f

One last thing Lex did before returning to the Crystal realm was add the Patisserie. Since it had been brought to his attention by his prophecy, he would not ignore it. Like the Recovery room, meditation room and such, the Patisserie was a standard Inn service, so not only could it be repeatedly be put across the Inn. As soon as he redeemed the building, he first upgraded it to the fourth level, which was in tandem with his authority level.

Some buildings, such as the Recovery room, had been upgraded beyond his authority level using various cheats, but in general that was not a good thing as it put additional pressure on the system. Lex wasn't exactly sure why something as simple as a service building would affect the system's functionality, but then again, each of the services was quite magical.

It had been a long time since he himself had visited the Training room, but it was quite popular at the Inn amongst many cultivators, so it must be good.

The Patisserie, the first store for which was opened on Main street, immediately attracted the guests attention. The Main street was the street that had the most exclusive stores, such as the Barber shop, which had recently reopened, and the Battle Ax. The street had become the elite district of the Inn, and represented the best it had to offer.

?α?dαsηθνε| The small red brick building had a few flower pots hanging out front, and a massive window which showed the quaint little shop. There was one counter running across the length of the shop, with several rows of pastries shown through the glass windows in the counter.

The Patisserie naturally needed patissiers, and Lex decided to hire two for the first one. One was called Gordan, and the second was called Ramses.

Lex did not need to doubt their capabilities, for the system was excellent at feeding the workers he bought with all the relevant information their designation would require. For now, he did not try out the various pastries, pies, cakes and various breads that the shop was lining up as it could wait.

He was content with the knowledge that each item in the shop had a special effect, akin to the Saturn cake that was available at the Gift shop. He would look into it later. For now, he was off to the Crystal realm.

Barely a few moments after Lex left, the first customer took a bite out of the Mauve Crystal cupcake. As it happened, right behind him, another customer tried the Astral Dust pie.

The two customers, a young human adult who was weary from the difficulties of life, and a freshly graduated devil on her first outing from Garvitz, the realm of the devils, locked eyes.

A million emotions were communicated through the look, and they both fell in love.

To be specific, they fell in love with the deserts they were eating, but found each other modestly attractive.

"Can I try that?" the man asked, looking at her pie.

"Only if you give me a bite of yours," the devil replied, her eyes locked on the man's cupcake.

A new bond was formed. The bond of gluttony.

*****ραпdαs `n?ν?| сom

Lex took in a deep breath once he reappeared, and the smell of wood filled his lungs. He looked around and found himself in the hidden basement under the main hall counter. It had been a long time since he had been back here, while at the same time it seemed too soon.

After spending a year trapped here, he was in no rush to come back, yet fate worked out in different ways.

But there was no need to fret. He had come back much stronger, not to mention that this time he was not cut off from the system. In fact, now that he thought about it, he was actually quite excited to be back here.

With his new and improved intuition, Lex suddenly felt an urge to go treasure hunting. He had found some incredibly valuable prizes here, such as the Blue Crystal Essence which pushed Lex to the peak of the Foundation realm while also recharging his system, and the Divine Essence stone.

Now that his senses were much keener, he couldn't wait to see what he would find. In fact, his intuition was already acting up, letting him know that countless valuable treasures were hidden in his vicinity. Unfortunately, they were all the property of the Noel family.

He would need to travel outside their territory before he could start digging up treasures. Fenrir's stealth would play an integral role in his treasure hunting schemes.

𝓵𝒊𝒃𝙧𝓮𝙖𝓭.𝙘𝒐𝙢

Lex climbed the ladder to exit the hidden basement, and was welcome to the scene of a bustling tavern room.

There was a flutist on the small stage, accompanied by an enthusiastic dancer, both putting on a performance. Over two dozen men and women were eating and drinking, while Naki, Nami and Nani the triplets took rounds between the kitchen and the guests, constantly making sure everyone was catered to.

Big Ben stood by the door, an intimidating grimace on his face. Unfortunately, the grimace did not work as he was friends with almost everyone in the tavern, so they knew him well.

Betty, Big Ben's now wife, was sitting in the tavern as well, a small bump developing in her belly. The couple was already expecting a child.

A familiar face, Pvarti, was loudly sharing a story with some people sitting across from him. Lex could not help but smile.

The smile was not for the jubilant atmosphere that the tavern had. Although it was much smaller than the Inn, it had nurtured a unique environment of its own which was quite enjoyable.

