Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 317 Lord Hippo

Although Ember's reasons were valid, Klein was skeptical, as he didn't think Ember was the type to care about such trivial matters.

What can dancing change?

Is it because dancing can quickly bring you closer and make Hazel fall head over heels in love with you?

That's clearly impossible, after all, Ember isn't a succubus.

There must be other reasons why he did this.

The only question is, what is the reason?

Klein, holding a glass of champagne, looked around, his gaze sweeping over the guests, but he couldn't find the key clue he thought he had.

Of course, it's also possible that there was no reason at all, and Ember simply didn't want to invite Hazel to dance.

But Klein is not Ember; he needs to maintain his identity as 'Dawn Dantes,' so he cannot appear too aloof.

At such dinner parties, guests are expected to invite at least one lady to dance.

The purpose of a banquet is socializing, and the opening ball of the banquet is a social ball, which is also essentially for the purpose of socializing.

Female guests may decline invitations from other male guests citing illness.

However, if a male guest cannot find a lady willing to dance with him, he will be considered "unfriendless and unpopular," and at best, he will be considered "not good at socializing."

Therefore, it is a good idea for male guests to bring a female companion when attending the dinner party, just to be on the safe side.

If you don't have a female companion, you should invite someone you know well.

Unfortunately, Klein didn't know many people at the dinner.

The only three women Dawn Dantes knew were Mrs. Liana, one of the hosts of the dinner party; Mrs. Vahana, his etiquette teacher; and Miss Hazel, the daughter of Congressman Macht.

The latter is out of the question, and neither is Ms. Vahana.

She should already know about the secret help I gave her before. Inviting her to dance the first dance at this time could easily lead to misunderstandings, which might affect her relationship with her husband and cause a lot of unnecessary trouble for Dawn Dantes' identity... I'm not the emperor, who has a thing for married women. No, he has a thing for everything. In short, I should avoid suspicion when necessary... Klein's gaze shifted to the center of the hall, where the councilor and his wife had finished the opening dance.

"Lady Liana, may I have this dance?"

Dawn Dantes, with graying temples, stepped forward and gave a standard bow.

"certainly."

Lady Liana smiled and extended her palm.

She knew that Mr. Dantes had just arrived in Backlund and didn't know many people. In fact, this was his first social dinner, so it would be difficult for him to find a lady willing to dance with him for the first time.

As the hostess of the banquet, Lady Liana certainly wouldn't want to embarrass her guests, so she was happy to help them out of the awkward situation.

Representative Macht smiled as he watched the two enter the dance floor, where they began to dance a light and lively dance to the music.

He took a glass of champagne from the waiter and caught a glimpse of Hazel standing at the edge, surrounded by an almost 'vacuum zone' where no man was trying to approach her.

Seeing this, Representative Macht couldn't help but sigh, feeling somewhat helpless.

Their family had hosted many dinner parties before, and most of the guests were not first-timers. Most of these people had tried to invite Hazel to previous dinners, but she had declined, citing "illness" as the reason.

This is the result—

Guests who have already been rebuffed won't bother inviting Hazel. And first-time guests at the dinner party generally won't take the initiative to invite Hazel either. Furthermore, since Hazel hasn't been invited before, most new guests can guess why, knowing they're likely to be rejected, and naturally won't want to embarrass themselves.

After all, being rejected in such social settings often has serious consequences.

As he pondered this, he turned his gaze to the embers on the other side of the hall.

Viscount Black was also alone, standing at the edge of the hall watching the others dance in the ballroom, but he showed no intention of joining in, which puzzled Councilor Macht.

Although, like Dawn Dantes, it was the first time the other party had attended their family's social dinner.

He had just had a very pleasant conversation with Hazel, to the point that Macht worried Hazel might become too close to him. But now, Hazel showed no intention of inviting him. Was he too intimidated to do so?

Senator Macht thought for a moment and prepared to walk around from the edge of the dance floor to the side of the embers.

A good host wouldn't allow any guest to be impolite, so he prepared to help Viscount Black out of the awkward situation by taking the initiative to invite Hazel to the first dance. As for whether this would quickly warm their relationship, Councilor Macht didn't think so, after all, he knew his daughter's personality well.

