Myths Reawakened

Chapter 189 (2): Process of Succession x Exposed as a Spy

November twenty-first.

For the past few days, Wayne had been walking on thin ice with such caution and effort that his body fat decreased. His diligence pleased Silvia. If he hadn’t been training so persistently, he wouldn’t have received the fruit of his labor. She used him as an example to remind Veronica to work hard, or she would fall behind.

The audacity of the lie and the ready acceptance of said lie left Wayne speechless. He had reason to suspect that Veronica had been a silly girl that the Landos picked up somewhere, given the complete lack of resemblance she shared with Auston. Perhaps Wayne was Auston’s actual son, only he had returned as the heir through marriage.

Today, Auston wore a full suit and asked Megan to dress Wayne up for the occasion. A scum in the skin of a gentleman and a depraved man pretending to be righteous walked into the headquarters of the Ministry of Magic side by side.

The Department of Forest Resources Management owned numerous office buildings. Outside of the one that had belonged to a certain Vice Minister, which had been seized, each high-ranking member owned their own building, Auston included.

“The award ceremony is held annually,” Auston said. “When it’s open to the public, it’s always because of a political reason. Your situation is complicated, so you cannot receive the award in Buckingham Palace, but at the Ministry of Magic.”

Wayne hadn’t established himself in society, and his ID was the only thing representing him. He had not met the requirements for his name to be promoted externally. He was only receiving a medal because he had made a contribution to the Ministry of Magic.

It didn’t matter to Wayne. The medal was more for the Queen’s benefit. The royal family had never lauded anyone, and the annual award ceremony was at its core a celebration of the family’s own achievement.

The Queen was essentially saying that the ones receiving the medals had made great achievements under her wise leadership. That was the case no matter the era and the regime.

“Her Majesty’s office building houses a venue for awarding medals to mages, but first, you have to be officially recognized as the Lando heir,” Auston said with irritation.

Pleased by his reaction, Wayne chuckled and said, “Auston, you haven’t explained how the heir of a Tulip Family is made official. And how about the marriage? When is the engagement?”

“The marriage can wait. I have to pick an inauspicious day for that[1].”

Auston didn’t dwell on the topic of the marriage. Leading Wayne to an auditorium, he said, “My permission alone doesn’t determine the heir. All fourteen Tulip Families must put it to a vote, and you can only become the heir with half of the families supporting you.”

“What if I don’t get the majority of the votes, or there is an equal number of yeses and noes?”

“Her Majesty will have the final say.”

Then why vote at all?

Wayne rolled his eyes. Even if he had Veronica’s brain, he could imagine that the vote would be a failure today. The reason was simple: if the Tulip Families approved of the choice of the heir, they could’ve made the decision on their own, with or without the Queen’s presence.

Still, the necessary process was necessary. Wayne followed Auston into the auditorium, stepping onto the red carpet. Sunlight shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows on one side. The wall right across from them was decorated with Windsor’s flag and map, as well as a portrait of the Queen.

Fourteen seats formed a semicircle, marked with the emblem of each family. Wayne walked to the center of the seats. Looking around, some of the fourteen families were still absent. Only five representatives had arrived. Aside from Auston, Wayne only recognized Barney from the Boswell family and Yvette from the Collins family.

Barney patted his chest with a friendly look on his face as he promised Auston to vote in support of Wayne, not making things hard for his illegitimate son. Yvette simply smiled at Wayne. It seemed that she would vote for Wayne.

He didn’t know the other two representatives, and Auston didn’t intend to introduce them to him. Sensing Wayne’s gaze, the two representatives nodded gracefully.

Rupert Wilson of the Wilson family was in his fifties. Dressed impeccably with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, he seemed like a dignified politician.

Some time ago, when the Ministry of Magic was looking into the traitors amongst them, Auston had followed the leads to the Wilson family. Although the Wilsons were ultimately absolved of the guilt, everyone had a skeleton in their closet. The Wilsons had to have offered Auston something to clean their name.

It would make sense that Rupert was here to vote against Wayne. After getting exploited by Auston, he felt no goodwill toward Wayne.

The last representative was from the Julian family, Forest Julian. He appeared in his thirties like Auston, and they shared the predicament of being businesspeople with few talented members in the family.