No, he smiled because his luck never failed to keep his life interesting, all after a single wish for some more excitement.

"5, 4, 3, 2…" he counted down as he looked at the front door, which slammed open the moment he counted to 0. His intuition had warned him this was coming.

"Pvarti you need to get out of here!" exclaimed Bertram, Pvarti's older brother. "Your ex's family has arrived at Babylon!"

Lex was honestly not even bothered. It only made sense that peace would arrive as soon as he left the tavern, but chaos returned as soon as he returned. All was right with the world.

His smile did not reduce even as he looked at Bertram. The man was Pvarti's brother, and was an earth immortal.

Pvarti's father was also an earth immortal. The fact that a family which ruled an entire region, and had two earth immortals, was so afraid of the family that had arrived could only mean that they were much stronger.

Pvarti, however, did not react the way his brother expected. He was still completely relaxed. In fact, he was now taking even longer with his food, as if to make sure he would stay long enough to run into them.

"What are you doing?" Bertram asked, with a tinge of defeat in his voice.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Pvarti asked with a grin. "I'm eating."

There was a moment of silence where the two simply exchanged stares until Pvarti finally admitted defeat.

"Okay fine, I'm relaxing at the Midnight tavern. What can they do to me here? And if things really get out of hand, I'll head to the Midnight Inn. I'm completely safe."

"It's not about that and you know it," Bertram couldn't help but say, but then promptly realized how publicly they were speaking. He shifted the conversation to his spirit sense.

Lex didn't say much, and only silently decided to wait for a while to ensure no problems occurred. He was not really afraid even of Earth Immortals inside the Midnight tavern.

When he had established this place, he had access to a much higher authority than he actually had with the system. As a result, a number of incredibly powerful formations protected it.

For example, there was the formation which let him control the space inside the Inn. He could closely control the space around his guests' bodies and trap them where they stood. This power was useful against even earth immortals - probably.

This would have been a moment where having Zagan as a bodyguard would have been useful, but he was not completely defenseless without it.

"Barkeep, a round of drinks for everyone, one me!" Pvarti exclaimed, eliciting cheers from the various onlookers. The flutist picked up the tempo and the dance became faster. Bertram felt completely defeated, and found himself a spot on the bar as Roan started to pour out drinks.

"Why the long face?" Lex couldn't help but ask as he poured himself a drink too. Since Pvarti was paying, there was no reason he couldn't treat himself.

"To be honest, I was not in favor of Pvarti being kicked out of the family," Bertram said as he chugged a drink of his own. "But even with him kicked out of the family, he's still bringing us problems."

"I mean, the way I see it, you should have just not forced him into a forced engagement."

Bertram wanted to say something, but he just didn't have the energy.

"Cheer up, it's not the end of the world," said Lex as he patted Bertram. The man, however, was in no mood to talk.

Instead of focusing on him, Lex made his way to the roof to get a good view of Babylon. The old town had been all but destroyed, yet in only a few months one would not be able to tell. Other than the fact that all the buildings in sight looked brand new, it looked as if Babylon was an old port town that had existed for a long time.

The layout had changed, sure.The port was much larger now than it was previously, and the walls around the town looked much more impressive. There were many more guards than before, and patrols were more common.

There was a massive tower in the center of town with a glowing light in the middle, like a lighthouse, meant for land instead of the sea. Though there was a flock of Sol birds in the sky, illuminating the land, so the lighthouse was useless, but it was kept lit nonetheless.

In the distance, at the very opposite end of town, Lex could see a newly built mansion. He guessed that was the local residence for the Noel family, whenever they stayed in town.

His sharp senses picked up an unusually thick crowd, moving slowly from the docks towards the mansion. He guessed that Pvarti's so called ex-in-laws were in that crowd.ραпdαs `n?ν?| сom

?α?dαsηθνε| While their presence presented a huge problem for the Noel family, for Lex it was an opportunity. As much as he wanted to roam around the Crystal realm in search of treasure and opportunity, he was in a time crunch. He needed to learn whatever secrets were being held about the Kraven as soon as possible.

He planned on using the Noel family's understanding of the Inn to leverage a trade, where he would provide them with some help or resources, and in exchange they would tell him whatever they knew about the Kraven.

He seriously doubted that simply learning the secret about the Kraven would complete his quest. A realm seed was a remarkable treasure, and it should not be so easy to get. Most likely, learning about the Kraven would only point him in the right direction to begin his real search.

