Chapter 188: The Frats Family

Chapter 188

The Frats Family

“In that case, I will invite the young ladies to join this tea party.” Seeing that Aya and Athena had no further objections, Selin then proceeded to follow Ellie’s earlier instructions.

It didn’t take long for the group of girls to follow Selin in, looking excited. Among them, there seemed to be a leader—a girl with a particularly beautiful face and fair skin. However, she appeared to dislike Aya and Athena the most. Judging by her attire, she was likely from a branch family in another city, rather than a descendant of the hunters in Set City.

“Duchess Ellie,” the children greeted Ellie, who, upon close inspection, was actually a hand shorter than the leader of the group. Due to her poor growth, it wasn’t surprising that she wasn’t tall and elegant like others.

But of course, her height did not diminish the respect they had for her. These children knew that Ellie was untouchable, someone the eldest young lord, the second young lord, and even the family head cared for deeply. They thus showed genuine respect for her. Above all, it might be because someone was hoping to get closer to Ellie than Aya and Athena were.

“Thank you, my lady, for inviting us to this tea party. Firstly, I believe you might not know us, so allow me to introduce myself.”

“My name is “Sara Setter.” I am the third daughter of the head of the branch Setter family in the city of Barfron. I am 15 years old this year. In a few months, I will awaken my powers. Both my father and mother possess strong magic powers, and I am hopeful to follow in their footsteps and become a significant asset to the Setter family as well.”

The girl who led the group introduced herself politely. Although she was quite intimidated by Ellie, her courage surpassed that of Aya and Athena.

This girl was rather clever, her words fluent and articulate. She would indeed become an important figure in the Setter family when she grew up. However...the greed in her eyes displeased Ellie greatly. For some reason...that gaze reminded her too much of her former best friend.

"Mmm, I heard you are classmates of these two, so I invited you to sit and chat. Anyway, relax. Selin, prepare some tea and snacks for them," Ellie waved her hand. She didn’t plan to discipline these children herself. As the elder, how could she bully the kids? This was an issue for Aya and Athena to handle themselves.

"Understood," Selin replied and left to prepare the sweets and tea. The other girls, except for Sara, lowered their heads shyly. Actually, they had been dying to explore the flower garden. Having the chance to be here, they found it quite uncomfortable to stand around nervously like this.

As soon as everyone entered the flower garden, the fragrance of various plants and flowers indicated their extraordinary properties. Just having one of these flowers in their study room would greatly enhance their concentration and memory in reading. This attention to detail was thanks to Eldest Young Lord Owen. He not only selected beautiful high-level flowers but also chose ones beneficial to Ellie.

Sara understood what her companions wanted and shared their thoughts. Despite this, she was not impatient or fearful, unlike the other girls. The beautiful girl sat down next to Ellie as if they were already close friends. If possible, she might have even wanted to massage Ellie to please her.

Such behavior was a blatant show of disrespect to the two younger girls, as if Sara didn’t even see them. She skipped formalities and acted familiar with the future lady of the family. This implied that in the future...she believed she would receive more attention from the lady of the house than the two of them would.

"My lady, I heard that this flower garden was prepared by our eldest young lord for you. It seems he cares a lot about you. Just by entering, we can feel relaxation and focus. Looking around, we see flowers that calm the mind and help us relax. It makes me want to come here often to sit and rest."

Little Sara began with flattery, laughing and smiling coquettishly. She acted like a girl chatting at an aristocratic gathering, clearly intending to ingratiate herself. She behaved as if her words would greatly please Ellie.

Indeed, positive remarks could make the listener happier, even if they were merely flattery. Ellie, having worked in a corporate environment, knew that for office workers to survive or win favor with their superiors, they often relied more on their words than their knowledge and skills. This was known as "employee survival tactics." Naturally, even managers must possess this skill, as above them were other superiors and ultimately the company owners who determined everyone’s fate.

Because of this, managers often kept people similar to themselves and used those without flattering skills to do the work that contributes to their achievements.

Ellie was not a naive girl who grew up among lavender fields. Therefore, she wouldn’t be easily swayed by Sara’s sweet talk. A small smile appeared at the corner of her mouth as she looked at Sara, who was about to sit on her lap, with a calm gaze.

"You are very observant. However, talking about others and presuming their thoughts is not appropriate. Even I wouldn’t dare speak about Eldest Young Lord Owen behind his back like this. You must be quite bold."

Upon hearing Ellie’s reply while smiling only with her mouth, her eyes remaining cold, the already tense and imposing atmosphere grew heavier. Sara froze instantly, unable to believe that the demeanor of a village girl who had suddenly received a great prize could be so distinguished.

It turned out she thought too little about this matter. Hearing rumors that the eldest young lord was madly in love with a village girl, Sara thought approaching her would be easier. She didn’t expect that this woman would not be as simple as her background suggested.

“I apologize, my lady. I’ll be more careful in the future.”

“Mmm, good.” Seeing Sara being so compliant made Ellie realize just how much smarter she was compared to Nara. If it had been the heroine being reprimanded like this, she would have struggled and lashed out at others. Initially, Ellie thought the girl in front of her would act rudely towards her, but it was unexpected that she quickly changed her demeanor. This made Sara quite a formidable opponent... Aya and Athena had truly met a strong adversary...

“Selin has brought the sweets. Go ahead and explore the garden as you wish. There’s no need to stay here with me. Aya, Athena, take your friends to find a nice spot to relax. I’ll be here reading for a while,” Ellie said, passing the responsibility to the two girls. Sara’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, but she maintained her composure, showing her ability to control her emotions.

