Alice suddenly noticed that by her side, Kalan’s fists were knotted, and an extremely unpleasant look was on his face. His veins were bulging out, and his face was terrifyingly grim. His eyes flashed with dark light as he stared a deathly gaze at this sculpture.
“Big Brother Kalan!” Worried, Alice called to him.
But Kalan paid her no mind.
“Linley, you…you go too far.” Kalan was filled with boundless, fiery rage. In the past, Kalan was rather well-disposed towards Linley. But in the depths of his heart, Kalan somewhat looked down on Linley. As far as Kalan was concerned, no matter how hard Linley worked, he could never be able to match Kalan’s clan.
After all, his clan was hitched to the enormous war machine that was the Dawson Conglomerate.
But in what, just five months?
His Debs clan had been abandoned by the Dawson Conglomerate. And Linley? Out of nowhere, he became a seventeen year old dual-element magus of the seventh rank. What’s more, he was acclaimed as the number one genius magus of this age.
Even in the long history of the Yulan continent, there was only one person slightly better than Linley.
“A seventeen year old dual-element magus of the seventh rank, and a sculptor approaching the level of the Grandmasters.” Kalan suddenly felt enormous pressure.
This person was simply too incredible.
But shortly after, Kalan only felt boundless fury.
Because the inspiration for this sculpture was his fiancée!
“Hey, take a look. Isn’t this girl really similar to the woman in this sculpture?” A voice suddenly rang out within the hall of the masters, and instantly, over ten heads turned to stare at Alice. The hall suddenly became a hotbed of commotion and discussion.
Linley’s sculpting abilities were simply too amazing. He had totally captured Alice’s grace and charm in this sculpture.
From their very first glance at Alice, those viewers had the feeling…that the girl in front of them and the female carved into ‘Awakening From the Dream’ were incredibly similar. In fact, they could totally be considered the same person. That unique gaze. That slightly sharp, arched nose.
“Miss, dare I ask what your relationship is with Master Linley?” An old man with a head full of white hair, at least a century old, asked very courteously towards Alice.
In the field of sculpting, Linley had already reached the level of master.
Linley’s skill in sculpting was enough to cause these collectors who had decades or centuries of experience in sculpting to prostrate themselves in admiration. Respectfully addressing him as ‘Master’ was something which came from their hearts. Based on this old man’s century-plus years of experience in appraising stone sculptures, he naturally could tell that the woman carved into the sculpture was most likely a person whom Linley had shared a period of turbulent love.
Alice felt rather awkward, and couldn’t help but turn to look at Kalan.
“Oh, Kalan, you are here as well.” The old man looked at Kalan. Old people naturally being as sly as a fox, the old man naturally could tell that Kalan and Alice’s relationship was not a simple one. “Kalan, who is this young lady?”
Although Kalan felt extremely unhappy, he still modestly bowed and said, “Milord Duke Berner [Ba’na], this is Miss Alice, my fiancée.”
“Fiancée?” Duke Berner cast a meaningful glance at Kalan and Alice, then laughed, asking no more.
….
Pulling Alice by the hand, as through running for his life, Kalan quickly fled back to the Debs clan’s manor.
The leader of the Debs clan, Kalan’s father, Bernard, stared at his son in disbelief. “What did you just say? The inspiration for that sculpture being exhibited in the Proulx Gallery is Alice?”
Bernard was generally rather doting towards his son.
When his son said he was going to marry Alice, Bernard didn’t object. But just a few days after his son had firmed up his relationship with Alice, the Dawson Conglomerate had suddenly decided to break off relations with the Debs clan for no apparent reason at all. With regards to this affair, Bernard had been constantly begging to meet with the upper level management of the Dawson Conglomerate for a meeting.
Over the past few months, Bernard had been busy dealing with this issue, and was so busy that he hadn’t even had the free time to bother going about to viewing the sculptures at the Proulx Gallery.
“Alice. The inspiration is Alice?” The expression on Bernard’s face immediately grew ugly.
Kalan nodded. “Yes, father. Although Alice and I haven’t yet gotten formally engaged, once we do, Alice will be formally introduced to many of the nobles in the Holy Capital. That sculpture of Linley’s, ‘Awakening From the Dream’, will definitely make us the laughingstock of the city.”
Bernard was silent for a while, and then frowned as he asked Kalan, “How bad is it? Is there anything shameful or degrading about this sculpture?”
“Father, in the past, between Linley and Alice, they had a period of…” Kalan explained in a fuzzy manner. “And this sculpture is about the affairs of Linley and Alice.”
Bernard no longer spoke. He only began to frown severely.
After a while, Bernard said to his son, “Kalan, if I ask you to give up Alice, would you be willing?” Kalan resolutely shook his head. After all, he was only eighteen years old.
Bernard nodded slightly. “Don’t worry about Alice. I will handle this matter. You don’t need to worry about it.”
Kalan nodded, then suddenly he gritted his teeth. Staring at his father, he said, “Father, Linley is definitely unhappy at the fact that Alice and I are together. What’s more, Linley’s potential is too great. I think…that we should perhaps consider if we can figure out a way to kill Linley