Chapter 90: Brother Shaya is Getting Married?
“An engagement?”
Shaya repeated the words and glanced at the elegant and proper butler before him. “I thought you were here to settle the score after I took down the Thorns of Sin Club…”
“How could that be? Young Master Shaya, you worry too much.”
Riel maintained a humble smile. “That decadent den of iniquity was already intolerable to the world and should have been eradicated long ago.”
“There have always been people in the family who were dissatisfied with the chaotic security in the Diweil Port district. However, we do not have law enforcement powers. Your and the military’s actions to eradicate it have undoubtedly brought us much peace of mind.”
“Right, Young Master Shaya, please wait a moment.”
After bowing to Shaya again with impeccable grace, Riel turned and walked back into the carriage.
Then, he emerged holding a wooden box.
“Please accept this, Young Master Shaya.”
Shaya glanced at Riel, who was a Titled Beast Tamer yet called himself an old servant, took the wooden box, and opened it.
Inside the wooden box was a letter with a red seal. In the lower left corner was a crimson rose, indicating it was from the Borgia Family, the “Crimson Rose.”
In the upper right corner were three cherry-red roses.
In the aristocratic circles of the Freista Empire, such markings on a letter signified a marriage contract.
Generally, when the parents of two noble families negotiated and weighed their interests, reaching an agreement, they would issue such a marriage contract to the engaged parties.
The cover of the letter bore a line of gilded text—”To Shaya Egut.”
Shaya frowned and looked up at Riel.
“I am not an Egut.”
“And I never remember establishing an engagement with any young lady from your family…”
…
“That engagement was set by your elders, Young Master Shaya, when my young lady was just born.”
“You were only a few months old at the time, so naturally, you wouldn’t remember.”
Riel looked at Shaya with a kind expression, like a doting elder.
“When the Borgia and Egut families established the engagement, I also accompanied the family head to Ceylon…”
“I even held Young Master Shaya when you were still in swaddling clothes, but you were too young to remember then, perhaps you’ve already forgotten.”
A hint of deep lament and sorrow flowed from Riel’s aged eyes.
“Our family head and your father, Young Master Shaya, agreed to inform you of the engagement details when you and the young lady both turned seventeen.”
“It’s just that—”
“No one could have predicted the world-shattering tragedy that occurred in Ceylon.”
“We had even agreed to drink fine wine together as in-laws at your and the young lady’s wedding. Now, it has become a final farewell…”
As he spoke, Riel took out a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his eyes.
“At the time, everyone believed that no one survived the catastrophe in Ceylon…”
“Unexpectedly, Young Master Shaya miraculously survived.”
His expression became solemn. “I know that when you experienced that great change, Young Master Shaya, you were still very young. Perhaps you even suffered mental trauma from that disaster, causing you to lose some memories.”
“And for these years, you have relied on yourself to live, even changing your surname to avoid trouble.”
“I also know that you lost the protection of your family and only achieved your current success through your own efforts. Under these circumstances, you are bound to be extremely wary of everything outside, and you may not necessarily trust what I say.”
“However—”
Riel’s tone became serious and sincere. “Even if the ‘Winter Flower’ has been shattered, we Borgias are not a family that forgets righteousness for profit and breaks our promises.”
“Although our family’s power is humble, we have our own dignity and do not need to rely on means like marriage alliances to maintain our prosperity.”
“Although it has been over a decade, the Borgia family will continue to honor the engagement from back then.”
As he spoke, he bowed deeply to Shaya.
“Seven days later, Miss Histaria will return to the Imperial Capital from the Holy See of the Holy See.”
“At that time, the Borgia family will host a grand banquet for the young lady and you, Young Master Shaya.”
“Invitations for the banquet have been sent to all nobles with famous names in the Royal Capital, and it will be published in all newspapers. Even many royal family members will be invited—”
“At that time, we hope Young Master Shaya can attend and discuss the specific date of your marriage with the young lady.”
“Also…”
Riel lowered his voice slightly.
He came to Shaya’s side and whispered.
“Over the years, as members of an Oathbound Family, the Borgia family has never given up on pursuing the murderers who destroyed Ceylon.”
“Furthermore, I can inform you that we have already found their tracks.”
“I know that Young Master Shaya must want to personally slay the culprit, so we will definitely give Young Master Shaya a surprise on the day of the banquet.”
“Then, please allow this old servant to take his leave.”
