4 Cancel the marriage

The smiles on the strangers' faces faded as time passed. Parker's gaze swept across the room, trying to find the reason for the awkward silence. Meanwhile, Sasha was busy throwing glances at Roman Bronson. His hazel eyes and perfect jaw structure could allure any you girl, and Sasha wasn't an exception.

"So elders, I think we had enough pleasantries for one day. Shall we talk about the reason why you are here?" Walter's smile disappeared from his face. A silence haunted the hall for a few moments until the gray-haired elder in moon-white robes took a deep breath.

"Walter," The elder addressed Walter by his name without any honorifics. In Midtown, addressing Walter by name was an offense punishable by death. But power decided everything in Abbalon. Being an elder of Tameria let the elder address Walter however he wanted. Knowing his place, Walter did not mind.

"As we all know, Lord Chester and Lord Marcus Phoenix were like blood brothers. The Bronson family is forever in debt to Lord Marcus for saving Lord Chester when the orcs ambushed them, a cowardly act. Lord Phoenix gave his life to save Lord Chester. In exchange, our benevolent Lord Chester gave his word to Lord Marcus he would protect the Phoenix clan in his stead,"

Sasha creased her brows, hearing the old man. She felt that the old man intentionally ignored the promise made to her grandfather by Lord Chester. Nonetheless, Sasha remained silent as it wasn't her place to correct the elder when everyone, including her father kept his mouth shut.

"Bronson family kept that promise and will keep it until there's a last Bronson. It's true that Lord Chester wanted to marry his granddaughter to the Phoenix clan when they were mere children," The Elder exhaled deeply as though he was searching for the right words to speak next.

"Unfortunately, Lord Chester had never returned from his seclusion for mere than two decades. So as much as I hate to go against Lord Chester's words, we Bronsons had to make the toughest decisions we have ever made. We want to anule the marriage agreement between the two families Walter,"

Everyone in the Phoenix clan was startled. Especially Watler and Mary, who looked pale as though they had seen a ghost. Walter crushed the glass in his hand. Pieces of glass shattered, cutting Walter's palm in the process.

"Lord-" Walter raised his bloody hand, halting the servants from approaching him.

"You want to go back on your word? Lord Chester promised my father during his last breath. Does Lord Chester know about this?" Walter's voice became deep. His eyes were bloodshot in pure rage.

"But Lord Alvis, why? Why do you want to annul the marriage?" Mary's stammered. Unlike her husband, her eyes were filled with tears. Looking at the tears running down her eyes, Clarkson heaved a sigh,

"Mary, just know we took this decision with a heavy heart. Please understand," Elder Alvis had a close relationship with the Phoenix clan. To be honest, he hated to be the bearer of this bad news. It was not only disrespecting but also not fair to the Phoenix Clan, especially to the delicate young man who obviously had lived a life with Lydia in his dream.

"If Lydia wants to study and cultivate, we won't stop her. She can take as much time as she wants. Let us talk to Lydia and Lord Chester," Mary begged Lord Alvis. Even the elders who didn't like Mary pitied her and clenched their fists in anger. The rest of them blamed Parker for being effeminate. Everyone listened to Mary attentively.

"I am sure I can change Lydia's mind," Mary stuttered.

"I made my decision, aunty," suddenly, a melodious voice resonated in the hall. Immediately, everyone in the hall turned their heads toward the door. A girl with milky white skin entered the hall. Her striking blonde hair fluttered in the wind adding an extra layer of char to her. Even the prettiest girl in the Phoneix clan Sasha couldn't hold a torch to the girl's beauty. She was a goddess walking among the mortals. Each step she took forward was filled with grace. As she walked forward, the pieces of jade earrings clinked together, chirping a beautiful melody and adding a hint of royalty to the girl. The youngsters' mouths dropped several inches down in pure amazement. Her perfect hourglass structure made their heart beat rapidly. Even the elders in the Phoneix clan had never seen beauty on par with the girl.

"Lydia," Mary stood up as a miserable smile escaped her mouth. But the girl remained cold, without a shred of a smile on her face.

When Mary came to Lydia, she grabbed the young girl's hands.

"What's Elder Alvis talking about Lydia? Is it true?"

Lydia slowly pulled out her hands from Mary's grasp.

"Walter," Lord Alvis turned his gaze back to Walter, who was trembling in fury. Walter was not a man of many words. Instead, he preferred to talk with his fist. Walter would have ripped them to shreds if anyone else had made such a request. But since it was Lord Alvis who he had greatly admired, Walter simply couldn't raise his hand against him. Everyone noticed the sweat beads forming on Walter's face due to controlling his anger.

"A year ago, when Lydia tested herself on the sorting stone, we have found out she is a Knight mage, Walter," as soon as the elders heard the mere mention of 'Knight mage', they gasped in utter shock. In Abbalon, the majority of the cultivators were divided into two categories; Warriors and Mages. What path a cultivator should choose was decided by a magical pillar forged by royal blacksmiths and runemasters. When a cultivator comes to age, they would test themselves on the sorting stone. The sorting stone itself was a magical pillar containing special runes. The process was simple actually. Once a cultivator sends a sliver of the astral energy coursing through their veins, the sorting stone would either glow in red or blue.

