The preparations for the marriage were in full swing. Lord of Barix, Prince Saron, and the delegation were set to arrive in two days.
Before that, the capital city, Hera, the venue of marriage ushered in a rapid beautification.
Every street was painted with gold-coated paint, every tree was given precious potions to grow tall and strong, and all the buildings that were unsightly were demolished and rebuilt.
Entire forests propped up in the morning, a bunch of lakes came up in the afternoon and it was raining flower petals in the evening.
Even the most wealthy people had never such extravagance. They stood on top of their big houses and watched the flower plants and trees in the sky.
They were special floating plants and trees. They were attached to clouds, absorbed the water from them, and shed flower petals regularly.
From the ground, it looked like the clouds were covered by insanely colorful and beautiful flowers.
It was fascinating.
"How do you like it, daughter?"
In the balcony of the Prime Palace in this city, Duke Cassius asked his daughter with a loving smile.
The arrangements cost him a lot. Centaurus' finances have been very tight and burdened for a long time. After the drug empire's collapse, the financial situation grew worse as a lot of money was spent for treatment of the citizenry.
As a prudent ruler, Cassius was expected to arrange a simple marriage and be done with it. Cassius himself had always lived in simplicity and never tried to burden the treasury.
But such a man, for the first time in centuries, spent lavishly despite the circumstances.
"I…" Princess Catherine looked at her father's smiling face and felt a lump in her throat. Whatever she wanted to say got struck.
She loved Theoron. The young man was smart, brave, and humble. She had long thought of herself to be lucky to love the man who of her political marriage.
But as Theoron went missing, her father didn't even bat an eyelid when the groom was changed.
He was just happy to give her a grand marriage. But did it not matter to him whether it was a happy one?
Cassius looked at his daughter's teary eyes and cupped her cheek. Looking into her eyes, he said with a wry smile. "Little girl, I've tried my best to search for that lad. I couldn't find him. If it's possible, I wish you a happy political marriage.
Which father wouldn't want happiness for his daughter? But when it's not possible, I can't give up on this Duchy. Centaurus needs to rise. Its five hundred billion souls deserve better. I must do whatever is needed to improve their lives and restore our glory."
Catherine closed her eyes and hot tears streamed down her cheeks and onto Cassius' palm.
"I-If I found Theoron?" Catherine almost choked on her tears but managed to mutter.
"Then you'll marry him. That much, I can guarantee." Cassius said but shook his head immediately. "But where will you find him? No one found him an—"
"Wait, you went off somewhere a few days ago, was it for him?" The Old Duke narrowed his eyes and unconsciously, a heavy pressure fell on Catherine.
Her face paled and her breathing grew heavy.
"S-Sorry," Cassius withdrew his aura almost right away.
"F-Father, I'll take my leave." Catherine bowed and walked away in a hurry.
'If only Centaurus wasn't so weak, she would've been a great Duchess.' Cassius sighed.
— — — — —
"Y-You son of a bitch! Give up! Why can't you give up?" Hermand, the low rank 3 officer, sat beside the half-kneeling man and cursed like a shrew on the street.
Varian's shirt shattered long ago and there were wide claw marks on his chest, deep enough to show his bones. That was the smallest injury he had.
He had no idea how many bones were broken or entire joints were twisted. Maybe a lung was also punctured?
"N-Not so tough now, are you?" Varian had difficulty breathing, but he still grinned widely at Hermand.
"S-Stop this madness!" Hermand clenched his own hair and asked in a pleading tone. "I've been fighting for a full fucking day. I know you're stronger than me. So, just find someone else! I'm begging you!"
Hermand seemed to have pulled his hair a bit too hard and a bunch of his hair came out directly.
"…" The angry man threw the patch of hair and stomped it under his foot, cursing violently and coughing blood in the process.
He too was injured heavily and was bleeding everywhere. He was just a bit better compared to Varian.
"You promised." Varian shrugged nonchalantly.
"Ah, Promise! Promise my ass!" Herman slapped his own face like he was an idiot.
Most of the Imperial Guards in the training hall left to patrol the city.
In the training hall, only a hundred rank 1s, a couple rank 2s, and three rank 3s were left. And they were all looking at him with a gloating expression. Especially Hermand's colleagues.
Varian had been fighting with Hermand since yesterday. In the beginning, Varian was powerless and couldn't even last two minutes.
He'd fall down, heal himself quickly through some nasty potions, and get up again. But at least, Hermand had a break of ten minutes after every fight.
But soon, Varian started to fight for longer and took smaller breaks. By the ten-hour mark, Varian was fighting Hermand for a whole hour.
It was enough to shock even the Admiral.
Hermand might be the weakest rank 3 in the Imperial Guards, but he's the biggest genius in the bunch and was expected to reach rank 4 in three decades.
"One more round?" Varian stood up and cracked his neck.
Hermand shook his head violently and ran out of the bubble. His intuition told him that Varian was going to defeat him this time.
"Take her! She's stronger!" He threw his unsuspecting senior into the fire pit and fled.
"W-What?" The woman was enjoying their battles immensely. But it never occurred to her that she'd be thrown into the battle by her 'loyal' colleague.
"Er, Wanxi, right?" Varian clenched his fists in front of his chest and assumed a fighting posture.
"R-Right!" Wanxi assumed a defensive posture.
Like everyone else, she thought Varian was stronger than he showed and was just playing around with them to 'enjoy' the fights.
"F-Fighting is fine, but let's not go with too much violence, okay?" She said in a hopeful tone.
Varian smiled.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l