"You must marry me right here and right now!"
Ace was flabbergasted by Alina's sudden proposal. The house members were also startled, but they didn't look much surprised since they knew it was bound to happen.
"Hehehehe~" Eva burst into laughter after a moment of surprise, making Alina's eyes dangerously narrowed, and she questioned, "How is this related to Thief House in any way? Are you making a fool out of him?"
"Eva is right." Ace impassively stated as he looked at Alina, and despite his heartache seeing her gloomy expression, he knew he had to stick to his own words, "This is a private matter; we'll discuss it after this meeting."
Alina pursed her lips and wanted to persist, but Star's cold voice rang in her mind, "Are you out of your mind? You can't reveal this in front of everyone! Control your emotions!"
A hint of clarity returned to Alina's eyes as she took a deep breath and nodded, "Forgive me, I wasn't thinking right. We'll discuss it in private!"
Ace sighed in relief since Alina didn't push this matter any further, but the atmosphere had already turned somewhat awkward.
He pretended as if nothing had happened and looked towards Zaria, and said, "Alright, Lucky Thief Zaria, it's your turn. Although you are a new member, you are currently the strongest cultivator among us, and you are equally a part of Thief House, no matter what rank you have, so your opinion matters."
Zaria, who had been listening and observing silently, now had a pretty good idea of what was happening in the Thief House and why it was so disorganized.
She glanced at Ace, and a complicated glint flashed past her eyes, as she wasn't expecting him to be really a soft-hearted person towards his own.
Now, it was up to her if she wanted to submit to him completely, but no matter what, she knew she was now part of Thief House, and there was no escaping it except death! After observing everything, she made up her mind and said, "Foremost, I would like to apologize for my outburst. This is all new to me, and I'm no good at working with others. I've been for a very long time and used to having my way.
"I absolutely abhorred you for tricking me into this place. But I can no longer deny that this is an opportunity of a lifetime. My senior house members are undoubtedly amazing people and know their craft as thieves, and you gave them enough freedom to hone their abilities, and you also seemed fair. "This is a rare trait in someone with a position of power, and as long as you continue to be fair and unbiased, I have no problem following your arrangements. But if, in the future, I see you changing, I'll be the first one to protest, and I hope others can agree with me on this.
"I've seen someone changing because of power, to the point where sacrificing her own kin seemed appropriate." A hint of hatred surfaced in Zaria's eyes as if remembering something extremely painful before she looked at Ace directly into his eyes, "Now, tell me, do you dare to agree to this?"
Ace was astounded as it was his first time seeing Zaria . Although he was aware that Zaria had a complicated past, especially Falcon's existence, now that he somewhat gets a glimmer of it, he knew it was even more complicated than he had thought.
"What a nice way to put it." Eva spoke, and she nodded, "I also back you up, although I don't like the way you speak with the Leader. Let's put it to vote. I vote in support."
Alina pursed her lips, but she still nodded disgruntledly and gave her vote. Freya chuckled and showed her support, while Winter also voted for Zaria. But Noa, "I disagreed. I think that sometimes sacrifice is necessary for the greater good, and in our case, a Leader absolutely can't die even if it means some of us will meet our ends. Besides, I don't believe the Leader will ever walk on such a path, so your reasoning is childish and baseless! "
"This bitch…" Zaria was instantly enraged as she glared at Noa; she was now sure that Noa was deliberately targeting her. "Alright, no quarrel!" Ace glanced at Noa in resignation before he said, "Since you guys put it to vote, some of you might have different opinions; there is no need to turn hostile on every disagreement. This is what this voting system is for.
"Furthermore, I personally think Zaria's reasoning is just, so I approved of this. If you guys ever saw me becoming a power-hungry tyrant, feel free to point it out. Thief House is not some political power; we only have a few members, and we are thieves, not martyrs.
"Even I will need your expertise in the future. So, let's build Thief House together and in the correct way."
Ace was very pleased with this arrangement despite Noa's cruel beliefs, 'I think I need to have a long talk with her. She's becoming too reckless lately…'
Zaria grunted, but since she got Ace's promise and others, except Noa, supported her, there was no reason for her to continue to clash with Noa. As Ace said, everyone had their own opinion, and sometimes, people disagreed; there was no big deal about it.
But Zaria had already formed a grudge with Noa and already decided she would oppose her because Noa seemed too extreme, and she seemed to only care about Ace to the point one could say she was blindly loyal.
"Now that the Thief House order has been reformed let's discuss the main issue, which is the reason I've issued this House Meeting. I know most of you should be busy with your own personal tasks, and it would be hard to vanish from your posts without raising any suspicion, but this meeting was a must because I came from 'above'!" Ace gravely stated.
The house members were shocked because they instantly knew what Ace meant when he said, 'above', and their expressions turned serious. Including Zaria, although she had yet to learn about Heaven's Stealer, she knew 'above' Ace was the 'goddess.'
Ace then looked towards Eva and solemnly said, "Abyssal Architect Thief Eva, please give us details about this mission you designed in the Abyss!"