After saying all this, Riel put on his hat again and bowed to Shaya in the manner of a retainer.
Shaya looked deeply at Riel, whose face was filled with a friendly smile.
He looked very, very deeply.
One could only say that he was indeed the chief butler who managed most of the affairs in the Borgia family.
His ability to twist the truth was such that even Norton would be ashamed.
He could truly turn black into white without feeling the slightest bit embarrassed.
If he had truly suffered protective amnesia due to severe mental shock in Ceylon, he might have believed the butler’s fabrications.
However—
The last thing Riel said, the so-called surprise prepared for Shaya, did pique his interest.
Shaya watched as Riel boarded the carriage they had arrived in and soon disappeared at the end of the street.
…
At the junction of the Freista Empire and the Golden Plains.
In the Deep Blue Territory, outside the border city of Riesa, the Ash White Hills.
After a long period of excavation by the Black Eagle Guard dispatched by the empire, the ruins of an entire Ancient Azure Court were unearthed and cleared.
But at this moment, only one person stood upon the ruins of the entire Royal Capital of the Azure Court.
It was the witch with pure silver hair. The twilight surged around her, enveloping the entire landscape of the Royal Capital’s ruins.
Sylvia stood on the land where she was born and raised. Today, she had changed out of her somewhat worn, pitch-black gauze dress into a rather fashionable ladies’ dress from the Black Lily District of the Imperial Capital.
There were no emotional ripples on her plain white, cute face. A large, ancient book was suspended in the twilight, open in mid-air.
Lines of light golden script appeared on the thick pages.
“I’ve returned here again…”
“After achieving Legendary status, I’ve returned to the Royal Capital of the Azure Court countless times to investigate, but the Divine Descent of numerous Mythical Creatures in the Royal Capital back then erased all clues about that night.”
“And now, five hundred years later, there is naturally no useful information left here.”
“However, I did sense the turbulence of time, and not long ago, there indeed should have been a Historical Echo here.”
“Did Brother Shaya arrive in my space-time through a Historical Echo?”
“As expected, to find the truth of everything, I still need to go to the Imperial Capital, although… I’m actually a little afraid to see Brother Shaya…”
“Or rather, I’m afraid his answer to me won’t be what my heart desires…”
The light golden script slowly paused.
A white jade bowl appeared in Sylvia’s hand, holding a piece of roasted, yellowish fish.
This kind of food, due to its overly simple and crude preparation, did not meet the aesthetic demands of nobles and high-class restaurants. It took Fiolen considerable effort to find it at a small street stall.
She picked up a piece of roasted fish with her wooden chopsticks and elegantly brought it to her mouth. This was a skill Shaya had taught her when he had nothing else to do. Five hundred years later, Sylvia had not forgotten it.
As the food entered her mouth, Sylvia closed her eyes, as if frozen there, lost in thought for a long time.
Her lips curved at times, and twitched at others, but there was more joy than sorrow.
Light golden text appeared on the book.
“The heat control, seasoning, ingredients, marination, and cooking techniques… are all infinitely better than that skewer of roasted fish from back then.”
“But it still can’t compare to the taste from beside the bonfire on that winter night.”
After an unknown amount of time, Sylvia’s beautiful eyes opened, flowing with azure silver, as clear and bright as the moon.
The joy and sorrow intertwined in her eyes disappeared. In an instant, she transformed back into the peerless Azure Silver Witch.
A faint sound of footsteps echoed. Fiolen, wearing a metal mask, dismounted from the Black Scale Lesser Dragon and walked to Sylvia’s side.
Fiolen held a brand new newspaper, issued by the Royal Newspaper Agency.
She handed the newspaper over. “Your Excellency Sylvia, as you instructed, I notified you as soon as I received news of Shaya Egut.”
Fiolen looked at the silver-haired witch frozen in the twilight before her, then spoke cautiously. “I think you might be interested in what’s on here…”
Sylvia took the newspaper from Fiolen with a hint of confusion, her clear and cold gaze sweeping across it.
With the mental strength of a Legendary, she could read the entire newspaper word for word at a single glance.
The next moment—
Crackle—
The newspaper was torn apart by the plain white hands of the Azure Silver Witch.
On the book, the originally neat and graceful light golden script instantly became messy.
“Brother Shaya… is getting married?”
—Excerpted from the “Diary of the Azure Silver Witch,” page 705, Holy Calendar Year 903, Month of Budding, 3rd day.
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