The moment the door closed, silence loomed in the room. They all looked at the tall, austere man behind the Baron. The man raised his hand, and then a wind blew through the small dining room. Runes briefly shimmered as sigils showed themselves all over the room.
The attendant nodded and said "All clear. Nosy pests are gone."
Everyone then heaved a sigh. Irik practically melted into his chair and heaved a deep breath.
"Damn, Old Man, did you have to go that hard? You could have just put up a front you know?"
The Baron laughed a deep hearty laugh.
"And where would be the fun in that huh? Damn brat, hurry up and take over all of this so I can retire in peace." He replied.
"Oh?" A dark cold voice resounded in the suddenly brightened room. " And what part of 'fun' is it exactly to torture our son?" Surprisingly, the voice actually came from the Bright Matriarch.
"Yeah, what Light bulb said." Ossenia jumped in, being a tad bit too late and intelligible. Probably because she was already stuffing her face with a large and greasy turkey leg.
Despite being the parents and as powerful practitioners, they looked no younger than their kids, especially after dropping the facade. A hubbub immediately began, with the Baron being absolutely whipped by his wives. He didn't look like he wanted to be saved though.
"Hey Rick, did your esteemed stuck-up lordship like the little present I had Mira present to in the morning you?" The tall platinum blonde beauty next to The Bright Matriarch said with a grin. She was the sibling closest in age to Rick, separated by only a week. They were practically twins.
"Esme, while I can't say I didn't like the view, will you stop filling my attendant's head with trash?"
"She was supposed to be my attendant!"
"But she isn't cz you snooze you lose little sis" Irik replied with a grin
"You won with a fluke!" Esme replied evidently riled up.
"Sheesh, sorry for being such a burden." The tall redhead standing behind her said, pouting.
"I don't mean it like that Brian. In fact, I want both of you! I should have had 2 attendants."
"And make you an even more spoiled brat?" Brian inquired with mirth in his voice.
"Hey you can't talk to me like that! I'm your master! Plus its definitely your fault I'm spoiled. You definitely indulge me." She said suggestively.
Everyone rolled their eyes. Esme most definitely acted like a little trickster and was suggestive in most of her actions, even outside of their private circumstance. Everyone knew that it was a ruse, her way of making sure she looked as undesirable a match in the eyes of nobles by sullying her 'purity'.
Fat lot of good it did her.
Despite her attempts, her good genes made her stand out, and with her debutante` ball come up, she was soon to be drowned in marriage proposals.
"You can't have more than one attendant. Mummy says so." A childish voice said. It was Bran, the youngest. He sat next to Irik on his left. He was Irik's blood brother.
The cute family favorite shared the same basic features with Irik. The shared the same golden hair, the wiry and frail looking but noble frame. The looked like the Baron, all the Albrecht children did.
Next to Bran was the nerd of the family, Ben. He emitted a scholarly aura, despite his young age of 13 there was already a faint presence of mana. He was known to be prodigious in the mage arts, to the extent that it couldn't even be hidden that he was a genius, as was the Albrecht way.
Next to Esme and opposite Bran was Dominic. He was a year older than Ben, and he was his mirror. While Ben was a mage through and through, Dom was warrior, a knight. He was a genius as well. But he was a lot more hidden that Ben.
The entire Albrecht family of this generation was blessed with the genes of genius. It was an entire family of crouching tigers, with the parents being not so hidden dragons. But only the family and their attendant knew that the heads of the family were even more powerful than the world knew. But Rick was the most well-hidden of them all.
Rick knew that there was a secret to all this, but he hadn't been able to figure it out before he eventually died and was subsumed but the other Rick.
The family had a racuos breakfast. Filled with laughter and teasing and magic. It was a completely different face than they showed the servants, and for good reason. At least half of their retainers were compromised. And this is something that the Albrecht knew.
It was commonplace in the kingdom, in fact, to place puppets in the houses of other nobles. But for the Albrechts, it was another way of suppression. How could they plot to free themselves fro the quagmire they were in if they couldn't even trust their people?
After carving and serving their respective masters, the attendants even pulled up chairs, that the Baron's attendant, Irvine, pulled out of thin air.
He was a rare variant of mage, with an affinity to firmament. It was widely considered useless in direct combat, but formidable in support. Irvine was proof of how wrong that was.
He was the head attendant, and with the exception of the Baron ,was perhaps the most deadly creature in the Entire south of the Kingdom, after the King.
With the lead of Irvine, the attendants took seats next to their masters, served themselves and joined in the meal. It was very harmonious.
They were treated like part of the family and were totally comfortable, quipping back and engaging in laughter with their masters, with no distinguishing between nobles and commoners.
During this, a small food fight even broke out, one could never imagine that the goofy parents who looked like they were in their early 20s were the stern and bloody warriors that the world had grown used to.
As the meal wound up, the Baron lifted up his mug of cocoa with cinnamon and a stick of butter, tapped it with his fork to gain the room's attention and with a totally serious face like he didn't have a string of spaghetti slowly falling down his cheek.
He cleared his throat and said "Now, back to business." The entire atmosphere grew cold once again. Things were serious again.