Chapter 206: My Wife
Chapter 206: Chapter 206: My Wife
Chapter 206: My Wife
Silence had blanketed the whole central plaza.
For a full ten seconds, not a single person out of the hundred thousand guests dared to breathe.
Beyond the gates, the millions of ordinary citizens and cultivators staring at the projection arrays across Stormveil City were similarly frozen, their minds occupied by the unearthly beauty projected before them.
It was as if time itself had stopped.
And then, as if a dam had shattered, the silence broke into an eruption of gasps and exclamations.
"Beautiful... I have never seen anything so flawlessly beautiful in my entire life!"
"She is a peerless fairy! Even the word beautiful is an insult to her!"
"A True Heavenly Physique... I never thought I would witness one with my own eyes in this lifetime."
"Look at that aura... she is... she is not human. She is a goddess!"
On the grand stage, the reactions of the true powerhouses were far more profound than mere infatuation with her appearance.
The Domain Masters and half-step Domain Masters narrowed their eyes, their immense Spiritual Senses sweeping over Seris’s figure.
What they perceived shook their hearts.
Seraphine’s sharp eyes studied the translucent Heavenly Glacial Essence mist surrounding Seris’s slender frame.
"Perfect," Seraphine murmured, so softly that only Lyra closest to her could hear. "Her foundation is completely without flaw. The Heavenly Glacial Essence has perfectly integrated with her physical body and spiritual sea. Myrielle has done extraordinary work with her teachings."
She turned to Carmilla, her usual imperious demeanor replaced by the earnest excitement of witnessing something miraculous.
"Carmilla, this child’s potential is genuinely limitless," Seraphine said, "If she is nurtured correctly, she could surpass every prodigy this dynasty has produced in the last five hundred years. You have found a peerless gem."
Carmilla grinned at her Serprahine’s praise, but her eyes drifted mischievously toward Myrielle. "Don’t let my little sister hear you say that. She’s already insufferably smug about her disciple."
Hearing her mother’s praise, Lyra’s shoulders tensed.
She glared at Seris with a fierce gaze. Her crimson eyes burned with a competitive fire that refused to be extinguished.
For her entire life, she had been the uncontested peak. The undisputed queen.
"So this is the so-called True Heavenly Physique? We’ll just see about that. I refuse to believe that she could ever reach my heights."
Patriarch Caelan of the Valemere Family sat rigidly in his ornate chair, his calculating eyes darting between Seris and the serene figure of Dean Carmilla. His mind was racing through a dozen political scenarios simultaneously, each one centered around how the Valemere Family could establish a connection to this unprecedented talent.
Patriarch Thorian stroked his thick beard slowly as he looked at Seris with a contemplative gaze, "Stormveil Academy has truly secured a treasure. The balance of this city will never be the same."
But of all the titans seated upon the grand stage, the most intense reaction belonged to the man seated on the central throne.
Crown Prince Lucius.
The charming, polite smile that had been perfectly plastered across his handsome face slipped for a second.
His amber eyes locked onto Seris’s delicate frame, and a raw, primal hunger burned in their depths.
It was a predatory greed so intense it wouldn’t be wrong to call it madness.
"Perfect,’ Lucius screamed in his mind, his heart hammering against his ribs. ’Such a flawlessly perfect cauldron!’
If he could dual-cultivate with this girl, the essence he would absorb would be incomparable to anything he had ever taken before.
His cultivation would explode.
The Domain Master Realm, which even with his dark technique still seemed far away, could become achievable within few years.
Lucius quickly forced his charming smile back onto his face, leaning back in his throne to hide the trembling of his hands.
She must be his. No matter the cost, no matter who stood in his way, he would drag this flawless fairy into his chambers.
’She is mine.’
The thought was as certain in his mind as the sun’s rise.
Meanwhile, down in the western section of the plaza reserved for the Gold Badge disciples.
Neve was clutching Rhain’s dark sleeve, practically jumping up and down with uncontrollable excitement.
"Rhain! Rhain, look at her!" Neve squealed, completely ignoring her dignified status as a Master Rank Alchemist. "She is literally a goddess! I thought Lyra Emberford was the peak of beauty, but this girl... she is even more beautiful than Lyra! If I were a man, she is so beautiful that even I want to marry her!"
Rhain unbotheredly pulled his arm out of Neve’s frantic grip.
He looked at the stage, his dark grey eyes looking at Seris’s beautiful figure.
"You can’t," Rhain stated plainly.
Neve looked at Rhain dismissively. "Huh? Why not? I’m the youngest Master Alchemist in the city! I have a lot of potential, you know!"
Rhain didn’t even turn his head to look at her.
He kept his gaze locked on his beautiful wife standing upon the grand stage with a fond smile, and spoke in a matter of fact tone.
"Because she’s my wife."
The words were spoken so casually that for a split second, Neve’s brain simply failed to process them.
One second passed.
Two seconds passed.
And then...
"Pwahaha! PWAHAHAHAHA!"
Neve burst into sudden, explosive laughter.
She threw her head back, laughing so hard that tears actually started forming in the corners of her eyes.
