Chapter 1173 None Other
The hall the Viola had chosen for the wedding wasn't much of a hall at all. There was no ceiling and the ambience was only enclosed by tall pillars holding up nothing more than the sky.
The grass was a fantastical shade of violet, the waters shared a light shade of pink, and the trees in the surroundings all had white bark and delicate silver leaves.
The picturesque scenery seemed like it was pulled right out of a fairy tale. Even with the thousands of guests present, with even more still coming, no one seemed willing to ruin the sheer beauty of it all.
The conversation filling the air was often quite benign and uninteresting. But, of those that were worthy of note, many revolved around this curious turn of events. The marriage of a Crown Heir was most definitely worth at least this much fanfare. The trouble was… There actually wasn't enough of it.
For an event of this scale, it should have been announced months ago. Pillar families and organizations from across several Sectors should have made an appearance and the wife in question should have been a well known figure for ages.
After being blindsided by this information, many began to look into this Aina Brazinger character and her background only made them more curious. She was the daughter of a Vassal of the family, but it wasn't an Eternal Vassal, but rather a first generation one. This was quite surprising.
Outside of this, she didn't seem to have any other background. Her mother was unknown and presumed dead, while her father was quite low profile. The only standout feature, aside from her overwhelming beauty, was her merits in clearing Zones.
Unfortunately, information on this was quite scarce and guarded. Though, this made perfect sense. After all, the highest rated Zone Aina had entered for the sake of the Viola was one related to the Silver Empire. This was obviously information she kept close to herself, and whatever she was forced to disclose was kept well by the Viola family.
The only reason everyone didn't assume that Aina was a flower in a vase, picked out by Rychard because of his lust, was because her performance during the first day of the Selection had spoken for itself. How could any of them look down on what they had seen that day?
That said, this didn't stop those with nothing better to do from placing her firmly atop the list of this Sector's Beauties, a list that contained women who hadn't moved their positions in several decades. On this list, there were princesses of families, famous entertainers, and even the spouses of some of the most powerful men of the Three Pillar Sector...
And yet, she was placed number one.
Among the growing crowd, Gradeyr sat in silence. Every so often, someone would send him a look of disdain or pity, but he simply pretended as though he hadn't seen anything at all.
Ever since he lost the battle for Crown Heir, he had been fairly silent. He didn't reprimand his younger brother for being his Achilles Heel, nor did he snap. He continued about his business as though nothing had happened and like he hadn't lost something he had spent his whole like working toward.
Today, he sat at a wedding that may very well should have been for him had things not gone the way they had gone, but he continued to respect the rules of etiquette and took his loss in silence.
He too had participated in the Selection and managed to get a spot on the second day, but so had many other members of the Viola family. There was nothing special about his achievement and it flew under the radar as usual.
He was never as calculating as Rychard, but he was a man with his own pride and he would continue to act as such.
The inflow of people began to slow. The number of invitees was easily pushing 10 000, making this a truly grand event.
They all took their seats and began to wait patiently, their eyes sparkling as they laid eyes on the large purple lily that stood upon the large platform ahead. It had veins of gold and shimmering petals that swayed gently in the wind. It was the perfect center piece for such a grand wedding.
And then, the delicate sound of music began to play.
…
In a separate location within the Viola estate, the atmosphere wasn't nearly as lively or beautiful. The lights were dark and the air was especially heavy, the scent of blood and sweat leaving a thick stench in the air.
Standing tall, there were four men. Of them, three were well into their middle ages and the last was a youth just entering his prime. Among the three middle aged men, two seemed particularly subordinate to the last, but this didn't change just how powerful they were individually.
Without fail, all four of these men had flickering violet irises, carrying with them a depth of amethyst that danced between the vibrant color and the shade of black.
Of the two weaker middle aged men, one was particularly tall, his chin, jaw and cheeks covered by the shadow of a short and scruffy beard. His posture would remind Leonel of Aphestus and he seemed to contain the same hidden explosive power within his limbs.
The latter was quite fat and stocky, having such a large belly that one would have trouble understanding just how he walked through doorways. However, rather than jiggling, his belly was like a bronze cauldron, hardly shifting at all with his movement.
These two men were none other than Eternal Vassal Rojeon and Qindi.
And that made the identity of the last all the more obvious… The strongest of the Eternal Vassals and the right hand man of Patriarch Viola… Eternal Vassal Obrien.
And yet, right this moment, they were all gasping for breath, their bodies beaten and bloodied, many of their bones broken, and standing amongst a litter of corpses around them…
.
"To think that even after being schemed against to this extent, poisoned, trapped within a formation designed specifically for him, and sapped of his right to gather Force from the atmosphere… It would still take so much to slow him down to this extent…"
The young man spoke slowly, his gaze flickering. If he wasn't so cautious and hadn't prepared so many contingencies, there was simply no way this would have succeeded. Among the dead, there were even countless main family members. The Viola had actually lost 20% of their Sixth Dimensional experts to this one battle, he almost couldn't' believe it.
If the Viola elder knew they would take such a loss, they would have never done this. But, who could have known that this person would actually have hidden so much of their strength?
The young man's head tilted up, familiar music drifting to his ears. Hearing this, his frown faded and his smile returned.
"In that case, I guess I'll have to thank you for your efforts by marrying your daughter."
The young man turned and flashed away.
There was no doubt that this young man was Rychard.
As for the man beaten to within half an inch of his life, lying chained to the ground before them all…
It was none other than Miel, Adam Renier Brazinger… Aina's father.