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The silence was long and unnerving and for a whole ten minutes, no one said a word. The rest of the family that wasn\'t immediate but important stared at Melinda and Hal with their mouths open.

There was an inexplicable look in Devon\'s eyes as he wondered if he might have heard wrong. Of course, that was merely wishful thinking since with his cultivation base, she would have had to cancel out all sound for him not to have heard what she just said so clearly.

There was no way he could have heard wrong.

And he knew that.

Even worse of it came the possible implications of them truly being engaged which came with the possibility that they already had relations.

Damien could not really care less. Melinda was not his daughter and while he did admit she was talented and very well on her way to becoming a martial genius, he was quite curious how long her audacity would last.

However, if the two were to be totally honest with themselves, there was nothing about Hal that looked mediocre.

His clothes were not actually poor and must have been purchased in the capital. In looks, there was no one they knew who could compare however, they still maintained that they knew nothing of his cultivation talent and potential.

They knew nothing of his family since as he himself had rightly said, he was \'Hal from Sapphire city\'. That was not a last name.

Who the hell was he?

Hal on the other hand had not quite expected Melinda to say it so soon or even today at this present gathering at all but he took it in stride.

Whatever the reason and the reason was most likely to push it into her father\'s face, Hal was not willing to cower from the situation.

If worse came to worse, he had half a mind to snatch Melinda into the Harem space and take precautions to get out of here alive.

Precautions that include possibly flashing the Jade token of the Royal academy. 

He just was not quite sure how much of an impact that would have on the Dane family who from what he had mostly seen, was aiming to be quite independent of Imperial power.

His confidence was evident and his poise was one of someone who believed himself deserving of all deference.

After all, whether or not they knew, he still remained the Lord of Sapphire city and ruled over millions.

That said, he remained cautious, after all, the Dane family was lording over billions and only the Silva family were ahead of them.

"Is this a joke?" Devon asked in a low voice.

Melinda raised her eyebrow, 

"Why would you think that? I was banished and made to fend for myself in a rundown city and I am sure you did not honestly expect me to wait till I returned to the capital before I picked my life partner." She said.

Devon\'s lips twitched, 

"So you picked the first shmock you could find?" He asked.

Hal sighed and turned to Melinda, 

"See? I told you they\'d be shortsighted."

Melinda looked sideways at him and her eyes narrowed slightly because they had never had such a conversation but Hal turned his head to wink at her in a position where only she could see the wink before he continued, still addressing her, 

"It\'s classic snobby Duchy capital behavior. The part that hurts the most is that... I really expected elderly ones like your father to look beyond the surface.

To see me as more than a devilishly handsome face.

To see me as what I really am" he said with a theatrical flair.

Devon\'s lips twitched.

What a shameless fellow...

Just a few minutes ago, he was sitting with confidence and passively acting like a badass and now he was shaking his head and waving his fist at the ceiling as though some grave injustice had been done to him.

"Bullcrap!" Devon said and while he was crass, he was calm and working really hard to keep his emotions in check.

"How so?" Hal asked him but did not turn in Devon\'s direction. His attention was all on Melinda who looked back at him with a light smile.

"You are in my home and staring at my daughter, you don\'t get to be melodramatic" Devon said and folded his arms in front of his chest.

"I\'m sorry, I couldn\'t help it. I\'m still 18 and probably my teenage tendencies are not completely gone just yet. Give it a year, I\'m sure it will be gone by then or maybe two just to be in the safer side" Hal said with another theatrical sigh.

Those words caused all who heard it to pause as they reevaluated this young man who they could now see was not simply youthful, he truly had not gone past the Fifty-year mark.

"Did you just say Eighteen?" Said a voice and all eyes turned to the newcomer.

He had brown hair and the light gold eyes of the Dane Bloodline. He also had a striking resemblance to the beautiful black-haired woman beside Damien that was his wife.

"Did you just say that the man my cousin picked as a life partner is only Eighteen?" The new arrival asked.

Hal\'s eyes narrowed at him, 

"Yes, she kind of robbed the cradle, but who by the way, are you?" He asked.

Melinda smiled and replied, 

"He\'s Cirk\'s replacement. The genius of the Dane family, in training, of course, Hugh Dane." She said.

"You flatter me Cousin." Hugh said.

In age, Hugh was much closer to Melinda and pre-banishment, the Chain went, Cirk, Melinda, and then Hugh.

Hal could easily see that Hugh was indeed worthy of being called a genius as he was already at the Mid-stage of the Cosmic Phenomenon realm and that was just with his family diverting resources from training his elder brother to him over the course of a mere five years.

Hugh bowed to Melinda, 

"Sorry I could not come as soon as you arrived to welcome you. I only just left cultivation seclusion." He said.

Melinda nodded but did not really know how to feel about Hugh. To be quite honest, her opinion of every single male in her family had been tainted by what Cirk had done, and when she had once told Hal she wished to kill every male in her family, she had meant it.

However, that decision was now getting tweaked.

That said, she was not going to start believing they were all good just because they were smiling at her. She knew very well to tread lightly.

"So, you are Eighteen?" Hugh asked Hal again with his hands on the back of a chair but not actually taking a seat.

Hal shrugged, 

"You don\'t have to believe me"

Devon snorted and opened his mouth to speak when he paused and realized there was someone here who must hate this development as much as he did.

There was someone here who wished to be more invested in Melinda\'s life choices...

"Mother, you\'ve been quite quiet. Don\'t you wish to weigh in?" He asked and all eyes turned towards the Patroness who had so far been watching the proceedings with her eyes narrowed at Hal.

Hal looked in her direction as well and when their eyes met, he almost felt suffocated while he could not help but marvel at the amount of power within the beautiful frame that was Isabella Dane...

"Hal, is it? Come with me." She said and stood up from her seat to walk out of the Dining hall, leaving Devon grinning uncharacteristically like a boy who just got a present for his mom.

To be fair, it was not totally inaccurate.