Following the elder's instructions, the silent Blair Lockehart led an equally silent Wu Ling through the streets.
Blair's mind was filled with the final line from Alban's letter.
"I cannot defeat him. I am tired of sending you flowers too. When you grow up... marry someone else."
Children on Soul Land matured very early. That also meant their rebellious periods arrived earlier, and Blair happened to be at that exact age.
Her dissatisfaction with Alban, her anger, and her despair toward the future all mixed together. Under the influence of that rebellious mood, a thought rose in her heart.
"He betrayed me first, right? Then even if I attach myself to another man, that should not be a problem. And if this person is so powerful, then maybe I can survive."
Of course, even though Blair had such thoughts, Wu Ling was still someone she had known for less than ten minutes. She also did not know what attitude he held toward her. With her personality, she could not bring herself to say it aloud.
Blair occasionally observed Wu Ling from the corner of her eye. Seeing him look around as if wandering without purpose, the scales in her heart kept swaying.
"Wait a little longer. There is still time."
To Blair, Wu Ling seemed to be looking around at random. In truth, Wu Ling had also been observing her whenever she was not paying attention.
He did have some fondness for this future member of the Shrek Seven Devils. After all, aside from Oscar, she had fewer black marks than most of the others.
Of course, that was secondary. What mattered most to Wu Ling was another thought.
"A little cat-eared girl. I kind of want to take one home and raise her... too bad she is not white-haired."
"I remember Blair is the youngest of the Shrek Seven Devils. In that case, she should be only eight or nine right now. Add her fiancé running away, her mental confusion, and her emotional immaturity, and this is the best time to trick... cough, the best time to build a relationship."
"I need to find a way to bring her over."
"We need to find a way to push her over to him."
While Blair and Wu Ling were walking through the streets, the Spirit King elder who had hurried back to House Lockehart summoned several other Spirit King elders and the Spirit Emperor clan head. They launched into a heated discussion about how to push Blair into Wu Ling's hands.
Time returned to ten minutes earlier.
The Spirit King elder who had gone and returned gathered all the House Lockehart higher-ups. Then he embellished what had just happened, saying that he had met Wu Ling, that Wu Ling had saved Blair, and that Wu Ling had shown interest in her. The words immediately lifted the spirits of everyone present.
"Oh my, I always knew Blair was a good child. She already had that kind of charm at such a young age. It seems the lesson I gave her several years ago was not wasted," said a woman who looked to be in her forties or fifties.
Another woman smiled. "My, Sister May, if I remember correctly, were you not suggesting this morning that Blair's resources should be reduced?"
"That was because I had already seen how extraordinary she was. I wanted her to temper herself. As the saying goes, only after eating bitterness can one rise above others."
Before the other woman could continue, a male elder in his forties spoke.
"Maywin, Lancia, enough. The proper business comes first."
After saying this, his gaze swept around the room and finally stopped on the clan head. Only when the clan head gave a slight nod did he continue.
"According to past rules, after the third prince ran away, Blair's resources should indeed have been reduced. After all, the final result has already been mostly decided, so there is no need to keep wasting resources."
"If the eldest prince later deals with the second prince, then Blair's end will be only death. Our ten-plus years of cultivation and investment would be completely wasted."
"But now, we have another choice."
"Spirit Hall."
"More precisely, Spirit Hall's Holy Son."
"Since the Holy Son is interested in her, then as her family, symbolically recovering some of our investment should not be excessive, correct?"
At that point, everyone nodded together. After hearing the elder's description, this had also been their first thought.
Then one elder looked toward the clan head.
"Clan Head, as for this price..."
Before he finished, the female elder who had spoken first corrected him.
"What do you mean price? That sounds terrible. If she becomes a maid or attendant, then it is wages. If the Holy Son wants a closer household arrangement or... hehe, then it is compensation and dowry."
"Ah, right, right. Look how muddled I became."
"Cough."
At the clan head's soft cough, everyone instantly fell silent. Then the clan head, Juxing Lockehart, slowly spoke.
"No matter what, Blair is still an elite junior whom our clan invested heavily in. As for compensation, of course it cannot be small. But if we want something better, we will need House Regis's help."
As soon as the clan head finished, several elders objected. Their argument was that cooperating with House Regis would certainly reduce the amount of resources House Lockehart received. The clan head suppressed those elders with only two points.
The first was a question.
"Do you think an elite member of a family is more valuable, or a prince's fiancée?"
The second was a reminder.
"Set aside the marriage agreement with House Regis for a moment. The Holy Son has at least one Titled Sage beside him. Are you sure you want to trade with him only in the name of our clan?"
That was right. Put aside whether breaking the marriage agreement unilaterally would anger the royal family. With Wu Ling's status and strength, if House Lockehart did not have the Star Stripe royal House Regis behind it, Wu Ling could simply take Blair away by force and they would not dare say a word, let alone name a price.
After all, to a family whose strongest expert was only a Spirit Emperor, Spirit Hall could quietly destroy them by sending any two Titled Sages.
"There is an hour and a half left. Order the people below to hurry and put back everything they took down this morning. Then prepare the banquet as quickly as possible. It is rushed, but yesterday's preparations were thorough, so we should be ready before the Holy Son arrives."
"I will go speak with the emperor about this now. Also, given how much the emperor values the Holy Son, he may lower himself and attend the banquet in person. If anyone makes a mistake before the emperor and the Holy Son, hmph."
"Understood!"
With one order after another, all of House Lockehart began moving. Even Spirit Masters were ordered to help. Most of the scenes looked something like this.
"Brother Black, why did you take those two lanterns down?"
"Wasn't it the elder who told us to take them down?"
"The elder said to hang them back up."
"Huh?"
...
"Brother Black, why are you hanging those two lanterns?"
"Did the elder not say to hang them back up?"
"But the elder said to use the pair of golden lanterns."
"Then what do we do?"
"Take these down."
"...Damn it."
At the same time, Juxing Lockehart had already found the Star Stripe emperor and explained the cause and effect of the matter.
As for the Star Stripe emperor, he had little interest in the compensation itself. What interested him was what kind of interest Wu Ling had in Blair.
If it was that kind of interest, then after Wu Ling became Pope, the Pope's child would count as half Star Stripe. If that continued through future marriages, several generations later, there might even be a chance for Spirit Hall to become the state religion.
At that time, Spirit Hall's peak combat power combined with the Star Stripe Empire's human-wave tactics would make defeating Polaris and unifying the continent no longer a dream.
As for Spirit Hall founding a nation or rebelling, he never even considered it. In his view, Spirit Hall was only an organization. It had not founded a country in hundreds or thousands of years. Why would it suddenly do so now?
Excited, the Star Stripe emperor waved his hand at once.
"Come. I will attend the banquet as well. While I am there, I can discuss the transaction with the Holy Son."