Chapter 136 High Ranking Nobles' Meeting [2]



I created a Discord Channel with all the REF-ILLUSTRATIONS and Channels for you to discuss and ask me questions!

https://discord.gg/ek9jBuCy

The Link is also in the END of the Synopsis!

============================

Charles Celesta smiled at Jarett's indirect message. "Of course, Jarett. I absolutely want your beautiful daughter for my son. They will make a beautiful Queen and King. And I hope as by our agreement, your eldest son, John will be engaged to Sylvia."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Jarett nodded without hesitation.

The agreement between Charles and Jarett was in two parts.

Layla, the only daughter of Jarett Tarmias will marry Alfred, the heir to the throne of the Celesta Kingdom. Layla was a born genius and it was the Queen in person who offered this proposal to Layla's deceased mother. Jarett didn't even hesitate to accept that of course since it would mean that the future royalty of the Celesta will have his blood.

The other part of the agreement was concerning the second engagement. This time, it was Charles' offer. He put a condition since he also wanted something in exchange and that something was Jarett's genius son. John Tarmias who showed great intelligence and talent since childhood. He wanted absolutely John's future on his side and that's why he proposed his second daughter, Aurora's younger sister, Sylvia Kiara Celesta to John Tarmias. Jarett accepted and the agreement was done.

Then there must be a question.

Why hadn't Charles offered his first daughter, Aurora to John? It would have been simpler.

The reason for that was simple.

The Falkrona Household.

One of the mightiest of the whole world. 

Putting aside Thomen Falkrona's powerful army and wealth, outside…was the Falkrona Household led by Waylen Falkrona, Edward's grandfather. 

Charles wanted absolutely their blood in his descendance to have them as allies if they needed help in the future but also to avoid enmity…

The blood of the Falkrona was sought by everyone around the world. They were all willing to offer their daughters and sons to the Falkrona Family to have at least a little bound with them. That's why the Falkrona House was rather a seclusive family. They were living alone on a giant island and didn't trust anyone. 

Thomen and Belle were rare cases who had chosen to leave the Household and live in another country thus earning the Household's contempt for them and the children. Despite that, their blood was precious and desired by everyone including royalty of other kingdoms.

Truthfully after Draven broke off his daughter's engagement with Edward, Charles was extremely happy. He immediately started negotiating for engaging Aurora and Edward. Thomen who refused already plenty of times before to give Elona or Edward, surprisingly accepted after a long talk.

But.

Something Charles didn't expect was Edward's fall into depravity. He would have never believed that the little genius on par with John Tarmias, Aurora and Layla would one day become this…stupid.

He was even distraught as he already believed to have hit the jackpot by having John, Layla and Edward, born geniuses, in his family…

Of course, he could have forced his daughter to marry Edward despite her reluctance because of the latter's behavior toward her but in the end, his affection for his daughter made him forget about Edward. 

However, not everything was lost. Edward's cousins in the famous Falkrona Household were all incredibly gifted and monsters in their own right. They were about the same age as Aurora, so Charles decided to wait for the chance to win them over once they were in the Celesta Kingdom or if he encountered them outside.

"Speaking about engagement," Duke Scarlett intertwined his fingers together. "I would like to propose an engagement between my eldest son with the First Princess, Aurora, as she is not engaged to Thomen's son anymore." Avner finished and glanced at Thomen, waiting for a reaction but unfortunately the latter didn't even move an eyelash.

Two other people reacted though.

Peter Greenvern and Davis Seaven.

Both also wanted to engage their eldest son to Aurora.

"I expected you would say that, Avner," Charles smiled. "But Peter and Davis have been faster than you."

"Huh?" Avner looked at Peter and Davis with a frown.

"What did you expect, Avner? Those guys are obsessed with the royal bloodline," Draven Stormdila didn't even hesitate before uttering Peter's and Davis' intentions.

