All seven of the Alstreim Family members were currently entering the Banquet Hall, flying towards the seat of honor while hovering over all the dancing women and guests without any care.
When they neared the Ethren Emperor, the projection was cut and other guests were shown displaying shocked expressions on their faces that held awe. Almost the entire attention of the people present in the Banquet Hall was cast towards the Alstreim Family members.
Claire’s entire body trembled. She subconsciously took a step forward and flew into the air but just before she could…
A hand grasped her shoulder abruptly!
Claire expressed her bewilderment through her wide eyes as she turned to look behind her, only to see Davis maintain a calm expression on his face.
“Don’t be hasty, mother.”
Claire blinked, and the next moment her eyes became moist, “Hasty? You’re telling me not to be hasty!?”
“Mother, I…”
“Davis! The whole reason we are in this territory is because of my father! Even if we can’t uphold justice, can’t I at least talk with him and let him know of my presence?”
“We must not!”
“Davis! You…” Claire’s voice radiated her disbelief.
Davis extended his other hand and grasped her other shoulder with grip, “Mother, we are weak!”
Claire became taken aback.
“Now is not the time!” Davis gritted his teeth, “At least, for the time being, you cannot meet him. Otherwise, if the others were to know or your father were to slip up your presence, it would truly be a cause for a tragedy.”
Seeing that his mother is still sane, he explained, “Mother, imagine what would happen if the Alstreim Family were to know that you have escaped the Forsaken Phoenix Realm and returned?”
Claire became silent, unable to imagine with her current chaotic emotions hugely influencing her thoughts. She closed her eyes and invoked her will as she tried to imagine what would happen if her presence were to be discovered by the Alstreim Family.
When she opened her eyes, her expression became aghast.
“Mother, I am completely aware that I’m asking for the impossible, however, I need you to not be hasty in this matter.”
Davis was well aware that he was requesting the impossible because Claire’s whole reason to be here was to meet her father if one excluded the fact of obtaining justice.
And here he was, asking her to not meet her father when the opportunity finally presented itself. If he was Claire, he would’ve definitely slapped him back.
“I’m half a day away from here. If something were to happen, my avatar perhaps wouldn’t be even able to change any detrimental outcomes.”
Davis solemnly explained, trying to convince his mother. If he couldn’t, he would just have to try his best to not let anything untoward happen.
He let go of her shoulders and left her to make a decision.
Perhaps, there will be a big change in the status quo and he would be forced to return from the Sunset Tear Mountain, however, in the end, it all rested in the decision of his mother.
Claire’s eyes moistened. She turned to look back and saw the projection which displayed the image of the Ethren Emperor and the Envoy of the Alstreim Family, talking with each other. The content of their discussion could not be heard but the angle of the image portrayed them as equals.
They were obviously not equal but it was portrayed so to convince the commoners.
At this time, Logan stood by her side and smiled at her with his eyes.
“Well, do what you want. As for the consequences, we’ll escape and never return here until we become strong!” Logan laughed and his statement contained a hint of encouragement as well as naturalness.
Claire’s twin peaks heaved as she took a deep breath and released as she tried to calm herself down. Many thoughts were constantly running in her mind, telling her to go! Her heart as a daughter wanted to so badly meet her father, the father she had revered and loved with all her heart in her childhood and young years.
She closed her eyes again and tried to calm herself down.
But it was to no avail as tears came out, cascading over her cheeks before being hidden by the mask. She sniffled like a child, trying to stop her tears. It took a while before she finally controlled her state of mind.
At this moment, she nodded to Davis, indicating that she didn’t want to jeopardize their safety for the time being. She pursed her lips while Logan put his arm over her shoulder, pulling her to his shoulder.
“Don’t cry… On the bright side, haven’t we confirmed that your father is still alive?”
Claire didn’t help but nod her head. At the same time, she wanted to be nothing but pampered like a child in her husband’s arms.
“You don’t need to worry about the safety of your father anymore. All we need is to grow stronger and perhaps within two or three decades, we will be able to reunite with your father and stand tall against your ‘family’.” Logan spoke.
“Of course, I’m including our son in the equation, otherwise, even five centuries wouldn’t be enough! Haha!”
Logan tried to lighten up the mood and it magnificently worked against Claire. She smiled behind the mask and shook her head, feeling a bit better.
Davis chuckled at the side too and his gaze moved to the projection.
‘Well, this was rather unexpected. I never thought that Mother’s father, my maternal grandfather would appear in this place. This event almost put a dent in my future plans to take things at my pace. If we got caught here, it would be no different than the situation we faced with the Tripartite Alliance.’
‘Them chasing us while we run for our lives…’
‘In this case, if the Alstreim Family were to chase us, we’re pretty much screwed…’
Davis inwardly heaved a sigh of relief over his mother’s decision. If not, he really would have to come up with some countermeasures for scenarios that could likely happen.
For example, them being apprehended or forcefully moved by those envoys to the Alstreim Family’s location.
This was just the average case scenario.
For the worst-case scenario, if the envoys were in the know of the matter between the hostile force in the Alstreim Family and Claire who was supposed to be dead, there was no saying how the matter would take a turn for the worse.
In the projection, it seemed that the envoys finished their conversation with the Ethren Emperor and was leaving the Banquet Hall. This time, their figures were even more clear as the projection zoomed in on them.
“Edgar Alstreim… That’s your grandfather, Davis…” Claire spoke as she observed the projection.
Davis nodded his head. He already knew about this since Claire had previously shown his grandfather’s image by using her soul force.
Previously, there was the matter of him failing to recognize Daniuis as his Grand Uncle, hence, Claire learned from this mistake and used her soul force to project the image of her father to their family of four.
This made them recognize Edgar Alstreim even without Claire’s input.
“Speaking about Grand Uncle, if he hears about this, he is going…” Davis suddenly stopped halfway as he noticed something was wrong within the projection.
Even Claire became wide-eyed…
Wide-eyed as she finally noticed the small copy of herself beside her father!
