The next day arrived….

Max woke up as usual and went out for his morning work out. At this point of time, this type of simple training was basically useless for him but it had already become a habit for him.

As Max walked out of his room. His thoughts were still revolving on what happened last night….

It was then that he bumped into someone.

"Look ahead, will you..." Aria said as she looked at him.

"Uh..sorry.." Max replied. He didn't think that he would bump into anyone. He was 10 minutes early today in order to avoid bumping into the head maid who would have thought there was another person up in the morning so early..

Max looked at the sword in her hand and frowned. "What are you up to now?"

"I am just going out to practice a bit…" Aria replied. She was a bit upset at his tone. Did he think she was always up to something?

Max nodded and then left walking out of the mansion.

….

A few minutes later, Max had just stopped by the park when he noticed a person pass by....

The guy seemed to have noticed Max's gaze as well and just smiled. He seemed to be used to people starting at him.

Max recognised him as well and nodded. He was the Lorenz Lord's youngest disciple and also one of the Celestials.

Ren Tiner

An orphan…. has a good name and seems to have inherited the old man's sense of righteousness and is loyal to the family.

That was how Max would describe him in a few words...

To Ren, Max was just another person from Lorenz House who seemed to have recognised him...

There was no interaction between them and both of them went on their own way.

'Well, it seems people have arrived for the Competitions…' Max muttered inwardly.

….

Lisa woke up and had just walked out of her room when she bumped into Aria who had just returned from the garden with all sweaty.

"Good morning…" Aria said with a smile before continuing, "You are late today...I thought you had a morning workout routine to follow…"

Lisa looked at her and kept looking at her for a whole minute…

'Her smile seems brighter than usual…' A thought appeared in Lisa's mind as she sighed.

"Are you still sleepy?" Aria said as she flicked Lisa's forehead.

Lisa held her forehead in pain as she looked at Aria.

'Is this my fate….am I going to be bullied like this everyday…' Lisa was lost in her thoughts.

"What the hell are you dazing for? Go and get fresh…" Aria said as she looked at her, behaving all weirdly.

Lisa looked at her and then suddenly hugged her.

"As long as you are fine with it…" She muttered lightly before turning around and walking towards the washroom to get fresh.

Aria looked at her, she couldn't understand what just happened, "Is she sleepwalking?"

As Aria returned to the room and entered the washroom, she was surprised to see that Elly was still using the shower.

She remembered that when she had gone out, the girl had just entered the washroom after being woken up by a phone call in the morning.

"Elly, you are still not done?" Aria asked with a frown.

When Elly didn't reply, Aria pushed aside the shower curtain with a worried look.

"Elly!!" Aria's eyes widened when she realised that water coming out of the showerhead wasn't warm but cold.

It was winter, it would probably snow within a few weeks….

Elly seemed to have broken out of her stupor when Aria turned off the shower and brought the towel for her and wrapped it around her body.

"What are you doing?" Aria asked in concern.

"I didn't notice…" Elly said as she walked out of the bathtub.

"How can you not notice? Quickly dry yourself and sit in front of the heater…" Aria couldn't understand what was going on.

Was today a day for everyone to go in a daze?

Aria shook her head. She wondered what had happened.

….

Max returned to the mansion an hour later and got fresh. As he went to get his breakfast, Janet caught him and dragged him along towards the dinning table to have breakfast together with everyone.

She had stayed in the mansion last night as well for no particular reason. Since the rest of her friends were together, there was no reason for her to miss out on the fun.

...

"What's wrong?" Max asked Lisa seeing that she was oddly quiet today.

Lisa looked at him. She didn't know if he was aware of it or not, but looking at his face, he probably wasn't…

"D-Didn't you hear it?" She asked after hesitating a bit.

"About what?" Max asked in confusion.

Lisa opened her mouth but couldn't bring herself to say it to him..

"Will you speak or not...or do you expect me to read your heart?" Max asked

"Achoo!"

"Elly, you caught a cold?" Lisa said as she looked at her, changing the topic. "Aria said that you were dazing out in the washroom unaware of the tuning on the cold water…"

Max gave Lisa a look. He wondered if it was about something related to the event last night. Well, he would probably find out soon. He was going to meet the old man soon after all.

He just shook his head and looked at Elly, he wondered what had happened to her.

"I just didn't notice…" Elly said with a straight face.

A few minutes later, Max stood up with his plate, "I am done…"

After he left, Lisa leaned towards Aria and whispered, "It seems he isn't aware of it…"

Aria looked at her in confusion and asked, "Who isn't aware of what?"

Lisa looked at her, "I am talking about us...that thing...last night...didn't you talk about it with your grandfather…."

"What are you talking about? Did you have a bad dream last night?" Aria felt a bit funny looking at her grim face.

'Dream?'

Lisa looked at her and asked, ''Didn't you agree to marry, Max?"

"W-What are you talking about? Why would I want to marry him?" Aria refused but her cheeks had turned red.

"Just what is wrong with your head….dream about your own marriage not mine…" Aria said as she flicked her forehead again a bit dissatisfied.

Lisa looked at her blushing like a maiden in love, but that wasn't her main concern….

'Was it all a dream? Even Max isn't aware of it….' Lisa frowned. Now that she thought about it, it was indeed really weird for something like that to be happening….but she knew it was reality….it wasn't a dream…..or was it....

"I am done as well..." Elly said and got up to leave as well.

…

As Elly went towards the stairs, she bumped into Max who was returning from the kitchen.

"Is everything all right?" Max asked as he looked at Elly going upstairs.

"Yeah, it's fine…" Elly replied as she looked at him.

Max stared at her but didn't ask her anything else and turned around to leave.

"It's confirmed….." Her voice was low and contained a sigh. She didn't think Max would hear it but how could Max not.

Max looked at her. She might be acting tough and may have determined herself. But in the end…. just who would want to get married so early not to mention it wasn't even just that simple in her case....

'This noble society….did the Lord sacrifice her for some benefits…' Max thought inwardly. He had heard only good about the Lorenz Lord but he was seriously starting to doubt it now.

There was nothing he could do here. The girl did not need help. She was the one willing here.

He surely felt pity for her. A beauty like her…..ending with some pervert….life was tough for her...but it wasn't like she was the only one with a tough life...

If Max had enough power, he might have stepped into help...but at this stage...he couldn't do anything...he couldn't even help himself...how could he help her...

'Let's hope the Lord doesn't marry her soon…' Max muttered inwardly. If there were a few years of time, maybe he could do something….if she really needed help though....

Max shook his head. He had to focus on what was coming next...the future he was dreaming about was still too distant…

….

"I will be taking him now...Mom asked me to bring him along...see you guys later…" Janet said as she pulled Max along.

Max had already got permission to leave early today.

Today was going to be his first step in the noble society, of course as a noble...