Chapter 120: ¹²⁰The Duke & The Festival Night
The tea room was not overly large, yet the price of a single piece of furniture inside could sustain a whole village for a month. Deep red velvet sofas were arranged in a circle.
On a single armchair with his back to the crackling hearth sat the absolute ruler of the Southern Territory.
Duke Reinhard von Ashford.
The middle-aged man retained the charisma of his youth. His dark copper hair was slicked back neatly. A dark silk robe accented with pure gold wrapped around his stature. A pair of golden-yellow eyes—identical to Kaelia’s—stared straight ahead from over the silver teacup in his hand.
An unreadable, thin smile was etched across his face. The trademark smile of a true politician.
"Ah, my daughter," Duke Reinhard’s voice drifted smoothly. "And... Lord Valen. It is an honor to welcome the heir of the Eastern Territory into my residence."
Kaelia stepped forward, offering a stiff, respectful bow. "Good evening, Father."
Ethan did not bow. The youth stood tall, returning the Duke’s gaze without altering his flat expression. In the true hierarchy of power, he owed respect to no one.
Duke Reinhard showed no sign of offense at such audacity. He set down his silver cup slowly.
"Please, sit. The tea has just been brewed." He gestured lightly toward the sofa.
Ethan walked forward calmly, taking a seat on the long sofa opposite the Duke. Kaelia sat by his side, her posture as taut as a fully drawn bowstring.
Ethan did not spare a single glance at the porcelain cup before him.
"I hear you’ve made it quite difficult for many people to breathe ever since you stepped out from those dusty eastern lands, Lord Valen," Duke Reinhard opened, his voice smooth yet laced with pressure. "The collapse of the Serpent’s Tongue, the Zenithar Academy incident with Duke Alaric, and now the rumors of an exotic knight guarding your back. Your name has become quite a headache in the Capital’s meeting rooms."
Ethan’s dark brown eyes stared at the middle-aged man without blinking. "I have no intention of causing anyone trouble, Duke Ashford. I am merely clearing away the pebbles that happen to obstruct my boots."
Duke Reinhard chuckled softly. A carefully measured laugh.
"An intriguing level of audacity," his eyes narrowed in assessment. "But you must realize, Valen... Zenithar Academy was merely a children’s playground. Astrea’s Capital is an entirely different chessboard. Here, sharp swords and killer aura aren’t always enough to keep your head attached to your shoulders."
"A chessboard only matters if the pieces are worth playing," Ethan retorted flatly, as cold as the ocean floor. "As far as I can see, the Capital is filled with nothing but fragile marble pawns."
The atmosphere in the tea room instantly condensed. The veteran political serpent wasn’t angered; instead, his golden-yellow eyes began calculating the odds with a dark intensity. The posturing of a greenhorn brat wouldn’t rattle him.
Slowly, the Duke turned his gaze to his daughter.
Kaelia’s heart pounded wildly.
"And Kaelia..." Duke Reinhard’s tone softened, yet its pressure was suffocating. "Seeing my daughter sitting beside you instead of Prince Edward... I must ask, Lord Valen. What position are you offering this daughter of Ashford?"
The air in the room felt as though it had been sucked dry. Kaelia’s fingers squeezed her gown until her knuckles turned ghostly white. This was the moment of truth. Would Ethan use diplomatic excuses? Ask for formal blessing?
Ethan didn’t shift an inch. His eyes locked onto the Duke’s gaze.
"I am not offering any position. Nor am I here to ask for your blessing," Ethan declared with absolute finality, cleaving through the silence without mercy. "Kaelia von Ashford belongs to me. Entirely. What is mine, I will yield to no one. Not even to the Valois family."
Kaelia gasped, her breath catching violently in her throat. A fiery blush scorched her face, but strangely, a gargantuan weight felt as though it had been lifted off her shoulders. She lowered her head, unable to look at her father, yet without the slightest intention in her heart to deny it.
Duke Reinhard fell silent. His eyes searched his daughter for a rebuttal, but all he found was absolute submission. The smile on the Duke’s face vanished, replaced by pure, cold calculation.
"Yours," Duke Reinhard muttered, testing the weight of the word. He leaned back slowly. "You know, Valen... for years, I invested countless resources so Kaelia would stand beside the royal family. She is the single greatest asset for Ashford’s future."
Hearing the word ’asset’, Kaelia bit her lower lip hard, bitterness creeping into her chest.
"Hah... So all this time, I really was nothing more than a political tool to you, Father?" Kaelia asked bitterly, her voice trembling against her fear.
Her father looked at her with ice-cold indifference. "In the game of power, emotions are poison and human lives are gold coins, Kaelia. You live in Ashford opulence, so you pay the price as an instrument for the family’s glory. That is the law of nature."
Clang...
The crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling suddenly vibrated subtly.
It wasn’t an outburst of Sin Mana, but pure, absolute dominance radiating from Ethan’s body. The air instantly felt ten times heavier.
