The young man glared with his single eye and repeated loudly:
“I object to this wedding!”
The crowd had already fixed their gazes on him.
No one had expected someone to actually step forward and object at this moment.
Everyone sized him up and discussed his identity.
Those invited by Baron Leicester were all influential figures in Grey Pine City, each with a prominent reputation.
Here, merely being a noble wasn’t enough.
They either owned their own businesses, had strong personal strength to back themselves up, or were backed by major families with immense influence—celebrities and socialites from all walks of life.
Grey Pine City wasn’t just home to the Leicester and Jim baronial families; there were other baronial families as well, each with their own power, though none as vast as the Leicester family.
When Baron Leicester’s daughter held a wedding, nobles would send representatives to attend, showing respect to this baron at his peak.
After all, in this world, to be enfeoffed as a baron by the empire, one first needed to be at the peak of Tier 2; otherwise, the title couldn’t be inherited.
They were all interconnected and naturally knew each other.
The young man’s identity quickly spread—he was the grandson of Baron Owen, rumored to have been pursuing Emily for a long time.
“That young man seems to be Jamie Owen… I remember him. He’s supposedly been in love with Miss Emily for ages, but she never responded to him.”
“Yeah, I heard he even fought Sada a few times over her. He’s got some skill.”
The murmurs below quickly spread the information.
Shu Yue’s hearing was exceptionally sharp.
She picked out these useful details from the noise.
She studied the young man carefully.
He was decent enough.
His Mana Circuit had reached full external circulation, putting him at the First-order Mid-stage.
She didn’t particularly like the noble class, but she had to admit one thing: in this world, the rate of useless nobles was relatively low.
The empire’s rule was that strength determined inheritance—regardless of whether you were the eldest or youngest son, you only had the right to inherit if your strength met the title’s requirements.
Vanessa looked as if she’d just realized something, then covered her mouth and laughed playfully.
“So it’s him. Boys really do show courage when they’re vying for a girl’s heart.”
The black-haired girl’s smile was a bit chilling, like a black cat admiring a little mouse.
Cats caught mice most of the time not to fill their bellies, but to play and burn off energy.
Everything Vanessa did was just for entertainment and amusement.
Shu Yue turned to look at her, her expression calm.
Vanessa happened to turn her head as well, their eyes meeting.
Her long, thick eyelashes fluttered a couple of times.
If they were in a normal male-female relationship, that look would surely be asking Shu Yue—if it were you and me, would you be willing to step up and stop the wedding?
Shu Yue understood the meaning in Vanessa’s eyes.
She said nothing, just rolled her own in return.
Baron Leicester’s face was as dark as water.
He didn’t want anyone disrupting the wedding.
If Liya himself had come back to renege, that might have given him a headache.
But a mere Jamie Owen?
Was he disrespecting the baron a little too much?
Jamie first shouted to the crowd:
“I, Jamie Owen!”
His gaze fell on the girl in the white wedding dress, his eyes full of deep affection and longing.
“From the very first moment I saw Miss Emily, I fell completely in love with you. Since then, my heart has held only your image. For you, I willingly become your knight, guarding your life—”
Beneath the thin veil, Emily’s pretty face was blank.
She looked at Jamie pouring out his heart and felt only disgust.
Her exposed shoulders and arms were covered in goosebumps.
Anyone standing close enough would have noticed.
Emily had never once taken Jamie to heart.
His sudden confession struck her as utterly baffling.
Having someone she’d only met a few times—practically a stranger—declare “I love you” and “I’ll protect you” in front of so many people was unbearably awkward.
If not for maintaining her dignity, Emily would have turned around and walked away from it all.
Seeing Emily lower her head slightly, Jamie mistook it for the beloved girl being moved.
He lifted his chin and faced Baron Leicester’s icy glare.
“Lord Baron, I simply cannot tolerate you marrying such a beautiful and outstanding lady like Miss Emily to a mediocre man like him!”
The focus suddenly shifted to the False Li Ya.
The False Li Ya’s face instantly turned pale.
He tensed up, afraid of being exposed.
Jamie continued:
“Rumor has it he has almost no Magic Power—can’t even reach Tier 0! And learning Spell Arts requires a teacher; without guidance, only an extremely rare genius can complete Mana Induction on their own. Given his background, he never had the chance to access any of this.”
