Engagement Ceremony

The Radiant Order's mobilization of the Silencers did not delay their "day-to-day business" of hosting weddings.

Three days later, at the engagement ceremony of Gaucan Crown Guard and Miss Fiora Laurent, the bishop of the Radiant Order's Demacia City diocese stood at the officiant's position, his face wreathed in smiles.

Because the Crownguard family had always kept a low profile and owned only a limited estate in Demacia City, the engagement ceremony was arranged in a church of the Radiant Order—there was no other choice. Far too many guests had come to offer their congratulations!

The nobles might be hopeless at their actual duties, but when it came to intrigue, they were always fully informed.

The Crownguard family had never had a particularly good relationship with its collateral branches, yet this time, they were making a grand show of supporting a relative who had come from Silvermine City. Could this perhaps represent a change in their attitude?

One had to understand that, over the past decade, the cooperation between the Crownguard family and the royal Lightshield family had seemed far too intimate to the nobles.

"Noble Exemplar" sounded like an impressive title, but to ordinary nobles, it was essentially the same as "someone else's child."

The Crownguard family's attitude of "I'll fight the battles, I won't fight for credit, and I'll charge forward when the nation is in trouble" made quite a few nobles extremely uncomfortable. Even though Ogesha was smooth and highly skilled at handling affairs, the Crownguard family still seemed somewhat out of place among the nobility.

As a noble, you didn't amass wealth, fight for credit, or promote your relatives. What exactly were you doing?

Trying to seize the throne?

If they were seeking fame and trying to claim the throne, that would be easy enough to understand. Demacia's throne was not hereditary forever. Although the Lightshield family had produced several kings in succession, taking a breather and stirring things up a little at this point was not entirely out of the question.

But...

The Crownguard family was famous for its loyalty, and it did not have many descendants. The younger generation consisted solely of Garen. Considering that Garen's dense, simple-minded personality was renowned throughout Demacia City, he clearly did not look like someone trying to seize the throne.

That made the nobles of Demacia City rather uncomfortable.

Ogesha had complained to Peter before, saying that his bluntness had resulted in his poor relationships.

But in reality, the main reason for his poor relationships was probably that Peter did not know how to go along with the crowd...

Under these circumstances, if they had the opportunity, the nobles would have been more than happy to cause the Crownguard family some trouble. Unfortunately, this family was genuinely formidable. The men were all heroes who died for their country, while the women were each skilled at navigating social circles. Even if they wanted to cause trouble, they could not find an opening.

Demacia had not yet reached the point where "fabricated charges" were possible.

So whenever the Crownguard family was mentioned, who knew how many nobles privately cursed them as "the king's loyal dogs"?

And now, this "king's loyal dog," the Crownguard family, had finally begun helping a collateral branch seek a position!

How could such news not excite all the nobles?

The Crownguard family was finally going to become like us, one of us!

That was how it should be. Nobles ought to take responsibility for their own families!

Because of these expectations, even though this was merely the engagement ceremony of a collateral branch, the nobles of the entire Demacian Imperial Capital could practically be said to have turned out in full force.

Come on, join us. Be a true noble—stop being the king's loyal dog!

Because they had something to look forward to, the polite smiles of the noble guests contained a measure of genuine sincerity.

However, Fiora, the main figure of the ceremony, did not even wear a polite smile.

This was her engagement ceremony.

Yet she seemed like an outsider.

She was not the one calling the shots, either.

And the man she was engaged to was a womanizer she utterly despised.

Although Fiora's father, Sebastian Laurent, thought highly of Gao Kan and believed that Gao Kan's social skills would allow him to rise rapidly through Demacia City's noble circles, in Fiora's eyes, Gao Kan was a good-for-nothing.

A complete and utter good-for-nothing.

His abilities might have been enough to make him a private in the Fearless Vanguard, or perhaps a squad leader among the rangers, but Fiora looked down on that level completely.

In fact, when they first met, Gao Kan's habitual frivolity prompted Fiora to give him a merciless warning. Under the pretext of sparring, she easily sent his sword flying.

If the other party had not been a guest, Fiora might even have slashed that smug, grinning face right there and then!

