Book 5, The Godsword, Bloodviolet – Chapter 12, Rage
Within the Debs n’s private garden, Alice and Kn were sitting together and discussing the question of marriage.
“Alice.” Kn’s face was all smiles. “I’ve already discussed this with my father. Our engagement ceremony will be on June 18th, and our actual wedding ceremony will be on January 1st of the next year. Which is to say, it will be on the Yn Festival day of next year.”
A hint of a smile appeared on Alice’s face as well.
“Next year, next year will be year 10000 of the Yn calendar, right? For us to hold our wedding on the Yn Festival of year 10000 of the Yn calendar, that’ll be...so, so perfect.” The more she spoke, the happier she felt. Alice, too, began to beam.
Seeing Alice smile so happily, Kn felt very content.
“Alice, hurry up and discuss this with your father, then prepare the list of guests from your family’s side for me so I can make arrangements as soon as possible.” Kn urged.
“Okay.” Alice nodded slightly.
Kn gently stroked Alice’s soft hair, his heart content.
But when he thought about the dire circumstances his n was in, Kn’s heart began to grow frantic. Not long after him and Alice started their rtionship, the Debs n suffered a painful blow like they had never suffered before. The Dawson Conglomerate had cut them off!
The current sess and glory of the Debs n was inextricably linked to their rtionship with the Dawson Conglomerate.
But then,st December, the Dawson Conglomerate publicly announced the dissolution of their business rtionship with the Debs n. What’s more, they also reached out to every business union and trading n within Fei City and informed them that they were looking for someone to rece the Debs n in their previous position.
Additionally...
The Dawson Conglomerate’s actions weren’t just limited to that. The Dawson Conglomerate even began to suppress the business activities of the Debs n, causing every single business operated by the Debs n to suffer losses.
“Why is the Dawson Conglomerate suppressing my n like this? The Debs n hasn’t offended the Dawson Conglomerate.” Kn felt extremely vexed. As the next heir and sessor to the n, Kn naturally cared greatly about this affair.
And because these issues urred soon after Kn and Alice started their rtionship, there were quite a few n members who now believed that Alice was the bearer of disastrously bad luck.
Otherwise, why would the Dawson Conglomerate, whom they had worked alongside with for so many years, suddenly turn on them?
Fortunately, over all these years, the Debs n had managed to umte massive wealth. Although their losses were great, the foundation of the Debs n was still intact. But the leader of the Debs n was aware that, due to unclear reasons, the Dawson Conglomerate was now suppressing their businesses. This was causing the Debs n to have lost all hope in the ‘business’ side of their activities.
After all, no one was willing to offend the massive behemoth which was the Dawson Conglomerate.
Thus, the only choice the Debs n had was to embark on a certain other route.
Shaking his head and casting these thoughts aside, Knughed as he looked at Alice. “Alice, I heard that yesterday, the Proulx Gallery began to exhibit an extremely incredible work of art. Supposedly, it’s on the Grandmaster level. Many people have gone there to take a look. Would you like to go with me?”
Alice was feeling bored as well. “Alright.”
.....
Kn and Alice were riding in a carriage towards the Proulx Gallery.
“This sculpture is supposedly extremely extraordinary. These past few days, I’ve been so busy arranging our engagement and wedding that I haven’t had the chance to take you to check it out.” Kn was the first to leap off the carriage, and then, in a very gentlemanly fashion, helped Alice out as well.
Side by side, Alice and Kn walked towards the Proulx Gallery.
“Big brother Kn, look at all those people!” Alice’s eyes were shining as she pointed.
Deep within the Proulx Gallery, at the hall of the masters, there was a sea of people. But within the hall of the masters, everything was extremely orderly, entering from one door and exiting from another. Every person was only permitted three minutes or so of viewing time.
After three minutes, the people currently in the hall of the masters were forced to leave. If they wanted to view it again....
Fine! Go back and wait in line again!