“Even the lowest noble at least receives Mana Enlightenment. This Liya obviously hasn’t.”
Having his cover blown, the False Li Ya panicked and almost ran.
But the lord who had given him this identity was standing right there.
The lord’s beautiful daughter was also beside him.
If this idiot hadn’t jumped out, he would have married her already!
Seeing the situation was in his favor, Jamie spoke again:
“I challenge you, Liya White!”
The False Li Ya’s eyes darted away, unable to face him.
“I… I…”
He looked frantically toward Baron Leicester.
Now, only that lord could fix this for him.
He couldn’t actually fight Jamie.
One punch from Jamie would take his worthless life.
Just as everyone was eagerly waiting to see how Baron Leicester would handle this, a furious roar came from outside:
“You little bastard!”
Shu Yue turned to look and couldn’t help widening her eyes.
Hearing the voice, Jamie’s body stiffened.
Before he could react, a rough hand grabbed him by the head and lifted him off the ground.
It was a gray-haired old man over two meters tall, his mustache bristling with rage.
He grabbed his grandson’s head and forced him to face him.
The fury in his eyes made Jamie’s face turn pale.
Baron Owen had white hair and beard, but his muscles were bulging and taut, looking no different from a man in his prime.
Despite being over a hundred years old, he still held the baron’s title.
His Tier 2 peak cultivation meant the title had never been passed down.
Though called an old man, he was terrifyingly robust.
The next moment, he threw his grandson out of the venue.
Jamie traced a perfect parabola through the air.
No one dared catch him.
He landed face-first in the dirt.
Shu Yue wasn’t tall and was blocked by the crowd, so she couldn’t see his “face in the mud” expression.
She turned her attention back to the scene.
Besides Baron Owen, she recognized another person—
Viscount Hermann.
That mysterious powerhouse who had appeared on the sun blade.
The viscount’s face had some resemblance to Vanessa’s—black hair, black eyes, very distinctive features.
Shu Yue turned to look at Vanessa.
Vanessa didn’t seem surprised her father had come.
She just smiled lightly.
“Darling, what’s wrong?”
As she spoke, she hugged Shu Yue’s arm even tighter.
Even her own father couldn’t make her behave a little more properly.
Shu Yue curled her lip and said nothing.
Baron Owen restrained his aura and offered an apology to Baron Leicester.
“It’s my fault for not disciplining him properly, to have produced such an unworthy descendant. Please don’t take it to heart, Baron Leicester.”
“Hm.”
Baron Leicester responded flatly.
Baron Owen showed no sign of dissatisfaction.
He turned and left.
Only Viscount Hermann walked over to the side.
As he walked, he saw his daughter and the “young man” she had her arm around.
He paused for a moment.
Vanessa acted as if nothing was wrong.
Shu Yue had no choice but to pretend she didn’t notice either.
Unexpectedly, Viscount Hermann simply looked away, acting as if he hadn’t seen anything, letting Vanessa do as she pleased outside.
The socialites below exchanged glances, pondering the shifts in power behind the sudden turn of events.
Baron Owen was old, but he was still a baron.
And Baron Leicester hadn’t even spoken a harsh word.
Unless…
Could it be—
A second viscount?!
Looking again at Viscount Hermann, who was here as a guest, they felt this guess became even more likely.
It was said that the marriage contract between Liya White and Miss Emily had been assigned from above.
Very likely, in this transaction, Baron Leicester had obtained the qualifications to advance to Tier 3.
Once the marriage was completed, he could very well be promoted from baron to viscount!
No wonder Baron Jim had died.
He must have offended some great noble up there.
The crowd now looked at the False Li Ya with respect, no longer mockery.
On the stage, Baron Leicester’s expression eased slightly.
He signaled the old bishop to continue.
The False Li Ya could finally breathe.
And he noticed that the way these people looked at him was no longer condescending, but filled with genuine awe.
Respect was as scarce to the False Li Ya as gold coins.
He had only experienced it in the past two days.
Those he once had to look up to were now smiling at him fawningly.
This feeling made every pore on his body tremble.
“Hahahaha… look at you now!”
He exulted inwardly.
“Everyone who humiliated me, I’ll pay it back tenfold!”
Emily glanced at Baron Leicester, then at the ecstatic False Li Ya, and let out an almost imperceptible sigh.
The old bishop coughed, cleared his throat, and prepared to continue the unfinished ceremony.
