Chapter 87: She Won’t Be the Last One in the Investiture Ceremony

The palace hall was magnificent, with all kinds of reliefs on the walls. Men and women in gorgeous formal attire stood on both sides. Tall royal knights, holding swords, stood in front of the nobles on both sides. Maids and attendants were on standby at the very edge.

Garlian took Edmont's arm and breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, they made it in time. She nodded to her parents opposite her. She glanced calmly at the emperor on the high throne and his three children. It seemed that the third prince was still frail and could not attend such an occasion.

Amidst a moment of silence and solemnity, everyone's attention was drawn to the announcement made by the servant at the entrance of the hall.

In the Segarot Empire, nobles can only inherit the title when they reach adulthood. The Kesley family is the only exception. This is an unspoken fact among the nobles.

As for the reason, only the nobles themselves know it.

Two attendants pushed open the door, revealing the protagonist of this investiture ceremony to everyone.

There was surprise in Gillian's eyes. Surprisingly, she was still a child.

She had never met the lady, but had heard rumors about her.

"She inherited her mother's beauty. Her long hair shines like gold, and her red eyes are as bright as gems. She is the most expensive ruby ​​in Cyronil." These rumors about Vifia's appearance in the memory matched one by one.

No wonder the late Marquis of Casely wanted to buy his daughter for a good price.

Beside her, Edmont also stopped being lazy and looked up. He also knew the plan of the late Marquis of Casely, and the result was that she stood in the position of winner.

He wanted to lower his head and say something to Garlian, but the hall was too spacious and too quiet at the moment.

The only sound in the hall was the sound of Vifiya's footsteps walking towards the emperor.

The crisp sound stepped into everyone's hearts and beat along with their heartbeats.

Vifiya felt the gazes around her and was surprised to find that there was something different, and there was even fear in it.

But mixed in with it, there is also malice, covetousness, contempt, jealousy...

Vifiya smiled secretly, these looks were another kind of affirmation of her.

It is she who is standing in this position now, and she is the winner.

The further she went, the more she felt a genuine joy. She glanced at Osa and her family. The Duke, who still had a bookish air, nodded slightly at her.

The Duke of Tudor and his family had no secret of their affection for her and their interactions with her were all seen by all the nobles present, including the emperor who was sitting on the throne.

Everyone knew that she had visited the Duke of Dordo's mansion before the investiture ceremony, but only they themselves knew whether it was really just a visit between friends.

After all, the Duke of Dordo is in charge of most of the empire's business, and the Marquis of Kesley also started mining the Edo mine not long ago.

Thinking of this, even the emperor felt a little regretful that he did not let his confidants take a picture of this vein. He originally thought that it was just a vein with abundant resources and it would not matter if he lost it. However, it turned out that the vein was even larger than they imagined.

Weifeiya stopped at the bottom of the stairs, lifted her skirt and saluted: "Greetings to His Majesty the Emperor."

The emperor stood up, and the three children beside him stood up with him.

He walked down the stairs and looked at Vifia, who was about to become the next Marquis of Casely, whom he had personally approved. He had summoned her not long ago and hinted to her that he hoped she could decide on a family for marriage as soon as possible, but she had changed the subject.

She is even more difficult to deal with than her father.

The emperor picked up the exquisite and intricate garland from the tray of the attendant beside him with both hands. The garland of sea jade vines composed of emerald green and ivory white was specially made by his order.

The sea jade vine wreaths of the successive Marquises of Kesley were all made of gold, but Vifia's golden hair was too dazzling, and such a wreath looked much duller when worn on her.

The sea jade vine wreath rested securely on her golden hair. He then took the red ribbon with golden patterns and placed it on her. The emperor then said, "May you dedicate everything to the empire."

After he finished speaking, he moved half a step to the right, and the cardinal representing the Holy See stepped forward. Vifia stood up straight, and after the two of them exchanged the seven salutes, the cardinal took out the gold ring from the box.

After seeing the appearance of the ring clearly, Vifiya concealed her surprise and couldn't help but wonder what the Vatican wanted to do, or what the Pope wanted to do?

But the ceremony had already begun, and it would not be a wise decision for her to interrupt it.

She stretched out her right hand, and the cardinal put the gold ring, a symbol of power, on her ring finger.

Afterwards, Vifia lowered her head slightly, and the cardinal placed his right hand gently on her wreath and his left hand on her heart.

"Servants of God," the cardinal said with compassion in his eyes, "as we walk in this world, please remain humble, kind, and wise. Remember the great God's advice, love your subjects as you love Him, respect your monarch as you respect Him, and love yourself as you love Him."

The cardinal withdrew his hand, and as Vifia stood up again, he continued, "His Holiness Pope Benedict, the Servant of God, has heard the words of God."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a small commotion among the crowd on both sides.

