In Asgard's underground palace, Odin invited Russell to tour his treasury.
With Hela, the protagonist, yet to arrive, the banquet certainly could not begin. Since he had nothing better to do—and with queen Frigga's disdainful gaze upon him—Odin could only flee in a hurry under this pretext.
Of course, there was another reason.
Odin's greed had not died. He wanted to flaunt his wealth and let Russell know that marrying Hela came with countless benefits.
Odin had heard every word of Russell's conversation with Thor. Though he personally felt Russell had exaggerated his current strength somewhat, he had no intention of testing him and chose to tacitly accept it for now.
As Odin had said, the purpose of this family dinner was to settle the wedding date as soon as possible and marry Hela off, allowing him to devote himself fully to grooming Thor as heir to the throne.
Thor had matured. Compared to Hela, he understood a king's responsibilities and obligations. He would not gamble with the fate of the kingdom or rashly start a war.
As for strength, Thor, who had successfully mastered the power of the God of Thunder, was not much weaker than Hela in a one-on-one fight.
What he lacked was merely experience. Odin believed that, as a max-level main account, he only needed to guide him for a while before gradually relinquishing power and enjoying the last years of his old age.
As for Hela...
Come to think of it, Russell was actually not bad. He had a great family fortune, status, standing, and plenty of other virtues.
As for exactly what virtues, Odin would not list them. Hela would have to discover them herself.
A lack of emotional foundation was no issue either. Perhaps while Hela searched for Russell's good points, she would