Chapter 98. A Marriage Pact? Serela and ?
Three days later. Night.
Dressed in more formal attire under Aina's assistance, Luo Nan walked alone to the small dining room, preparing to et his father, Hermann von dillion.
It was the second ti he had gone to see that duke of a father since awakening his previous-life mories over half a month ago.
Their first eting had been right after he had just erged from the storm surrounding the "Banquet Assassination Fra-Up Case."
Luo Nan rembered—at that eting, his father had brought him the "Hollow Stone," opened the path of the Supernatural for him, and profoundly altered the trajectory of his life.
'I wonder what surprise this old man will have for
this ti?'
Pushing open the small dining room door, Luo Nan settled comfortably into the lower seat.
Naturally, the head seat belonged to Duke dillion.
Compared to the slight awkwardness of his first eting with Duke dillion, Luo Nan—now having fully integrated the mories of both his lifetis—could already face this formidable old man of a father without his expression changing.
Father and son still had nothing to say to each other.
Both ate in silence.
It wasn't until Luo Nan and Hermann were nearly done that the two of them tacitly set down their cutlery, dabbed at the corners of their mouths with napkins, each took a small sip from their wine glasses, and finally looked each other in the eye.
"Father, what did you co back for this ti? Is there sothing you need to tell ?"
Luo Nan spoke first. He knew his old man's temperant well—since The Incident, unless there was sothing truly important to say, Hermann basically never ca looking for him.
Thus, the father-son relationship, while it couldn't be called estranged, was by no ans close.
Hermann gave a slight nod, but didn't answer Luo Nan's question directly. Just as last ti, he first inquired about his only son's recent circumstances.
"Luo Nan, your recent performance…… I've heard it all."
"Father……"
"Though I don't know the details, you…… should have beco a Supernatural Practitioner by now, correct?" Hermann asked.
Luo Nan becoming a Supernatural Practitioner was naturally sothing that couldn't be hidden from Hermann—after all, it was his own father who had given him that Hollow Stone.
"Yes, Father. I've already beco a Tier One Warrior."
He thought about it, and in the end concealed his true strength of Tier One Mid-Stage.
It had only been half a month since he entered the Supernatural realm to the present.
One had to know—even his sister Qili, hailed as a "Heaven's Prodigy," had taken over half a month just to advance from first entering the Supernatural threshold to becoming a Tier One Warrior.
As he had expected—when Hermann heard Luo Nan openly confirm that he was already a Tier One Warrior, a flicker of emotion briefly passed through those deep, grey, still-water eyes.
"I see…… Luo Nan, you're excellent. And I…… were right not to be wrong about you."
"It's all thanks to the Hollow Stone Father brought." Luo Nan began to exchange complints with Hermann.
"Father, I'm quite curious—that Hollow Stone, where did you get it?"
Luo Nan was naturally very curious about the origins of the stone that had so fundantally changed his life's trajectory.
Although the Cheat Device Miss had said it was a gift from the world—such a gift could not have co from thin air.
Hermann thought for a mont, then slowly said, "That stone was found in your mother's room when I was sorting through the family's old residence."
The family's old residence?
Luo Nan thought about it—the dillion family's old residence…… should be in the southern Linxia Bay Territory, shouldn't it? Spanning more than half the empire's territory from Opalia.
"Let's set that aside. I heard you've been keeping close company with Serela recently?"
"Oh? Not really…… I only sought her out once, and the other tis she sought
out." Luo Nan had no idea what Hermann was bringing this up for.
Hermann neither agreed nor disagreed and continued, "The two of you together tracked down the mastermind behind your assassination, correct? The Perez Family……"
"Yes, Father. It was indeed the Perez Family."
"Rest easy—Serela has already swept away the Perez influence in Opalia, and their remaining followers, your Uncle Tevitz and I also helped deal with." Hermann said it so offhandedly it was terrifying—as if he wasn't discussing a noble house with centuries of distinguished lineage, but rather casually deciding how to slaughter a chicken.
"Uncle Tevitz?"
Luo Nan retrieved the na from mory.
Tevitz Siglo, the Siglo Viscount, the Empire's current Pri Minister. He had held the Empire's governance for over a decade, and his relationship with Luo Nan's own father was excellent.
Luo Nan rembered that when he was small, Tevitz used to visit the Ducal Manor often, and every ti he ca he would bring Luo Nan and Qili all manner of curious novelties from overseas.
And in his previous-life mories, the Imperial Pri Minister Tevitz also played an important role in the Imperial Storyline closely tied to Serela.
"My thanks to Father and Uncle Tevitz then." Luo Nan expressed his gratitude.
"Also—regarding the matter of Pati, you handled that well too. I heard you used a false identity to set a trap and flushed her out in one go."
"It was nothing more than the light exposed by the dark." Luo Nan waved his hand.
Hermann gave a nod. "Regardless, well done."
With that, he looked at the handso, peerless son before him, then drew out from his coat an elegantly styled docunt adorned with curling vine-and-floral patterns.
Luo Nan could see that the docunt paper was of an extraordinarily fine ivory-white, and under the lamplight gave off a faint sheen.
On the cover were also imprinted the Austrein imperial house's Indestructible Cornflower crest and the dillion family's Golden Falcon Insignia.
"This is……" Luo Nan's brow gave a single jump. He seed to have a bad feeling about this.
"You're not so young anymore, Luo Nan……"
It's over—that phrasing!
The mont Hermann opened his mouth, Luo Nan knew exactly what his old man was going to say next.
