The ridicule that Emilia had invited on herself by her recent policy changes was no secret, but given his own circumstances, Mr. Black really couldn’t bring himself to care about it much.
Right now, his only priority was to keep his son safe while finalizing his plan with the Nightingale clan’s leader. After all, unless they overcame their current crisis, there was simply no point in gloating over the misfortune of anyone else.
Unfortunately, with the example of the Old Snake already there, the Nightingale clan’s leader was overcautious to the point of absurdity. Although he agreed to shelter them for the sake of their plan, from their appearance to background, everything had to follow his will!
The paranoia he had of people discovering his schemes in advance, when combined with the recent betrayal by one of his trusted ‘elders’ was simply a recipe for disaster in their mostly one-sided alliance.
Left without any other choice, however, Mr. Black could only reluctantly accept the role of a long lost ‘child’ of the Nightingale clan. An unmotivated bum who made his living by petty means, thuggery, and other street crimes.
Supposedly, he was only ‘discovered’ when his silent but excellent son caught the eye of the leader while trying to appeal to ‘sponsors’ who might be willing to support his education, his striking silver hair immediately reminding the man of one of his deceased elders.
Given their current internal turmoil and the pressure they were facing from their ‘masters’, no one really probed too deeply into this strange duo, especially since they had been brought in by the clan leader himself.
Although the younger generations did try to approach Amos, or ‘Bozo’ as he was no called — much to his dismay — the boy’s cold and unnaturally gloomy silence quickly turned even the most stubborn of them away.
Fortunately, no one ridiculed his son in retaliation, though Mr. Black wasn’t sure how much of it was out of ‘pity’ and how much out of respect for the clan leader being the one who took them in.
Naturally, Mr. Black’s ‘niece’ wasn’t too pleased to have to house this lost bum of an uncle, either. But in the end, she couldn’t really bring herself to turn her face against both her current clan leader.
Anyway, feeding a couple more mouths was only a little more troublesome, and clearly not worth the trouble.
As for her husband, well, he was one of the worst cases of a ‘yes man’ that Mr. Black had ever seen. Any opportunity he got to earn ‘browny points’, the man dove in with full gusto.
Needless to say, although he wasn’t quite as good at snubbing the two of them, he didn’t lack in enthusiasm.
In contrast to her parents, though, her daughter had clearly taken a liking to his son, and had already made hundreds of failed attempts at ‘befriending’ him, despite being persuaded against it by her clearly jealous friend.
Mr. Black had to admit, when his son wasn’t putting his own foot in his mouth, just his face alone was enough to charm most girls.
If only he had done something about his venomous tongue before he ruined things with the little girl of White Deer… maybe things would never have come to this point.
Unfortunately, it was already too late to regret now, and Mr. Black could only sigh and continue chewing on the rather tasteless pork chops while observing the emotions on his son’s face.
His ‘niece’ and her husband both clearly placed a lot of weight on prestige and reputation, and the thought of someone who welcomed the ‘riff-raffs’ of society being ‘respectable’ was nothing but a joke to them.
It had to be said that despite being told to pretend otherwise, neither Amos nor Mr. Black had been very good at ‘acting’, and both their table manners and the way they carried themselves could be considered rather prim and proper even for those who had been groomed on such things from a young age.
Even so, this couple looked down on them with prejudice, and clearly considered both Mr. Black and Amos as less than the cockroaches under their kitchen sink.
Which, by the way, there were far too many of as far as Mr. Black was concerned.
“I-I don’t think she meant it like that.”
Mr. Black almost snorted. ‘Children these days. Her parents clearly disapprove of her chasing after Amos, and she does just that. And now that they’re criticizing that girl, she wants to side with her? There’s something seriously wrong with her brain.’
Her rebellious attitude reminded him of how Amos refused to follow his will throughout his life, and Mr. Black couldn’t help but be even more displeased with this ‘grand niece’.
The girl’s mother snorted in disdain, though it wasn’t clear whether it was directed at the subject of their ‘discussion’ or her own daughter. “So are you telling me her words are just as fake as her face? I guess I should have expected that, though.”
Although she was used to being bullied, the daughter still couldn’t help but whine and turn to her father. “Daddy, you tell mom not to be so mean! I-I’ve read about what she’s done, and s-she’s clearly just trying to do g-good…?”
The girl’s voice got meeker under the combined glare of both her parents, and strangely enough, she could even feel a dagger-like gaze from the silver-haired boy across the table.
‘C-Can it be that even Bozo doesn’t like Emilia? B-But… why?’ No matter how she thought about it, the girl couldn’t figure out how the son of a bum in their country could be related to the Empress of Blue Dawn.
She might appreciate the hero’s aesthetics, but she could also tell that he had a very, very strong sense of self-worth, though that didn’t faze her much.
Bozo didn’t even seem to like his own name, and probably came up with something far more grand like a second grader, though maybe even he realized how silly it was, making him too embarrassed to say it.
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