The Innkeeper

Pvarti's mouth hung open as he was too dumbstruck by what was happening! This woman had overturned his entire life just as a 'test'? It was not easy for him to do the honorable thing, though lowkey he was not so interested in getting married anyway. His lack of interest in marriage was not the important thing here.

Although he acted carefree, he had undertaken a lot of stress during this entire time. There was honestly a short time where he thought his father might actually end up killing him just to appease Jasmine's family. But during all this, he felt a certain self satisfaction knowing that although his life was thoroughly messed up, he had done something admirable. Now though, he was being informed that the admirable thing he had done was nothing more than the whim of a spoiled girl.

Well, he had already lost everything he had to lose. He absolutely could not get married to her.

Pvarti opened his mouth to speak, but a sudden loud clap in the room attracted everyone's attention.

"What lovely news," Lex exclaimed with a broad smile. "The next round is on the house. Such happy news deserves celebration."

The crowd in the room cheered and the triplets immediately began to serve everyone drinks. In the momentary distraction all the activity caused, Lex used his spirit sense to communicate with Pvarti.

"The young lady you are about to reject, for the second time, has brought 11 earth immortal body guards. Although the tavern can protect you, unless you want to spend the rest of your life inside the tavern, you need to play it smart."

Pvarti paused, and immediately recalled that Lex had warned him that he was about to encounter some trouble that the tavern could not help him avoid. Indeed this was a dilemma. If Jasmine or her family reacted poorly, then he would be stuck living here until he ran out of money.

He flashed Lex a grateful look before turning to look at Jasmine. Although he could not understand what was going through her head pulling a stunt like this, he was clear on the fact that her family still did not think positively of him. He could use that to his advantage.

"Miss Jasmine," he began politely, but the jubilant girl immediately interrupted him.

"Call me Jasmine, or Jassie. Prefixes are too formal for the kind of relationship we have."

Pvarti smiled awkwardly and began again.

"Jasmine, the situation before and now are different. Back when we first met, our families had aligned interests. Now, I do not even have a family to speak of. I don't think someone like me is appropriate for someone with a background as prestigious as yours."

"Oh don't be silly. The moment the Noel family hears the news, they'll come hoping to take you back. Even if they don't, you can just become a member of my family. It's not an issue."

"No dear, he's right," replied the lady beside Jasmine. "We should not rush into things, and it would not be appropriate if a man with no name to speak of marries you. Think of how it will reflect on your father. At least, before we do anything we should have a meeting with the Noel family. Just because there was a business deal before does not mean that the same deal will be relevant. We will need compensation for the humiliation we have faced."

"Compensation?" Pvarti repeated, a sudden frown appearing on his face. "You want compensation? I broke off the wedding because your daughter told me she was being forced to marry, and that she did not want to. I shouldered the entire blame to protect her, only to find out that this is nothing more than a game orchestrated at your daughter's whim."

Although Pvarti was not displaying his aura the way Jasmine's brothers were, an aggressive aura was being formed around him. No matter how he behaved, his noble upbringing and training could not be denied.

"Let alone I have no interest in this matter, what does the Noel family have to do with me? I don't know if you've heard, but we have parted ways. So if you want to use-"

Jasmine was only getting more and more excited as Pvarti spoke, but her brothers were not the same. His tone was too impolite when addressing their mother, so one of the many brothers made a move.

Unfortunately for him, Lex was also not one to tolerate impropriety. With sufficient warning from his intuition, he activated the formation long before the brother attacked, and at the first indication that he was making a move, Lex froze him by trapping in a 'room' that was exactly his shape.

The sudden dangerous fluctuation, as well as its equally quick disappearance startled Pvarti and stopped him from speaking, but before he could make much sense of what happened, Lex loudly cleared his throat.

"On this occasion of reunion, why don't we all calm down a little, and talk with cool heads."

He took a few slow steps before arriving at the frozen brother and patted him a few times. Considering the fact that he was an immortal, Lex did not hold back his strength. He was not intending to hurt him anyway, more like he was attracting attention to the fact that he was frozen.

"To be honest, I don't even care if you don't talk with cool heads," Lex continued, this time his smile disappearing. He wore a stern look and stared at the mother, as well as all the brothers in the eyes. "But the Midnight tavern is not a place where you can throw your weight around."

Among the many formations that had been established at the tavern, one was called Dragons wake. It emulated the suppressive aura of a dragon, though extremely magnified. The formation served only as a deterrent, as it could do nothing other than display that aura, and that too for a brief period of time.

Lex had used it back then to scare Zagan away, which spoke of how effective it really was. Now, for a brief moment, he used it again and focused it only on Pvarti and the people confronting him.

Poor Pvarti, who had been a victim in this entire situation, was suddenly frozen stiff and his mind went blank. Lex had not weakened the formation since he was targeting an entire group of immortals, but those with a weaker cultivation were unable to handle it.

Pvarti totally blanked out, his mind shutting down completely. Jasmine, who was right next to Pvarti, fell over on to him, tripping the two. The mother had somehow managed to keep her mind from shutting down, but she was clearly affected by it as she suddenly went pale and began sweating.

The brothers handled it the best, and admirably all took up defensive poses, showing no sign of running away. But it was clear that they harbored no hope of contending against the aura, as the look in their eyes was panicked and fearful.

Lex did not speak, and allowed them all to recover naturally. After a few seconds went by, the brothers realized that they weren't actually being attacked, and had only been warned. They looked at Lex with reverence and fear in their eyes, not daring to move closer to him.

The next to recover was the mother, who swept her eyes on Lex again, and began reassessing him. Strangely, there was no fear in her eyes, but a strange sparkle. Finally, the sound of a groan awakened everyone from their stupors, and attracted their attention to the ground.

Pvarti was lying on his back, and right on top of him was Jasmine. Despite the awkward situation, they had managed to avoid anything inappropriate happening. But Pvarti and Jasmine had once again locked eye contact, this time from much closer.

Having not completely recovered, Pvarti could not control himself and mumbled, "you smell nice."

Jasmine blushed and did not respond. Even though she had decided to marry Pvarti, things were moving a bit too fast, right?

Before her thoughts were allowed to wander, her mother grabbed her hand and yanked her up, as Lex reached down to help Pvarti up as well.

This was all excellent. So long as all the parties stayed at odds with one another, it would be extremely easy for Lex to get what he wanted. Since his intuition had clearly told him that there was a great opportunity waiting for him with Jasmine and her family, he had done his best to manipulate events, allowing him a chance to build a strong reputation.

"How about we retreat to a private room and have a civilized meeting?" Lex suggested. "All guests are welcome at the tavern as long as they don't try to kill one another - at least inside the tavern."

"Yes, yes, let's go," the mother said with a hint of eagerness. "By the way, child, are you married yourself? Important things like this shouldn't be delayed."