"Forget it—you'd better read it yourself." Hermann pushed the docunt directly in front of Luo Nan.
Luo Nan swallowed hard, feeling sowhat reluctant to unfold this luxuriously refined docunt.
"Luo Nan?"
"Understood, Father—I'll look now."
He drew a deep breath, summoned his courage, and picked up the docunt. Only then did he see clearly the seals on it: in addition to the Emperor's jade seal and the dillion Grand Duke's crest seal, there was also a string of supplentary seals.
Just among those he could recognize, there were the stamps of two major figures—the National Church's Archbishop and the Empire's Cabinet Pri Minister.
'It's over—so many people, such pomp. It really must be……'
Luo Nan expressionlessly untied the seal ribbon and extracted the docunt within.
The first thing that caught his eye was a line of text written in Rosarian ornantal script:
Sacred covenant, eternal chain.
Thud—
Luo Nan flipped the docunt face-down on the table.
"Luo Nan—why…… dare you not look?" Hermann asked with a laugh.
"Well…… Father, how should I put it…… look at , still a student about to start school, at this point it's…… a bit inappropriate, isn't it."
Without reading further, Luo Nan already knew what ca below.
There was no escaping it—this was absolutely a marriage covenant between himself and Serela.
"This storyline doesn't even exist in The Shining Myriad Trails, does it? How could the grand 'Benevolent Imperial Princess' possibly enter into a marriage pact with , a villain antagonist?"
It practically defied the heavens!
If The Shining Myriad Trails really had this storyline, the ga—which sells itself on an 'epic maiden's saga'—would be ripped to shreds by a portion of the player base!
Hearing his son's sowhat awkward words, Hermann showed no anger, and continued to say, "Your and Serela's marriage pact was decided after discussion between myself, His Majesty the Emperor, your Uncle Tevitz, and Archbishop Kolitio."
"Why?" Luo Nan was sowhat baffled.
"It was His Majesty—forget it, it was that Isarian fellow who ca to find
on his own initiative. I was quite surprised at the ti too."
Hermann likely felt it was awkward to use an honorific when discussing the Emperor privately with his son, and so simply called the current Emperor by na.
"You're saying—it was the Emperor who took the initiative to co to you and establish this marriage pact between Serela and ?"
"Right. I don't know what that old fellow was thinking—hasn't he always treasured that daughter of his beyond all else? I know, he's always thought you weren't good enough for Serela, especially these past few years."
Saying this, Hermann showed a flash of indignation belonging to a father.
"But you don't need to worry—this is only a marriage pact; it doesn't an your wedding is settled without question."
"Although, according to that Isarian fellow's wishes, the sooner the two of you marry the better—but I think…… these years of yours should still be devoted primarily to your studies. So I took the liberty of pushing your wedding date five years into the future."
That's a relief……
Luo Nan felt montarily reassured.
He absolutely did not want to be dragged into Serela's Imperial Storyline—that one was outright life-threatening!
"But Isarian wants the Contract Banquet held as soon as possible. After our discussions, the Contract Banquet has been scheduled for three days from now, at the Xino Palace."
"At the ti, select nobles, officials, and certain prominent socialites from all of Opalia will be invited to attend. Isarian's intention is to have as many people as possible learn of the marriage pact between the Austrein and dillion houses."
With that, Hermann raised his wine glass and took a asured sip.
"The Xino Palace? That place isn't on the outskirts of the city……"
Luo Nan thought through the Xino Palace's location and realized it was about ten kiloters from Opalia's city center.
However he looked at it, it had the feel of a major Plot Location.
He had originally planned everything out—to stay holed up in the Ducal Manor until the start of term without leaving once. But his plans hadn't kept up with the changes.
"Father, I will attend the Contract Banquet—it's just that, isn't this location a bit too remote?" Luo Nan asked.
He wanted to move it to sowhere within the city—ideally the Radiant Palace, whose security level was even higher than the Ducal Manor.
"The thing is, Luo Nan—because the scale of this Contract Banquet is quite large, it's very difficult to find a venue within the city adequate to host it, so it can only be held at their Austrein family's detached palace."
Hearing Hermann say this, Luo Nan felt everything had gone completely sideways.
Not only would he have to leave the Ducal Manor himself—countless people of all sorts would co to know about, and even attend, his and Serela's marriage banquet.
Putting himself in "her" shoes: if "she" already had him in her sights, striking at the Contract Banquet would be the optimal choice, wouldn't it?
But Luo Nan prepared to make one final effort. "Father—can the timing of this Contract Banquet not be shifted? Such as after the start of term? Or after the winter break?"
"Isarian won't agree."
"……"
"Then there's nothing to be done." Luo Nan picked up his wine glass and downed the entire contents in one go, trying to suppress the panic rising in his chest.
Although his own Truth-Piercing Star Spike had been enhanced, "her" greatest advantage had already been neutralized by him.
But……
That palpitation was still there.
It would be better to not encounter "her" directly.
It's just that now, it seed he probably couldn't avoid it.
Luo Nan thought back to what the Cheat Device Miss had said to him before, when he'd been about to intervene in Zhixia Cangya's fate at the Whisper Market:
[But you've always assud the next crisis will definitely co—haven't you?]
Yes—Luo Nan had always assud the "Collusion with Demons" storyline would definitely occur.
And then……
If nothing unexpected happened, "she" would definitely co looking for him.
'Hah, it truly can't be avoided.'
'Oh well. I've been preparing for this long enough. It shouldn't…… be a losing situation.'
With that thought, Luo Nan said to Hermann, "In that case, Father—I'll go!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)