As the three of them sat around a dinner table and all of them had food in front of them, only one of them was actually eating. Both Percival’s were silently staring at Valerie with differing reactions, as she ravaged and wolfed down the meat in front of her.

Whilst the individuals in this sect, as they called it, mostly had a vegetable based diet - as they had farms dedicated to actual food separate from the ones focused on cultivating the cultivation plants - they also had some animals that they raised.

Real, living animals. Not the ’cruelty-free’ stuff, the real flesh and blood that was usually reserved for the rich.

Despite their normal dietary habits however, Valerie had nothing but meat in front of her. A juicy slab of T-steak beef, an entire rack of ribs, a whole chicken and a plate full of pork. She was like a savage beast, stuffing it into her mouth by the handful. Her teeth tore into the meat, which had been cooked as rare as possible that a certain chef would scream about it being raw.

But Valerie did not care. In fact she insisted upon it, as she licked the plates of every drop of juice and flavouring before moving onto the next morsel. No matter how much she ate, none of it was satisfying her hunger.

She just needed more.

When she tilted her head back, whilst trying to rip the steak apart with just her teeth instead of even attempting to cut it with a knife, she finally caught sight of the other two staring at her. Percival the Third had a look of disbelief and disgust, as she looked like a manner-less slob in his eyes, even if he was slightly impressed that such a skinny girl could inhale down so much meat.

While Percy the Fourth had an amused smirk on his face and was having to hold back his chuckles.

Valerie blushed deeply at their stares and tenderly placed the meat back down onto her plate with a bashful smile. She subtly licked her fingers clean of all of the meat juices and blood that had gathered on them, before picking up her utensils and starting to eat them ’properly’ with lady-like dignity. Not that she had much left after that display.

"As I was saying..." Percival muttered, casting Valerie another strange glance before focusing on eating his own food like a dignified socialite,

"What you displayed is not unheard of. However, it is usually only the most powerful elders who can do such a thing. Cultivation from the world itself is considered to be an extremely high level skill and yet here you are... just entering the foundational realm and already able to do it.

It is baffling to think that you learned such skills from a children’s game, but It is even more difficult to doubt what my own eyes have shown me."

"So, you’re finally giving up on the accusation that she is from another one of these ’clans’ that you are still keeping secret." Percy asked with a cocky smirk, despite the accusatory tone.

"They are not secret. You just don’t need to know about them yet. But yes, if your little friend here was from another clan, they would never reveal such a trump card to us, even under threat of death.

Which means I am interested in learning more about this game of yours."

"Wow... That’s just great. If I knew that all it took for you to finally show an interest in what I love was for you to kidnap my friend and force us to expose miraculous feats to your secret clan of magic users then... 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Well, I was going to say I would have done it sooner, but I couldn’t have since you never told me about it." Percy said drily, his voice dripping with sarcasm so much that it was nearly getting in his dinner.

"You were already told the reasons for that. Do not blame me for your lack of interest." His father responded monotonously, sounding utterly disinterested.

Valerie glanced nervously between them, the tension hanging over their heads was completely unmissable. You couldn’t breathe without nearly choking on it.

Swallowing another chunk of juicy rare meat, Valerie took a moment before speaking up in a warm tone.

"Sir, there is something I have to ask you. You’ve got magic and you’ve got people training in it. Is that for a purpose? Like, oh I don’t know, have you got them fighting magical beasts or something?"

Percival paused his knife movements for a second, trailing his eyes up to her suspiciously, before continuing with his movements like nothing happened.

"No. Those do not exist anymore. We train for discipline, and to keep the old ways alive. Although... it seems they are too old. We will need to update them, if we are to keep up. No doubt the other clans will discover the use of this... What was it called again?"

"Dawn of Divinity."

"Yes, that. If what you say is true, and the general public are being fed this energy drink made from what should be secret and sacred, then our secrets will soon be exposed and more powerful individuals like yourself will rise.

I expect there will be many changes when that time comes. So, we will invest in this... game, and we will use it for training. Get ourselves ahead of the other clans and bring its secrets here.

And leading this new incursion, will be my son."

"What?!" Percy and Valerie barked at the same time, one in anger and the other in surprise, earning them both a disappointed glare from Percival.

"You wanted in on the family business now, so this is it. You have that little group, don’t you? Golden somethings."

"Golden Princes..." Percy grumbled, clenching his fist and bending the fork in his hand.

"Yes, that. You will bring them here, and they will train together with the sect students. Learn from each other, and grow stronger so that when the world does change, it is still the Monarch family that stands above all, as we were born to."

"There is no way in hell that I am going to-" Percy started, but he was cut off as Valerie gingerly spoke up.

"Actually... I think that you should do it."

"What?" Percy said in disbelief, turning to her with a look of betrayal and hurt that made Valerie’s heart squeeze in her chest.

"I agree with your father. Bring them here, get stronger. We are going to need it when the world starts to change. More than you realise." She said softly, staring into his eyes with wide, pleading eyes.