Ray stared wide-eyed at William. He remembered Aren's explanation of his family.
Like how Aren had last seen his father and mother when he was eight years old. Also, it was his stepmother who had taken responsibility for punishing him back then, only for the punishment never to end.
Ray had expected someone from Aren's stepmother's side to visit, but it was Aren's mother's side that approached first.
He took a deep breath. There was not an ounce of expectation in him. After all, this woman had ignored Aren for so long. There was no reason for her to have suddenly changed her heart.
'What does she even want to say?'
Ray suppressed all these questions, as he was still not sure about Aren's feelings toward his family. If possible, he wanted Aren to handle all this family drama himself.
William dragged up a chair and sat down next to him. "Young Master, show your hand."
Ray sat there with a poker face, examining the man before him.
William had long, dark brown hair and light brown eyes. There was a scar just beneath his right eye. He looked like a typical fighter.
Still, there was a strange atmosphere around William that made Ray tense.
It felt similar to what he had sensed from the old man on the stage. It did not take him long to realize it was likely because they were high-level hex masters.
The plastered smile on William's face also irked him.
Ray took a deep breath and asked directly, "What do you want to say?"
William tapped the side of the bed and asked, "Young Master, are you familiar with the upcoming inner meeting that will take place in a few hours?"
Ray tilted his head. "Inner meeting…" He rubbed his forehead, as he truly knew nothing about this. It also seemed like Aren had little idea about it as well; otherwise, he would have mentioned something.
Ray asked back, "Is there anything special about that meeting?"
William smiled. "Yes. Calling it simple would be wrong. After all, the selection bench will vote for the next head of the Duisburg family."
Ray exclaimed, "The next family head will be selected today?"
This time, William tilted his head. "Young Master, didn't you know about the selection bench?"
Ray froze. It struck him that his knowledge was limited to the protagonist of the novel.
Only one of the protagonist's heroines came from the Duisburg family. Apart from her, he knew nothing about this family.
Wait. Didn't that heroine become the young head of the Duisburg family? But she was not initially chosen as head.
Ray forced himself to stop. What he knew from the novel only confused him further. He looked at William, waiting for an answer.
Baffled, William mumbled, "She really told you nothing."
Ray stared back in silence.
William took a deep breath and looked him in the eyes. "Young Master, my lady sent me here regarding the upcoming selection bench meeting."
He paused before continuing. "I believe it would be better to talk about this after I explain a little about the selection meeting. The meeting will start in an hour, so I will be brief in my explanation."
The way William was fixated on the coming meeting also piqued Ray's interest, and he nodded. "Sure."
William said, "I believe you know nothing, so let's start with the basics. The Duisburg family, being one of the strongest families, houses hundreds and thousands of households split into different branches."
At the start of the trial, Ray had already seen more than two hundred teens, so this did not shock him. He nodded along. "Yeah."
William continued with pride. "Out of those, there are eleven inner households. They manage all the outer households. The inner household group is further divided into one main household that leads the family, and ten supporting households that control different areas such as trade and other internal affairs."
Ray nodded in understanding. "Mmm. I believe I am part of the main household."
"Correct. The current leader of the main household is your uncle, while your father is the master of the Duisburg family, ruling over everyone."
'That explains why others called Aren Young Master,' Ray thought to himself.
William gave him a moment to process before continuing. "Now, there are two important positions in the family: the family head and the currently vacant Young Lord position. From the names alone, you can understand their responsibilities, right?"
Ray asked, "The selection bench you mentioned is to fill the Young Lord position, right?"
William sighed. "True, but it's not that simple. You see, all ten inner households and the three armies each have one old-generation and one new-generation representative inside this selection bench. Then there are the candidates for the Young Lord position. All of these form the selection bench."
Ray found the whole system intriguing, especially how the people currently leading the family were not even directly part of choosing the future lord.
But his curiosity ended when the core issue hit him.
There was no way William would explain all this unless Aren was involved.
Ray took a deep breath and said, "So I am one of the candidates."
William nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, Young Master. You, being a direct descendant of the current family head makes you eligible for the sixth candidate seat on the selection bench."
Ray grabbed his head. One moment, Aren was nobody, someone everyone wanted dead, and now he was part of the candidate race. He wanted to scream.
He could not believe they had just survived the trial, only for the entire family to come after them.
'Aren, who the hell are you? How can your luck be this bad, and why the hell am I inside your body?!' Ray screamed inwardly.
There was not even a shred of belief in him that anyone in this family wanted Aren to be part of this selection bench.
William had made it clear he was only included because he was the son of the current family head. By that logic, Aren should have known about this beforehand.
Waiting for the trial to end already showed that the family had written Aren off. Ray could understand that much.
Thinking about Aren's doomed talent sent another wave of pain through his head.
Then a sudden realization struck him. Wait, something was still missing here.
So, because of Aren's low talent, no one wanted him to become a candidate, but then why couldn't they just remove him?
'No, maybe they cannot do that. But then, what did that woman want for Aren?'
The thought struck him as he looked at William and asked, "What role do the members of the selection bench play here?"
William stared at him and dropped another bomb. "Each of them gets to choose the next Young Lord."