The banquet hall was a huge one hundred by one hundred feet room with a giant chandelier handing in the middle of the room.
Almost all participants had gathered in his room. All of them talked to each other with the assistance of Skylink's translation, allowing them to talk to each other even if they didn't understand each other language.
Because of the positioning, Alea and Theo needed to enter the hall first while the rest would follow one or two minutes later.
When they arrived, they quickly gathered everyone's attention since they were the dark horse of this competition.
However, no one reacted faster than Nella. For whatever reason, Nella quickly made her way to Theo, only to be stupefied by Theo's change.
Nella dropped her jaw to the ground as she finally had changed her expression for the first time since their arrival.
Theo furrowed his eyebrows and let go of Alea's hand since they didn't need to pretend anymore. At the same time, he looked at Nella wearing a yellow dress that only reached her knees. Her waist was wrapped by a blue-colored cloth that kept everything neat. She tied her hair into twin tails.
Nella quickly recovered and raised her right hand as a screen appeared from her bracelet. It turned out the bracelet was a Skylink. Theo knew such a model, but it was still too expensive for him, so he decided to stick with the one he had for a little longer.
Skylink aside, Nella had opened the camera and tried to take his photo. "Cousin, you're handsome. Let me take a hundred… No, a thousand pictures of you first."
"Huh? What?" Theo was speechless by her words. Since he felt a bit uncomfortable, he tried to grab the Skylink to stop her, but Nella avoided Theo and took his picture from another angle.
"I think you should stop that…" said Theo, reminding Nella.
"No, it's not enough." Nella shook her head and kept taking pictures of him.
Theo tried to grab it again, but the latter managed to avoid him. In the end, Theo did a couple of moves, only to find Nella couldn't be caught.
"Is this harassment?"
"No, it's the bond between cousins." Nella denied it immediately. "I have a gut feeling that I will get something good in this hall, so I need to use something easy to move. I guess my instinct is right."
"…" Theo felt tired in doing this, so he halted his step and sighed. "I thought you were…"
"A calm and silent girl? I am. But it's different if it concerns family." Nella stuck her tongue out playfully. "By the way, can I have a photo with you?"
"No."
"…"
"To think both of you are indeed cousins." A female voice echoed in their ears as another girl coming to them. However, no one would ever mistake her as she was the only one wearing a blindfold, even in this situation. She was the Pope's student.
Instead of a nun outfit, she wore a pure white long dress that matched her innocent and gentle image. She lifted her skirt a bit and politely introduced herself. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Theodore. I am Italy Team Leader, Enrica Herrero."
"Ehm." Theo nodded. "Theodore Griffith. It's my honor to meet the Pope's student."
"Ahaha, I like to be addressed with my name, but I guess it's fine." She smiled.
"Then, I apologize. I will call you Miss Enrica."
"Why are you here, woman?" Nella's expression turned cold as she glared at Enrica. "This healthy woman even tries to use blindfold in this situation. Are you going to roleplay the entire time?"
Enrica ignored her rude remark and gently replied, "Of course not. I have my own reason."
"Then, since you have introduced yourself and confirmed our relationship, shoo…" Nella waved her hand as if asking her to leave.
"On that note, I don't acknowledge that relationship and have no idea or whatsoever." Theo quickly corrected her with a calm expression.
"Oi!"
"Now I doubt your relationship with her. Did she force you into it?" Enrica instantly bought what Theo said.
"I didn't force him!" Nella twitched her eyebrows. She wanted to launch this woman away, but she knew she shouldn't mess with anyone here.
"In any case, I am sure that everyone is curious about you, so I will leave you here to let them approach you." Enrica smiled and turned around, leaving both of them.
Looking at Theo and Nella, Alea couldn't help but feel something was amiss. She truly wondered about their relationship. Although she believed Theo wouldn't simply choose to give up if he met Nella in the competition, she knew something was bound to happen in that situation.
Before anyone approached him, Nella decided to come closer and said, "Do you have time to talk later?"
"Huh?"
"I have promised you, haven't I?"
"Talking about the family after reaching the main stage?"
"Yes." Nella nodded. "We can go to your hotel too. It's going to be a long story after all."
"I am indeed curious, but I think I will pass right now."
"Eh? Why?"
"Meeting you right now will invite some suspicion, especially since the main competition is about to start. Besides, I haven't acknowledged the family yet. They are nothing in my eyes."
"Even though you can become the head of the family as long as you want it?"
"What do you mean?" Theo frowned as his expression turned serious.
"I am saying if you want the seat, I will give up the competition of that seat. There are many things you can gain if you become the head of the Griffith Family, you know."
"But it will restrict my freedom, right?"
Nella looked down and nodded with a helpless expression. "Yes."
"Then I will politely decline. I have no intention of getting that sh*t. A ruthless family isn't my thing." Theo shrugged.
"I think you are the most suited person to get it."
"No. Speaking of talent, yours is higher than mine. A big family prefers talent more than gender, right?"
"…" Nella looked down. Her expression was sad as if she wanted to say something but could not do it for an unknown reason. "Well, there will be another banquet like this after the competition. We can talk more about the Griffith Family at that time. Will that be alright?"
Theo thought for a moment and nodded.
"That's good. I will be looking forward to it." Nella nodded and turned around, leaving him while saying, "By the way, this is my number. Call me if you need anything, okay?"
Theo furrowed his eyebrows before taking out a piece of paper, noticing Nella had put a name card in his pocket when he tried to grab her Skylink.
Alea then came to him and asked, "Are you okay, Theo?"