Initially he expected to encounter some trouble convincing the Noel family to divulge their secrets, but if they were encountering some kind of pressure, or trouble, it would be a lot easier to get what he wanted.

To be sure, he closed his eyes and focused on his intuition. It was a lot harder to channel when compared to his spirit sense and soul sense, but he could somewhat point it in the direction he wanted sometimes. Probably. Maybe.

Currently, all he wanted to know was if his planned sequence of actions would cause him any problems. Surprisingly, this was within the range of capabilities of his intuition.

His intuition worked in the form of vague feelings, either positive or negative. It was not a strict language, but for reasons he didn't know, he could almost always understand it perfectly. He wondered if it was because of his universal language translator.

Lex felt like there was opportunity waiting for him, but to avail it, he needed the help of a trusted companion.

After a few moments focusing on his intuition, he finally opened his eyes. He got everything he wanted, but discovered that there was actually something very important to him in the vicinity, but instead of on land, it was under water.

He summoned Fenrir, his trusted companion, and pointed towards the unusual crowd that was moving from the docks to the mansion.

"There should be a lady in there, go attract her attention. Don't cause any trouble, but bring her back to the tavern. Got it?"

The pup, who was excited to be back in the Crystal realm, and away from the terrible influence of the big turtle, howled and directly hopped off the building. Lex wasn't too worried that Fenrir would do something he shouldn't. After spending enough time around guests at the Inn, he knew what he should and shouldn't do.

With that done, Lex quickly made his way down to the main tavern hall, and found Pvarti still sitting there. Bertram had already departed.

Lex made his way over, bringing a spare chair, and sat down opposite to the troublemaker.

"How have you been, Pvarti?" Lex asked with a devious smile.

"I'm great!" he answered enthusiastically, but then suddenly hesitated. The timing of Lex's arrival, and the look on his face told Pvarti that something was up. "Wait, should I not be great? Is something up? Don't tell me the tavern will kick me out because of trouble? I haven't done anything!"

"Haha I know you haven't caused any trouble," Lex said, leaning back into his chair. In the Crystal realm, he had not bothered hiding his identity, so although he was burdened with the noble title of tavernkeeper, he could also just be himself. After all that pretending to be other people, he sometimes wondered if he hadn't just become like that normally either. But, he discovered, that as of late, he liked being mischievous when he was just himself. Maybe the search for excitement had seeped deep into his bones.

"But I just have a vague feeling that trouble is about to find you, and not the kind you're expecting. If you don't mind me asking, why did you break up your engagement?"

Some other kind of trouble? Pvarti was slightly disturbed at the thought. He was depending on the tavern and Inn to keep him safe. He hoped not to face anything they wouldn't be able to handle.

Hesitantly, he answered.

"Normally, I wouldn't share this, but seeing as it's you… I'll trust it's alright. Our families arranged our engagement, for business reasons, and I was okay with that. But when I met the girl, I asked her if she was willing to go through with it. If she was being forced, or had someone else in mind, I would break off the engagement myself and take the burden onto myself. That way, she would be free to pursue what she wanted, and I wouldn't live a life knowing that I was the tool used to rip a young woman from her freedom."

Lex smirked. Poor Pvarti. He hoped the man would be able to deal with what was about to happen.

Over 700 Minor realms had been discovered at the Inn, but a majority of the guests entering were mostly focused on a few dozen Minor realms which were incredibly valuable. For example, there was one Minor realm that was just a massive ocean.

Yet for aquatic beasts and other alien races, the realm was an absolute paradise for it had seemingly existed for millions of years, accumulating countless spiritual treasures, all unused because the realm was devoid of any living being. Naturally the fact that the ocean was one of sulfuric acid instead of water was the primary reason nothing lived in that realm, but for higher level cultivators that was only a minor detail.

There was also another Minor realm that had given birth to a very unique environment which resulted in treasures that were almost impossible to procure normally. Countless immortals had already flocked to that realm.

Essentially it was just a normal sized Minor realm, but at some point its space started to collapse. However, due to the presence of an extremely rare ore with extreme spatial affinity the realm had stabilized, but with its center becoming a region of chaotic space. The chaotic regions gave birth to many treasures the likes of which would normally cause wars among nations. It was only the absolute oppressive image of the Inn that kept everyone in line.

