Chapter 2: Standing Up for My Fiancée, and You Call That Showing Off?

"Kingsley… Kingsley?" Drew Yale's face tightened with pain. He let out a helpless sigh. He truly could not understand why Kingsley Yale refused to end the engagement. In Drew's eyes, Daniella Greaves was no longer anything but a ruined woman, a burden to boot. Kingsley might have been the first-sequence heir of the Yale family, but he was not the only heir. The Yale family had nine branches, nine great sequences. If Kingsley wanted to become the Divine Son, he had to win the submission of the other eight sequences. With Kingsley's talent, he had reached the peak of the third Immortal Dao realm, the Soul Sea Realm, at only eighteen. If he awakened a Sacred Body or Divine Body, taking the Divine Son seat would have been all but guaranteed. Yet in the end, although he had drawn down a heaven-and-earth phenomenon, he awakened Double Pupils instead. In the short term, it would be difficult for him to crush the other eight monstrous geniuses of the sequences. "I heard a prodigy has appeared among the collateral line of the main branch recently?" Drew murmured after a moment, then spoke abruptly. "The clan head means Santiago Yale, yes?" Huxley Yale, the main branch's grand elder, nodded lightly, praise flickering in his eyes as well. "That boy awakened a Supreme Bone a few days ago." "Have him come to the Ancestral Shrine to see me." "Hm?" … Celestial Arcane Realm, Pyrean Spire. A woman in a blazing red phoenix robe sat upright upon the imperial throne, her skin flawless, her gaze cold as she looked down on the ministers of the dynasty gathered below. She was breathtakingly beautiful, her features delicate and peerless. A single cinnabar-red mark at her brow lent her an air of regal, untouchable nobility. "Elder Sister," a young woman in a golden robe said from below the steps, lips curving as her eyes sharpened with provocation, "your cultivation is already ruined. Why not pass the throne to me and get some proper rest?" "Your Majesty," a minister pleaded, "for the sake of the realm and the ancestral altars, we beg you to abdicate in favor of Nala Greaves!" "We second it!!" "Oh?" Daniella Greaves lifted her eyes. She regarded the kneeling court with calm indifference, her expression unruffled. She did not care about the throne. She was a reborn soul. In her previous life, she had been betrayed by Kingsley Yale. After her rebirth, her cultivation had been sealed. This was the perfect chance to dissolve the engagement with Kingsley and retreat into seclusion to cultivate. Three years. That was all she needed to restore her Supreme power. Then she would take back everything, and afterward, she would hunt down Kingsley, that devil, and make him pay. Wummm. A sudden hum rolled in from outside the hall. A figure in white descended from the sky and strode straight inside. "Welcome, Young Master Kingsley Yale." Outside the doors, two Pyrean Spire divine attendants trembled. A mere flicker of the white-robed youth's gaze crushed their nerves, and they dropped to their knees. "Kingsley?" The ministers' pupils shook. Suspicion rose in their hearts at once. Nala Greaves, however, let a faint smile lift her lips. She stepped forward to greet him. "Brother Kingsley…" Her steps were deliberately wide, revealing long, snow-white legs beneath her skirt. She swayed as she walked, seductive to the point of brazen. If her guess was right, Kingsley had come to end the engagement. The Yale family's first-sequence heir, marrying a crippled empress? How could that ever happen? If she could slide neatly into Daniella's place and become Kingsley's fiancée, then in the Skyward Dominion, who would dare question her again? Kingsley's background was terrifying, his talent and looks exceptional, his bearing almost divine. Most of all, those black, fathomless Double Pupils of his resembled an ancient Great Abyss. One glance, and people sank into them, unable to claw their way back out, left with only one choice… to wait for him to decide their fate. "Young Master… you're here to end the engagement, aren't you?" Nala covered her mouth with a soft laugh and stole a careful glance at him. "Hm?" Kingsley's brows drew together. The next instant, without the slightest hesitation, his