Unfortunately, this warning seemed to have had the opposite effect.

After realizing how astonishing Fiora's swordsmanship was, Dili had inexplicably decided that she would be his daughter-in-law.

He and Sebastian immediately hit it off, and the two of them quickly settled the marriage.

As far as Dili was concerned, he had obtained a daughter-in-law who could fight. With swordsmanship like Fiora's, she would certainly accomplish great things in the military in the future.

As far as Sebastian was concerned, the Laurent family had climbed onto the Crownguard family's branch. The Laurent family of today was no longer the swordmaster-filled family it had been three hundred years ago. The Laurent family had achieved nothing in the knightly martial arts tournaments of the past century, and the dazzling Sword Dance Waltz was becoming increasingly ill-suited to the current era. If they did not change, the family's decline would only be a matter of time!

When there was a chance to cling to a powerful patron, they naturally had to seize it firmly!

And so, this political marriage, in which both sides got what they wanted, was finalized.

As for Fiora, the person involved, she was almost the last among everyone to learn of it. In fact, quite a few guests received their invitations before she learned that she was going to be engaged.

Fiora naturally refused to accept such a surreal fate.

Ever since she was young, she had always rebelled against the various expectations placed upon her.

Her mother had found Demacia's finest craftsmen to make her a lifelike doll, but Fiora had given the doll to her maid, then picked up her elder brother's sword and forced him to secretly teach her swordsmanship.

Her father had hired deft tailors and vanguard designers to make her gorgeous clothes to measure, but Fiora had made a straw dummy herself, put the clothes on it, and used it as a target for practicing thrusts and parries.

Fiora was proud of the Laurent name as well, but she yearned even more to prove with the sword in her hand that the Laurent family was inferior to no one!

Then, at the age of eighteen, she learned the absurd news that she was about to be engaged. No matter what, Fiora could not accept it.

She tried to reason with her father. She swore that she would win glory for the family with her own sword and that she did not need to obtain status through marriage.

But Sebastian paid no attention to her words. He merely droned on and on about how she would have to behave as a proper noblewoman after marriage.

In the end, father and daughter parted in anger.

Although it was the eve of her engagement, and the whole family was busy preparing for the ceremony, Fiora was polishing her sword.

Now, she had appeared at the engagement ceremony, expressionless as she watched the many guests beaming with joy.

She did not know what these people were so happy about, nor did she want to know.

The guests, for their part, did not care about Fiora's thoughts at all. Even though her face was icy, no one paid it any mind.

Many marriages between nobles took place after star-crossed lovers had been forcibly separated.

No one cared about those unfortunate lovers.

In accordance with their status, more and more guests arrived.

Finally, as the Crownguard family's main branch representative—thirteen-year-old Luxanna Crown Guard—formally entered, accompanied by the arrival of the king's envoy bearing the Lightshield emblem, the officiating bishop formally announced the beginning of the engagement ceremony.

Amid the accompaniment of the choir, one stage of the ceremony after another proceeded in orderly fashion. Gao Kan was extraordinarily excited, while Fiora was like a puppet on strings.

During the parents' speeches, Dili and Sebastian both expressed their approval of the two children and praised the glorious histories of each other's families.

One engagement token after another was displayed to the guests. Fiora stared expressionlessly at the things that were supposedly "the dolls she had once loved most" and "the books she had read the most," feeling an indescribable sense of absurdity.

No—absurdity was the better word!

When had she ever played with dolls?

And when had she ever had a favorite book?

Unfortunately, no one cared.

Finally, amid thunderous applause, the engagement ceremony reached its final stage.

The bishop, clad in a black robe, stood between Gao Kan and Fiora and asked the final two questions.

"Mr. Gao Kan, are you willing to work hard to prepare for marriage and make a commitment to it?"

Gao Kan's brows danced with excitement. Even though he tried to appear composed, Fiora could still see how impatient he was.

"I am."

"Ms. Fiora Laurent, are you willing to work hard to prepare for marriage and make a commitment to it?"

Fiora smiled for the first time. Her smile was like a spring breeze sweeping across a snow-capped mountain—gentle, yet still bone-chillingly cold.

"I—refuse!"