Path to Transcendence-Chapter 347 - 345: Tricked

When Lily eventually came out from the back, she looked over at his direction with a large smile and walked over to him.

As she got close, she opened her arms, and Julius, being the person he was, also extended his arms. However, much to his surprise, she walked right by him and into the welcoming arms of the couple he had been talking to.

He was befuddled. He had no idea what had just happened. Did Lily just choose some strangers over him?

How rude.

After she finished hugging them, she looked over at Julius with a smirk. "I see you have already met my parents," she said.

"Your parents?" he asked while slowly blinking and looking back at the people he had been talking with for the past several minutes.

"Apologies, my husband insisted on meeting you without you already being made aware of who we were. He likes to play these games from time to time, and after all the things our Lily has told us about you, he really wanted to meet you in person," the wife and apparently Lily's mother said to him with an exasperated shake of her head.

He quickly collected himself and smiled at her to let her know that there weren't any hard feelings. "No, it's okay. I just had no idea."

"Was this all planned then?" He said with a pointed look at Lily.

She at least had the grace to look apologetic. "My father wanted to meet you."

He sighed and could do nothing except shake his head in disbelief. "So did I pass the test?"

Her father chuckled and nodded. "I would say you did. You even stood up for a couple of strangers to a woman stronger than you. Very admirable."

Julius had to hold back his tongue from arguing that the woman was stronger than he was. Although she was Tier 4, he would like to think he had a pretty good chance at beating her.

"Was she a part of the plan as well? Was it all just a test?" He asked.

"Oh no. She wasn't made aware of who I was. She was just doing her own thing under her own discretion. But I am glad that she did," Lily's father said with an approving tilt of his head.

Julius was a bit surprised that he wasn't more offended at the woman's behavior. Now that he knew that the man in front of him was Lily's father, he was quite certain that he was at least Tier 4 and more likely Tier 5. Therefore, being angry that a woman treated him and his wife so rudely was very reasonable.

The woman employee in question seemed very nervous as well. She was looking over at her boss with a worried look on her face. Julius didn't think she had any idea who Lily was, but she could probably guess that she was important if her boss was taking such a respectful tone with her.

Her boss on the other hand was looking at her with an accusatory look. He wasn't around to see what she had done, but from the context, he was already making assumptions of what transpired.

Julius had a feeling that the employee's days might be numbered.

Lily trotted over to him and gave him a questioning glance. "Are you mad?" She asked him.

He shook his head. "No, not mad. Just caught off guard is all," he assured her.

Her father walked up as well. "Don't blame her. It is entirely my fault. You wouldn't believe how many people I have used the same trick on over the years, only to find out that they failed to meet my expectations. These are the same people who would be treating me with reverence if they knew who I really was."

"I don't blame you at all. I understand completely. But also, please don't be surprised if I steal that trick from you later down the road," Julius joked to him.

"Please go right ahead. It is much more effective than you would imagine."

Julius grinned. "Well, it is nice to meet you officially. As you already might know, I'm Julius," he said while reaching out his hand.

Lily's father smiled widely and reached out to shake it. "Thalius Violet, it's an honor to meet the person my daughter has been telling me about," he then stepped to the side. "And this is my wife, Rose. She has many things she is dying to ask you."

His wife shoved his shoulder. "Stop it. You are going to scare the young boy away," she said and turned to Julius, ignoring his hand and going in for a brief hug.

"It's amazing to finally meet you. But I do have to ask… are you interested in my daughter? We constantly get letters from other Houses about a possible relationship with our daughter, but she doesn't seem like she wants anything to do with them. I'm worried she is going to spend the rest of her life alone and single."

"Mom!" Lily said warningly.

Rose dismissed her concerns with a smirk. "Calm down, darling. I am just asking some questions."

Julius decided to get back at Lily for her not telling him about this set up and played along with her mother. "Oh? She has a lot of suitors? Like who?"

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Lily sent him a mental jab, but he ignored it and for the next few minutes her mother spilled all of the juicy gossip about the families who have been throwing themselves at Lily's feet.

***

Lily POV

After Julius spent far too much time with her family to make her feel comfortable, he went back to campus while she stayed behind to talk with them.

"So… What did you think?" She asked them.

Her mother smiled. "I quite like him, polite and more importantly, he obviously cares about you. He also has a spine which is more than I can say for a lot of boys his age."

Lily frowned. "What do you mean?"

"While you were in the back, the young employee was quite rudely ignoring us and he stepped up to help us out. Not something you see much of these days. Not when the person in question is of a lower tier. Very sweet boy, but very dangerous too."

Lily was smiling when she heard her mother give her approval but scrunch her brows as she heard the last part.

