When the young woman stepped forward, she lost her balance and went tumbling towards Asher.
"Ah! Save me!"
Lucius had no intention of dealing with the women and was more than willing to let the one who approached him fall to the floor, but fortunately for him, the sound of footsteps arrived along with a familiar voice.
"What do you people think you're doing?" Kiana barked.
Surprised by the sudden voice, the lady's friends caught the young woman by the arm and she stumbled back clumsily and looked at Kiana with some surprise.
"Who… who are you, old hag?" one of the women slurred and then turned to her friend. "She's an old hag isn't she?"
"Haven't seen her before. I don't know who she is."
"I think she was one of the maids? Why would a maid just approach us and scold us? Does she not know who we are?"
"I recognize her! She's the one who shamelessly talked with Baron Harmund as if they were of equal standing!"
Lucius sighed and was tempted to close the door already and go back to bed and leave the situation behind, but glanced at Kiana to check on how she would handle things.
'She's older than most of them, but I do sometimes worry about Kiana's temper. How she acts will naturally be reflected on me so if she does anything out of the line, it will be most imprudent to just leave her.'
Kiana's gaze narrowed imperceptibly, and Lucius was worried that she might use her Gift, but she did not rise to the scathing and blatantly tasteless remarks and merely snapped her fingers.
Out of another hallway, Inanis' family guards stepped out and went to approach the ladies. Each of them moved quickly and fast, encircling the group of young women and keeping them from running away.
"You may be young ladies and are inebriated, but we do not take it kindly for you to disturb Asher. All of you will be escorted to your rooms." Kiana said.
"And who are you to stop us?" one of the braver women asked, somehow not even caring about the guards that were already encircling them.
"If you lay one hand on me, I will shriek and call for my father." Another lady challenged as she eyed one of the guards vehemently.
"It is unwise for a mere guard to touch a lady of my standing…er, wait, you're kind of cute. My head's spinning." One of the ladies stumbled into one of the guards and smiled dopily.
Lucius' expression remained stony all throughout but just seeing and hearing the women speak was already giving him a headache.
'To think that these are the ladies that are considered nobility in this world. They're quite lacking in sense… I hope that this isn't the case for most of them.' Lucius thought.
Kiana herself seemed irritated as well and narrowed her eyes.
"Under the orders of Count Gabriel Inanis, any intruder who wishes to disturb his son's peace will be held accountable. If it came to the wrong occasion, it will be natural to use force if Asher's life is to come to any harm."
"We're not doing anything wrong!"
"Why would we harm Young Lord Asher's life!"
"We only wanted to see him!"
The protest fell on deaf ears as Kiana gestured for the guards to take all the women away before she sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"Are you alright, Asher? We stationed guards to watch the nearby hallways, but they probably didn't think that it would be your door that these ladies will be disturbing until it was too late."
"No worries. I can imagine that they will be receiving a lot of scolding from their families," Lucius said.
"Indeed. It's no secret that you… you were attacked in recent time at Inanis territory, so the fact that they chose to approach you at this late hour is a grave offense." Kiana said coldly.
"Grave? Perhaps. I do not think my father will be pursuing any of their heads, but it really can be taken as a foolish thing to do. I do not know the ladies and their family names, but it will be good to remember them." Lucius said.
"Of course. Though I believe that their families will naturally profusely apologize in the morning," Kiana said. "And if they do not? Well, the Count will already hear of this so they best do just that."
After a couple more words exchanged with Kiana, Lucius bade her goodnight and returned to bed. The rest of the night proceeded calmly without any more disturbance from any individuals.
The next day, true to Kiana's expectations, a lot of noble heads went over to apologize to Count Gabriel Inanis and Asher for the incident when morning came.
"I have spoken greatly… I have reprimanded my daughter harshly, Count Inanis! This behavior will never occur again, I assure you."
"Make sure of it, indeed. A repeat will be unacceptable." Count Inanis narrowed his eyes.
"I apologize greatly to you, Young Lord Asher. My daughter was greatly besotted with you and did not think clearly along with the alcohol, but I assure you that on normal occasions, she is most…"
"Thank you. I do not need to hear anything further," Lucius said.
This delayed their departure a little, which Lucius wasn't so happy about, but there was nothing he could do about it as he waited for things to finish.
"Hah. What foolish women." Viscountess Blackshield said as she crossed her arms. The carriage was already prepared, but they were still stuck with the nobles. "We could have left earlier if it weren't for them."
"Viscountess Blackshield, good morning to you," Lucius greeted.
Most of the nobility were being handled by Count Gabriel now, but fortunately for them, most of the offending parties were quick to leave as they noticed the dark glares from both Count Inanis and Viscountess Blackshield.
"Yes, if one can really call it that…" Viscountess Blackshield said.
"I hope that coming to Inanis territory is something that you would look forward to, Viscountess." Lucius said. "That is what I at least wish to focus on now."
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