Chapter 122: The reason for the marriage.

The main Kaelion family wiped off their fake, camera-ready smiles the exact second the iron gates of their estate clanged shut.

Their home was less of a house and more of a small kingdom_ an extremely large, eighty-bedroom mansion sprawling across forty acres of prime and fertile land. A fleet of sleek, black luxury cars including five brand new vehicles that were gifted by Craw automobiles rolled to a halt in the inner courtyard.

Before the dust could even settle, the door of the lead car flew open. Out stepped Madam Sabrina Kaelion and her daughter, Andrea. Andrea was practically vibrating with malicious glee, her tongue wagging before her feet even touched the gravel.

"I still can’t believe it, Mother! I cannot believe that we have allowed a low-born to marry into our ranks. One that doesn’t know her place at that." Andrea giggled, adjusting her silk cuffs. "You should have seen Lita in the restrooms. Her makeup was smudged so badly she looked like a feral beast that had lost a fight with a charcoal mine!

And her dress_ it looked like she crawled out of a swamp. She even broke a mirror mother ha-ha-ha, you should have seen it." She pinched her nose. "By the way, she stinks. She has that...I can’t explain it in any other way other than a village smell. It tends to cling to most of the people from small towns because they take baths once a week and wipe their asses with leaves like cavemen. I mean, how expensive could a bar of soap be?"

Andrea’s eyes glittered. "I am going to make the servants throw her into a pool with one hundred bath salts to get rid of that smell. She will have to marinate in it for two to four hours daily. And it has to be cold water."

Her mother, Sabrina, chuckled coldly. She ascended the three marble stairs leading to the grand foyer with the slow grace of a legendary Soul maiden.

"The silly girl really thought my son would stand next to her as a proud groom, didn’t she?" Sabrina sneered, casually tossing her priceless sable fur coat to a waiting servant by the door. "If your brother hadn’t run off to God-knows-where, he would have been the one stuck marrying that country bumpkin. Now I had to put my baby boy on the sacrificial alter because of Trinity." She sneered. "Our reputation has taken a hit. I am beginning to regret it already."

Andrea winced slightly, pausing in her tracks. She leaned closer to her mother. "Have you forgotten the promise mother? Trinity owes us a favor now. I just don’t know if she will actually share the secrets from beyond the veil with us now? That was the deal, right? We take in this useless village girl, and Trinity gives the Black Flower Guild unlimited access to the technology and information in the Mystic Sanctum."

Sabrina’s lips curved into a dark, confident smirk.

"That was the deal, but Trinity is as slippery as an eel. I hope she knows better than to cross me." Sabrina said, her voice dropping to a chilling whisper. "The Black Flower Guild is the most powerful sect in this world. If she doesn’t want to get on my bad side, she will hand over every single secret she has pulled from the Somnivore world."

Sabrina paused, looking around the grand foyer. "Speaking of the nuisance... where is Lita? She isn’t hiding in some corner pouting, is she?"

Before the trembling servants could answer, a smooth, honeyed voice cut through the hall.

"Oh, Mother, you have to see this for yourselves."

It was Loveline, the family’s first daughter-in-law and wife to the eldest son, Zayn Kaelion. She stood in the entrance of the main living room, a deeply amused, wicked smile playing on her lips.

Sabrina and Andrea exchanged a curious, irritated glance and followed Loveline inside.

What they saw in the center of the grand living room was nothing short of a sacred disaster in the eyes of the Kaelion family.

There, sitting on the sacred, gold-trimmed, white-jade grand Patriarch’s Chair, was Lita.

Calling it sitting was a huge understatement. Lita’s body was draped over the priceless silk cushions like a sack of wet potatoes. Her head was smashed directly against the carved, majestic tiger head on the right armrest...her cheek pressed so hard against the wooden predator that her mouth was forced open in a highly unflattering, lopsided yawn.

One leg was slung entirely over the back of the chair, her dirty bridal shoe dangling dangerously close to the hand-woven tapestry. To top it off, a tiny, translucent bubble of drool was slowly expanding and contracting from her left nostril.

The ugliest sounds were coming from her: a mixture of snorts, snores and whistles.

"What in the divine heavens..." Sabrina’s voice trembled with pure, unadulterated rage. "What is that.... thing doing in my father-in-law’s seat?!"

As if hearing the screech, Lita grunted. She rolled over, throwing her other leg over the tiger’s head. Without opening her eyes, she reached up, thoroughly scratched the deep recesses of her left nostril, flicked her finger into the air, and let out a loud, raspy snore.

Andrea scoffed, crossing her arms in disgust. "She has the manners of a mountain pig! And she is now a Kaelion_ I will be damned."

Apofia, one of the head housemaids, stepped forward, her face pale as a ghost. "M-Madam... I tried to wake her! I swear I did! But the young mistress came back from the ceremony so angry, she was snapping like a wild lioness. I... I was too afraid to touch her."

Sabrina slowly turned her head, her eyes locking onto the maid like a viper targeting a mouse. "Apofia."

"Y-yes, Madam?"

"Between that smelly peasant girl and me.... who exactly do you fear more?" Sabrina asked, voice low and deadly.

Apofia fell to her knees, bowing so hard her forehead cracked against the polished floorboards. "Mercy, Madam! I have eyes but failed to see! I am loyal only to you! Please, forgive me!"

"Get this peasant off the grand patriarch’s chair immediately," Sabrina commanded coldly.

Before the servants could lung forward, Loveline stepped in, raised a manicured hand, and smiled sweetly at Sabrina. "Mother, wait. If the servants do it, she’ll just think it’s a minor issue. Everyone knows the rule that no one sits in the grand Patriarch’s chair! This country girl needs a proper lesson in how things are done in this house. Let me handle this."

Sabrina rolled her eyes, already bored of the sight. "Fine. Deal with it. Teach her where she belongs and what is expected of her. If she cannot learn, throw her in the woodshed every night until she shows progress."

With that, Sabrina swept out of the room, her elegant gown trailing behind her.