Everything returned to “normality”, except for the mood. Everyone in the mansion roughly knew what happened, and the general mood had turned sour. Most people who worked for high-status households took pride in how everyone respected them and rarely were defied.

Nonetheless, the most prominent type of defiance had occurred, the perpetrators yet to be punished. The von Sideria were bound to become the laughingstock of the duke households.

And the heads of the family knew this all too well. But there wasn’t much they could do at this time besides investigating. So, to bring back everyone’s peace of heart, they decided to hold a grand funeral for all the victims, commoners included.

The families of the guards were also vastly remunerated. Everything doable within reason was being done.

And thus, the day of the funeral had come. Everyone working in the mansion was given a day off, and a grand ceremony had been prepared.

Vince was together with Hubert, Simon, and some other attendants. Estelle was with Elsa and her other countless siblings.

All of the coffins were laid in the spacious garden. The graves were to be made here. Usually, only the von Sideria were to be buried here, but an exception had been made.

On a slightly elevated Stage, Estelle’s father, Duke Gilbert von Sideria, started to make a speech to honour the fallen.

“Today is a sad day for the entirety of the von Sideria household. We are here to mourn innocent fallen and give them one last farewell. Their lives were mercilessly reaped, but they shall continue to live in our hearts forever. The perpetrators? We will make them pay!
Everyone who gave his life fought fiercely to fulfil their duties. But the attackers had come prepared. They even had someone in the Enhancement Realm on their side. That is the equivalent of a Baron coming to fight. We let our guard down and didn’t expect such a powerful individual to move. But no matter how powerful the other side is, We will make them pay! We shall take revenge and show everyone what happens when disrespecting to such extent the von Sideria. Say it with me; We will make them pay!”

““We will make them pay!””

“Louder!”

“““We will make them pay!”””

“Very well! And you, the families of the fallen. You shall be permitted to take Sideria as your middle name if you so desire.”

Listening to all of this, Vince gave his silent judgement.

‘This speech was not half bad. The way the Duke said “we” especially is enlightening. He’s going to rake up a lot of support this way. And the idea to let the families take Sideria as a middle name will increase the sense of unity and belonging. Truly a great move. They are only missing a hero to be made an example of…”

As he was thinking about it, Gilbert resumed his speech.

“But not everyone on the scene died. I decided to award someone who shined brighter than anyone personally. He’s someone who put his life on the line to protect his mistress from dying. Since he almost died trying to protect my daughter despite not being six years old yet, I thought of making an example out of him. Come on the stage, Vince!”

‘Why… why… why does this have to happen to me? Is he just going to gloss over the fact that I would have died anyway as long as Estelle died? I merely made the most logical decision, and yet… I have to become your goddamn mascot. I bet you aren’t even going to reveal the fact that I’m under a soul contract or anything of that sort.’

Even though he was complaining so harshly, Vince was walking towards the stage nevertheless. With his small steps, he climbed the stairs and bowed in front of the Duke.

“Come here, Vince!”

‘What an informal way of addressing me… don’t tell me…’

As Vince stared at the well-built middle-aged man, the latter opened his mouth.

“Thank you for saving my daughter. Could you recall your story in front of everybody?”

“Most certainly. Soon after walking out of a weaponsmith’s shop, we were attacked. Roughly twenty hooded people assaulted us, trying to take our lives. Reacting quickly, I held in my fear and charged before we could get surrounded. Our swift reaction caught them off guard and managed to give us a chance. Thus I told milady to run away in the opposite direction while I acted as bait. After she ran, I found myself alone against twenty assassins… it was scary… sob sob…”

Vince started slowly sobbing while talking. Many people within the audience, especially women, started showing sad faces.

“I thought… sob… I could die. But I… managed to hide my emotions and talked to their leader… hic… to earn some time for milady to escape.”

Suddenly the sobbing came to a halt.

“As I was talking to their leader, my saviour showed up. I didn’t even see his face, and within just a few swings of his sword, he defeated all of the bad guys. He asked me if I was fine, and after I nodded back, he left as quickly as he had come. But I didn’t even see the face of my saviour, of my hero…”

As Vince kept on sulking, Gilbert started speaking once again.

