Tara, who was just behind Vincent, frowned after hearing Yulia explain.
This Celestial Being rarely shows her emotion. It must be remembered that she didn't even get embarrassed even after Vincent saw everything on her.
This is why it wouldn't be unthinkable to describe her as someone detached from the world.
However, after hearing how the elders wanted to eliminate Vincent, she couldn't help but emit a bit of her bloodlust. That's right, someone instigated to kill Vincent 'fairly' by asking him into a duel.
Tara's bloodlust only showed for a brief moment but it didn't escape Yulia and Vincent's senses.
Currently, the three of them are seated in the cabin's living room. There were tea cups on the table but none of them drank at all as they started getting cold.
Obviously, none of them was in the mood to enjoy the expensive tea.
"I believe it was instigated by Richard through Tyrell's suggestion. Right, Richard is the name of the one who gained Lesley's favor over the past few weeks. This man is the little brother of Guardian Emrah's wife from Weiss Clan." Yulia said.
Emrah is the Fourth Guardian of the Zemin Clan and Archmage. With his status, it wasn't surprising that he was able to marry someone from the powerful Weiss Clan.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Richard Weiss… I've never heard of him. What does he want from me? What would he get if I lost the Clan's favor or defeated in a duel?" Vincent asked. His voice couldn't hide the anger he was feeling.
He's already blind and this person still wanted to cause him some trouble? Does he really think that after he became blind, he also became a pushover?
Vincent wanted to immediately teach this person a lesson but he decided to listen to Yulia first. She already took the risk of giving him a heads up so he can't be too rash about this.
"Haaa~" Yulia sighed. She didn't immediately answer Vincent's question as if she was thinking of how to explain this.
After finding the right words, Yulia said, "I believe that he was still wary of you. Since there was no official announcement that the engagement was canceled, you are still considered someone who was here to fulfill the promise."
"What? Isn't that simple? The Clan Head just needs to announce it. Why are they causing trouble?" Vincent asked. It's not like he was afraid to be in a duel, but he just couldn't believe that this is all happening while they are still 30 thousand feet off the ground. He was getting annoyed at this.
"Patriarch Leon doesn't want to. If he did that, he would be known as someone who had broken a promise to his best friends... He didn't want that to be put in his records by the Clan's scribes."
Vincent was speechless at this pathetic reason.
After thinking for a while, he realized that the Patriarch also consented to Richard's actions even though he didn't voice it out.
If he decided to get caught in Richard's provocation and agreed to a duel, no one would blame the patriarch if the engagement was canceled.
This way, he would be able to have a clean record and get a good partner for his daughter. Killing two birds with one stone as they say.
"What are your thoughts, Miss Yulia?"
After calming his mind, Vincent asked for Yulia's opinion about this. Since she came here to notify him, she probably has some advice for him.
Yulia smiled seeing how Vincent would look for her suggestion.
"First, you can announce that you've canceled the engagement. You can break the medallion given by your parent to prove this. However, this has implications as well since a blind person would be the one breaking the engagement. It would affect Lesley's reputation as a young maiden so some elders didn't want this to happen."
"Oh… What's the second option?" Vincent asked. He didn't really mind whether the elders like it or not. His concern is whether he would still be challenged by Richard even after doing this.
"The second is to have Lesley announce it instead of you. At that time, she'll announce the reason why you lost the favor too… I'm sure that Richard and the others would be satisfied with that. You will be in a spot of humiliation for a while but after a few days or once we enter the Black Tower's territory and got busy, no one will probably remember it."
Vincent wryly smiled at this. This move will surely not affect Zemin Clan's reputation and he will be the only one to be brought down.
However, since they were on a floating ship, there wasn't much entertainment they could enjoy so gossiping about some hot topics like the end of the prenatal engagement would surely blow up even up to the neighboring ships.
Although he didn't care that much about his reputation, he would still feel bad about himself if he just allowed that to happen. Furthermore, he didn't believe that they would just forget about it after arriving in the other country.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Is there really no other option?" Vincent asked with his tired voice.
"There is… and that is to defeat Richard in the duel and you can announce there that you're breaking or continuing the engagement with Lesley."
Yulia answered. Although she was impressed with Vincent's alchemical skills and aura, she really couldn't think how Vincent could win the duel. She didn't think that he could win even if he wasn't blind. What more now in his current condition?
Richard is already 19 years old. He's four years older than Vincent and has top-grade talent in Mana Cultivation like Lesley.
He's already a Master Magician that has mastered two elements, Wind and Earth. Although he doesn't know how to use Fusion Arts like Lesley, his incredibly fast casting speed is something anyone would be wary of. The Weiss Clan is known for their speed casting after all.
Vincent remained silent as he considers his option.
Yulia respected it as she reminded Vincent before leaving his cabin. She knows that he needed some time to think through this.
"They will probably send someone to notify you about the duel in another hour or two… You can think of your next move in that duration… I will leave now."
"Thank you for informing me in advance, Miss Yulia…" Vincent replied.
As soon as she left, Vincent picked up the cold tea on the table and took a sip. His thoughts were unknown.
After a while, he finally spoke.
"Tara, can you call Professor Turhan for me?"