Aya and Athena didn’t object. Ellie’s advice was correct. They needed to manage the attitudes of the family members first. Otherwise, if they met at the institute and fought among themselves, it would eventually bring shame to the family. Ellie had no worries about the two girls. If they could easily handle high-ranking priest, what else was there to be concerned about?

Initially, Ellie used her spores to monitor the behavior of the Setter family children. However, after seeing that Aya alone could handle everyone on her own, she turned her attention elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Aman seemed to be quite busy with matters concerning the Max family and the invincibility potion. Even though his brother had approved trade in the Tower of Eternity and opened the city to the Ares and Gaia kingdoms for shared benefits, handling the sales himself was too burdensome.

He dealt with many prominent families and eventually found the one who would carry the baits. The large piece of meat that would be thrown out was the “Frats family.” Ellie originally thought Aman would select a smaller family to distribute these goods for the Setter family. She didn’t expect him to choose the Frats family.

The Frats family was neither a major family nor a minor one. Previously, Wint had been engaged to a young lady from this family. The Femon family wanted to bring the Frats family into their fold, using this illegitimate son as a representative. However, Wint caused a scandal with Nara at the aid camp, leading to the engagement being called off and substantial damages being paid. Fortunately, Aria intervened, leveraging Wint’s close relationship with Ellie, who now held a significant position within the Setter family. Thus, the Femon family let Wint go.

Not to mention, Wint was now a direct disciple of Professor Regan, which had significantly enhanced his combat abilities. Otherwise, he might have faced some minor punishment for causing the Femon family to lose a reliable ally like the Frats family.

The Frats family had little connection with the Setter family. They were also a family of hunters, but only a mid-level one with about a thousand hunters. These hunters were not particularly strong, and they had primarily operated on the 1st to 3rd floors to sustain their family. Unfortunately, they only own cities on the 1st and 2nd floors. For hunting on the 3rd floor, they must pass through cities owned by other families.

Given the Frats family’s desire for more hunting grounds, it’s not surprising they offered a very low proposal to the Setter family. They proposed handling the distribution of the invincibility potion by contacting the Max family, receiving the goods themselves, and distributing them without any profit, only covering transportation costs. In return, the Frats family would receive rights equivalent to the Ares and Gaia kingdoms, allowing them access to the 3rd to 5th floors through Setter-controlled cities.

While the proposal seemed good, it wasn’t enough reason for Aman to hand over such a significant task to the Frats family. Even though Ellie had her spores follow Aman everywhere, it didn’t mean she fully understood his thoughts.

Regarding those reasons, Ellie left it to Aman to handle his affairs. She knew that as long as the Frats family didn’t ask for a larger share, her own income would increase.

Aman and Ellie had already agreed that the profit from selling this product would be split equally between them. This profit would be calculated after deducting everyone else’s share. This meant that currently, the total profit would only have a 5% cut for the Max family, and the remaining 95% would be split between her and Aman. This amounted to a substantial profit.

Combined with the 10% share from the 6th floor, which she had discovered earlier, Ellie had become quite wealthy. Unlike the Setter family, which had many responsibilities to care for people, the money she received was pure profit. In comparison...Ellie was probably one of the wealthiest individuals in the Ares Kingdom!

“My lady, it seems there is a problem over there,” Selin whispered. Ellie didn’t look over but used her spores to check the situation. She saw that Aya and Athena were indeed having trouble.

“It seems Lady Aya and Lady Athena want to bully us, the branch family members. They’re just lucky to have been born into the main family. Why do they act as if they are so much better than us?”

“Exactly. If Lady Aya can sit on that chair, why can’t we?”

“Shouldn’t we have equal rights? The Setter family has a policy that if anyone contributes to the family, they should be duly rewarded. So where is it...you, who are the young ladies of the Setter family, acting like you have so much power? Have you done anything for the family yet? If not...then you are no more valuable than us.”

“In the past, you received many resources from the hard work of our branch family. Now, for something as small as a seat, you can’t let Sara sit there? You’ve been sitting there long enough, why not let someone else have a turn!?”

The voices of the young ladies echoed through Ellie’s spores, causing her to frown slightly as she watched the two girls sitting firmly in their chairs, not moving.

If it were in the past, both Aya and Athena would have gotten annoyed and avoided conflict with family members by walking away and letting Sara have her way. But this time, the two exchanged glances and remained seated.

From now on...they had received advice from their future sister-in-law and would no longer yield to anyone to easily bully them, even if they were part of the Setter family!

Previously, they believed that they were on the same side. Since everyone was still young, they allowed emotions to affect their interactions, hoping things would improve over time. But if...when they realized they were part of the same family, others their age or older still couldn’t understand this, then in the future...they probably never would.

If they insisted on creating divisions, then they would be shown how they should behave according to their status!

“Sister, it seems these branch family members are truly overestimating themselves.” Aya feigned her malicious laughing. If everyone wanted to see her wicked side, she wouldn’t hold back.

“They take pride in their branch family. Let them continue to believe that,” Athena joined in, mimicking Duchess Vida’s lofty demeanor perfectly. She acted as if those below her were invisible.

“Sigh, we’ve ignored them and let them revel in the name of the branch family for too long. Isn’t it time to set them straight? Otherwise, if fools like these speak in public, people will think the Setter family raises foolish branch family members, right, sister?”

“...........................”

“Y-You! Who are you calling fools, huh!!? What do you mean by that!?” One of the young girls from the branch family, having never heard such arrogance from the two before, felt outraged upon hearing those words. She pointed at the two with a trembling hand, anger evident. However, Athena, unlike her usual self, shot her a sharp glance, focusing on the girl’s finger, her gaze filled with pressure. The result was that the girl’s finger trembled even more, not from anger but from fear.