families in attendance.
Zach deduced that the guards could only belong to the person who had come to visit him uninvited.
Luna moved behind the two as they headed towards a room that was neither the banquet hall, where the ceremony was going to take place, nor a room that she had seen before.
The Luther family mansion was so grandiose that Luna had never truly seen the whole thing before. It wasn't such a surprise that she hadn't been to this room before.
Surprisingly, George led Zach to the place without any error and without the aid of any servant.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe two guards who had been following after them stopped outside the room and took their positions on either side of the room after they closed the door behind Zach and his entourage.
Zach found himself in a room with a huge ornate oval table lined with exquisite chairs on either side of it. It seemed like an antique conference room of some sort. Zach truly liked the style of it. But of course, even more than the design of the conference room, he was interested in the man sitting on the head chair, which was more akin to a majestic couch, as if he belonged there and no force in the world could dare to move him.
He was wearing magnificent ornate robes in front of which even his wedding attire, he had been admiring earlier, looked lackluster. The man had a confident smile on his face and he appeared to be one with the background. His clothing and his bearing quite matched with the magnificence of the room.
Other than the man, there were two other people he knew who were already present in the room but they had been standing off to the side as if they were unworthy of sitting at the same table as this man. One was his soon to be wife Christina and the other person was her brother and his brother-in-law Barry.
Zach wondered how much of a big shot this person was. He wasn't old enough to be the patriarch of some top class family and looking at the number of guards this person had brought with him, he could either be labeled as an extremely important VIP or some paranoid idiot with money to spare.
There was another man standing right behind the man and Zach assumed him to be the bodyguard of the pompous looking man who was trying to assert his presence. From his clothes and the air of power surrounding the person, Zach could tell that this person was a mage; maybe an extremely powerful one at that.
George let go of Zach's arm as soon as they entered the room and went forward to greet the man sitting on the head chair. George was the first one to bring his right hand forward in front of his chest as he bent his upper body forward in a gesture of respect that was similar to the salute of the olden times in his previous world.
Christina followed after him as she curtsied like a proper lady who was learned in the proper ways. Barry followed after her and saluted just like his father, George.
Zach was unsure what to do as he was unaware of the status of the man on the receiving end. He didn't know what the proper etiquette for a commoner like him would be in such a situation. He was hesitating whether to imitate George and Barry or not.
Thankfully, Luna helped him make his decision by pulling on his coattails from behind in her nervousness and the strength of her grip told him of the hatred oozing out of her for this man. Zach couldn't help but feel that this wasn't the usual feral Luna who hated most of the humans out there. This hatred was much more targeted as if she felt disgusted by the person sitting in front of them. Zach could see it in her eyes how much she wanted to be away from that strange man.
Zach held on to Luna's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze in order to reassure her of his presence in order to let her calm down a bit. He was worried that Luna would end up doing something irreparable due to her impulsive behavior.
He then turned to look at the stranger who was done receiving greetings from George, Christina and Barry and was looking at Zach as if he was waiting for Zach to put on the show as well.
As if to answer his expecting gaze, Zach said, "I am sorry but both of us haven't met you before so we don't know how to address you let alone greet you properly. I apologize if there is something that the two of us have done to offend you due to the lack of our knowledge."
Zach could tell that Luna was barely holding herself back from pouncing on to the man. Therefore, he spoke for the both of them as he tried to pry out the information regarding the man from nobody in particular as he lay down his apprehensions in front of everyone in the room.
At his solemn acceptance of his lack of knowledge, Christina felt like it was her responsibility to share that information with her future husband. She came to him like a stealthy cat as her steps made no sound at all against the marble floor. Her lips came so close to his ears that they were practically touching his earlobe.
Zach didn't mind but Luna couldn't help but feel that Christina was flaunting her relationship with Zach to her.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"This person is Prince Kolt from the Norman Royal family that resides in the capital city of the empire. They are single handedly the most powerful family in the empire. Therefore, please watch your words around him and don't try to antagonize him if possible. He has brought along hundreds of men and they are currently surrounding this place with not an inch of gap left unwatched. A single extra word from you can be the difference between the life and death of some people attending our wedding."
Christina was tactful enough to not say such words out loud. She had practically muttered these words in the depths of his ear so even Zach barely managed to make sense of it.
Christina's words were not only full of information that he had wanted to hear but she also warned him of the potential danger that this person posed to the families in case he decided to let loose his men who were waiting like hungry hyenas outside the estate.
Prince Kolt wasn't the least bit bothered that Zach wasn't showing him the respect he deserved as the member of the Norman Royal family because he was here for a different purpose. There was no reason to engage in trifles and waste time that could be used to carry out productive business that would yield him capital for future investments.
Instead of replying to Zach's witty remarks, he snapped his finger maintaining his graceful and royal outlook. He looked like a graceful dandy from an elite family with people wiping his ass every time he shat.
"You don't need to bother with the formalities since you are unaware of the customs of our empire. You might not recognize who I am but there is someone who came here just to meet you and even dragged me along with him just so he could introduce me to you. He told me that you are his old friend whom he has been unable to find for a long time now. I wonder if you still remember him."
As if the guards had been waiting for him to snap his magical fingers, they opened the doors in a swift but practiced motion and in came a person that both Zach and Luna recognized the instant he appeared in the conference room.
The man who entered the conference room with all the eyes on him was none other than Braxton who had broken the news about Zach to him. He assumed that Prince Kolt had come here on his account to exact revenge on Zach for the injustice he did to Braxton in the past. Of course all this was his own fantasy and Kolt was only here to make a profit. But the smug look on Braxton's face revealed the things going through his head.
Zach almost dug his fingernails into his fist as he tried to control himself from lashing out at the bastard who had almost managed to kill both him and Luna at the same time in the forest by leading them to the Earth Bear.
Just like Zach, Luna also remembered Braxton quite vividly since he had been the reason that Luna had almost caused the death of her precious master. Possessed by her wrath, she intended to rush out and tear Braxton apart with her own hands but Zach held on to her wrist as if to hold her back from doing something that might haunt the both of them.