Before Congressman Macht could speak, his gaze suddenly fell upon a handsome man with brilliant blond hair, holding a glass of red wine, smiling as he approached Viscount Black.

Representative Macht stopped in his tracks and lowered his brows slightly.

He recognized the blond man—

As expected, the other party should be the highest-ranking guest present.

Because he is the eldest son of the Earl of East Chester, Hilbert Hall, a future earl!

Did he know Viscount Black?

The Earl of Hall's fiefdom is in East Chestershire, which is in the north and borders Wintershire.

Judging from the current situation, they clearly knew each other before.

Could it be that their family fiefdoms are very close to each other, which leads to a closer relationship?

Unsure of their relationship, Representative Macht did not immediately approach them, but instead observed them quietly from the sidelines.

-

Hilbert Hall greeted him with a smile:

"Ash, it's been a long time. You haven't visited my house in quite a while."

Yu Jin raised his glass and lightly clinked it against his, smiling in return:

"To be precise, it's four months."

Hilbert took a sip of red wine and joked:

"My mother has been talking about you a lot lately, and Audrey also wants to meet you. If you have time recently, why don't you come over for dinner?"

Ember put down his wine glass, thought for a moment, and said:

"I'm free tomorrow and the day after."

Having received an affirmative answer, Hippel smiled with satisfaction, then asked curiously:

"Do you know Representative Macht?"

"I don't know him."

Ember shook his head and explained:

"I met Dawn Dantes a few times when I was in South Wales. I asked him to bring me to this dinner. What about you?"

"Um?"

Hilbert immediately realized the hidden meaning in the other person's words—

Having known Ember for so long, Hilbert knew he wasn't the type to enjoy socializing. If Ember had any such inclination, he could easily have attended the balls hosted by the upper-class nobles of Rune.

Therefore, he wouldn't let a businessman he'd only met a few times take him to a dinner hosted by a congressman for no reason.

Considering Ember's identity, Hilbert could probably guess the reason.

There is likely a very dangerous and extraordinary individual hidden among the guests at this dinner party.

But Ember didn't recognize any of the guests, nor was he sure which ones would be attending the dinner. The only ones he was certain would be the hosts, the Macht family.

In other words, is there an extraordinary person hiding in Senator Macht's house?

If it were just an ordinary extraordinary being, there would be no need for Ember to personally intervene, since it's not uncommon for the upper class to keep extraordinary beings. As long as nothing goes wrong, the Church and the royal family generally won't get involved.

Unless the extraordinary sequence of the Macht family member is very high, there is a high probability that he will cause unimaginable destruction!

Hilbert quickly pieced together the whole story and said with a smile:

"I'm different from you. As you know, I'm the chief secretary of the Air Pollution Investigation Committee. And Congressman Macht has been a strong supporter of this, and many air pollution-related bills were passed with his help."

A few minutes later, a woman finished her first dance, walked over to the two of them, and smiled:

"Hibbert, what are you two talking about?"

Hippel immediately introduced the two to each other:

"Ash, this is Mary Short, the largest shareholder of Coyme Corporation and a member of the Air Pollution Investigation Committee."

"Mary, this is Viscount Ash Black from Wintershire. His family history is even longer than that of the Hall family."

After a pause, Hippel smiled and said:

"Speaking of which, Ash should also be a shareholder of Coim Corporation. I suggested Ash invest in Coim Corporation last year. I originally planned to do it myself, but I was busy pushing for legislation at the time, so I had to delegate it to my subordinates. Ash, how much did you invest back then?"

Yu Jin took a sip of champagne, thought for a moment, and said:

"Ten thousand gold pounds, I think. It's been too long, I don't remember exactly."

Hippo did mention it to him at the time, so he just threw in a little bit—well, some of it was borrowed from Audrey.

Mary Short, with a look of surprise, said softly:

"Yes, ten thousand gold pounds. When Viscount Black invested, he already owned 10% of the company's shares."

As the largest shareholder of Coyme, Mary Short owned 20% of the company. However, at that time she was busy divorcing her husband and did not focus most of her attention on handling company affairs, so even when there was a change in shareholding, she was not aware of the details.