If the stone glowed in red, the cultivator had the aptitude to become a mage. Otherwise, the blue meant, he or she had an aptitude to become a warrior. In case the pillar didn't light up, it meant the cultivator had no aptitude to become either. Simply put, they could only perform the basics of tasks using Astral energy such as creating sparks and levitating small things. Nothing more, nothing less.

Besides the warriors, mages, and commoners, there was a fourth kind. It was the rarest and most powerful kind of all; Knight Mages. In the entire abbalon, only fifty or so Knight mages existed. All of them held a prominent position in the world and were not to be trifled with. Unlike a mage who could only use spells and a warrior who could only use martial arts, a Knight mage could use both. Therefore, one couldn't compare a Knight mage with a warrior or a mage on the same cultivation stage. The Knight mages were terrifying existences. Even kings would think twice before doing anything that might displease a Knight mage. So when the elders heard Lydia was a Knight mage, they shuddered. Everyone, including Sasha had realized why the Bronsons decided to go back on their words and why Tamaria, a most powerful sect on the entire continent, sent a few elders to accompany the Bronsons.

Regardless

"Errr..." Lord Alvis hesitated, but he thought about how much Lydia's teacher adored her, and thus, he took yet another deep breath

"Walter, a powerful Knight Mage, decided to take Lydia as her disciple. Moreover, Tameria's headmaster has decided to nurture Lydia to become the next headmistress. A marriage would just hinder her growth and be a hurdle. Therefore, they both requested the Phoenix clan to cancel the marriage.

In the main hall, everyone was silent. The three clan elders were in complete shock. Soon afterward, some elders who were eying for Walter's position as the clan leader glanced at Walter with plain glee and ridicule.

"Hehe, how will you respond to this?" They thought sinisterly.

A couple of the youngsters who previously didn't know about the set marriage between Parker and Lydia ridiculed Parker after hearing the story from their parents. Their faces brightened with pure joy. No matter how they looked at the marriage, Parker didn't deserve a heavenly beauty such as Lydia, not in a million years. If an effeminate like Parker married a girl like Lydia, how could they walk on the streets with their heads held high? People would ridicule them instead of Parker if the marriage went through.

Looking at Walter and Mary's dark faces, Lydia lowered her head, squeezing her fingers together. She couldn't face Walter and Lydia after making such a rude request.

Instead, she turned her gaze towards Alvis,

Lydia's teacher and Headmaster understand that today's request is quite disrespectful. Therefore, Lydia's teacher asked me to bring something. Please accept it as an apology on behalf of Tamaria and the Bronson family," Alvis touched a ring on his hand as a jade box appeared in his hand.

Upon opening the jade box, a sweet, gentle fragrance swept through the entire main hall. Anyone who smelled it felt relaxed.

The three elders' curiosity got the better of them. They poked their head to see the box's contents: "High-quality astral pill?"

Within the jade box, a golden pill, about the size of an eyeball placed on a crimson red cloth. The refreshing scent that had spread throughout the entire hall was emanating from the pill. In Abbalon, to reach higher cultivation stages, one needed to absorb the Astral energy and refine the energy through the soul itself. The refining speed and how much Astral energy one could absorb depended on the purity of the Astral energy. A higher purity astral energy meant the soul could quickly refine and absorb the energy without wasting it. By wasting so much time on the refinement of Astral energy, one would lose the best time to cultivate and thus destroy their future.

That's where the High Quality astral pill comes into the picture. Unlike typical astral energy sources such as Astral coins, the pill had undergone several refinement steps. This ultra-pure Astral energy was able to get into the soul rapidly, enabling the body to absorb the energy faster with minimal waste. Judging by the pill's glowing surface, there was no doubt the pill was refined by a Grandmaster Alchemist.

Alchemy was one of the many specializations a mage could choose. In some parts of Abbalon, it was the most preferred and desired specialization. As the name suggests, alchemists were able to create special pills and potions with many special benefits. Every free-agent alchemist was sought after by many forces. After all, they were a rare commodity in Abbalon. To walk the path of alchemy, three things were required from a mage. First of all, one must have a fire attribute. A mage with a water attribute wouldn't be able to conjure alchemy flames which were used to refine the pills and potions. A mage's attribute was determined by his or her soul. Normally, a soul since birth would only have one attribute among fire, water, wind, earth, light, and darkness. It was scarce for one person to have two attributes. But it wasn't impossible to change the soul to acquire one more attribute using ancient relics and artifacts.

Next, a mage must have access to the best ingredients. After all, even the best alchemists wouldn't be able to create a high-quality pill or potion from trash ingredients. And finally, the most essential requirement was talent. Without talent, no amount of high-quality ingredients and fire attribute could make an Alchemist successful. They would only be mediocre at best.

Under these strict conditions, the ones who managed to become an alchemist are few and rare. Because there weren't many alchemists, the demand for the pills and potions they refined was sky high.

Despite how rare this pill was or who refined it, Walter refused to even glance at the pill. Instead, he shook his head. But before Walter could utter a word, Parker's trembling voice resonated in the hall.

"I can't live without you, Miss Lydia,"