Chapter 460: Seeing Old Friends

He quickly placed a fake smile back on his face. “How did you know I was a first year?” He asked quite firmly.

She wasn’t offended by his tone; if anything, it looked like she was amused. “Oh, you always end up hearing things from people. Even more so when it pertains to someone who is friends with the likes of Lily, Derek, and the daughter of Fiona Crysalia,” the woman answered with a smirk.

Just as he was going to speak up again, he felt a psychic nudge from Lily, and he quickly accepted the telepathetic link.

Be careful, she warned him.

Who is she? He sent back over the connection.

Noelle Willow. She is the daughter of Duchess Willow. She is also one of the most likely candidates to inherit House Willow when Duchess Willow passes over the reins. She is not a bad person, but very cunning, Lily quickly explained to him.

He instantly processed her words and immediately threw on an act. He scratched his head awkwardly and laughed. “Yeah, I do have some amazing friends. I am just riding their coattails for the time being. I am nothing too special myself, just lucky.”

It was easier than expected to be genuine. It helped that he actually had some amazing friends, plus, he didn’t think he was that special. People like Derek and Reinera had more talent than he did anyway. He was simply a person who had gotten lucky.

Lady Willow stared at him for a few brief moments. “Lucky, huh?”

He nodded. “Yeah, just lucky. That’s all.”

She smirked. “They say luck is a talent of its own.”

He scratched his head again. “I don’t know about that,” he said, sending some fire mana through his body to force a blush.

“You’re saying I am wrong?” She asked challengingly.

He waved his arms in a panic. “No, no. Of course not.”

He could feel that she was going to press him some more when a man in her posse suddenly walked up from behind her and whispered something in her ear.

Julius wasn’t able to overhear because the man had swiftly created a very delicate isolation barrier between his mouth and Lady Willow’s ear. He also used some kind of illusion magic to obscure his lower face, so that nobody could read his lips either.

What he said to her must have gotten her attention because she immediately changed her focus and gave a slight bow toward the two of them.

“I apologize, but it would appear I have to take care of something. Lily, you and Julius should come over to see me later. I would love to catch up with you and see how you’ve been,” Lady Willow said with a genuine smile toward Lily.

Lily replied with a bright smile of her own. “That sounds nice.”

Lady Willow nodded and looked at Julius. “Well, it was nice to meet you. I will hopefully see you soon, and I promise I will be watching your matches with bated breath to see your ‘luck’ in person.”

Then, before Julius could respond, she was already heading off in another direction, the group of people following behind her.

“What was that?” He asked Lily once she was gone.

“I’m not sure. But she seemed interested in you,” she responded.

“Is that a good thing?”

Lily put her palms up. “I’m not sure. At the very least, she doesn’t think you are an enemy. But be careful, everyone from House Willow is known to be cunning foxes. They aren’t inherently bad people, but it’s challenging to discern their true motives. More importantly, where did you get this?” Lily asked while holding up the meat pie she had been holding this entire time.

Julius was a little nervous by the intense look in her eyes.

“Why do you ask?” He asked carefully.

“Because I want to open up a shop and sell meat pies myself,” Lily said with a roll of her eyes.

Julius ignored her sarcasm. “Oh, really? Are you interested in a business partner? I might not look like it, but I have a steady supply of meat pies,” he said with a pleased smile.

She pinched her nose. “No, seriously, where did you get them?”

He shook his head. He hadn’t told her or the others about his soul evolution yet, nor the soul-bound item he had received. There had been too much stuff going on, and he had forgotten. “I’ll tell you later when there are fewer prying ears around, okay?”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but let out a depressed sigh. “Fine, but don’t run away from me later.”

He promised her, and they continued to enjoy their food together when someone else approached them. It wasn’t Lady Willow, but it was someone that Julius recognized, and he found himself practically running to meet them halfway.

He heard a laugh as he barrelled into Rebecca, and she caught him in her arms. He had not been expecting to see her here. He honestly didn’t expect to see her for some time. Blumand was far away, and it wasn’t as if they had any kids who might be attending the tournament. Cory was still just a little kid. He had many years until he got his chance.

After a few moments of a warm hug, she held him at arm’s length by his shoulders. “I thought you might be here,” she said with a playful smirk.

Julius chuckled. “Me? What about you? Why are you here?”

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“I have some family who will be participating as well,” she answered with a laugh.

“I didn’t know Cory had gotten that strong. Oh, how they grow up so fast,” he said with a sigh.

She shook him lightly before bringing him in for another hug. “It’s not Cory, silly.”

“So who is it?”

“My brother’s son.”

“Wait, which brother?” Julius asked slowly. From what he recalled, she had three brothers. Aden, Charles, and Valen. He had heard some interesting things about Aden, but didn’t know if the man had any children of his own.

“Charles,” she said.

“He has children?” Julius didn’t remember hearing about that.

“Yeah, he has three of them,” she said with a gleeful grin, but she quickly switched her attention from Julius.