Peter and Davis, of course, were angry but didn't let out anything leak from their faces. Draven was a Monarch just like their King so it was better to keep quiet. They didn't want to antagonize a guy like him. When Draven's wife was killed, only few knew about Draven's rampage and it scared the hell out of them. Two Monarchs were needed to stop Draven from destroying cities and killing innocent people in his anger.

"Now, now." Charles clapped his hands to calm down everyone. "Enough chatters, I called you here to speak about two things." 

When Charles finished speaking, Peter handed to him two files. 

Charles took the first file and retrieved several photos from inside.

"There." He put the photos at the center of the table so everyone could see it.

On several of them, they could see a scarred man who was burning with orange fire. He was fighting several people and among them were familiar ones.

Thomen's grey eyes opened slightly wide when he saw daughter, Elona and step-son Simon fighting for their lives. Of course, he heard about the battle despite being in the other corner of the Kingdom but he would have never imagined that the fight was this fierce. 

"Ah…it's difficult to see…is that a teenager? He is fighting really well…" Mark muttered seeing a white-haired man with a blindfold getting beaten up by Pyres.

"He is really strong then…" Avner added.

Charles nodded at them. "For now, we have no information about him—no. I have no information. Geoffrey knows about this child, I'm sure about that. He seems pretty close to him since he asked for Myrcella's help."

"Myrcella? That bratty?" Draven, who knew about Myrcella since she was a fellow Monarch despite her young age, was surprised.

"Yes. From what Geoffrey told me, she saved the teenager who was fighting against Pyres who decided to withdraw after Myrcella's apparition. My daughter was also there so I'm grateful to her." Charles explained omitting a few details since even he wasn't sure if they were true or not. Geoffrey was clearly hiding a lot of things from him.

"Another thing." Charles sighed before looking at Draven with a complicated expression. "Pyres is from the Iris Project."

"!" Draven's calm smile vanished in a second and his expression distorted. "W-What?!" He stood up with a jump.

"Calm down, Draven." Charles unleashed a little of his mana to repel Draven's fluctuating mana. His emotions were in disarray. "I will not​​ beat around the bush, Draven. The one who killed Olivia, who nearly killed your daughter and son, managed to even cripple your youngest son is still active and is in the same organization as that Pyres."

Charles didn't mind his words as he knew Draven. Rather, he wanted to help him so his decision to be tactless.

"Raisa…" Draven clenched his fists just remembering the woman who killed his beloved wife. She was the one responsible for his broken family. He couldn't even properly face his daughter and two sons because of his inability to protect any of them that day.

"Draven, enough." Thomen spoke to his friend. "She will have her time. For now, be patient."

Thomen's calm words seemed to have gone through as Draven sat back on his chair even though he wasn't smiling anymore.

Charles gave a grateful look to Thomen and continued. "The purpose of the Iris Project remains as of now unknow but we do know that they are looking for talented and young people. Myrcella, by the grace of Eden escaped that hell but even she doesn't know their goal."

"I wonder about that. She could have lied." Mark Roger didn't seem convinced about Myrcella's supposed ignorance.

"It's not like you will get answers from her in any case. She is stronger than most of us." Jarett Tarmias said.

"I know that, Tarmias!"

"What about Emilia? Does she know something?" Thomen ignored the noise and asked Charles.

"Emilia…she refused to speak to us and her whereabouts are unknown." Charles shook his head. "Right?" He asked for Draven's confirmation as Emilia was also one of the escapees of the Iris Project and a Monarch just like Myrcella.

"Yes, it has been awhile since I spoke to her. I don't like her way of looking down on us." Draven replied, clearly not holding any good impression on Emilia.

"That's it." Charles sighed. "They are dangerous people and I ask you to be careful against them and to be too hasty." His last glance was aimed at Draven.

When all the people around the table nodded, Peter recovered the pictures and handed another file to Charles. 

"Another important matter is of course Ante-Eden." Charles removed several papers and scattered them on the table. 

This time his gaze was on Thomen Falkrona because…

Thomen's eyes twitched when he heard Ante-Eden.

…his wife, the Duchess, Oryanna Olphean has been killed by the leader of Ante-Eden.