“What a long line.” Kn felt somewhat amazed as well. In all these years, he had never seen the Proulx Gallery so packed with people before.
Kn and Alice both obediently got in line and waited for nearly twenty minutes. Only then was it their group’s turn to go and enter the hall of the masters. In onerge group, they were ushered into the hall of the masters. Immediately, all of them headed towards the front.
Curious, Kn and Alice naturally rushed to the front as well.
But that moment when Alice first spotted the sculpture, she froze as though she had been struck by lightning. Standing there, she stared stupidly at that enormous sculpture. Those five beautifully, immactely carved female figures, each of them carrying a unique aura of their own.
Others were absorbed in contemting the meanings hidden within this ‘Awakening From the Dream’.
But when Alice saw this giant sculpture, her mind couldn’t help but begin to rey memories of every single event she had previously experienced with Linley.
The first time, just as she was despairing, Linley had descended like a god from the heavens.
On the balcony, the two of them hiding in the corners and chatting an entire night away.
....
One scene after another yed in her mind. Alice was totally dumbstruck. She really had no idea that this famous Grandmaster-level sculpture, ‘Awakening From the Dream’, had her as the subject.
“Lin....Linley...” Alice’s current emotions were extremelyplicated.
She stared at the introductory text on the side.
“The sculptor of this sculpture is named ‘Linley’. This year, he is seventeen years old, a graduate of the Ernst Institute, and a seventeen year old dual-element magus of the seventh rank. In this day and age, he is, without a doubt, the number one genius magus in the entire Yn continent, and even if we look at the history of the Yn continent as a whole, he is still the number two genius magus in all of history.”
“But Linley isn’t just a genius magus. In the field of sculpting, he also has made amazing aplishments. Although only seventeen, this sculpture of his, ‘Awakening From the Dream’....”
Seeing those lines of words, Alice was dumbfounded yet again.
“It’s Linley. It’s Linley.” Alice stared at the card unbelievingly. “A dual-element magus of the seventh rank? He’s already a magus of the seventh rank? But...but justst year, he was just a magus of the fifth rank.”
Alice had no idea that before they had broken up, Linley had be a magus of the sixth rank. Only...Linley had never been given the chance to let her know.
“Awakening From the Dream. This sculpture is called, ‘Awakening From the Dream’.” Staring at the five female figures in the sculpture, especially thatst one with the slight aura of heartlessness, Alice suddenly understood the true reason why Linley had given this sculpture the name, ‘Awakening From the Dream.’
“The dreamer...has awakened?” Alice felt that her mind was a total mess.
As the first man she had ever truly cared for, in the bottom of Alice’s heart, there was always a special ce reserved for Linley. But when she discovered that Linley had given this sculpture the name, ‘Awakening From the Dream’, she suddenly felt as though something had disappeared from her heart.
That sort of feeling...was very difficult to bear.
Alice suddenly noticed that by her side, Kn’s fists were knotted, and an extremely unpleasant look was on his face. His veins were bulging out, and his face was terrifyingly grim. His eyes shed with dark light as he stared a deathly gaze at this sculpture.
“Big Brother Kn!” Worried, Alice called to him.
But Kn paid her no mind.
“Linley, you...you go too far.” Kn was filled with boundless, fiery rage. In the past, Kn was rather well-disposed towards Linley. But in the depths of his heart, Kn somewhat looked down on Linley. As far as Kn was concerned, no matter how hard Linley worked, he could never be able to match Kn’s n.
After all, his n was hitched to the enormous war machine that was the Dawson Conglomerate.
But in what, just five months?
His Debs n had been abandoned by the Dawson Conglomerate. And Linley? Out of nowhere, he became a seventeen year old dual-element magus of the seventh rank. What’s more, he was acimed as the number one genius magus of this age.
Even in the long history of the Yn continent, there was only one person slightly better than Linley.
“A seventeen year old dual-element magus of the seventh rank, and a sculptor approaching the level of the Grandmasters.” Kn suddenly felt enormous pressure.