A few unaware folk had naturally tried to cause issues. Suffice to say, the security Lex had hired took care of it. The turtle was especially happy with this development because such high quality fertilizer was hard to come by.

But while there were such attractive Minor realms, there were quite a few which were not so attractive. Luthor was standing in one such Minor realm. According to preliminary reports, this was a massive Minor realm of approximately 700,000 km square. It consisted of three large lakes, a small mountain range and dense forests.

The minor realm also had its own fauna and flora, with the animals being quite strong, mostly being at the Foundation realm on average.

While the realm was not bare of resources, nothing valuable enough to attract cultivators had been discovered in the realm. All in all, it was good enough for the refugees. Or at least, it was the best one he had seen so far.

With his review done, he returned to the Midnight Inn. He would turn in his report to the Innkeeper, and if all went as predicted, this would soon belong to the refugees, and become the second exclusive Minor realm at the Inn.

*****

Little Fenrir hid itself perfectly on top of a roof of a building near the road where the target would cross. Big brother Innkeeper had told him to attract the attention of 'a lady' without specifying who she was or how he should identify her.

To an observer that might seem like an overlap, but what no one knew was that Fenrir had a connection with big brother. That connection made it so that no words were even needed to communicate as they could understand one another's thoughts perfectly. By speaking, they were merely fulfilling a formality.

So, although he had only been told to attract the attention of 'a lady', he in fact knew well enough that he was looking for a relatively young and important human lady, who should be the center of attention.

Soon enough, he saw a line of carriages being pulled by massive feathered lizards. There were guards completely surrounding the carriage, though ironically the guards were weaker than the very guests they were supposed to be protecting.

Fenrir did not have a firm grasp of cultivation levels, and instead only knew things such as which foes smelled dangerous and which did not.

Strictly speaking, Fenrir's sense of smell was not the same as what Lex knew. He was not just smelling the various particles in the air, but the energy frequencies in the atmosphere. Of course the pup had no idea about the intricacies of what he was doing, but not only could he smell power levels, he could smell intentions, opportunities, traps, colors, spirits and much, much more. Moreover, white its brain processed the images which he saw with its eyes, it would add shades to reflect the various elements its nose picked up.

So, very much like in a video game, he could see colored footsteps in the ground if he wanted to follow someone, or saw enemies colored in a tinge of red while friendly forces were green.

Currently, it could see a particular carriage tinged with a blue shade, reflecting that the carriage was the one it was looking for. Not bothering to wonder how or why it knew what it did, the pup shrunk its size down and leaped off the building.

With its body shrunk down to the size of an adults palm, Fenrir had no trouble avoiding being sighted. A tiny interference field around its body ensured that no spirit sense was able to detect it either.

The only trouble it encountered was that… with tiny legs, it had to run a lot more to reach its destination. After all, it could not make rapid movements lest it was spotted.

With crowds of people lining the streets to view the passing carriages, Fenrir's pilgrimage to the destination was fraught with obstacles yet it eventually made it.

It climbed the carriage as discretely as possible, which is to say many in the crowd saw a tiny pup hanging from the carriage door, but were just too caught up in how cute the sight was to react.

There was no window, so the pup gnawed a small hole through which it crawled through.

Within the carriage were seated two women, one tinged I'm blue indicating she was the target, and another in orange indicating danger.

Although Fenrir had avoided detection so far, the moment it entered the carriage the two women locked onto the pup. It froze for a moment where it sensed danger, but the feeling quickly passed. The ladies had clearly determined that the pup wasn't a danger.

"Hello little fella, what are you doing here?" Asked the lady with the blue tinge.

Fenrir stuck out its tongue and used one of it's bloodline abilities to make it look more appealing and less threatening.

At the same time, Fenrir gave the woman in the orange glow a wary look. He would remember that she had threatened him. Big brother Innkeeper had recently taught it the importance of revenge, and he would be sure to mark down this important foe.

"How interesting," said the woman with the orange glow. "Instead of cowering due to my aura, it is feeling antagonized. It must have a very prominent origin."

Fenrir ignored the orange lady's comments and instead made its way to the blue lady. With a tiny wagging tail, it's miniscule tongue hanging out and it's bloodline activated, the lady was unable to resist him and reached out to grab him.

Immediately Fenrir began licking the target, tickling her in the process and making her giggle. At first, Fenrir did nothing else for it could sense that both the girls were wary of it. Yet after a couple of minutes of playing, their concentration wavered for a moment.

