"Seditious meetings. Intelligence leaks. That sort of thing."

That sort of thing? Neville thought, How could you call such a serious thing so lightly like that?

Neville took a deep breath and whispered sarcastically, "So Colonel Vane is here to make sure your meet up with friends isn’t secretly a coup planning session?"

The corner of Grayson’s mouth twitched. "Something like that."

Neville pursed his lips and seriously said, "And you didn’t think to mention this before inviting me?"

"Would you refuse to go?"

Yes, absolutely yes. Is what he wanted to say. I would have found seventeen different excuses to stay home, and god knows what rather than walk into a viper’s nest of high-society military people. ’Cause that shit is crazy!

But Grayson was looking at him with that puppy-like expression. The Pearl Harmony Bracelet also didn’t fail to make its presence known to him and glinted faintly at his wrist, reminding him of his quest.

For the quest, Neville reminded himself. Just need to make sure he keeps wearing it for the rest of the quest duration.

"I can’t do anything about it either, I’m already here," he said finally.

Grayson’s shoulders relaxed a little, and he was comforted by saying, "The venue actually has a nice view. It’s a seaside estate. I hope you like it."

What mermaid doesn’t like the ocean? ’Liking’ it doesn’t cut it, you know? It’s literally my lifeline. If I had a chance to sneak out to the shore, I would make sure to turn a few more black pearls into a white one.

Neville smiled with twinkling eyes as he thought of this and said, "That’s great. I hadn’t seen the ocean view upclose before."

Grayson picked up on his interest in the ocean and said, "My penthouse is also close to the seaside, we can walk there sometime later."

Oh, great. More ocean resources.

Neville smiled sweetly and said, "Great."

The rest of the ride passed in relative silence, and a few more work and non-work conversations. Colonel Vane remained silent the whole drive, too.

When Neville finally turned to see the landscape view in the window, it already changed into the wild azure expanse of the southern coast.

The southern coast was unlike any other place in Planet Xylos. It had a separate weather regulator that could maintain its tropical weather all year round without being affected by the year-long winter in other places.

Spending this much money to make sure this High Society Club looked like a paradise...wealthy, powerful people sure know how to spend their money.

When they finally approached the Seaside Estate, it looked nothing like Neville had imagined.

He had expected ostentatious displays of wealth—gold trim, excessive fountains, maybe a few pretentious statues.

Instead, the complex sprawled across a clifftop peninsula like a collection of carefully placed stones. It had all clean lines and natural materials blending into the landscape. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

The main building rose from the rock as if it had grown there, its walls of local stone reflecting the afternoon sun while massive windows captured the endless ocean horizon.

Their hovercar touched down on a private landing pad, separated from the main entrance by a pathway lined with salt-resistant flowering shrubs.

The ocean roared somewhere below. It made Neville crave to swim there.

"Mr. Maxwell. Mr. Hope."

Neville snapped awake upon hearing Colonel Vane’s call. He stepped out of the hovercar and found himself facing two familiar figures.

Bryan stood with his usual knowing smile, hands clasped behind his back like a man enjoying a private joke.

Beside him, Iris’s dark violet bob caught the coastal breeze, her no-nonsense expression softened with a little cheek blush as she looked at Bryan.

In the middle row, Sarah had wedged herself between Bryan and Iris. She had a look of someone who had absolutely invited herself and intended to enjoy every second of it.

She was currently peeling the wrapper off a protein bar, the cooking robot’s latest item, with aggressive enthusiasm.

"Sarah?" Neville blurted out in surprise.

Sarah bounced forward on her heels, her energy somehow undimmed by the formal surroundings.

"Neville! You made it! Isn’t this place gorgeous? I mean, I knew it would be nice because Bryan told me—well, he didn’t tell me exactly, but he mentioned there might be drinks, and I said drinks sounded lovely, and then somehow I ended up here and—"

"Sarah." Iris’s voice cut through the rambling with practiced efficiency. "Breathe."

"Right! Breathing. Very important."

Neville caught the look Grayson threw at Bryan—a sharp, questioning glare that asked without words why Sarah was present.

Bryan returned an expression of helpless innocence that fooled absolutely no one.

Grayson’s lips pressed together in a thin line.

Whatever tension existed between the men, it wasn’t his mystery to solve. He turned to Sarah instead, genuinely curious. "I wasn’t expecting to see you here. Did Bryan invite you?"

Sarah’s cheeks flushed a delicate pink. "Oh! Um. Sort of? I mean, I may have... overheard... some things—"

"She threatened to file a workplace discrimination complaint if she wasn’t included," Bryan said blandly with a teasing expression at the end.

"That is not what happened!" Sarah said, fuming.

Neville asked again, "So, why are you here?"

Sarah bit into the bar and chewed with theatrical slowness before answering.

"My parents," she said, like those two words explained everything.

"Your parents?"

"It’s a cold war."

Sarah waved the half-eaten bar in a vague circle.

"You know how it goes. Dad’s being passive-aggressive because Mom’s being passive-aggressive because Lilianna’s been off-planet again for some long-haul photoshoot or whatever it is she’s doing this time."

She took another bite and acted like she was shivering in the cold.

"The house is basically a silent battlefield. I swear, I could hear the ice forming on the dining table at breakfast."

Neville frowned. Something else about this arrangement struck him, and he blurted out, "Wait—you’re still living with your parents?"

The question came out louder than intended.

Sarah paused mid-chew. Bryan pressed his lips together. Iris turned away from them.