Under The Veil of Night

Kanae nodded her head. She glanced towards Kevin and saw that the other party was looking at her. The two of them locked gaze for a few seconds. Even though they were staring faraway, she felt that he was watching her intently, wanting to catch every expression and movement she had.

Patrick gave a sidelong gaze to Kevin. He snickered. "Ignore him. He still has to announce the distribution of the power."

"Oh," Kanae turned her head away. "Let’s go back, Senior Patrick."

"Sure."

The two of them walked side by side when Neo rushed up to them and called. "Kanae, please wait a moment."

Her legs stopped moving. Trying her best to calm down, Kanae turned her body. Not far from her, she could see Neo, fully drenched in sweat. It didn’t need genius to know that this man was tired after running after her.

"Is there anything that I can help, Neo?"

"Can you stay behind?" Neo asked with a hopeful gaze.

Kanae was startled, but her gaze landed on Kevin again. She knew that he must have wanted to meet with her again. However, she came here because she wanted to show him that she knew. She didn’t want to involve her real self in the matter of the underworld completely, yet.

"I’m just a passerby in this part of the world, Neo. There’s no need for me to bother you so much."

"Ah..."

Seeing Kanae walked away, Neo didn’t manage to muster any word to speak up anymore. He wanted to ask Kanae to stay behind so that Kevin could explain the real matter about the engagement. Even though it was quite inappropriate for her to stay behind because she was not part of the underworld, he didn’t mind breaking the rules a bit.

Feeling the gaze of hidden clan leaders behind him, Neo composed himself. He would just try to find more chances in the future.

"This is already outside the area of Ryukalin Clan, brat. There’s no one following after us," Patrick opened his mouth after a while.

"It’ll be a complete miracle if they dare to follow after you, Senior," Kanae chuckled. "There’s no need for you to take me home, I can take care of myself."

Patrick nodded. "I don’t have any intention of escorting you to your home. I just want to know, have you achieved what you want from coming here today?"

Has she achieved what she wanted?

Kanae recalled the time when she sat down calmly, watching the performance. Even without turning, she knew that Kevin had set his gaze on her numerous times because the intent leaked out from times to times.

She came here because she wanted to know his view about her and to tell him that she knew about his relation. At the same time, she wanted to know Kevin and Alice real relationship. The way Alice looked like at that time seemed like she only has Tommy in her eyes. It was strange for her.

And from the way Kevin behaved, she knew that he was very concerned about her to the point that he ignored the competition in front of him.

"I have. Thank you very much, Senior."

"I barely do anything."

"Without you, I can’t come here as Kanae."

Patrick chuckled. "You’re right little lass. By the way, come to Master Rudy’s place later. There’s something that I want to show you."

Kanae arched her eyebrows. It was rare for her senior to tell this to her. "Alright, I’ll come there later."

"Good."

...

As the battle between hidden clans came to an end, the hidden clans started to go home one by one. Many of them still stayed behind to receive the paper of instruction including Celine’s father.

Celine was looking at the line with a dark face. Because of her loss, she was dragging their clan down too. As the result, the territory that belonged to them would be divided for others too. The clan’s overall prowess was not good enough to get the rank as high as before.

"Don’t be too sad, Celine. There will be more chances in the future."

"But Dad, we’re ranked lower than that annoying girl!" Celine wanted to use more vulgar word, but they were outside. She would just seek death if she dared to do that.

Celine’s father smiled wryly. He knew that his daughter was very competitive and longed for the seat of the Clan Head’s wife. Unfortunately, the current clan head barely cared about this young girl. As an old man, he knew for sure that his daughter attempt so far barely gave any result.

"Don’t force yourself too hard."

Celine nodded her head, but it was clear that she was still dissatisfied. Her father didn’t say anything else as he took the paper that the elders distributed. Moving away from the line, Celine ignored her father, who was busy reading the instruction for him.

"You don’t seem to be very happy, Miss."

Hearing the unfamiliar sound, Celine was startled. She turned around and saw a young man in his twenties standing not far from her. If not because she was quite familiar with the face of the elders in the Ryukalin Clan, she would not have recognized him.

"Celine greets Elder Megara."

Megara smiled. "There’s no need to be so polite. I see your performance just now. You’re not bad at all."

"Many thanks for the praise."

"However, you’re not a match for Miss Alice."

Celine could feel heat was coming to her cheek when she heard the comparison. She knew very well that she was not the match for Alice because of her lacking in wits. Still, having someone pointed it out so blatantly wouldn’t make her feel good.

Looking up, she put a wry smile. "Are you coming here to mock me, Elder Megara?"

"Contrary to that," Megara smiled. "I want to help you obtain the seat as the clan head’s fiancée."

Celine’s eyes lit up when she heard his words. Megara was Kevin’s rival, so it meant that he had a lot of power on his back. It was extremely easy for him to move the people in the clan as he wished.

"Do you truly mean it?"

Megara nodded her head. "I can make you the next clan head’s fiancée, but I need your cooperation."

Celine smiled widely. "Anything you want."

"Come with me."

"Yes."