Fenrir did not wait, nor did it try to delay the situation to develop its trust. One moment it was playing, the second moment the blue ladies necklace had been removed and was hanging from its mouth.

Faster than the two ladies could anticipate, Fenrir had reappeared inside the small hole it had made in the door. But before leaving Fenrir did not forget to turn around and give the orange lady a gloating look.

Then the pup winked at the blue lady, and jumped out the carriage. It did not bother to check if it was being pursued, and instead immediately grew its size and began running.

In the carriage, the blue lady was sitting shocked by what happened, her mouth hung open.

"Did that pup just steal from me?" She asked with a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Let's follow it. I want to see who would be daring enough to target us."

"No, let's chase it! I want to see if it can get away!"

·?θm Immediately her aura erupted, which was quickly followed by thirteen other intimidating auras. Yet Fenrir was not alarmed even as it sensed danger.

Big brother Innkeeper would not have trusted it if it didn't have any abilities.

Immediately the pup turned invisible, and all traces of it were lost.

The two ladies, as well as eleven intimidating looking men appeared where the pups aura had disappeared and began scanning the area. Surprisingly, they could not locate it!

Just as they were beginning to grow shocked that a small pup could evade their search, a small bark was heard from deeper within the town. Fenrir did not forget to taunt the orange tinged lady.

When the group heard the pups barking they immediately moved to the area they heard it from, yet the pup was nowhere in sight when they appeared. Perhaps if anyone else were taunting them like this, the group would have been more upset, or possibly even completely enraged. But since the perpetrator was Fenrir, they somehow found it quite cute, and even silently wished him some encouragement.

Like this, slowly but steadily, the group began to move closer to the Midnight tavern.

*****

At the Noel manor, Bertram was preparing all the staff so that everyone knew what to say and what not to say. News of Pvarti being in town absolutely could not be allowed to spread. In fact, any news about Pvarti was best not mentioned at all.

He was ready to host his incoming guests, and promptly escort them away from the town as quickly as possible. He knew that they wouldn't be able to harm Pvarti at the tavern. What he was worried about was them venting their frustrations on the town once they discovered that.

α?dαsηθνε|

*****

Pvarti was not one who was easily frightened, yet the way Lex was smiling at him made him feel uncomfortable. That in itself was extremely unusual. Although Pvarti may seem very non-serious, no one could deny his guts. He had broken off his engagement with a very notorious family without regard for how they might feel based on his principals, and had faced his father's wrath directly for going against what he wanted. Even when he was kicked out of the Noel family, he had not shown any disgruntlement.

So how was it that a mere smile from Lex had him on edge?

"You said you think some trouble is coming to find me," said Pvarti as he looked at Lex. "What kind of trouble are you referring to? Is it from my ex? I don't think they should be able to cause the tavern any problems."

"If anyone dares to act inappropriately within the tavern premises, they will not be allowed to do as they please - of that I can assure you. But have you considered the situation where someone can cause you issues without breaking any of the tavern's rules? In that case, there's not much I can do."

This time, Pvarti was genuinely confused. What kind of threat could someone pose if they were not trying to beat him up? Surely they wouldn't kill him over a broken engagement? But even if it were that, the tavern would intervene. So then what was it?

Lex did not say more, and instead gave him a supporting pat on the back, before he began talking to the other guests in the tavern. Although his projection had often appeared at the tavern, he didn't pay much attention to it besides just keeping it running. Now that he was back, for however brief a time, he should look into what the locals thought of the tavern.

After all, it would take Fenrir some time to attract the opportunity- eh, no, he meant, attract the lady towards the tavern.

But Fenrir's return did not take long at all. The pup, which had maintained its small size for stealth purposes, arrived at the tavern only five minutes later, a rather opulent necklace hanging around its tiny neck.

A bob of his head and a wink was all Lex needed to do before Fenrir hopped up onto Pvarti's table, and just lay down on it. The little pup let out a low 'woof' before yawning and falling asleep right on the table.

Pvarti, who was especially sensitive to everything due to Lex's warning, eyed the pup warily. As if its arrival was not suspicious enough, it actually wore a necklace filled with valuable jewels.

"Wait a minute…" he murmured as the necklace suddenly sparked a memory. He had seen it before, around the neck of that woman…

The doors to the tavern slammed open, attracting everyone's attention. Lex did not appreciate the way his property was being treated, but considering that he was the one who attracted these people here, he let it slide. For now.