Vanessa held Shu Yue’s arm and asked softly:
“Darling, don’t you care at all?”
“Care about what?”
Shu Yue turned to look at her, confused.
Vanessa smiled enigmatically.
“Hehe, Emily really is pitiful~”
Shu Yue curled her lip.
Pitiful?
Then who’s going to pity me?
I grew up without parents, no one to love me, and I have to be some old geezer’s disciple.
In the end, it’s Emily herself who’s not strong enough.
Vanessa kept staring at her.
Shu Yue had no choice but to say casually:
“She has neither the ability to resist nor the courage to do so. She symbolically ran away once, then walked back on her own, deceiving herself. With that kind of character, she’ll never amount to much.”
“But Emily is just a fifteen-year-old girl. Your standards are a bit too high~”
Shu Yue rolled her eyes at her.
“So what if she’s fifteen? Aren’t I also fifteen?”
Vanessa laughed playfully.
Shu Yue’s body felt the tremor.
But Shu Yue thought her mind was still influenced by her young body.
As the saying goes, matter determines consciousness.
Before truly transcending the physical body, one would always be affected.
Fortunately, this world had that lesbian curse—girls would physiologically feel lust for other girls.
Shu Yue wasn’t too worried about that.
She only wanted to grow stronger.
Women would only drain her Magic Power.
Vanessa was quite pleased, probably because she had enjoyed watching the earlier spectacle.
She was in an exceptionally good mood.
“Darling, sometimes I feel like you’re more like a girl yourself.”
“!”
Shu Yue’s heart skipped a beat.
Her body froze on the spot, but she recovered quickly and retorted:
“How is that possible? Don’t accuse me without evidence. Where do I act like a girl?”
“The way you make unreasonable fusses.”
“Oh? Then I’ll change that.”
“Also, you’re completely indifferent to a lady throwing herself into your arms. That’s really unmanly.”
“Woman, shut up.”
Shu Yue realized Vanessa was messing with her.
She shot her a fierce glare to make her behave.
But to placate Vanessa, she took the initiative to wrap her arm around the girl’s slender waist.
The softness felt nice.
Unfortunately, it was filtered through the Mirror Flower Water Moon, so only a vague sensation remained, missing a lot of the charm.
Shu Yue glanced sideways at Vanessa’s satisfied smile and raised her estimation of her a little more.
The old bishop recited the same words again, asking everyone present if they objected to this marriage.
He asked three times in a row.
The first two times, no one spoke.
They just looked at each other.
As the third call fell and they were about to move to the next step, someone else stepped forward.
“Wait, I have something to say!”
A handsome man led a woman beside him, parting the crowd and stepping onto the red carpet.
He held his head high, straightened his spine, and shielded the woman from the pressure around them.
The crowd looked surprised.
Another one?
And this time…
It was Chris Wiley.
Shu Yue was taken aback.
She didn’t expect to see an old acquaintance.
Wasn’t this the “sympathetic guy” from the courtroom, the friend of women, the one who couldn’t tell right from wrong?
From the murmurs around, she learned his name was Chris Wiley.
Chris looked full of righteous indignation.
He addressed Baron Leicester on the stage.
“Lord Baron, please hear me out. This Liya White on the stage is far from a virtuous person. This marriage will ruin Miss Emily and bring you great losses. Please don’t be angry—I have evidence to prove Mr. Liya White’s character!”
With that, he stepped aside, revealing the woman behind him for everyone to see.
The girl was fairly pretty, but naturally couldn’t compare to Emily in her wedding dress.
However, she had a tragic beauty about her.
Her face was pale, faint red bloodshot veins visible in her eyes.
She stared fixedly at the False Li Ya on stage.
In those eyes was a complex tangle of love and hate, hard to read.
She opened her mouth and said to the False Li Ya in a hoarse voice:
“Liya, are you going to pretend you don’t know me?”
“…”
The False Li Ya was completely dumbfounded.
Seeing him frozen in place, she smiled a tragic smile, gently pressed her hand to her slightly bulging belly, and sobbed:
“This child is your blood. How can you be so cruel?”
“Huh?”
The False Li Ya was utterly lost.
When did he ever have a child?
No, this must be the real Liya’s child.
He was a fake.
This wasn’t his child at all!
