Meanwhile, in another part of Peters City, the Baier family was arriving at the coliseum where the Province Conference would begin in minutes.
Alric was not accompanying his family since he had lost all confidence after losing his manhood.
But Merten, his cronies, the patriarch of this family, and all their competitors were going to the place with a determination to avenge the young master of this noble house!
They had no hard evidence against Lothur, but after weeks since the incident that destroyed Alric's manhood, the silver-haired fellow was the closest thing they had to a suspect.
Supposedly Lothur was a close friend of Elke, whom Alric was in love with. At the same time, the son-in-law of the Frost family had been one of the last individuals against whom the young master Baier had acted.
Considering the arrogance and other adverse facts about Lothur, he was the one who stood out the most for this family to take revenge on.
As many powers, including House Baier itself, intended to act against the Frost family, eliminating Lothur was not against the plans of this noble house. Hence, they wanted to take him down, even if they were not convinced of his guilt.
Thus, this group arrived at the local coliseum with blood in their eyes, ready to cause trouble for Lothur as soon as possible!
'Just you wait, you scumbag.'
'I thought I'd have to wait until the competition for the Secret Realm slots, but I'll have the chance to get my hands on you in a matter of days!' Merten clenched his fists in determination as he walked to his family's location in this coliseum.
...
At the same time, Anneke was already in the special seats of this coliseum, in her family's area, a local power related to espionage.
House Koch was not an organization highly involved in the empire's affairs. The opposite, it was a power that usually watched everything from afar, keeping its relations as discreet as possible.
As such, it was officially no one's enemy and transited everywhere, also not extremely close to a single power.
In short, House Koch could be described as neutral, only involved with the Imperial family and, even then, never going too deep with anyone.
Because of this, Anneke had helped Lothur before she even had her emotions provoked by him. Her family was not against relationships with whatever power, as long as they were not compromising.
But as part of the Linn Province, the Koch family was also participating in the Province Conference, and that woman was among the competitors from that family.
'How will Lothur perform in this competition?' She wondered how far he could surprise this province as she watched the center stage of the coliseum.
Everyone thought he was a mere mortal, the weak point of the Frost family. So, she could not help but imagine the days ahead when he would show himself to the powers of this state.
That was not necessarily Lothur's choice. Anneke knew that. But it was a responsibility he could not neglect, so he had no alternative to hide.
Thus, this woman was also a little worried about him.
'Some families will try to move during this event, but I hope nothing bad happens for him.' She pondered, considering talking to him to give him some tips.
And so, as Anneke thought about Lothur, this man finally appeared in the Frost family area, on the opposite side of the coliseum to where the Koch family was allocated.
Due to the silver hair, very unusual to find in Linn Province, it did not take long for Anneke to notice him next to Viktoria and Annaliese.
'Hmmm?' She saw something strange; Viktoria's left arm embraced Lothur's right.
'What's with them? Why is Viktoria so close to Lothur?' Her womanly instincts kicked in, and even without any other reasonable indication, she began to think that these two were more than the rumors gave them credit for.
Gulp!
'Don't tell me they're together for real?' Her fists clenched as she thought about the situation she had had with Lothur earlier.
Lothur had said he wanted her as his woman, so since she was attracted to him, Anneke could not help but feel a little jealous to see him so intimate with Viktoria.
"Damn!"
"Uh? Is something wrong, sister Anne?" A young blonde girl next to Anneke asked her best friend.
"It's nothing. I just thought out loud..." She said as she took her focus off Lothur to observe her group.
...
Meanwhile, Lothur had just taken a seat in the front row seats of the Frost family area along with Annaliese and Viktoria, visible to many people in that coliseum.
And in fact, several people besides Anneke were looking at them at the moment, most of them for other reasons, with their different plans in mind.
'Viktoria is quite intimate with this fellow...' Caroline Waldauer watched in their direction, remembering Lothur from when she had met him at the auction weeks ago. 'That fellow...'
'He looks much more attractive today than he did that day. What happened to him?' Her mouth opened slightly, noting how formidable Lothur's appearance was becoming.
On the other hand, Martin Waldauer, the Duke of Linn's son and Caroline's older brother, was standing next to this blonde woman, looking in the same direction as her, with different thoughts in mind.
'How will the Frost family fare in this competition? Naturally, our faction wishes to weaken this organization, but with the third prince's faction acting, it will be better if we contain our movements...' He pondered as he felt the wind making his hair move gently.
'But with that young man's participation, I think it will be a disastrous defeat for House Frost...'
"Sigh!"
'It's a shame that Viktoria married someone like that... Everything would be easier if she had chosen me instead of him.' Martin clenched his fists, feeling the waste that such beauty had married Lothur.
And seeing her intimacy with Lothur, Martin regrets it even more. He fully believed the rumors that Viktoria had not consummated the marriage and the silver-haired man was nothing more than a fake husband.
But the fact that she showed intimacy with Lothur in public was enough for rumors to circulate and tarnish her 'record' if she one day be free to marry another...
He would not accept rumors about his wife, so he regretted Viktoria's childish behavior.
"What a waste..." He sighed, catching his sister's attention.
"What do you mean, brother?" She looked at Martin, curious.
"The First Miss Frost with that young man... That is such a waste. I can't imagine how someone like her could interact that way with him." He pointed in the direction of Lothur and Viktoria.
Caroline laughed and said. "Who knows, brother, maybe he is special, hehe. I met him a few days ago during the previous auction, and he seemed quite different from the rumors."
"Oh?"
"Don't tell me his appearance fooled you?" This fellow joked with his naive sister.
"Maybe... But he does give off a different feeling than he should, according to the rumors. So I wouldn't underestimate him that much."
...