Vifiya raised her head and looked at him intently. The Cardinal seemed very satisfied with her expression and said with a smile: "The great goddess has watched you."

There was no change on her face, and she probably guessed what Benedict was going to do.

Now, not only those around her, but also the emperor's subtle scrutiny was on her.

Osa clenched her hands. She didn't speak or step forward. She knew that if she stepped forward at this time, she would only make things worse.

Someone patted her shoulder. She turned around and saw it was her mother. Selulan shook her head, indicating that she didn't need to worry.

Garlian raised her head and looked at her brother Emont, and they saw the same guess in each other's eyes.

Given Brubert's position in the Segarot Empire, they knew about the discord between the Holy See and the royal family. There were two attacks on the Holy See some time ago. One of them benefited the royal family, and the other was the Buma Lingdale incident that has been forgotten by everyone. Both the Holy See and the royal family were affected this time, and the culprit has not been caught so far. Both sides have lost the trust of the people.

The Holy See has more to lose, so it is openly trying to snatch people, the new female marquis.

Whether God had ever looked at her or not was not important.

"His Holiness the Pope ordered the craftsman who forged the ring to also carve the Snow Orchid on it." The Cardinal paused, "The Goddess is with us."

Even the nobles who always stressed that etiquette should not be lost were now whispering to each other in the hall, making a lot of noise.

The Snow Orchid, the sacred flower representing the goddess Lehomie, is used only by the Pope himself and only appears on some important occasions.

Not to mention that it was given to nobles for exclusive use. This was the first time in the nobility conferring ceremonies of all generations that a noble had the right to use the Snow Yuan Orchid.

Vifiya lowered her eyes, and the gold ring on her finger, which was engraved with both sea jade vine and snow kite orchid, shone in the candlelight.

"Silence!" The voice was neither too loud nor too soft, but full of majesty, enough for everyone present to hear clearly.

Vifiya recognized the owner of the voice, the emperor's second son, the person most likely to inherit the throne, and also the royal family member whom she had slapped in public.

The hall fell silent again, and everyone was watching her every move.

Vifiya took a step back with her right leg, lifted the hem of her skirt with one hand, and placed the other hand on her heart. "I solemnly promise to be loyal to the empire, to be loyal to my monarch, to follow the true teachings of the sub-tower, to be kind to the citizens of my land, and to do my best until the end of my life."

Vifiya didn't look up, she stared at the ground and couldn't see the expressions of others.

It seemed that the Pope wanted to tie her to the Holy See and use the power of the Casely family to increase his bargaining chips in the fight against the royal family, but she knew that was not the case.

They are already enemies.

There was no need for the Pope to recruit an enemy who had clearly rejected him.

That's why he openly spoke of God's preference for her and the importance the Church attached to her. His purpose... was to make her arouse the emperor's suspicion during the investiture ceremony.

A hint of satisfaction flashed in the emperor's eyes. She was indeed the only heir who had emerged from the Kesley family and was not a fool. Originally, because of her gender, he was hesitant to appoint her as the new marquis even with the will of the late Marquis Kesley.

In silence, the cardinal opened the box containing the holy unction and invited the emperor to come forward.

The two of them gently applied holy ointment on Vifiya's forehead.

Finally, the emperor personally put a sword with a shining cold light on her head.

Gillian was surprised to see that the situation was easily resolved by Vifia. It was indeed not easy to become a marquis.

What Vifiya just said was not the original oath.

The words of the oath cannot be easily changed, but neither the cardinal nor the emperor condemned him.

She calmly scanned the faces she could see. Now, anyone with a bit of common sense would not just stare at her belly and wealth, right?

However, her eyes fell on Vifiya, whose whole body seemed to be glowing. The favor of the gods and the tolerance of the emperor meant that the higher you stand, the more miserable you will be when you fall.

Similarly, Vifiya also understood this truth. She turned around, her skirt flashing like a meteor. She folded her hands in front of her and nodded to the nobles who came to watch the ceremony.

Except for the nobles whose status was obviously higher than hers, all other nobles present bowed their heads to her in unison.

At this point, the first female marquis of the Segarot Empire successfully succeeded.

Vifiya saw the top of each of their heads. She looked precisely at the lady named Gillian Brubert in the crowd, then quickly looked away.

She was the first, but definitely not the last.

On the walls of the imperial palace, energy bombs condensed by the magic power of the magician rushed towards the sky, and even in the daytime, they bloomed into gorgeous flowers along with the snow.

The crowd all stopped and looked up at the scene. A middle-aged woman in ordinary clothes, holding a vegetable basket, suddenly exclaimed, "The sun is out."

Only then did they discover that the sun, which had not appeared in Lachigo for many days, revealed a little bit of bright light, and the continuous snowflakes became smaller than ever before, and finally a drizzle fell on the earth.