George was not only older than all of them in the room but was also the most experienced in the business dealings like these. Given his life spent doing business, he had been a part of many such negotiations where he had to make deals at the edge of sword tips due to bad decisions but had always found a way to not only survive but also thrive. Given that the parties weren't exactly trying to hide the situation, George could easily piece together the entire situation. He quickly realized that Zach wasn't acting like his usual self. Given how outspoken he usually was in matters pertaining to business, George assumed that Prince Kolt had some dirt on Zach to make him act in such a cautious manner.
Even though Zach was soon going to be his son-in-law, there was nothing that George could do in the current situation where Zach was pitted against the Prince of Norman family. He couldn't exactly support Zach against a member of the royal family. That would be nothing less than treason which would result in him being sent to the gallows.
His only course of action was to stay silent as he took repeated glances at his daughter to determine whether the latter had also figured it out or not and what her reaction to it was if she had.
No matter what, his daughter hadn't taken any action that could be considered to be in favor of Zach or even the slightest bit against the Prince for that matter. Just like George, she had not taken any position in the matter even though her husband to be was involved in it. George couldn't figure out whether to be sad on her daughter's impassiveness or to be happy at her impartial business mind that wouldn't budge at all if not for profit. There was no room for emotions and relationships in her dictionary, since all that space was occupied by just two words; profit and loss.
Zach got more annoyed the more he looked at the contracts that had been drawn to take advantage of his weakness but he didn't show any signs of agitation or frustration on his face. His face was so impassive that even Prince Kolt would have been deceived had he not already seen his reaction when Braxton entered the room.
Before anyone could properly make sense of the situation, Zach summoned the fire gloves from his weapons arsenal in a lightning fast movement. Currently the weapon that could grant him the highest burst damage was the Flame Gloves. Therefore he opted to use them in this thin as ice situation where he wouldn't possibly get another opportunity.
Arms wreathed in flames, Zach lunged towards Prince Kolt who in his royal grace was still lounging on the head chair not expecting the sudden outburst from Zach.
Several gasps were heard throughout the conference room as various jaws crashed to the ground in astonishment. No one could have expected Zach to actually try to attack the Prince even in their wildest dreams.
Even Luna who knew Zach the best could never have imagined that Zach would attack the prince all of a sudden. According to her impression of Zach, she had never seen him acting so impulsively. In her view, he was an extremely calculating man who planned meticulously and waited for the right time to act against even his most hated enemies. So this sudden impulsive behavior caught her off guard because just a few moments ago he had been trying to hold her back from attacking Braxton. And now he himself had directly attacked the Prince.
Several chairs in his path were flung into the wall due to the sheer force of his collision and the flaming aura surrounding his arms granted him explosive acceleration that allowed him to reach Prince Kolt before anyone could even take notice of him.
Alas, the punches crackling with fire were unable to make contact with their target. There was another flash and Zach found his clasped tightly by a foreign pair of hands. No matter how much he tried to rid himself of their grasp, the tenacious grip on his arms didn't relinquish its hold on him.
The flames flowing along his arms burst apart due to the sudden decrease in Zach's momentum and were flung away from Prince Kolt as they split through the middle and passed on either side of him without causing any damage to their intended target.
Despite the actual force behind the flames, there wasn't much destruction since most of the power behind the flames had been nullified by the mage holding Zach's arms in an iron grip. A small part of the walls had been scorched and some chairs had suffered the entirety of the wrath behind the surprise attack.
"Tsk" Zach clicked his tongue when he became sure that his attack ended in failure. He had been expecting to do the prince in before anyone could take notice of him which was why he had never shown his real intentions on his face.
Regretfully, he hadn't taken into account the strength of the mage who stood behind the Prince as his bodyguard. Considering that Kolt was a prince, there was no way that the bodyguard responsible for his person safety would be too shabby. Unluckily, this mage turned out to be quite adept in the art of conflict with a penchant for sensing the threats to his liege. Thanks to his sharp senses, Zach couldn't accomplish his goal of killing Kolt in a single blow.
But this mage's strength was too high. As soon as he struck Zach's weapons in order to save the prince, not only did Zach's attack scatter like the last embers of a long burning fire but also completely ruined the Flame Gloves that Zach had been using for quite some time and was currently the only elemental weapon in the same damage range that Zach was able to wield without any conditions.
Seeing that he was no match for the mage even in close quarters despite wielding his strongest weapon, Zach gave a bright smile and raised both his hands as if in surrender. Even the mage opposite to him was dazed as to how someone could change their colors without breaking a sweat and without any shame.
"It was just a friendly joke. No need to take it so seriously." Zach had a foolish smile on his face that no one could relate to the murderous glimmer that they had seen in his eyes just a moment ago when he lashed out with his flaming gloves.
Even though the mage let go of his hands, he still stood warily in front of Prince Kolt as he hid the latter behind his back just in case Zach decided to act on his beastly impulses once again.
Prince Kolt had suffered from quite a scare despite the fact that his bodyguard had managed to block the threat to his life. His heart was pounding like the biggest drum and its music was strumming on his nerves which almost caused him the loss of his soul from the fright alone.
But once his bodyguard took control of the situation, it didn't take long for Prince Kolt to regain his calm. His breathing returned to normal and his heart stopped trying to escape his body.
"Come back; I don't think Zach intends to make enemies with the royal family due to this small matter. As he said, it was a joke."
Prince Kolt called the mage back after he overcame his fright. He wore his grace once again and resumed his relaxed position before looking at Zach in an intimidating manner that was full of hostility that vanished almost as soon as it appeared.
"For your sake though, I would advise not to repeat the same joke with someone else. Anyone unknowing of your joking nature might assume that you were truly out for their life." Even though Prince Kolt acted as if he hadn't taken any offense, the slight anger in his voice could be distinguished by everyone in the room. He acted as if he was joking with Zach like they were old friends but really Prince Kolt was threatening Zach to not pull a stunt like this again.
Despite his constant attempts at appearing calm and graceful, Prince Kolt had begun to be quite wary of Zach who in his view was quite unpredictable and capable of doing anything since he had the balls to attack a Prince in front of audience and his guards.
Zach on the other hand was cursing in his heart at the failure. He had really intended to get rid of Prince Kolt so that he could take Luna and get the hell out of there. As long as there was someone who knew their secret, there wasn't a place in the empire where Zach could grow steadily. He knew the value of his technology to this world and was sure that there would always be people like Prince Kolt who would try to exploit his weakness to take advantage of him and use him to their preference.
He had also intended to extend this invitation to flee to the Luther family who he had gotten attached to after spending all this time with them. But things didn't go his way.
Zach was at a disadvantage now that his attack had failed. Morally he could be condemned for fraternizing with an enemy race and he was at a physical disadvantage because he couldn't truly beat all those in attendance to do things his way. As such he needed a moment to think about his next course of action.
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