“Although you merely earned some time, that was enough to make my daughter escape. You could have died, yet you showed great courage! I can only applaud you! You managed to remain in control even in a life-threatening situation. To show you my gratitude, I’ll accept you as my adoptive son! From now on, your name shall be Vince von Sideria! Even though you won’t be treated like my other sons, your treatment shall be only second to theirs! Rejoice, from now on you are part of the family!”

“Thank you, Sir… no, thank you, Father!”

‘I even had to acknowledge this old fart as my father. What a disgrace. Oh well, at least he’ll have to show some sincerity, hehe.’

Even though his thoughts couldn’t be called that pure, Vince’s face remained perfectly innocent-looking.

“Please, keep on taking good care of my daughter! That’s the only thing I’ll ask of you. You showed to what extent you can go for her, so keep on doing it!”

“Most certainly, father!”

‘And with this, ninety percent of my responsibilities are gone. I’ll now have an adequate amount of time to train and cultivate! Hurray for the assassins!’

“You can now go and join your newly acquired siblings!”

“Yes, father!”

After coming down from the stage, Vince went directly towards his newly acquired siblings and took his spot beside Estelle.

As soon as he arrived there, he and Estelle began whispering to each other.

“Should I call you brother now?”

“Just Vince is fine. We aren’t blood-related.”

“Mmm… so cold. Shouldn’t you treat better your new little sister?”

“I’ll treat you as I always did. In the first place, the soul contract isn’t gone. I’m still obliged to serve you while being your brother.”

“Ah. You’re right.”

“Let’s stop whispering now; it’s not good to be whispering during a funeral. Do it later if you still have to say anything.”

The funeral went on. All the family members of the fallen had their turn to recall some of their memories regarding the dead.
The Duke had also invited as many witnesses as he could find to remember the last moments of their lives.

After the grand funeral, a large banquet was hosted, serving all kinds of delicacies and drinks. Vince was let sit at the table with all of Estelle’s siblings. It was a long table, a very long table.

But the siblings didn’t have much interaction with each other, with few exceptions. Most of the conversations went along the lines of “Could you give me the salt.” “Yes, of course.”.

This was until one of the male siblings spoke up. He was a few years older than Vince and Estelle, but he was by no means an adult. He might barely qualify to be called a teenager.

“I don’t understand why holding this funeral. Isn’t it their fault that they died? If you are weak, you die. That’s what we have been taught forever. So why did they hold this grand ceremony for an idiot of a sibling and a bunch of nobodies? And let’s not forget our new dear ‘adopted brother’.”

A girl around the same age as him was the first one to reply.

“Big brother! Don’t say such things! Even uncle Albert was powerless to stop the assassination! How could it be their fault? It’s our fault for not taking the necessary precautions. All of those innocents died because of our incompetence. It was the least we could do to give them a proper funeral, was it not?”

Many others joined in, but most opinions were aligned with either the foremost or the latter statements. But a lot also stayed neutral, especially the older ones.

‘Interesting opinions, but the wise ones stay shut. Talking openly about it right now is as wrong as it can get. If you say that the funeral shouldn’t have taken place, you are openly going against the decisions of the Duke. However, if you defend the weak unconditionally, you deny the principle of nobility that this country is founded on. Nobles and commoners shouldn’t have funerals together within those premises. But this is a special occasion. The use of the ceremony is to reestablish the unity of the family and condemn what happened. It’s a fundamental part of society to hold ceremonies on these occasions. I recall many sociologists studying this subject. In the first place, this should be a banquet in honour of the dead, though. You shouldn’t be talking about those things.’

And as expected, one of the older siblings stopped all of it once it was brought too far.

“You all! Stop! This is not the time to be talking about such trivial things. This is an occasion to reminisce and mourn the dead. You are all going against father’s will and rendering all of this vane!”

Hearing this young man in his twenties telling them to stop, everyone had to stop. No one dared to defy him. That much was obvious just from looking at many of the faces. A lot of people looked like they had more to say and were holding it in.

Thus, for the rest of the night, the conversation went back to the likes of “Could you pass me the pepper?” “Yes, of course.”