The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 4: The Trip

After leaving the mansion, Victor and Theodore took a fifteen minutes trip by car to the island’s harbor, where a fully serviced yacht was waiting for them.

After Boarding the yacht, Victor sat down on a fancy seat and looked out of the window to watch the waves, while trying to relax.

After a few moments, his father, who was talking to the captain about the course of the trip, entered the cabin and sat on the adjacent seat.

“We will be there in 3 hours. The captain informed me that we need to make a detour to pick up some other participants,” said Theodore, “Try to relax your mind. It will be over soon.” He added.

The Yacht soon started its engines and began its trip.

The family owns an entire archipelago where each island contains facilities that have specified functions such as training, research, or residential. On normal occasions, the residential islands would house the lonely wives and their children with some servants. The husbands are busy doing business or searching for other potential wives on the mainland.

Their trip’s destination is the central island. It houses the main seat of the family, the elders’ halls, as well as the treasury and punishment halls. The ceremony will take place at the ancestral hall at the center of the island.

Victor watched the waves go by as he reminisced about this same trip in his past life. He was so nervous back then that he could not focus on anything. Turning his head from the window, he began to observe the maids who were busy preparing drinks for him and his father.

While they are called servants by the family, In fact, these girls were all slaves of his family. The family has brought and trained them from their youth so that they would be faithful and loyal to their masters.

His father caught his look and could not help but to chuckle a little “Don’t worry, after the ceremony, if you managed to survive, depending on your rank you would be given a chance to get your own servants. But if you didn’t, I will let a few of these girls accompany you in your grave. “. He said with an evil smile, making the girls shiver in fright.

Victor nodded his head, then took a sip of his freshly brewed coffee that a shivering servant girl just handed him.

His father’s poor sense of humor never changes. But he knew that he was subtly encouraging him, like any father he wished for his son’s success.

Soon, the yacht came to a stop in a small harbor, and a few passengers boarded. Two girls and three boys. They were Victor’s cousins from some branch families, they will also join the ceremony today.

They saluted Theodore and Victor then sat down in their seats nervously. They did not dare make a noise in the presence of the main branch members.

The family hierarchy was engraved in their bones.

After a few similar stops, the small cabin was almost full, but still, no one dared to sit near the father and son.

The ceremony will include family members from different classes, Including the direct heirs, talented disciples and servants, who had to spend their trip on the deck.

The yacht made one last stop, however, this time only two passengers boarded. One middle-aged man with a pointy beard and one burly proud youth who had his nose pointed to the ceiling. When they entered the cabin all the 20 participants seated inside stood up and saluted in respect, but the two didn’t even look at them, just continued their way till they reached Victor and his father.

They were Victor’s third uncle Patrick and his son Ron, who saluted Theodore then sat down with his father on two opposing seats while giving Victor a mocking look as if he was looking at a dead man.

“It’s been a while, Theodore, How is your business these days?” Patrick said to Victor’s father while completely ignoring him.

“It’s all good, You have been busy yourself lately, I heard you opened a new pharmaceutical company.” Theodore replied “ I see your son has grown up” he examined Ron, “ He should be able to succeed today, like his big brother did back then, I hope.”

“Yes, he has already reached the 3rd level of the secret art. I have high expectations for him” Patrick said while casting an approving gaze onto his son, who raised his chin, trying to look valiant.

While still ignoring Victor, Patrick continued “ I heard you found a new concubine, it had been said that she is already pregnant, you already have three wives and three Player sons, aren’t you planning on stopping with this wife hunting routine? it’s not good for your health.” he asked with little annoyance and envy on his face.

“Why would I?” answered Theodore with a proud look. “And it’s not like I am actively hunting for wives, but I do run a media production company after all,”

Victor’s grandfather the current patriarch of the Von Weise family has only one wife who gave birth to five sons and one daughter. Theodore who was the fifth and youngest child already have three wives and many heirs while his older brothers only have one wife each and one or two qualified heirs. And it is not that they are faithful to their wives, but finding a spouse who gives birth to a pureblood heir is no easy feat, each of his uncles has already slept with hundreds of women but only a handful of women were suitable.

Ron looked at his uncle Theodore with envy. After the ceremony, he intends to sleep with a hundred women in one go. Then he looked at Victor with contempt. “ not like this cripple who would probably die tonight.” he thought.

Victor who was watching from the side figured out exactly what Ron was thinking about, it was easy to tell from the perverted look in his eyes, but he knew that Unfortunately Ron will not live past tonight, the ceremony hall’s graveyard will be his resting ground.

The cabin was silent for the remainder of the journey, as both Theodore and Patrick despite their relaxed looks were nervous for their sons, and the rest of the passengers dared not make any noise. It was almost late afternoon when the yacht came to its final destination.

The central island was the biggest in the archipelago. It contained the central administration of the family as well as a fully functioning military base and an on-water airport. In fact, in the past world war, some idiot tried to invade the islands but ended up having his entire fleet decimated. Since then, no one dared to make a move on the family.

The Island looked as magnificent as ever, thought Victor as he gazed upon the towering mountain in the center of the island, there, in the awakening hall he will take his first step.

The yacht was anchored in the harbor, and the passengers stood up in respect while waiting for the main branch members to disembark first.

The two father and son pairs soon went ashore followed by the rest, where there was a full convoy of cars waiting for them, so they boarded them and headed up the central mountain to the ancestral hall.

During the journey, Victor made sure to keep a timid anxious look on his face, which made his cousins give him a disgusting look. Everyone had heard the rumors. They are better than him they thought. But Victor did not care. He knew that many of them would not survive the ceremony. And that in this place, there exists many enemies and many opportunities.