The difference was that Auston had a wife and a daughter who often left him sleeping in the grove at his estate, while Forest had no one but countless lovers. His family’s main business was in the tobacco industry and the lottery.

Perhaps Forest’s misdeeds had garnered him bad karma, so he had produced no children so far despite having numerous lovers. To compensate, he had built quite a lot of orphanages across Windsor to take in children with no home to return to.

The orphanages were legitimate facilities; before Dorrin adopted Kristen, she had stayed in one of the Julian family’s facilities for two years. Technically, Kristen was indebted to him.

Wayne didn’t know anything but the fact that the man had been eyeing him with desire in his eyes. Considering that this was Windsor, he suspected that Forest might swing for the other team.

Outside of the five representatives who had attended the meeting in person, the rest of the Tulip Families were participating in the discussion and the vote through the crystal ball in their seats.

It’s the twentieth century, Wayne judged silently. Why haven’t magical projectors been invented yet? This is such an archaic device.

Yvette was the moderator of the meeting. Her Legendary rank granted her credibility, and all other thirteen families would show her respect.

Wayne didn’t really have a role to play during the meeting outside of showing his face. As the representative of the Lando family, Auston would take care of the entire process.

With a dark expression, Auston introduced Wayne to his fellow family heads: a Londaner with a clear background and the son-in-law of the Lando family’s current leader. He would take over the family as the heir after Auston.

Coughs could be heard all around the room. Forest covered his mouth to smother a smile, Rupert adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses with an impassive face, and Barney opened his mouth wide, marveling at the shocking strategy he had never seen before.

Yvette glanced at Auston with disapproval. This wasn’t the time for jest. An illegitimate son wasn’t that much of a dirty secret that it had to be concealed.

Auston’s face darkened further. He emphasized again that there was no biological connection between him and Wayne, that Wayne wasn’t his illegitimate son.

Everyone fell into stunned silence.

“Auston, if you insist on giving Wayne that identity, everyone... I won’t oppose it,” Yvette said awkwardly. She understood. Auston decided not to recognize Wayne as a bastard to keep the family bloodline pure and the family reputation clean. Wayne was thus taking over as a son-in-law instead.

Is it really necessary? Even a blind man can tell that he’s your son!

Barney clapped in amusement. He had decided to vote for Wayne. Auston was making an interesting move, and he wanted an invitation to the future wedding between the Lando young master and young lady.

Auston couldn’t be bothered to explain further. Whether they bought it or not, he knew that Wayne wasn’t related to him, and that was all that mattered.

For the next five minutes, he read from a script and lied blatantly to shower Wayne with compliments, listing all his strengths and praising him to an impossible height.

Wayne might just blush. He was loving it. Please keep going and praise him more!

Auston could not continue. With a twisted face, he slammed the script on the table. What nonsense was that? How did Megan write something without even an ounce of truth? Had Silvia swapped the manuscript?

Megan would protest if she could hear Auston. She didn’t know much about Wayne, so, pulling an all-nighter, she could only use Auston as an example and paint the opposite picture in her writing.

Breathing heavily, Auston sat down with a dark complexion. He felt like throwing up.

Yvette made sure he was done before she cleared her throat and said, “Representatives, Auston Lando has nominated Wayne as the Lando heir. If anyone has any objection, make it now, or we’ll put it to a vote.”

“I have an objection.”

Here it came.

Rupert, the politician representing the Wilson family, picked up a document and stared at Wayne. “According to my investigation into Mr. Wayne, he isn’t from Windsor, but Franc. He’s an excellent spy.”

...Shit! Cat’s out of the bag! Wayne cursed in his head.

Rupert raised the document and smiled at Auston. “Mr. Lando, what’s the meaning of taking an enemy spy into the Tulip Families? Are you perhaps a spy from Franc, too?”

1. In many Asian countries, a wedding is often held on a day that’s considered auspicious/lucky. In China, as an example, people often consult the lunar calendar or even a master to select the best day, taking into consideration the birthdays of the bride, groom, and their parents, as well as many other factors. There are also months and days that are considered bad luck for getting married, such as the ghost month (the seventh month of the Lunar calendar). ☜