Mythology Rebooted-Chapter 408 - 189: Heir Ceremony, Spy Identity Exposed_3

He was displeased, but Wayne was thrilled, chuckling, "Austin, you’ve never mentioned how the Tulip Family’s heir will be confirmed, and the engagement, when is the engagement ceremony to be held?"

"The matter of the engagement can wait, I’ll pick a bad day."

Austin glossed over the topic and led Wayne into a grand hall, "Becoming the heir is not just up to my agreement, it needs unanimous approval from the fourteen members of the Tulip Family; you can only become the heir if you get more than half of the votes."

"What if it doesn’t reach half, or the votes are tied?"

"The Queen’s approval will suffice."

"..."

Isn’t this redundant, like taking off your pants just to fart?

Wayne rolled his eyes; even using Veronica’s head, he could guess that today’s voting session would surely fail.

Because if the members of the Tulip Family mutually recognized each other, they could decide on the heir internally, and the Queen’s presence wouldn’t matter.

Knowing this, the due process still had to be followed.

Wayne followed Austin into the grand hall, with its red carpet and floor-to-ceiling windows admitting sunlight, and the Windsor national flag, a map, and the Queen’s portrait hanging on the front wall.

Fourteen seats were arranged in a circle, each chair adorned with the family crests of the different families.

Wayne stepped onto the open space in the center of the seats, glancing around with his peripheral vision; not all fourteen family members had shown up, only five representatives were present, besides Austin from the Lando Family, he recognized only Barnie from the Boswell Family, and Yvette from the Collins Family.

The former, brimming with enthusiasm, patted his chest in front of Austin, signaling he would cast a favorable vote today, he wouldn’t make things difficult for his illegitimate son.

The latter just smiled at Wayne, and unsurprisingly, she would cast a dissenting vote.

The other two representatives, whom Wayne didn’t recognize, didn’t seem to be introduced by Austin either; noticing Wayne’s glance, both gentlemen gave a nod as a sign of courtesy.

Coming from the Wilson Family was Rupert Wilson, past his fifties, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, impeccably dressed, a politician with a strong presence.

Some time ago, when the Magic Department investigated internal traitors, Austin followed the clues up to the head of the Wilson Family.

Although it later proved that the Wilson Family wasn’t traitorous, there’s a saying that goes well, no problem occurs until you check, and the Wilson Family had to provide many benefits to Austin to clear their name of the accusation.

If nothing unexpected happens, Rupert’s presence today likely means a vote in favor; he was thoroughly exploited by Austin, so his impression of Wayne was pretty bad.

The last representative came from the Julian Family, Fieldster Julian, about thirty years in appearance and apparently around the same age as Austin.

Their situations were also eerily similar, both from families with few children, both involved in commercial endeavours.

The difference was that Austin’s wife and children were out in the forest, whereas Fieldster was a loner without wife or children, just a pile of lovers, and his family’s main industries were tobacco and lotteries.

Perhaps due to being involved in too many unscrupulous activities, hence having a myriad of lovers but not a single child, to make amends, Fieldster had established numerous welfare institutions in Windsor to house homeless children.

These were quite legitimate welfare institutions; before Dorin adopted Chris, she had stayed in a Julian Family institution for two years.

In strict terms, he was also Chris’s benefactor.

Wayne wasn’t aware of these details, only knowing that this man’s gaze was unfriendly, and quite lecherous as well, considering Windsor’s characteristics, he suspected the man was a homosexual.

Besides the five present representatives, the rest of the Tulip Family members were absent; placed on their seats was a Crystal Ball, capable of producing sound for the purpose of voting.

What era was it, that magic projectors had still not been invented, not keeping up with the times at all.

Wayne thought critically to himself.

The presiding officer of the voting meeting was Yvette, a Legendary Mage well-qualified for the role; under her leadership, all fourteen members of the Tulip Family were convinced.

There was nothing for Wayne to do in the meeting, just showing up was enough; as the spokesperson, Austin would go through the whole process.

Austin had a dark expression as he introduced Wayne to his colleagues, a local from Lundan, of clear background. As a son-in-law of the Lando Family, he had inheritance rights and was to be the next family head after him.

"Ahem, ahem, ahem!" xN

For a moment, coughing sounds were incessant.

Fieldster covered his mouth to snicker, Rupert maintained a poker face as he pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, and Barney opened his mouth wide, exclaiming he had broadened his horizons, that they could play it this way.

Yvette shot Austin a reproachful look, what kind of time was this for jokes, to be a bit more serious, and that there was no shame in loudly proclaiming someone to be an illegitimate child.

Austin’s face darkened further as he emphasized Wayne’s identity once more, clarifying there was no blood relation, and he was not an illegitimate child.

"..." xN

The room fell silent, everyone was shocked.

"Austin, if you insist on arranging Wayne’s identity this way, everyone... I actually have no objections."

Yvette spoke dryly, understanding the intention was to preserve the purity of the family bloodline and to save face by not publicly acknowledging the illegitimate child, instead having Wayne take control under the guise of being a son-in-law.

Is that necessary? Even a blind man could see he’s your son!

Barney, delighted, clapped his hands, deciding to cast a dissenting vote then and there. Austin’s handling was quite amusing. He must receive an invite to the day the young master and miss of the Lando family wed.

Austin couldn’t be bothered to explain, let them think what they want. As long as he knew the truth, that was enough.

Over the next five minutes, he read the speech against his conscience, praising Wayne to the skies, latching onto every little positive and lauding him in all sorts of ways.

Wayne: (⁄⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄⁄)

Likes it, loves to hear it, keep the compliments coming!

Austin could no longer continue. The corners of his eyes twisted, and he slammed the script down on the table with force.

What kind of trash was this script, how had Megan written it, not a single truth in it. Had Hefei swapped it out?

Megan felt very wronged, she was not familiar with Wayne and had used Austin as a template, writing the opposite of everything he was, and had rushed out the script overnight.

Austin sat down gasping for air, feeling somewhat nauseous with a very pale face.

Yvette blinked to confirm he was done and cleared her throat, "Distinguished representatives, Austin Lando has nominated Wayne as the heir to the Lando Family. Should anyone object, speak now or we will proceed to the vote."

"I have an objection."

And there was the troublemaker.

Rupert, the politician from the Wilson Family, picked up a document and looked at Wayne steadily, "Based on my investigation into Mister Wayne, he is not from Windsor. He comes from Frank, a very skilled intelligence agent."

Wayne: "..."

It’s over!

What was bound to come out had finally been revealed!

Rupert lifted the document high, smiling at Austin, "Mister Lando, what were you thinking by incorporating an enemy spy into the Tulip Family? Surely you’re not a spy from Frank as well?"

————

10,000 words, asking for monthly tickets.

Today is the last day for double monthly tickets, they will expire tomorrow.