hand shot out and he slapped Nala across the face with savage force. Smack! The crisp sound rang through the hall. The coquettish light in Nala's eyes had not even faded before it froze solid. Her body flew backward under the stunned stares of the ministers. She crashed to the ground, half her face shattered from the blow. Silence swallowed heaven and earth. Everyone stared at the young lord in white, hair bound neatly, his beauty unmatched. Confusion and disbelief flooded their eyes. "You spend all day acting cheap and calling people 'brother.' Who the hell is your brother?" Kingsley's voice was cold, flat. "And who said I came to end anything?" "Hm?" Daniella's languid posture slowly straightened. She sat upright, composed and regal, the phoenix robe outlining her figure with an even sharper, more striking curve. Surprise flickered across her face as well. Her brows knitted, and her gaze locked onto Kingsley as if she meant to pry a crack out of his eyes. Not here to end the engagement? Based on what she knew of him, he was ruthless and profit-driven. How could he possibly marry a useless woman? At the same time, as Kingsley's gaze fell on Daniella, a chill surged up from his feet, nearly blowing the top of his skull off. [Fated Maiden: Daniella Greaves] [Cheat: Nirvana Seal] [Template: Supreme Rebirth Route] [Identity: Pyrean Ancient Dynasty's empress; host's former fiancée in the previous life] [Plot Trajectory: In the previous life, the Fated Maiden was forcibly devoured by the host on their wedding night, her bloodline swallowed as she fell. Reborn with awakened memories, she will break the Nirvana Seal in three years and seek revenge on the host.] So that was it… this was not some engagement-cancellation storyline. Kingsley had assumed Daniella was on the usual "break the engagement" track. Instead, it was a reborn powerhouse, a female lead returning to tear a scumbag apart with her bare hands. In that moment, he finally understood why, after her cultivation was ruined, Daniella had not tried to hide it. She had made sure the entire Celestial Arcane Realm knew. She was probably using it as a reason to sever the engagement, then vanish into the shadows to recover her strength. Yet when Kingsley saw the surprise still flashing in her eyes, a bold plan took shape in his mind. He strode to the front, stopping before a white-haired senior minister. Kingsley seized the man by the hair and hauled him up like dead weight. "What did you just say?" The court's eyes trembled. Rage twisted their faces, but not a single one of them dared move. "Hmph. Brat of the Yale family, arrogant and unmannered. I am Mark Webberlye, grand chancellor who has served two reigns of Pyrean Spire. You-" Smack! Before the old chancellor could finish, Kingsley backhanded him, splitting his mouth open. Blood sprayed, flesh mangled. "I asked what you just said." Kingsley's brows tightened. Cold light burst from his Double Pupils, and his aura expanded like a heaven-and-earth incarnation. The entire hall's atmosphere turned suffocating. Even the powerful figures of Pyrean Spire were shaken into stillness by that pressure. "Daniella Greaves's cultivation is ruined. She is unfit to bear the burden. The throne must be passed to her younger sister, Nala Greaves." Mark Webberlye clenched his teeth, his old face twisted with hatred. Crack. The moment the words left his mouth, Kingsley's fingers tightened. He crushed the grand chancellor's skull into powder. Gulp. The hall fell into a dead hush. Even Daniella rose abruptly, a faint, icy darkness gathering in her eyes. He had not changed. Still the same cruel butcher. Still inhuman. "My fiancée," Kingsley said, voice indifferent, "could fall all the way to being a mortal, and I still won't allow anyone to bully her." Then his gaze shifted to Nala. In an instant, the second princess of the Pyrean Ancient Dynasty went deathly pale. Her body shook, and a yellow stain spread beneath her dress, trickling down those snow-white thighs. Drip, drip… Kingsley Yale. How impressive. How noble. Using my life to build your image. "From this day forward," Kingsley said, each word cutting like ice, "whoever dares lay a finger on Daniella Greaves will become an enemy of the Eternal Yale Family, and an enemy of me."