Hajin stared at the girl for a long while, his mind processing the sudden appearance of a face from his past that he hadn’t expected to see here, of all places.

"Oh," he said, his voice finally returning as the tension in his shoulders eased just a fraction. "It’s you, Uriel."

Uriel swallowed the last bit of her pastry and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, her expression softening into a small, lopsided smile.

"It’s been so long," she said, her voice still quiet but carrying a hint of genuine warmth. "It’s good to see you again. You’ve changed so much, big brother. You look... different, stronger."

She took a step closer, her eyes moving down to the silver badge pinned to the side of his belt.

"You’re even a ranker now," she added casually, nodding toward the badge before looking back up at his face.

She stood there for a heartbeat, her head tilted to the side as if she were waiting for him to confirm it, but then her entire body went rigid. The casual expression vanished, replaced by a look of absolute, wide-eyed shock as the meaning of her own words finally caught up with her.

"Wait," she whispered, her voice suddenly climbing an octave. "Wait, wait, wait. You’re a ranker? Like, an actual, official guild ranker?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but she didn’t give him the chance.

"How?" she demanded, her hands coming up to grip her own hair as she started pacing in a small, frantic circle. "When did this happen? Since when do talentless—I mean, since when does someone just become a ranker? Becoming a ranker is incredibly hard! You have to pass the exams, and the mana output requirements are insane, and you were... you were..."

She stopped pacing and pointed a finger at his chest, her face turning a bright shade of pink from the sheer panic of the realization.

"Is this a joke?" she asked, her voice shaking. "Is that a fake badge? Because if the guards catch you with a fake ranker badge, they won’t just throw you out, they’ll actually execute you!"

Juna looked from the panicked girl to Hajin, her brows pulled together in a deep frown.

"Master," she said, her voice low and dangerous. "Who is this?"

Uriel’s panic stopped instantly as she turned her attention to Juna, her eyes narrowing as she processed the word.

"Master?" she repeated, a look of pure disgust washing over her face. She looked Juna up and down, taking in the silver hair and the wolf ears with a sneer.

"Wow. I knew you were desperate, big brother, but I didn’t think you had stooped this low. Is this your slave?"

She didn’t wait for a response, stepping closer to Juna with an arrogant tilt to her chin.

"I should have known you’d end up with some low-life demi-human girl who doesn’t know any better than to call a failure like you ’Master’," she continued, her voice dripping with condescension.

"Does she even have a name, or did you just pick her up from some gutter outside the city walls? Honestly, it’s embarrassing just standing next to—"

Hajin had heard enough.

Before she could finish the sentence, he reached out and grabbed her by the shoulder. He didn’t use much strength, but he pulled her back with enough force to make her stumble, forcing her to look at him directly.

"That’s enough, Uriel," he said, his voice cold and absolute.

He stared down at her, his eyes hardening while his grip on her shoulder tightened just enough to make her stop talking.

"You’re just as annoying as you’ve always been," he added, his expression one of pure, exhausted irritation. "Still as arrogant as ever, looking down on everyone else just to make yourself feel superior. You haven’t changed a single bit."

"And you have?" she fired back, her face twisting with rage as she tried to pull away. "You’re still just the family trash, Hajin! A talentless fluke who probably stole that badge or slept with a—"

He let out a short, sharp scoff, his eyes moving over her body with a look of clinical detachment.

"I can feel your mana from here," he said, his voice dropping into a low, mocking tone. "So many years have passed, and yet your flow is still as terrible as it was back then. It’s erratic, shallow, and completely undisciplined. At this rate, you’ll never even make it into the family ranks, let alone stay there."

The words hit her harder than she expected, her face going from bright red to a sickly, pale white before her expression exploded into pure, unadulterated fury.

"You... you talentless piece of—!" she started to scream, her voice drawing the attention of more nobles in the courtyard.

Before she could finish the insult, Hajin leaned in close. He moved with a speed that she couldn’t even track, his mouth stopping right beside her ear.

A sudden, suffocating wave of pure bloodlust radiated from him, so thick and sharp that Uriel’s voice died instantly in her throat. Her eyes went wide, her entire body beginning to tremble as the primal instinct to survive overrode everything else.

"Be very mindful of your words, Uriel," he whispered, his voice vibrating with a lethal, quiet promise.

He didn’t look at her, instead keeping his eyes on the palace doors.

"If word gets out that I am part of the Flint family," he continued, "who do you think the Patriarch is going to blame for that leak? After all the effort they put into erasing me, I doubt he’d be happy to know his own daughter was the one shouting my name for the entire capital to hear."

He pulled back, the bloodlust vanishing as quickly as it had appeared, leaving her standing there in a state of absolute, frozen shock.

"Think about it," he said, turning back toward Juna. "Let’s go."

Uriel stood in the middle of the courtyard, her body still trembling as the warmth of the night finally began to seep back into her skin. Tears of frustration and fear blurred her vision, as she watched their retreating backs with a look of pure, helpless resentment.

"Dammit," she whispered, her voice cracking as she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her dress. "Stupid... talentless big brother."

Hajin reached the massive, gilded doors of the ballroom without looking back, passing through the open entrance with Juna as the sounds of a live orchestra and the scent of expensive wine washed over them.

The moment they stepped over the threshold, the noise in the immediate area began to die down.

Hajin felt the weight of hundreds of eyes shifting toward him, the atmosphere of the room changing as the news of a new arrival spread through the crowd.

He kept his expression neutral, his posture straight as he walked into the light of the massive chandeliers, with Juna moving like a shadow at his side.

The expensive clothes and the silver ranker badge pinned to his belt made for a striking combination, one that stood out even in a room full of the kingdom’s elite. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Near the edge of the dance floor, a group of young noblewomen stopped their conversation to stare at the newcomers.

"Who is that?" one of them whispered, her eyes fixed on Hajin’s face. "The young man in the charcoal suit... I’ve never seen him before. He’s remarkably handsome."