When she later learned that 10% of the company's shares belonged to a man named Ash Black, she thought about visiting him, but unfortunately, although he owned 10% of the Coim Company's shares, he had never come to the company in person.

If it weren't for the fact that the 10% stake actually belonged to the other party, Mary would have doubted whether this person even existed. She never imagined she would meet this shareholder under such circumstances.

Hippel joked:

"Looks like my judgment was pretty accurate after all; this investment was a great deal."

Mary Sean's expression was somewhat complicated. Coyme was originally just a small company that could barely make a little money, but as the pollution in Backlund worsened and the demand for anthracite and charcoal increased, Coyme rapidly expanded and grew into one of the top ten companies in the industry in the capital region.

By the time Viscount Black invested last year, Coyme Company was worth £10.

In recent months, with the successive introduction of air pollution-related laws, the demand for anthracite and high-quality charcoal has increased significantly. Coyme has achieved development that surpasses the efforts of previous years, and its total value is said to have exceeded 25 gold pounds!

In other words, the 10,000 gold pounds that Ember invested last year are now worth at least 25,000 gold pounds.

A 150% return rate far surpasses most investments on the market! This is more than just a bargain.

But this wasn't because Hilbert had accurate foresight, but because he himself was actually part of the relevant interest group.

As the chief secretary of the Air Pollution Investigation Committee, Hilbert was also instrumental in pushing for the enactment of those related bills. And as the instigator of all this, how could Hilbert not have seen the business opportunity?

Although he himself did not invest in the Coyme Company due to his status and the need to avoid suspicion—after all, the Coyme Company sounded like a behemoth, with a total value exceeding 25 gold pounds—the Hall family was even larger, with their wealth calculated in the tens of millions of gold pounds!

Although its status is not yet visible to the naked eye, the overall value of Coyme Company will continue to rise, and may even break through the 10,000 to 100,000 gold pounds mark, but it is still less than one percent of the Hall family's.

Compared to the small sum of money from Coyme, Hibbert's political future was clearly more important.

So Mary had no idea that one of her company's shareholders was actually a friend of Hilbert's, and that the other party had invested in Coyme Company on Hilbert's recommendation.

Moreover, from the words of this Viscount Black, it can be seen that he did not take the ten thousand gold pounds seriously at all, but only regarded it as a casual move. Even if the investment was lost, it would not matter. Therefore, as a shareholder of Coym Company, he never cared about the company's current business situation!

Mary Sean's expression grew increasingly complicated. Although she held a 20% stake in Coyme Company, with total assets exceeding 50,000 gold pounds, even for her, 10,000 gold pounds in cash was not something she could easily come up with—it represented one-fifth of her entire fortune!

It should be noted that most nobles, including viscounts and barons, may not have as much wealth as Mary Shawn, and many of them are even burdened with huge debts and on the verge of bankruptcy.

It's no wonder that Viscount Black and Hibbert had such a pleasant conversation. Their families were probably very similar in strength, and Hibbert even admitted that the Black family had a longer history than the Hall family, possibly being an ancient noble family that existed since the founding of the nation.

For these nobles, the rank of their title was meaningless, because their actual status was often several levels higher than their rank!

Looking at the expression on Mrs. Mary's face, Hilbert could roughly guess what she was thinking.

But he didn't pay attention to that; instead, he was thinking about who in the hall was the most likely source of danger.

He didn't ask Ember if he needed help, because he spotted Bishop Elektra and the man in the black trench coat beside him. Hilbert was familiar with this attire; the Night Watchers who protected them all dressed the same.

Compared to the Church of the Night, which possesses a large number of extraordinary individuals, he, a 'magician' with only Sequence 7, is nothing at all.

One more or one less makes no difference.

Since he didn't need Hilbert's help, Hilbert had to consider how not to interfere with the Church of the Night's operations.

After all, among so many people present, his status was undoubtedly the most noble.

If that potentially dangerous individual were to suddenly become active, he would certainly be taken hostage.

However, since Yu Jin didn't remind him to leave early, it means that although the danger of this matter is high, it should not be urgent.

There's no need to worry too much.

(End of this chapter)