Kings On The Horizon (Vol. 4-6) ✓

155 | Brother Conflict

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"I'LL BE HAVING A meeting with the Association today so I want you to check the documents for me. The rest of you, make sure you finish your reports as well." The Elites president, Ian Rothman, tells Gavriil who was busy signing documents on his desk.

     "Will you be back before Dustin gives his report? You still need to evaluate it before we can hand this over to president Janus," Gavriil asks back.

    Ian takes his laptop from his desk and places it back inside his bag. He then looks at his watch so he could make an estimate. "I'll probably be back by 4:00 PM so ask Dustin to wait till then," Ian answers, clearing his desk and walking towards the door. The rest of the elites bid him farewell, but as soon as Ian opens the door, he was welcomed by a white uniform who looked like he had something very important to say.

     "Max?" Ian announces, surprised to see the heir standing in front of their office. "What are you doing here?" He then asks, making the other members of the council take a peek at the entrance to catch a glimpse of Max too.

     Max was panting heavily, hinting that he ran his way here. When Ian was about to offer him to go inside, Max looks past Ian's shoulder and looks at Gavriil instead. "Can I talk to you, privately?"

    Gavriil and Ian were surprised, but based on Max's body language, they knew that whatever the reason was for Max's sudden visit, it was because it was urgent. Ian doesn't even ask him about it as he turns back to look at his vice president. "You're excused." He tells him.

     Gavriil nods his head and quickly stood up from his desk. He walks past Ian before grabbing Max's arm and dragging him away. Max couldn't even react when Gavriil brought him to an empty room, which was the Elites' meeting room.

     "What happened?" Gavriil finally asks Max, locking the door behind him. "Whatever it is you're about to say, you can confidently say it here. This room is soundproof."

     When Gavriil finally lets go of his arm, Max takes a deep breath and pulls something out of his pocket. Gavriil didn't know what it was about, but when he saw the invitation, he unconsciously took a step back, almost like the invitation was some sort of curse. "T-that's an invitation for the banquet. The princes actually gave you one?" Gavriil asks in shock.

     Max was hoping that Gavriil would know about this since he's an underling of Busters, but it seems like Gavriil didn't know about it either.

     "Dangerous Five was at our classroom earlier and they gave me this. The invitation told me to sol—"

     "Stop!" Gavriil quickly says, instantly making Max shut his mouth. "You're not allowed to tell me, or anyone, the content of that invitation. You don't want to experience the Prince's Law. For both of our safety, I suggest you keep the contents of that invitation to yourself," Gavriil explains to him.

     Max was surprised because he has never seen Gavriil so flustered. Gavriil has always been so cool and collected, but somehow, this frightened him.

     When Max read the invitation earlier, he did think it was overwhelming, but he didn't think that it was much of a big deal. He thought that it was just going to be some kind of task that he has to fulfill, but based on everyone's reaction to this invite, he was starting to realize how serious this was.

     Are the princes that frightening? Max hasn't seen them do anything yet so has he taken their silence for granted? Was this invitation not a chance for him to conquer them but to trap him instead?

     "Have you told anyone about the contents of that invite?" Gavriil finally asks.

     "N-no...but that's the problem. The princes gave me someone who—" Max stopped midsentence when he remembered the content of the letter, specifically the postscript.