Her gentle seventh brother,the one who accompanies her the most smiled at her gently as he helped her walk from her room towards the manor's largest ballroom located at the other end of the house,quite far from her room.

"Will you be fine walking this far?"he asked,voice laced with concern. Sacha nodded at him to reassure him and continued to slowly amble towards the ballroom. By now,all her siblings should be present since their father already sent for her,the doted daughter. It was quite a hard thing for her siblings to all come together in the middle of the year since they all are scattered in different parts of the continent and doing different kinds of business. They only normally come together once a year for their mother's death anniversary and just sends gifts most of the time.

"We're here."her brother broke her reverie as he nodded to a servant as they opened the large doors of the room. Soon,cheerful and serious voices assaulted their ears accompanied by the Master's thunderous laugh. The pair of siblings let their presence be known and soon,silence descended before a heavy perfume assaulted Sacha's nose and almost lost her balance when someone hugged her. The silent room exploded in noises once again as few berating voices scolded her sister who hugged her just now.

"Hey,you could've hurt her!''

"Truly a brutal lady.!"

"You really should be tied up!"

Soon,arguments descended around her as her eager siblings all tried their best to dote on her without hurting her.

Sacha smiled weakly at them and their overwhelming happiness affected her as she did her best to placate her eldest sister,the one who hugged her quite harshly. She was scolded quite badly and is now squatting beside her while sobbing and using the hem of her dress as a handkerchief.

"You do know and is quite aware that the silk used for my lovely sister's dress is REALLY expensive that your one hell of a failure business won't be able to pay for it?" a very sweet but chilling voice said behind them,making her brokenhearted sister suddenly stop sobbing. They both froze,heartbeat speeding up,not knowing what to do.

"Oh,I just saw a possible investor for my business. Talk later sister."she said while Sacha watched her receding sister's back in amazement. She slowly stood up from the awkward posture she had while consoling her as-fast-as-a-wind-to-disappear sister,who now left her to fend for herself.

Sacha slowly turned around to meet the chilling eyes of the man behind her as she gave him her most sheepish smile. She carefully reached for the hem of his robes and was about to tug it when the thundering voice of their father called for his children. Her second brother gave her a we-should-talk-later look and instructed her aides to help her.

One by one,in order of seniority,they all walked up to his throne and gave him their sign of respect. They took his offered hand and proceeded to lightly touch their foreheads with it. This gesture is a practice of the kingdom that applies to every family living here. It was a sign as well gesture of respect of the younger generation to the elder ones.

From the firstborn to the last,they solemnly did the gesture and took their seats while their retainers paid respect to the Master through placing their open right palm in the location of their hearts and performing a deep bow before taking their place behind their own masters.

Sacha's spot was quite conspicuous since only two aides are by her side but no one dared to mock her at all. Every servant knows that the Youngest Miss is the most precious in the room right now and are in jitters for a small accident may cause them to lose their jobs or worst,get exiled.

Duke Romano Sacharius Gordeus loudly cleared his throat as he slowly scanned the room,seeing each of his children eye to eye,not missing a bit. He nodded at them and several servants came up and carried a large round table in front of the Duke and placing nine chairs around it. He gestured for them to take their seats and everyone stood up in order of oldest to youngest.

Almira Sace- 29-Eldest daughter.The overseer of the Gordeus mining business,recently,she ventured into mining an unknown kind of crystal that appeared in one of her personal mining areas but she is almost broke now since it's a money-sucking venture with no prospects as of now. She's happy go lucky and a drama queen.

Rustom Aim-27- The second brother and one of the overseers of the Gordeus clothing industry,namely Black Phoenix and White Dragon. One of the richest in the family and also the coldest and brutal.

Ameira Rue-27-The third sister and twin of Rustom and an extremely apathetic woman,she looks at almost everything in indifference except her youngest sister and the clothes she designs.

Armani Zach,Amanda Rae and Romani Rune-25-Triplets,the three overseers of the Gordeus beast shops,specializing in buying and refining beasts and beast parts sold by adventurers. All are always busy looking for rare beasts and hunting along with their own retainers. Or haggling with other adventurers.

Andre Chase-23-The seventh brother,his gentle demeanor hides his cunning and scheming personality,he owns the largest and most widespread information network named Hawks. He is one of the richest and most powerful in the family since information is one of the most expensive commodity of political wars thus he is also one of the most hated and loved by nobles.

Antoinnete Ray-19- A top dungeon breaker,her team is the top dungeon clearers of the generation and had never lost in clearing and breaking a dungeon. She is a genius.

And the last child Amari Sacha-16-the one who survived a fall,neither from assassins but from her own clumsiness. But her family dotes on her and did everything they could to make her future comfortable.

The Duke,seeing the full and bustling manor revealed a happy and relieved smile and patted himself on the head while looking at his late wife's portrait.

After everyone settled down around the large table,he stood up and approached the table and struck down his scepter hard on the floor.

"Let's begin."