"Sorry?"
"Aren't we together?" Esme turned towards the young man, looking at him with eyes blinking twice.
"I know that. I meant, is he your grandfather?" Ryuk feigned ignorance as he inquired. He couldn't let Esme understand about his intentional provocation towards her grandfather.
"Yes, he is my paternal grandfather." Esme nodded with a subtle hint of calmness, even though she was in a situation where she was surrounded by several Devereaux Members with enough strength for her to clearly feel it.
All because of two individuals inside the hall: the young man in front of her and the old man behind her.
Both were enough to reassure her of safety, prompting her to let her guard down and turn towards the woman seated on the throne who seemed the strongest among everyone here.
Coincidentally, she was a friend of her Grandma, who sometimes mentioned her.
"... It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Drishti," Esme greeted with a slight nod, understanding the importance of that figure when others were standing.
Except for the young man beside her, all seemed to care about that woman's presence.
"Same," Drishti nodded and glanced towards the two smaller figures behind both the young man and the woman. Since she was aware of the elder ones, her curiosity focused on the younger ones.
"...She is Mae, and his name is Sam," Esme noticed Drishti's gaze and instantly pushed both of the twins forward, wrapping her hand around their shoulders as she introduced them.
"Quite intriguing names. Individually, Mae means beloved and Sam somewhat means 'name of God,' but more interestingly, when placed together, they form 'Sammae,' which means Time," Drishti's narrowed gaze slightly glanced at the young man standing beside those twins, his eyes seeming to slightly narrow as if understanding the hidden meaning behind Drishti's words.
'...Really a founder.' Due to Drishti's carefree personality, it always slipped Ryuk's mind that she was indeed a founding ancestor of the strongest human continent on the Blue Star.
Yes, while living with the twins for more than two months, it was obvious that Ryuk had noticed that too, but it took him more than a month to put together these pieces.
Though there wasn't anything different in both of their statuses, prompting him to put this thought aside for some other time.
But seeing how even Drishti noticed such a coincidence, Ryuk needed to be more conscious about their presence.
"...My father gave us that name," Sam heard the meaning behind their names and remembered the same words that were always told by their father about the meaning behind their names, instinctively causing him to speak.
"If my guess is correct, then your parents came to Titanora four years ago, right?" Drishti's closed eyes, caused by the smile on her face, didn't give any relief to the thoughts hitting inside Ryuk's mind.
"....Yes," Sam nodded, revealing a fact that wasn't known to anyone, since his parents had restricted him from speaking or revealing anything about their homeland, but there was some magic in that woman's words causing him to utter those words.
"And—"
"It's enough, Lady Drishti."
Being interrupted like that, Drishti's closed eyes slowly revealed two sharp amber eyes with the smile vanishing, gazing at the young woman with golden eyes looking back at her.
"Yeah, sponsor. She's the richest and has money like half of Ardoros," Ryuk informed, wanting to add more but halted, understanding that it was not yet time to reveal too much information.
"M-money!" Mae exclaimed, her fingers dancing behind her back as her eyes swiftly turned towards the woman standing and smiling at her, prompting Mae to swiftly remove Esme's hand from her shoulder and approach Drishti.
"Ahem, forgive my tardiness. Let me introduce myself," Mae hurriedly arrived in front of Drishti, who stood with folded hands looking down at the just-arrived girl, a small smile visible on her face.
"My Lady, I am Mae, and I can be of big help to you," Mae directly got to business, seeing that the woman was less talkative and more action-oriented.
"Oh, and how is that?" Drishti looked at the girl with an amused expression, glancing first at Ryuk, who seemed to signal her to give the girl a chance to prove herself.
"I can help you manage your assets," Mae placed her hand on her chest and took a step back, proposing with a humble tone, showing respect to the woman in front of her as if she were her salvation, god, and last hope.
"But there are many others who can do a better job than you?" Drishti inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"Um, no, I don't see any one of them. Instead, I can guess that you got scammed of a hefty sum of gold coins by this woman," Mae pointed directly towards Regina, who was looking down.
'?!'
Upon hearing those words, Regina swiftly lifted her eyes towards Ryuk.
'....' Ryuk felt both Drishti's and Regina's gaze, trying to blame him for revealing such things to the girl, but before Ryuk could say something, Mae continued.
"And not only that, you will need to pay ten times that amount now to Titanora too," Mae's brain processed everything at an unimaginable pace, especially when it came to matters related to money, already predicting the upcoming losses her new sponsor will have to bear.
"....We will see, but for now, let me give you a test," Drishti said, already aware that all the asset loss occurring in the Central Kingdom would need to be paid from her pocket due to an old promise.
A promise not to attack this place and also to cover any losses incurred by the Devereaux Family on Titanora.
'A platinum coin?' Mae looked at Drishti's finger where a rare coin, which shouldn't have existed except for the wealthiest individuals, lay.
Though it appeared silver, its aroma, fine texture, and metallic luster were enough for Mae's pupils to contract.
clank!
Drishti tossed the coin in the air, turning towards the throne while Mae remained in slow motion, her eyes matching the speed of the coin swinging in the air as the woman turned, glancing between both of them to understand if she should take it or not.
'Slurp, should I take it or not?' Her mind was filled with several barrages of thoughts before glancing at the woman's folded hands placed behind her, holding two more such coins.
SWISH!
Thud!
Instantly, tearing through the air, Mae's body blurred, and her jaws revealed canines that grabbed the coins. "Woof, woof!"