"What do you mean by 'dangerous'?"

Her father was the one who answered. "We have heard rumors about his strength. That he had beaten Liam Abrams and Irene Graves in the tournament, but I tested him during our meeting."

"What kind of test?" Lily asked.

"I tried to gain access to his mind and test his aura," her father admitted.

"What?! Why would you do something like that? That's an invasion of his privacy."

"You really think I am going to allow him to be so close to my daughter without checking if he has any nefarious intentions."

Lily bit her tongue and instead looked at him with confidence. She knew better than anyone about his intentions, after all, she was a very good judge of character. "Well, what did you find?"

"Nothing."

"Huh?" She accidentally let her surprise slip out. She expected her father to say something nice about Julius or at least make a critique, but nothing was a surprise. Her father had taught her almost everything she knew about her psychic powers.

"Yeah, his mind is like a fortress. I wasn't able to find a single gap to exploit," her father said, sounding surprisingly pleased at this, considering that he had just admitted that he wanted to take a peek into Julius's mind to make sure he was a good person.

"What makes that dangerous?" She asked.

"Well, his aura told a different story. The moment I extended my aura out, his aura ravaged it before it could even get too close. I don't even think he was aware of this. It must be some natural defenses of his aura at work," her father said amusedly.

She winced. "Yeah, it does that from time to time."

"Like I said, he's dangerous. But that doesn't mean he is a bad kid. From what little I could glean, his intentions are genuine," her father said with a wink.

"Stop, we are not like that. I see him as a little brother," she argued.

"For now," he mused with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes. "So you approve?"

"Oh yes, he is most impressive, right, honey?" He asked her mother.

She inclined her head. "For sure. Although we shouldn't have been that surprised by what Marcus explained to us."

Lily turned to look at Marcus, who was standing innocently in the corner with narrowed eyes. "What did he tell you?"

"Oh, well, Marcus told us about the boy's unusual composure around him and Stella. He also told us that the boy met up with Dante Bloodfiend upon his return and had an unusually close relationship with the dangerous man."

"Dante Bloodfiend?" Lily asked, confused at the name.

Her mother nodded seriously. "Oh yes, a very dangerous Tier 6 who went on a killing spree, slaughtering countless nobles all for revenge. He isn't that well known, but there are still many Houses who want his head on a pike. Not a man who normally befriends children and certainly isn't known for his patience or mercy."

Lily frowned once again. She had recalled that Julius said that he was getting help from someone named Dante before, but she had thought he was a person who was from the city guard like Declan. Not a Tier 6.

"What does that mean then?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that we also learned that Alice has been visiting the boy for almost a year. She mentioned that Dante had introduced Julius to her and even personally taught her a new skill. Funny how small the world is, huh?" Her mother said to her.

"So we wanted to see how he would react to us if we appeared without letting him know about who we were," her father continued.

"And?" She asked slowly.

"And we have a meeting with Clan Genshen later this evening," her father said far too casually, considering the meaning of his words.

"So that means we are going to confront them?" She asked hopefully.

"Yes, while we aren't going to directly confront them, we are going to ask them why we caught someone from their clan making an attack on one of our people. Then we are going to see what they have to say and if they don't respond correctly, then a little more force is going to be needed. But if they don't back off, then it means that they consider Julius's life more important than offending us. Which further gives us more information about why they want him dead."

"Did the other members of the family support this?"

Her father chuckled. "Of course not. However, most of them were fine with it. They understand that Clan Genshen isn't one of our allies and some don't see the harm in poking them to see what they are going to do."

"And the rest?"

He shrugged. "They would rather not create any more drama with so much other trouble already closing in. Not that I can blame them for their worries."

"But we are still going to do it regardless?" She asked a little anxiously.

"What? Getting cold feet, little one?" He teased her.

"I just don't want to put the family in a bad position because of my own personal issues," she said softly.

"Like I said, if you consider him family, then you must protect him. And sometimes to do that, you have to be willing to bleed a little bit. Sure, they might bite back, but at least they will know that they can't easily offend House Violet just because they feel like it. Houses or clans like Clan Genshen sometimes only respect a display of strength. Plus, he seems like a person worth backing. If he is able to advance to Tier 5, then he will be a powerful ally to House Violet. I am considering this as an investment for the future."

"He's not an investment, Father. He's my friend," she reminded him.

"I know, I know. But it doesn't hurt to look at it this way either."

"What if Clan Genshen does fight back?" She asked.

"Then they fight back. But I doubt they will stand firm on this matter. They will take the message as it is. A warning."

She couldn't help notice that her father seemed unusually chipper about this.