Curse the Mainframe! 78 Dinner With The Rothschilds

By dinner time, Alec had already met all the members of the Rothschild family.

Blanche Rothschild, the lady of the household, and apparently Alec's 'big sister'. With blonde hair that shone like gold in the sunlight and green eyes, Blanche only appeared to be in her mid or late twenties.

Dietrich Rothschild, the eldest son of the household, had the same colouring as his mother, but his facial features were more like his father.

Kieran Rothschild, second son of the household, similarly also had blonde hair and green eyes, though his blonde hair was unlike his brother and mother, taking after his father more. He wore his hair in a similar style to his mother, in a braid that hung off his shoulder.

And finally, Blanche's husband and master of the household, Franz Rothschild. Like his wife, he had blonde hair, though it was a shade of dirty blonde instead of the blonde that looked like spun gold. He sported dark brown eyes and was just as handsome as his two sons.

The four Rothschild members sat at the dining table with Alec, doing their best to treat Alec like he was a member of their family instead of a guest.

Kieran and Dietrich were like a mix and match of their mother and father. It was an entertaining thought.

The four blondes sat at the table looking like a painted picture, with the way they seemed to sparkle under the light from the chandelier. They looked like a perfect representation of high society that most people could only dream of.

All four were attractive in a way that would make heads turn and stare.

Alec felt a little out of place at the table, mainly due to his looks, but the Rothschild family were including him in their conversation, such that he did not feel left out.

What Alec didn't know was that all four members of the Rothschild family were equally smitten with his looks, and his carried grace. With his dark hair, pale skin and crystalline blue eyes, Alec looked and carried himself like one of those from the disciples from a well-known sect, or clan.

His actions were filled with an easy grace that seemed to come naturally to him, something that made Kieran jealous. Imbuing such grace into his own actions had come with repetition that had to be painstakingly grilled into him since his childhood.

Kieran shuddered at the memories of the numerous, mind-numbing lessons, putting them aside.

Even Kieran, who was still struggling to accept the boy as his uncle was able to admit it to himself. Alec was really cute.

To say that the three males of the Rothschild family were baffled by Blanche's sudden acquisition of a child into their family was an understatement, much less adopting him as a younger brother of all things. Never had Blanche showed such behaviour before.

Whilst she wasn't – cold – Blanche also wasn't known for doing such things. If it had been up to her, she would have been happy to dismiss all the servants and live in solidarity without having to keep up the troublesome interactions.

The only reason why she didn't was because the others of high society would gossip, which would hurt her husband and children's reputation, so Blanche put up with it.

That didn't mean that she would go as far as to interact with the servants of her own accord, however, and she had never shown an interest in anyone outside of her immediate family.

It was something that had worried the three men of the household. Franz was worried that his wife had no friends or attachments outside of them.

It was the main reason why Franz had so wholeheartedly accepted Alec into the fold of their family even when Kieran still seemed to be struggling with the jealousy regarding the wealth of emotion that Blanche was showing Alec.

He had not seen such blatant emotion on his lovely wife's face for such a long time.

Alec looked between the various members of the family and marvelled at the family's genes. Had he not been in the know, he would never have guessed that Franz and Blanche were Kieran and Dietrich's parents.

Alec wondered just what their magic ranks were. They were definitely above him in that aspect. Even now, where he could feel the subtle wisps of magic that made up each member of the Rothschild family's magical signature, he was unable to accurately determine where they stood.

Alec didn't let the frustration of his stagnating magical capacity distract him. Jealousy was petty, and it wasn't like he wasn't doing his best to steadily raise his own level. He suspected that any day now, he would be able to break into the foundational stage.

He was looking forward to the changes that his magic would go through once he managed to get there. What would change in respect to his bond with his Awakened? Would he still regress back down to the elemental stage once he went past his limit to Awaken something?

There were so many questions that were left unanswered for now due to the lacking information on the Awakening Magitype that it would have made a lesser man – and that was what he was, no matter the form he took right now – frustrated.

"So, Alec," Franz finally asked the question that had been keeping him curious throughout their meal. "Are you from a sect?"

Alec's eyes widened slightly. "No, why do you ask?"

"Really? But the way you move… surely that isn't natural? A clan, then?" Kieran asked in disbelief. The teen set aside down the glass that he'd been swirling, intrigued, and more than a little jealous. He thought that the boy would have to at least have gone through a bit of etiquette training!
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"What do you mean?"

"You're very graceful. Something that isn't usually honed or manged without being in contact with those who carry themselves in a similar way," Blanche interjected.

By now, the male Rothschild members were used to Blanche speaking more than she had in years. It seemed that Alec's presence made her open up more, whereas before she was more content to listen and only offer praise and criticism.

It wasn't that Blanche neglected them – far from it – but Blanche usually opted more for actions rather than words, which didn't always work.

Now, she seemed to realize that better communication was the key to obtaining the answers she wanted instead of silently taking action.

The only way they could describe it was that Blanche just seemed more connected to them now compared to before. For this, they were thankful towards Alec.

"Ah. I'm from a clan."

Alec waited for someone to ask or pry more about his answer, but they only nodded as if it had been all the confirmation that they needed.

There were a vast number of clans in the Kaoriht continent. So many that it was impossible to keep track of all of them. Only the most prominent ones were those that were remembered by the people.

Similarly, there were a good number of sects as well, though not as many.

The Rothschilds could guess that Alec was likely from one of the better-known clans, but they didn't know which one.

Up to this point, Blanche once again thought about Alec's negligent father, her grip on the knife and fork that she was holding tightening. Even if he was from a clan, that didn't mean that he should have been left out alone at the tender age of eight!

Even in the sects or clans, children weren't let out on their own since there was a high casualty rate. Seventeen or eighteen was generally the accepted age for a member to set out on their own.

Of course, there was a well-known exception to this unspoken rule. The Neil Clan, which was famous for pushing their members hard and fast – and they flourished under said pressure.

If Alec was from the Neil Clan, that would explain a lot of things, but he didn't have the signature brown hair even if his eyes were the right type of blue, so Blanche discounted it.

Other clans had tried to emulate the Neil Clan, only to fall short time and time again, crippling themselves in the process. The casualty rate was simply too high, and their members were too few.

Alec was way below that age limit, and Blanche literally could not wait to get her hands on that deadbeat father of Alec's… she was sure that she would be able to recruit her husband for this task. After all, her husband seemed to be quite fond of Alec thus far.

Silently, Blanche plotted…

Chapter end

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