Chapter 17: Second Episode: Chapter 8 (2/2)

”Do you know what I am suspecting now? I was thinking if you had exchanged brains with that stupid horse of yours? Oh my! Everyone look! Look at this! His stupid horse just nodded! Ah, then that must be the case! You think killing my brother would help you achieve your aims? You think you would become the hero that rescued the angel? You know what? Your ego is the exact thing that prompts the angels to follow my brother towards the heavens of the God of Light. And also! Duel, yes! Duel, you came for a duel! Then let me tell you what a duel exactly is.”

Sasha took out a huge handful of coins from the purse she had on her all the time. She threw them on the floor and took a glance at the crowd around her. She immediately noticed a few guys that kept staring at the coins.

”You... And you! Come out!”

The two guys who were chosen by Sasha jumped out of the crowd, feeling flattered. From the disgusted look from the people, we could all see that these two were terrible gangsters. These two gangsters had probably not had a chance to work for a lady of such high social status in their lives before. Their voices and looks were disgusting to look at.

”The most respected, noble and beautiful young lady! What can we do for you?”

Sasha did not even spare a look at these two gangsters. She stared straight into the eyes of the knight, determined.

”I need a duel right now at this place. The crowd can be the witness. The winner will get all the coins on the floor.”

A cacophony of voices broke out once again amongst the crowd while these two exchanged glances. Their attention was focused on the coins on the floor. It was not a small amount!

”What are you doing? Let’s begin!”

The cold words of the young lady pulled the people back to reality. One of the gangsters suddenly launched his attack on the other guy. But the other guy had quick reflexes. They quickly engaged in a fight, with their actions clumsy and ugly to watch. These two even used foul language to insult their opponent whilst they exchanged blows.

The flea market had never been as lively as today other than the days during the carnival! The people were shouting crazily at the sides. Yes! There were so many interesting things happening today! ”Do your best!” ”Fight!” ”Hit him!” ”Disgusting worms! What are you hesitating for? Kick his ass!”

Viscount Ceille Mendelssohn was already hopeless! Why did things turn out this way? He had already forgotten about the slap. Not only his duel was treated as a fight between thugs, this fact was presented in front of him in such a realistic way.

”Enough! Enough!” The young lady once again gave her order. The two guys whose faces were covered with blood was picked up like chicks by the carriage driver of the Prince and thrown aside.

”I believe everyone has seen it. This is the duel as requested by this Sir Viscount!”

”No! It was not anything like that...”

”No! It is this way!”

”Then... Since His Imperial Highness Prince is not present, then.... I shall take my leave then!” Ceille felt like his life would be over if he did not leave now. He could never win against this aggressive young lady. Moreover, everyone was watching this! He was a knight, for god’s sake! He was already embarrassed enough! He must leave now!

”Leaving now only proves that you do not have what it takes to be a noble. Also, I am even suspecting that you are not even a knight.”

”I am a knight. I am an official knight of the Military Academy of Dulin University. You must not doubt my title of nobility as that was bestowed by His Majesty the Emperor himself.”

”Fine then! If you say so! Look at what’s underneath your foot. The people of Titan, the people of Dulin City, come and have a look at what is under the foot of this Sir Knight!”

”Ah! That’s a narcissus!” ”Yeah! It really is a narcissus!” Oh my! It’s not an easy job to plant narcissus in Dulin!” ”Shh! Don’t say anything unnecessary! That is the crest of the Andrew family!” ”That is right! No wonder this happened!”

Ceille knew that his life was truly over! All the blame of this young girl just a moment ago could be treated as a joke, but this was different! He truly did something wrong! Inviting a Prince for a duel was already risky enough, but he actually trampled on the symbol of their family crest before the duel. Even though this was an accident, his stupid horse and he did in fact trample these flowers.

But things did not turn out the way everyone thought. Our young lady walked towards the owner of these narcissus, that little girl. ”Little girl! Tell everyone bravely. Are these the results of your hard work?”

For the first time in her life, the little girl received so much attention. Her face burnt red, but she did not forget what she should do in this circumstance. Those narcissus were her pride. Many people praised the narcissus planted by her family.

”Yes! It was the result of hard work of my dad, mum, older brother, younger brother and me. We used the clean and cool spring water from a village more than ten miles away. We would use the Ti Coin that we saved over time to buy fertilizer for them. When in season, it would become the only income source for the family. But now... now... sob!”

”Alright! Little girl, do not feel sad! Here! Take this!” The angelic Miss Sasha E. Nedgabel Andrew untied the exquisite platinum necklace that had a few small diamonds in it around her neck. She wore the necklace on the little girl’s neck in a sincere manner.

The young lady put her forehead on this little girl’s forehead. Her mouth spoke of one of the Holy Phrases from the Bible of Light. ”Solely in the name of my highest god that light be shone upon this world. Let all suffering pass, all darkness overcome. Let the sincere soul welcome tomorrow.”

The noisy market completely quieted down. There was no more hostility or greed in the people’s eyes. It was as if they had witnessed a miracle – an angel who had transformed into a young girl appeared in front of them.

Viscount Ceille Mendelssohn admitted his defeat. He suddenly felt like he did not mean anything in front of this young lady of the Andrew family. He went down on one of his knees on the floor and performed a bow of loyalty towards the goddess-like Sasha E.

The people from near to far eventually kneeled down as well. Those who did not know what happened almost thought that the Pope His Grand Eminence had visited their market.

Sasha did not feel that anything was wrong. She stopped the chant and turned to Viscount Mendelssohn who appeared regretful.