"Your law of nature ceases to apply when you deal with me, Duke Reinhard," Ethan cut in coldly, leaning slightly forward as his gaze cornered the Duke. "You may be furious that your alliance is ruined. You may feel like you’ve lost an asset."
A suffocating, single-second pause.
"But know this. You haven’t lost your daughter. You... have merely lost her leash."
Total silence took over the room. Duke Reinhard stared back into those dark eyes. His survival instincts sounded an alarm: This youth was no pawn. He was an anomaly ready to flip the entire chessboard.
The tension in Duke Reinhard’s shoulders slowly relaxed. He let out a low, dry laugh heavy with calculation.
"You truly are fascinating, Ethan Valen," the Duke rubbed his chin. "I won’t waste energy reclaiming what is already beyond my reach. If you feel capable of holding onto Kaelia and braving the wrath of the Valois family, by all means."
He took a slow sip of his tea. "But remember this. Astrea is breathtaking at night... but its beauty is built atop the corpses of those who were far too full of themselves. Do not trip over your own shadow."
Ethan didn’t reply. His mind immediately noted the striking similarity between this warning and Caelum’s earlier words. He stood up with precise movements, straightening his coat.
"Our time is up," Ethan said flatly, turning his gaze toward Kaelia. A subtle signal.
Kaelia immediately stood up. She looked at her father one last time that night—no longer with the gaze of a daughter afraid to fail, but of a woman who had found her master. She gave a stiff bow, turned, and followed Ethan’s lead.
Duke Reinhard remained silent. His golden-yellow eyes watched Ethan’s back until the double doors closed shut.
The night air outside felt immensely more refreshing than the suffocating intrigue inside the tea room.
Kaelia’s rigid footsteps gradually relaxed as she descended the porch stairs. Her chest was still pounding violently from Ethan’s earlier declaration. Beside her, Ethan walked at a steady pace, his expression unreadable.
Near the carriage, Valera leaned back with her arms folded. Seeing Kaelia step out with a look mixed with relief and lingering tension, a predatory grin widened across her exotic face.
"How was the family reunion, Lady Ashford?" Valera teased lightly, deliberately provoking trouble. "I hope His Grace didn’t cry realizing his little girl has been taken."
𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
Kaelia shot her a sharp glare, her energy completely spent. "Tch, shut up, Valera."
Ethan ignored both of them, stepping directly into the cabin with Kaelia following behind. Valera chuckled, leaped onto the driver’s seat, and snapped the reins. The black carriage surged forward once again, cutting through the bustling crowd toward The Gilded Dove.
Upon arriving at the inn, preparations were conducted in few words.
Ethan entered his room and removed his travel attire, replacing it with a high-collared black silk tunic. Its dark silver buttons were intricately engraved.
The outfit wasn’t studded with jewels like those of Capital nobles. Instead, its design was tailored to project overwhelming dominance through oppressive simplicity. His leather boots were polished to a perfect sheen.
In another room, Kaelia had stripped off her dark red tunic.
She was now clad in a ruby-red night gown that draped flawlessly against her silhouette. Her shoulders were left exposed, revealing her graceful neck and alabaster skin. Her fiery red hair was pinned high in an elegant updo, leaving a few strands framing her aristocratic face. She was the absolute embodiment of the Southern Faction’s Queen.
Valera didn’t bother changing. She simply tightened the straps of her black leather armor and wiped the dust off her Zweihander. Her sheer presence was threat enough.
Both of them stepped out of their rooms at the same time. Kaelia’s eyes widened slightly at Ethan’s appearance, but she quickly composed herself. Ethan merely cast her a brief glance, giving a subtle nod of validation before taking the lead.
Once again, they plunged into the night, this time heading straight toward the center of the vortex.
The avenue leading to the grand hall of the Frostbloom Festival was flooded with a sea of golden lanterns. Gold-gilded carriages glided alongside one another. The melodies of classical harps and violins blended with the refined laughter of elite nobles.
Inside the cabin, Kaelia gazed out at the lanterns. The lingering sting of her father’s words had not fully healed, yet tonight, she no longer felt alienated. She sat firmly beside the man who dared to defy the entire world just to claim her for himself.
The carriage slowly came to a halt.
Two marble towers decorated with blue-and-gold banners loomed ahead. The main gates of the grand hall stood wide open, pouring out the luminous glow of thousands of crystal candles.
Valera pulled the reins right at the guest drop-off area.
The female knight did not dismount right away. Her golden eyes swept over the crowd of nobles draped in expensive silk ahead. A feral grin curled her lips.
"The party hasn’t even started," Valera muttered cynically from her seat. "Yet somehow... I can already smell the blood of these marble nobles all the way out here, My Lord."
Ethan did not respond. The young man pushed open the carriage door and stepped down, letting the golden party lights wash over his face. Kaelia followed at his side, reflexively clutching Ethan’s arm with resolute determination.
Without a single second of hesitation, Ethan Valen stepped forward into the light—bringing his own darkness directly into the heart of the Capital’s festivities.
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