She clutched her stomach, leaning against holding Rhain’s arm to keep herself from falling over.
Several nearby Gold Badge disciples shot her irritated glares, but Neve couldn’t stop herself.
"Oh my god, Rhain! You are absolutely hilarious!" Neve gasped for breath, slapping him on the shoulder. "Your wife? True Heavenly Physique prodigy?"
She wiped a tear from her eye, letting out another snort of laughter.
"Sure! And I’m the Empress of the Solathane Dynasty! And my cauldron is made of pure dragon bones! Ahahaha! I didn’t know you had such an incredible sense of humor!"
Every young, hot-blooded man in the plaza was currently harboring the exact same delusional fantasy of making that fairy their wife.
In Neve’s opinion, Rhain just happened to be one of those shameless enough to say it out loud!
Rhain looked at Neve, who was still wheezing with uncontrollable laughter.
His expression didn’t ripple in the slightest, nor did he bother defending himself.
Up on the stage, Seris’s pale purple eyes scanned the vast crowds arrayed around the arena, until her gaze finally landed on the western section reserved for the Gold Badge elite.
And there, standing unbothered amidst the sea of people, was the tall, dark-robed figure she had been looking for.
The moment their eyes met, the distant, untouchable ice goddess facade she had maintained since stepping onto the stage shattered completely.
A breathtaking, radiant smile bloomed across her flawless face. It was a smile so sweet, so devastatingly beautiful and full of affection, that it seemed to outshine the sun itself.
The collective heart of the male population in the plaza collectively skipped a beat.
Down in the Gold Badge section, Neve was stunned.
"Rhain... did you see that?" Neve murmured, "She smiled! She smiled right at our section! Oh my god, who is she looking at? Is it me? It has to be me, who else could she be possibly look at?"
Rhain still ignored Neve’s frantic shaking.
This stupid girl would be always stupid.
Beside Seris, Myrielle cleared her throat, subtly pulling her disciple’s attention back to the matter at hand.
Seris immediately composed herself, her cheeks carrying a faint, rosy blush that only made her look even more beautiful, as she returned to her serene posture.
"Distinguished guests," Myrielle’s voice rang clear and powerful, carrying effortlessly across the entire plaza. "Today marks a historic occasion for the Stormveil Academy, an occasion that has not occurred in over a thousand years of our institution’s existence."
She turned slightly, gesturing toward the beautiful girl standing serenely beside her.
"Today, Stormveil Academy is proud to present its newest Core Palace disciple, and the bearer of True Heavenly Ice Physique, Seris Voss!"
"From this day forward, the Academy pledges its full resources, its complete protection, and its unwavering commitment to nurturing her into a pillar of strength for the entire Solathane Dynasty."
The applause that followed was like a roaring thunderclap.
The patriarchs, the matriarchs, and the wandering cultivators all clapped their hands simultaneously.
When the applause finally settled, Lucius slowly stood up from his throne.
A hush fell over the stage.
"Vice Dean Myrielle has truly discovered a pearl beyond price," Lucius said with an enigmatic smile.
He walked forward with measured, elegant steps, stopping a polite distance away from Serisz and offering a gracious bow that sent another wave of swooning sighs through the female cultivators in the audience.
"Lady Seris," Lucius continued, holding her gaze. "To possess such celestial beauty and unparalleled talent is a blessing to the entire Solathane Dynasty. The Royal Court is deeply moved by your emergence."
With a flash, a dazzling artifact materialized in his palm.
It was a hairpin crafted from a translucent metal, radiating an incredibly dense, cold energy.
At its crest was a beautifully sculpted phoenix.
"This is the Glacial Phoenix Pin," Lucius explained. "A Mystic Grade artifact from the Royal Treasury, and only one of its kind. It aids in condensing ice essence and protects the soul from mental intrusions. Please, accept this modest token of the Royal Family’s admiration."
A collective gasp echoed across the plaza.
A Mystic grade artifact casually given as a greeting gift!
The sheer wealth and extravagance of the Crown Prince left the crowd stunned.
Many young female disciples looked at Seris with eyes burning with jealousy. To receive such a priceless treasure directly from the hands of the Crown Prince was a fairy tale come true.
But on the stage, Seris merely glanced at the hairpin.
Her pale purple eyes remained completely calm, resembling a frozen, unrippled lake.
Her instincts, sharpened by her True Awakening felt a sense of revulsion radiating from the Crown Prince’s seemingly perfect aura.
More importantly, Crown Prince Lucius was one of those people against whom her master had repeatedly warned her.
She was reminded several times by Myrielle to not lower her guard before Crown Prince at any circumstances.
Seris offered a polite bow, keeping her hands firmly clasped in front of her.
"His Royal Highness is far too generous," Seris replied, her voice melodious, but maintaining a clear polite distance. "However, my Master has already provided me with everything I could possibly require for my cultivation. I cannot accept such a precious treasure. Please, take it back, Your Highness."
The plaza was left dumbfounded.
She rejected him?
She rejected the Crown Prince of the Solathane Dynasty in front of a hundred thousand people?