At this moment, something major was stirring within Freya's Familia.
Today, they were attending a victory banquet hosted by Loki's Familia. Because of that, Freya was choosing a dress for the occasion.
This had always been a routine affair—yet today felt different.
Freya was unusually serious.
So, as members of her Familia, all the key figures were lined up and seated.
"So, the guy who's been haunting Freya-sama's dreams is showing up at this banquet too?"
Everyone's faces were filled with frustration.
Competition for Freya's affection was already intense within the Familia. Now, someone from outside was catching her eye? There was no way the others could be pleased about that.
Especially since it was obvious that Freya was genuinely interested in this outsider. The only thing keeping their expressions in check was their unwavering loyalty to her.
But setting that loyalty aside, their resentment toward the outsider ran deep—etched into their very bones.
"Don't call it 'haunting her dreams.' He probably just used some trick to get Freya-sama's attention."
Dvalinn, the second son and one of the "Bringar," spoke with clear irritation.
He couldn't control who Freya-sama chose to favor. As someone who had pledged his loyalty to her, he didn't have the right to object.
But he was still frustrated.
Not at Freya-sama's decision—but at the man who had drawn her gaze.
"He's playing hard to get! That's got to be it!"
"Exactly! Why else would Freya-sama suddenly become interested in some guy always skulking in the shadows?"
The third son, Berling, and the fourth son, Grer, chimed in in agreement.
To them, Freya's change of heart had to have a cause.
If the problem wasn't with Freya-sama, then it had to be with the guy who had caught her attention.
"But wasn't it Freya-sama who showed interest in him first? He's always seemed like someone trying to keep a low profile."
The eldest son, Alfrigg, offered a more balanced view.
While gathering intelligence, he had also looked into the man.
But the information available was scarce—so much so that it seemed the guy never intended to expose himself in the first place. Beyond a few initial details, there was almost nothing to go on.
To Alfrigg, the man didn't seem like someone trying to attract Freya-sama's attention at all. If anything, it looked more like he was avoiding the gaze of the gods altogether.
"Alfrigg, shut up!" *3
That fair remark clearly struck a nerve with the three brothers.
'Yeah, yeah, you just don't want to admit it.' Alfrigg let out a helpless sigh.
He knew that goddess's personality far too well—honestly, everyone here did. That's why they were all groaning and sighing.
Because when Freya set her mind on something, no one could stop her.
"Sure, she's shown interest in people before, but isn't she going a bit too far this time?"
The Cat Person, Allen Fromel, twitched his ears repeatedly, his expression mirroring the sour looks of the three Pallums from earlier—clearly annoyed.
Freya's Familia was already filled with inner conflict, with everyone vying for her affection. And now, after all their internal competition, Freya's attention had been drawn to someone outside? Who could be happy about that?
"It's exactly because she's too interested that Freya-sama is carefully picking out a dress for Loki Familia's banquet. Have any of you ever seen Freya-sama go out of her way to choose a dress before?"
With that one sentence, the blond elf Hedin Selland brought the entire room to silence.
Freya-sama had always been meticulous about attending banquets, but that was usually just her being relatively formal.
But carefully selecting a dress for a banquet? That was on a whole different level.
Normally, she wore the same sets for different occasions.
A black deep V-cut gown for divine assemblies.
A white deep V-cut gown for banquets hosted by other gods.
For an event like today's celebration hosted by Loki, a white dress would've been the obvious, no-brainer choice. But Freya-sama had gone out of her way to pick a new outfit—now that was a big deal.
She only ever did that for especially formal or important occasions.
"Tch! Just how the hell did that sneaky guy pull it off?"
At that moment, Allen was desperate to know how that rat-like guy managed to grab Freya-sama's attention.
If being a sneaky little mouse was all it took, he'd be ready to throw away his Cat Person pride and shout, "I'm done being a Cat Person!"
Of course, no one actually knew the answer. Everyone was thinking the same thing.
And just as that thought crossed their minds, their eyes turned—unspoken, yet unanimous—toward the only musclebound man among them: Ottar.
"Ottar, you spend the most time with Freya-sama. You should know something, right?"
"I'm protecting Freya-sama. It's not monopolizing."
Ottar replied flatly, correcting their assumption. But that only made Allen's forehead vein twitch even more.
"If you, you damned pig, hadn't hogged all her time, I could've taken on the duty of guarding her too!"
"Damn cat, that's not something for you to say."
The moment protecting Freya-sama was mentioned, the "Bringar" leapt to their feet.
"Damn right, a damn cat actually thinks he can protect her?"
"Who do you think you are, damn cat!"
"We four brothers could do it too, damn cat!"
The four Pallum brothers all took turns calling Allen a "damn cat," and his face darkened immediately.
Just as the atmosphere was about to explode, Hedin knocked on the table, cutting off the escalating argument.
"Is now really the time to be fighting over this?"
The two sides glared at each other, but soon they both reluctantly cooled down. Fighting could wait—now wasn't the time.
Once Allen and the four brothers quieted down, Hedin adjusted his glasses and voiced his own complaint in his usual blunt way.
"So, damn pig—you do know the reason, don't you?"