”Sir Viscount, surely you knew clearly now of the trouble you had caused to the people around you due to your actions. Surely you understand now that there are a lot of things that are more important than your pride. The God of Light, praise love. There is no wrong in a one-sided love, but this should not be an excuse for a duel. A true knight would save his strength and power to face the enemy in war. And acting out of jealousy with no logical reasoning is only an act of disgusting men. When a knight has lost his rationale, spirit and ability to judge, he cannot even be compared to a farmer. Please do not forget this.”

”Yes! I believe I will never forget this in my whole life.”

”What won’t you forget? Why do you say that all of a sudden?” Marquise Ferdinand lay in the embrace of His Majesty the Emperor as she asked softly.

Their expensive clothes were scattered all over the hidden chamber. From the degree of damage on the clothes, His Majesty the Emperor obviously had a really good time with the woman he was seeing just now.

”Of course it’s you, my beloved. Why do you only appear now? How could you leave me for so many years? It’s great now! I would never forget the joy of embracing you forever. I would not ever leave you. You must be responsible for this, my precious!”

Facing the love of the Emperor, the Marquise showed a complicated expression of shyness, surprise, joy and more to just the right extent. ”But...but I am no longer young.”

”Hehe. My dear Dogan, I am an old man myself. What are you afraid of? I swear that I would never have let you go that easily, not now, not ever.”

Marquise Erdogan Vas Ferdinand was flustered by the Emperor’s promise. She did not know if she should continue this relationship with the Emperor. After all, she had a complete family now and her father was a Duke. After all, words like ‘cheating’ and ‘lover’ brought ill meanings.

After all that passion, the Marquise finally realized that it seemed that she had forgotten something. It took her a lot of energy to come back to reality from the Emperor’s touch. Oh god! Her father’s signed letter! Oh god! She prayed that it was not torn into smithereens together with her dress by the Emperor.

The carriage of His Imperial Highness the Prince received a hero-like treatment. The people were scrambling around talking about the incident with Andrew’s Narcissus Corona. Sasha was a little embarrassed under her brother’s gaze. She had thrown a tantrum back then and now she had not calmed down yet. Thus, she could only pretend to not see anything.

The young Prince did not praise his sister, but the little fatty’s gaze had held a thousand words. He was proud of having Sasha E. Nedgabel Andrew by his side.

He believed that the Andrew family had won this duel and the respect people had towards the Andrews increased a little bit more. Compared to those hero myths of the knights far away, the people were more willing to accept a young miss who prayed for a poor girl by their side.

The nobles of Titan did not have a tradition of oppressing the people. However, since there existed such things as rank in this world, then those of higher status would definitely use their power to express their will to dominate those of lower status. Regardless of whatever method they used, these doings were almost a basic rhythm in the ranked hierarchical society.

The nobles would not even think of the public’s rights or benefits. This was because the word ‘people’ had never existed in the vocabulary of the nobles. They only thought of the people under their influence as a means to create wealth and happiness for themselves. These thoughts were not really too much, for in the traditional and conservative Titan Empire, the people was definitely accomplishing each of their roles.

The number of free civilians had become rare as the ownership of land and wealth became increasingly focused. Most of the people would choose to become a farmer on a piece of land under a certain noble. Because only in this way, they could ensure their survival. The pride of the nobles did not allow them to abandon their people. This was probably the most excellent tradition preserved since the system of the dividing of land in Titan to different people was introduced. If a family lost a huge amount of its people, this would lead to the contempt of the whole noble class. Therefore, even though the people of Titan were under different degrees of oppression and suffering, the only fortunate fact was that the nobles were not planning to force them into a dead corner.

The people today were a little riled up. They witnessed a lady of social status as high as the princess protecting a normal and weak girl. The actions of that lady were printed into booklets in the fastest speed. Those novelists with their great imagination and gossip-inducing words, gave the booklet an extremely touching yet impactful title – ”The Joy and Anger of the Angelic Girl”. And the necklace was named as the ”Heart of the Angelic Girl”.

”Did I miss anything? What were the people talking about out there?” Marquise Erdogan Vas Ferdinand lazily rested against the seat in the carriage.

”I do not know. You can find any other guy to ask about this.” The one speaking was a young gentleman who had a beautiful face.

The Marquise could hear a hint of jealousy from the tone of her male companion. ”Lad! You are being jealous. You knew that this was only a part of the plan.”

But obviously, this young gentleman had no intention to let Erdogan go. ”Hehe. You are wrong, mother. I simply hate the smell of cologne on your body. The stink is totally unbearable.”

Not a single mother can stand humiliation from her child. Erdogan raised her hand. She wanted to show some color to her eldest son who knew no manners.

”Enough! Mother! You should understand my feelings now. That perverted old man is the Emperor. I get it. But is this worth it for you to exchange those unrealistic benefits with your precious body?” The young man held his mother’s arm.

”You can’t say that. After all, he is your birth father. Can’t you see why your grandfather and I had to leave at our most glorious moment? Do you think the Imperial family then would accept an illegitimate child like you?”

”But mother! I don’t understand what good can this bring? Isn’t life in our gardens wonderful? Why should we come to this filthy place where even the air is dirty?”

”Why? Hehe! Don’t you have your answer already? Your father is the Emperor. Don’t you want to attain the right to rule this Empire? I believe that in these few days you have come to realize how useless your two brothers are. I am sure that anyone who sees you will be surprised, regardless of your looks or ability. Please believe in me, my child. The effort of your mother and grandfather all these years are definitely not for show. It is to create the day that you will be coronated as the Emperor.”

The young man pursed his lips in disdain. He was not young anymore. He thought that his mother had some mental problem. The Imperial Titan Family had never accepted any illegitimate children before in history. He felt like it was not worth the energy for this sort of unrealistic imagination. He set his gaze on the booklet in his hands. ”Andrew’s Narcissus Corona”! He was full of admiration for this goddess-like young lady.