Over a dozen people walked in, with two ladies leading the way. The lady who had been tinged in blue, at least to Fenrir, suddenly locked eyes with Pvarti, stunning both of them. Although Pvarti already knew they were coming, and might even arrive at the tavern to find him, he was still taken aback at the visage that was gracing him.

So caught up in the moment was he that he did not even notice as Fenrir suddenly shifted from the table, to sleeping on his shoulder. Now, no one would believe Fenrir had no relation to Pvarti.

The room fell silent as everyone focused on the lady and Pvarti staring at onr another, an invisible tension filling the air.

It was not the tension of being caught in between a dangerous situation, but rather it was the tension built by the flutist who had immediately read the room. As for the crowd, they were completely enraptured by the possibility of some drama. Not to mention, drama involving the extremely popular Pvarti and and an enchanting maiden surrounded by burly guards.

The lady's sight changed subtly from the stunned lad to the pup sleeping on its shoulder.

"So you're the miscreant daring enough to steal from little Jasmine. It seems you're developing a knack for messing with our family," said the lady with the orange tinge.ραпdαs `n?ν?| сom

Pvarti looked at the pup sleeping on his shoulder and immediately understood something, yet he did not even try to deny his involvement. Instead he rubbed Fenrir's back, as if approving of its actions.

"My life's been just too good lately," he said, revealing a charming smile. "I thought I should do something to make it interesting."

"Maybe I can do something about that," said one of the surrounding men aggressively, but the miss 'Jasmine' stopped him.

With a soft smile she slowly approached Pvarti. Just as she reached him, and was about to speak, the sound of a shattering dish attracted everyone's attention.

Nani, one of the triplets, was silently mouthing the word 'sorry'. Too focused and distracted by the excitement, she had walked with a tray full of dishes into the counter.

Undeterred by the interruption, Jasmine sat across Pvarti and said, "I heard you were kicked from your family."

"Tch. I wasn't kicked out, I left out on my own. I can't play by others rules, I want to follow my own path."

"And you thought the darkness was the best time to do that?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" He asked, maintaining is cool.

"And it never occurred to you that without your family's protection, you might get into trouble with mine? You know I have eleven big brothers who are all immortals!"

"Miss Jasmine, I am a free man and who I marry is my own prerogative. One should not be so overbearing."

Eleven auras immediately erupted in the hall, and Jasmine's brother were staring daggers at while emotions started to build up in Jasmine's eyes.

Pvarti hid it well, but he was feeling extremely nervous. If only he could have seen the anticipation in Lex's eyes. He could feel his opportunity coming.

Finally Jasmine couldn't hold it in any longer, and slapped the table.

"SEE MOTHER, I TOLD YOU! HE'S A REAL MAN! HE FORSOOK HIS ENTIRE FAMILY AND RISKED THE THREAT OF PROVOKING POPS JUST TO HONOR MY WISH NOT TO GET MARRIED! I'VE DECIDED! I'M ONLY MARRYING HIM!"

For some odd reasons, Jasmine's announcement further aggravated her brothers, whose aura became even more fearsome.

Pvarti was thoroughly startled, and finally lost his composure while the flutist immediately transitioned into a celebratory tune.

Looking at the scene Lex couldn't help but recall a novel he read. Its title was 'My father-in-law is a gangster.' In the novel, the main character was forced to get married to the daughter of a gangster who had 9 brothers who were also all gangsters. In the novel, the daughter had fallen in love with the main character due to a misunderstanding.

The entire novel just revolved around the hilarious situations the main character found himself in due to various misunderstandings, until eventually the book ended with the main character becoming the gangster boss.

In Lex's eyes, Pvarti and the main character were beginning to overlap.

"Mi- miss Jasmine, I think you're jumping to conclusions. You cannot just simply rush into things."

"Oh come now, Pvarti. After you told me you'd reject the wedding and take the blame if I said so, I suddenly felt like testing you. I haven't seen many men with the guts to reject my father to his face. I can still recall the moment when you boldly rejected the engagement, suffering all the fallout on your own. I thought you'd buckle under the pressure and reveal I asked you to do so, but who knew you'd keep the secret to the end, even going as far as being removed from your family. Only true love can make a man so bold, I know it! And I feel it too, Pvarti! I love you, I know it! Oh, I can't wait. Our wedding will be so grand."