This person was simply too incredible.
But shortly after, Kn only felt boundless fury.
Because the inspiration for this sculpture was his fiancée!
“Hey, take a look. Isn’t this girl really simr to the woman in this sculpture?” A voice suddenly rang out within the hall of the masters, and instantly, over ten heads turned to stare at Alice. The hall suddenly became a hotbed ofmotion and discussion.
Linley’s sculpting abilities were simply too amazing. He had totally captured Alice’s grace and charm in this sculpture.
From their very first nce at Alice, those viewers had the feeling...that the girl in front of them and the female carved into ‘Awakening From the Dream’ were incredibly simr. In fact, they could totally be considered the same person. That unique gaze. That slightly sharp, arched nose.
“Miss, dare I ask what your rtionship is with Master Linley?” An old man with a head full of white hair, at least a century old, asked very courteously towards Alice.
In the field of sculpting, Linley had already reached the level of master.
Linley’s skill in sculpting was enough to cause these collectors who had decades or centuries of experience in sculpting to prostrate themselves in admiration. Respectfully addressing him as ‘Master’ was something which came from their hearts. Based on this old man’s century-plus years of experience in appraising stone sculptures, he naturally could tell that the woman carved into the sculpture was most likely a person whom Linley had shared a period of turbulent love.
Alice felt rather awkward, and couldn’t help but turn to look at Kn.
“Oh, Kn, you are here as well.” The old man looked at Kn. Old people naturally being as sly as a fox, the old man naturally could tell that Kn and Alice’s rtionship was not a simple one. “Kn, who is this youngdy?”
Although Kn felt extremely unhappy, he still modestly bowed and said, “Milord Duke Berner [Ba’na], this is Miss Alice, my fiancée.”
“Fiancée?” Duke Berner cast a meaningful nce at Kn and Alice, thenughed, asking no more.
....
Pulling Alice by the hand, as through running for his life, Kn quickly fled back to the Debs n’s manor.
The leader of the Debs n, Kn’s father, Bernard, stared at his son in disbelief. “What did you just say? The inspiration for that sculpture being exhibited in the Proulx Gallery is Alice?”
Bernard was generally rather doting towards his son.
When his son said he was going to marry Alice, Bernard didn’t object. But just a few days after his son had firmed up his rtionship with Alice, the Dawson Conglomerate had suddenly decided to break off rtions with the Debs n for no apparent reason at all. With regards to this affair, Bernard had been constantly begging to meet with the upper level management of the Dawson Conglomerate for a meeting.
Over the past few months, Bernard had been busy dealing with this issue, and was so busy that he hadn’t even had the free time to bother going about to viewing the sculptures at the Proulx Gallery.
“Alice. The inspiration is Alice?” The expression on Bernard’s face immediately grew ugly.
Kn nodded. “Yes, father. Although Alice and I haven’t yet gotten formally engaged, once we do, Alice will be formally introduced to many of the nobles in the Holy Capital. That sculpture of Linley’s, ‘Awakening From the Dream’, will definitely make us theughingstock of the city.”
Bernard was silent for a while, and then frowned as he asked Kn, “How bad is it? Is there anything shameful or degrading about this sculpture?”
“Father, in the past, between Linley and Alice, they had a period of...” Kn exined in a fuzzy manner. “And this sculpture is about the affairs of Linley and Alice.”
Bernard no longer spoke. He only began to frown severely.
After a while, Bernard said to his son, “Kn, if I ask you to give up Alice, would you be willing?” Kn resolutely shook his head. After all, he was only eighteen years old.
Bernard nodded slightly. “Don’t worry about Alice. I will handle this matter. You don’t need to worry about it.”
Kn nodded, then suddenly he gritted his teeth. Staring at his father, he said, “Father, Linley is definitely unhappy at the fact that Alice and I are together. What’s more, Linley’s potential is too great. I think...that we should perhaps consider if we can figure out a way to kill Linley?”