The Prince Of Magic

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Some of his retainers entertained the elder Delacour, particularly due Astolfo and Arash's antics as they tell her funny stories and interesting topics.

The pink haired knight acted as a bit of translator for the older Veela, though she spoke English for the retainers' sake. Her accent was obvious, but the words she uses were more than enough for the retainers to understand her.

Hadrian himself was answering little Gabrielle's inquiries in French, feeling a bit nostalgic as he entertained the little blonde while feeding his familiars from time to time.

The little girl was quite a chatterbox. She almost overwhelmed him with her abundant curiosity regarding his familiars, who were (fortunately) behaving for once.

Gabrielle was thoroughly fascinated by his two fluffy familiars.

She even tried to cuddle one of them, but was gently dissuaded by Hadrian, who was not quite sure how his familiars would react to strangers cuddling them.

The little silver-haired child was not discouraged though, as she would rub their little heads and giggle at their pleased purrs and coos, which was done under Hadrian's supervision of course.

Fleur, who was seated next to Hadrian and to her mother, merely observed them with a small smile.

She would join in their conversation sometimes, asking him a few questions of her own and chiding her little sister whenever she made questions that might offend him. Unlike before, the silver-blonde young woman appeared more relaxed around him. The few times she met him, which was the ones that she happened to accompany her sister, Fleur was a bit distant.

Her little sister had always been a chatterbox, but Fleur was almost quiet, shy even and preferring to let her sister do the talking as she merely stood nearby.

The rigid composure seemed to have vanished, little by little, as time goes by whenever she tags along with her sister to meet him.

They were little things that Hadrian could not help but notice as his assumption about Fleur being uncomfortable around males was proven correct.

Before, she was almost cold to him. But now, after meeting him and watching his interaction with her little sister, the reserved behavior was gone and was replaced with a relaxed and graceful composure.

The food arrived and everyone took their time in eating their meals. The table was mostly silent, except for the clinks of glasses and utensils and the small talk that was made here and there.

Everyone relaxed in their chairs once the food was gone, some of his retainers burped out loud, startling the Delacour females before Fleur and Gabrielle giggled at the retainers' sheepish expressions. Then, as Hadrian had just finished feeding his familiars, stuffing them till they looked like small plump of fluffs, much to Fleur and Gabrielle's amus.e.m.e.nt, Appoline threw a question at his way.

"If you don't mind me asking, what is your last name?" Appoline asked, observing him closely.

In turn, Hadrian lifted an eyebrow.

"Why do you ask?" Hadrian said, unaware of a certain Veela's eyes on him.

"That pin on the neckline of your jacket. I feel like I've seen it before." Appoline explained, lifting one dainty hand and tapped her index finger at her collarbone.

Her blue eyes stayed on Hadrian's form as she made her point, causing the young mage to blink before turning his head to look at the pin that she pointed out.

":You mean this?" Hadrian asked, gesturing to the little object.

"Yes." Appoline said, nodding her head with a thoughtful frown as she stared at the pin closely. "I don't recognize the first, but I'm familiar with the second one. I also noticed that you did not give out your last name when you introduced yourself earlier. Is there a particular reason why you did it?"

Silently amused by her observation, Hadrian smiled faintly, though he did wonder where she was going with her line of questioning.

"I might. It's personal though, please understand." The young mage said, smiling apologetically.

The older Veela nodded her head in understanding.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry." Appoline apologized.

"It's alright. No harm, no foul." Hadrian reassured, not feeling the least offended.

Surprised but pleased by his patient and calm personality, the older Veela smiled at him.

In her seat, Fleur also relaxed, letting out a relieved sigh.

She was a bit afraid that the young boy beside might be angry at her mother's inquiry, but fortunately, he was not and even reassured her mother in calm, patient manner that was rarely seen in teenagers at his age.

Perhaps there was more to the young wizard beside her than meets the eye. Certainly, he was intimidating, but it turned out that he can be gentle and accommodating if he wants to.

The young wizard's patience and thoughtfulness to her little sister was more than enough for Fleur to resolve herself in befriending him more.

Although, she did wonder why Hadrian would leave out his name when he had introduced himself.

Perhaps her mother could enlighten her later on.

Talk flowed smoothly between each individuals, with chuckles and laughter filling the air every once in a while.

The air at their table was light as the three Delacours were entertained by Hadrian and his retainers.

The casual mood turned a bit sour when Hadrian noticed a group of men looking at Fleur and Appoline in a disturbing manner. Said men were seated a few tables away from the one that Hadrian and the others were at, but that didn't stopped the former. Some of them were even let out a few whistles and catcalls that were obviously directed at the Delacours.

It was either that, or they were playing for another team and are actually looking at Charles and the others.

Glancing at mother and daughter, he noticed that they seemed to be aware of the unwanted attention, but were ignoring it so as not to encourage the fools seated at the far end of the room.

Having read something about the Veela, the young mage knew that the reason the group of men were acting rudely was due to the allure that the Delacour females' were exuding.

Gabrielle was still a young child, therefore the effect of her allure was minimal at best. Fleur and Appoline, however, were a different story.

The allure that the mother and daughter exuding were strong, enough to even affect a servant despite their resistance to magic.

While Hadrian was not affected, he did notice that some of his retainers were, particularly Kieran, who had been questionably quiet and well-behaved throughout lunch after the Delacours joined their table.

It was a strange sight to see, Kieran being well-behaved and speaking only when spoken to, but Hadrian was thankful that he was, considering as the retainer does not know how to open his mouth without cursing every once in a while. It was nice to see the amber eyed retainer restraining himself in behaving like he would usually do.

The group of men on the other side of the room, who were still giving the Delacour women rude stares and gestures, were not excused though.

Aware that the Delacours' were not at fault, Hadrian felt the need to punish the foolish imbeciles.

Without moving an inch from his seat, Hadrian glanced up briefly and caught the sight of some of the men drinking their beers. Fortunately, their attention was mostly divided to whatever their friends were saying to them and to the two Delacours sitting beside him, which created a perfect opportunity for Hadrian to initiate his punishment for them.

Due to his contract with them, his retainers felt his magical energy spike, causing them to glance at him briefly before turning back to the Delacours to distract them.

With a wordless chant, Hadrian casted two spells to the rude men at the other side of the room.

The young mage's eyes flashed red, but it was covered by the spectacles he was wearing.

"Hm?"

Hadrian heard some of the guys hummed questioningly as they looked at the floor, or at the table, with furrowed brows.

Then, it happened.

*THUMP*

*THUMP*

*THUMP*

Several loud noises echoed from the other side as each men dropped their heads unto the table, somehow rendered unconscious as they felt their bodies' heat up, just enough to feel feverish and tired, and sleep immediately took away their consciousness.

Then, loud farting noises were heard from beneath their tables, followed by something wet and awfully foul wafted from the bottom of their seats.

The loud noises from their side were enough to garner stares from the people at other tables nearby, sending the group of imbeciles' bewildered stares and glares.

Fleur and Appoline looked especially dumbfounded, but went and ignored the unconscious men without any more attention, each returning to who they were speaking to before.

Looking at his retainers' faces, Hadrian can see them doing their best to restrain their mirth as they kept the Delacours entertained.

As for Hadrian himself, he lifted a glass of juice to his lips and sipped, the ends of his lips curving up as he imagined the imbeciles' reactions once they wake up and find that they shat themselves while asleep.

Yes, life was good.

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