CHAPTER 239: MYSTERIOUS PRIZES

"Hi, everyone!" Lyla clapped her hands to grab everyone’s attention. "Thank you for coming! Today, we will finally find our table tennis champion!"

It was already evening, past dinner time. Although the matches on all the previous days had been held in the middle of the day, for the finals, Lyla turned it into an evening event. Why? It wasn’t known. Maybe she just liked the atmosphere better. Or maybe because she wanted to turn it into a drinking party right afterwards. There were already plenty of cocktails served on the refreshment tables. There were only three games left anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal.

What was weirder was that she was hosting the event. On one hand, it made sense, since she was the one to come up with the idea and organize it... But on the other, she was also a participant. Once they had qualified for the semifinals. In such a case, wouldn’t it have been better for her to assign one of her close friends to it? Or was it that she wanted to be the center of attention so much that she had to do everything by herself? But was she going to award herself the prize as well?

Not that Felix cared... Whomever hosted the event, it didn’t make much difference.

He glanced over the audience. Cael wasn’t there yet. Felix had told Kade and Fen not to come, since they were Alphas and this was an Omega event, but Cael was supposed to come today to cheer Felix on. It was just that right before the tournament, something came up and he was running late...

Felix couldn’t help but wonder if Lyla had anything to do with it. As a proper Young Master, Cael had his own share of responsibilities. He was one of the Luna’s assistants, often assigned to dealing with minor issues of young, middle to lower-ranking Omegas. Felix didn’t know all the details, but Lyla probably did... And if she wanted Cael to be out of the way for the evening, then it wouldn’t be too hard for her to orchestrate something. She did seem to hold quite a lot of power in the Omegas’ social circles, after all.

Well, it was fine. Felix stopped looking around, and turned his attention back to Lyla, who continued with her speech,

"Now that we’re at this point, I’m sure you must be curious what the lucky four contestants stand to win!" She smiled widely, gesturing at the boxes on the table. "First, for all the semifinalists! I have prepared luxurious home spa sets, including a selection of body washes, scrubs, oils, and lotions, all carefully picked by our experts!"

The Omegas around nodded with approval. Although it wasn’t anything all that special, at least not for the members of the Bloodmoon Pack, who even had their own spa in the pack house, but it was still something that any of them would be glad to receive. As a prize in such a casual and spontaneous tournament, it was satisfactory.

"Then, for the two lucky finalists!" Lyla continued, making a short pause to build up expectations. "I have shopping vouchers for Perlabelle!"

This caused far more stir in the crowd. The name didn’t mean much to Felix, but judging by other Omegas’ faces, it was probably a high-end brand. And the amount on the voucher...

Well, it was certainly an unexpected prize. Felix stirred uncomfortably, thinking of the costs...

But then he realized that it had nothing to do with him, now did it? Lyla already had the vouchers. Which meant that either she footed the bill herself, or obtained permission to use the public funds. Either option was fine, as long as she wasn’t making Felix ask Kade’s parents to fund the prizes, Felix had no reason to care.

Still... It was odd. One of the vouchers would go to her... But, unless she wanted Felix to lose in the semifinals and not face against her, she would have to give one of those precious vouchers to him. Was crushing him in a table tennis match really worth this much money for her?

Lyla still wasn’t done, yet.

"And now, for the grand prize!" she exclaimed, her face beaming as she pulled out a golden card. "I have prepared a very special voucher! Can anyone guess what it is?"

The audience went silent for a moment, before everyone started whispering among each other. Since it was the grand prize, it had to be far more valuable than the prizes for the finalists... But what could it be?

It was just a golden card. Not a bank card, nor a gift card, but more like a folded greeting card. There was nothing particularly special about it, aside from the fact that it seemed to be covered with real gold. However, even if it was... So what? What use could it possibly have?

Which meant that it wasn’t the card that was special, but rather what was written inside.

Lyla smirked, watching the curious crowd that impatiently awaited her explanation. The prizes had been strictly guarded until now, so aside from her, only a few of her closest confidants knew what it was...

Her eyes fell on Felix, and as they did, her chest almost swelled with satisfaction.

Felix was anxious. He tried not to show it, but there was still a bit of unease in his eyes. His lips were also pressed a bit too tightly.

Lyla waited for a while longer, relishing in his nervousness. She couldn’t drag it on forever, though - they still had three games to play, and she didn’t want to postpone any of them until the next day, as it could reflect poorly on her organizational skills. So, with her eyes still on Felix, she flipped the card open, and announced,

"It’s a seven-day favor voucher, valid on any of our pack members! The winner will be able to pick whomever they prefer, or even choose a separate person for each day, and have them fulfill any of their requests!"