“No… this isn’t—”
“Back then, you swore you loved me, said you would marry me. But now you’ve shut me out. I found out only now that you were already engaged, and to a noble lady high above. I was just someone you toyed with and tossed aside like a wildflower!”
The more she spoke, the more agitated she became.
Tears streamed down her face.
She cried and pointed at Emily.
“Is it for this woman that you abandoned me and our child?”
“Me… me?”
Emily was also bewildered when pointed at.
Reality was too surreal. She hadn’t even processed it.
She didn’t think Liya would abandon a woman and child for her, but Liya had indeed shown some longing for a certain woman.
Could that person…
Be the one in front of her?
But…
What the hell is going on!?
“I was pregnant with your child. When I went to find you, you were gone. I searched desperately for you, made it to Grey Pine City, but couldn’t even get a chance to see you. I almost died in the streets. If it weren’t for Mr. Chris, my child and I would have rotted away long ago. Thanks to him, I could come here and see you with our unborn baby.”
The girl cried as she poured out her suffering.
The False Li Ya’s hands and feet turned cold.
His lips trembled.
He didn’t dare say a word.
He was terrified that one wrong word would enrage Baron Leicester and get him killed on the spot.
“Liya, I’m not asking you to marry me. I just want to ask you one question…”
She stared at him intently.
“Did you ever truly love me?”
The False Li Ya couldn’t answer.
His mind was blank.
Chris took the opportunity to step forward and clasped his hands to Baron Leicester.
“Lord Baron, you see, I told you this Mr. Liya has poor character. He’s completely unsuitable to marry your daughter Miss Emily. He abandoned his wife and daughter, and now when confronted, he can’t even utter a word. Don’t let him—”
“Bam!”
Before Chris could finish his sentence, his head exploded.
Only a headless corpse stood in place.
Scarlet, hot blood sprayed out, splattering the red carpet, dyeing that red even more glaringly.
The girl beside him reacted a beat late.
Finding herself drenched in blood, before she could even scream, her eyes rolled back and she fainted from shock, collapsing beside the corpse.
Baron Leicester’s face was ashen.
He glared angrily at the False Li Ya.
The False Li Ya trembled like a leaf.
It wasn’t me!
He wanted to defend himself but couldn’t speak.
Emily, standing beside Baron Leicester, was also startled by the sudden scene.
The old bishop frowned and said to the baron:
“Baron, this is under the gaze of Holy Radiance.”
“Apologies. I got a little excited.”
Baron Leicester didn’t want to clash with the old bishop.
Although the old bishop was near retirement, he was still a member of the Holy Radiance Church.
The empire, no matter how strong, wouldn’t easily burn bridges with the church, and a mere baron couldn’t overstep the rules.
So he offered his apologies to the old bishop.
“Guards, take this woman away.”
The baron didn’t kill her.
Although this woman had become a future stain on the Leicester family, if this truly was Liya’s blood, he had to keep her.
Whether it was real or fake could be determined by divination after the child was born.
Vanessa turned her head to look at Shu Yue, her eyes asking what was going on.
Shu Yue rolled her eyes back at her.
The meaning was obvious—how should I know?
Indeed, she wasn’t the real Liya.
She and the fake on stage were six of one, half a dozen of the other.
If she were standing up there, she wouldn’t be able to say a word either.
Vanessa stared at her for a moment, then suddenly laughed.
She found this whole scene quite amusing.
She wondered if there would be even better drama later.
As a woman herself, Vanessa could tell at a glance that the girl was just someone arranged to cause trouble.
If Shu Yue wouldn’t even take a high-born lady like her for free, how could she possibly be interested in such an ordinary-looking woman?
If that were the case, wouldn’t it mean that Vanessa herself had no charm?
At that thought, Vanessa breathed a secret sigh of relief and leaned closer into Shu Yue’s embrace.
But Shu Yue frowned and couldn’t help complaining inwardly.
Why are you squeezing me?
There’s plenty of space on your side, yet you insist on pushing into me.
Do I look that easy to bully?
She reached out and pushed Vanessa back.
The old bishop sighed and was about to recite the vows again.
At that moment, the exhausted Baron Leicester waved his hand.
“Skip it. Go straight to the next part. Let’s finish this quickly, for everyone’s sake.”
The old bishop nodded in agreement.
So they jumped over the previous proceedings and went directly to the “you agree, I agree” part.
And the first one asked was naturally the False Li Ya.