Sigil Online: I became the duke's third son
Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Chapter 87

Liana looked around one last time before she slowly stood up and faced her father head-on.

"Yes, it will be beneficial to the empire," she resolutely stated.

Caelius raised an eyebrow in surprise; it seems she had grown a lot during the time she was gone. As a grin spread across his face, he glanced at Valessia, and with a single nod from her, he knew what he had to do.

"It’s good that you believe so. But now begins the real test. We have offers from other countries from princes, so prove to me that you marrying Luan Meskevela, third son of Drago Meskevela, will be more beneficial to the empire than sending you to another country to improve relations and build alliances."

Liana felt the pressure as she closed her eyes for a moment to calm down and make sure she wouldn’t mess this up. Being sent to another country would be the worst; she would know no one there, and the man she would have to marry could be great or terrible.

"While I was over there, I made it a point to test him and observe him carefully, like Mother asked me to," she started her explanation.

Glancing around the room, making sure everyone was paying close attention, and taking one more step forward, she had a determined look in her eyes.

"First of all, he wouldn’t mind developing the frontier by being granted a territory over there. So that is very beneficial to the empire," she said.

"Are you sure?" Caelius inquired, a smile plastered on his face that he couldn’t hide at all. After all, those frontier territories have been a pain to deal with.

"Yes, I am one hundred percent certain. He even explained to me a detailed plan of action. I have his notes, so I will hand them over later for you to review," she said with a slight bow.

"Very good, that is indeed beneficial. But is only that enough?" He asked, his earlier enthusiasm nowhere to be seen.

Feeling more confident after her first point, Liana looked straight at Valessia. "And Mother, like you said, he does have a weakness. Namely, beautiful women, so if you don’t engage us, he might just leave the empire and help other countries. Don’t forget he is the only one in the world with a double sigil, and he is not just a duke’s son; his mother is from a powerful foreign noble family as well."

The ministers and her brothers and half-brothers were all carefully listening and taking notes. Some ministers seemed to be in favor of the marriage at this moment, while others were still skeptical about him, feeling that just marrying her off to foreign nobility was more useful.

With a single simple arm movement, everyone quieted down; that was the kind of influence the Empress wielded.

"You mean to say that losing him would be a detrimental loss to the empire?" Valessia asked her.

"Yes, Mother, I can say for certain that sending him to a frontier territory will help the empire immensely, not only because he will create the territory with mostly his own funds and abilities but also because if you send him to the part that borders the Black Sun Warlord’s domain, it will improve the security of the empire immensely."

When they heard that name, gasps could be heard throughout the hall, even from Caelius, who was at first testing her, but they had basically already decided to allow the engagement. Now he looked coldly at his daughter.

"Can you take responsibility for your words?" He coldly commanded, and as the temperature in the room dropped rapidly, everyone had trouble breathing with the immense pressure he was exerting.

Liana was the same, almost falling to her knees, but purely with her willpower, she stood standing and stared right into her father’s eyes.

"Ye... Yes, Father. I mean what I said," she barely managed to squeeze out before falling to her knees and gasping for air.

When Caelius saw that, the pressure vanished. He had an intrigued look on his face. ’Is she being a stupid little girl or serious? It feels like she actually believes what she said,’ he thought, a smile on his face.

Valessia next to him also had a smile on her face as she looked around the room at all the others present.

She clapped her hands a couple of times to grab everyone’s attention. "Hereby I announce that Liana Alderon will be engaged to Luan Meskevela. It shall be announced at tomorrow’s party. And one more thing: he will get the noble title of marquis together with the territory bordering the Black Sun Warlord’s domain."

Silence ensued, and Liana’s eyes widened. But she quickly composed herself even though she was hoping they wouldn’t do this because he was still a young adult and inexperienced. It seems she had underestimated how much trouble they had been having with that territory.

"Thank you, Mother," she declared, cupping her hands together and bowing.

"You may leave now," Valessia said coldly.

Like that, Liana and her two attendants left the crimson hall. Her feelings were complicated; she had succeeded in what she wanted. The only problem was the domain they would have to manage in the future.

But that was a risk she needed to take; she was hoping they wouldn’t hand it over to him because he was a duke’s son and she was their youngest child.

But it seems she might have gone a little too far in praising Luan; with a shrug, she forced a smile and went back to her quarters to prepare for the party where everything would be announced tomorrow.

Eva and Anna followed behind her, their hands trembling. Their lives would not be easy going forward. As Liana’s personal attendants, they had to follow her wherever she went, so they would have to follow her to that accursed domain soon.

After they entered Liana’s quarters, she felt all the tension leaving her body and fell face first onto her bed, exhaling loudly.

Anna fidgeted with her hands for a while before deciding she needed to know. "Liana, is there a reason you mentioned that domain?" she carefully inquired.

"Yes, I needed this engagement to go through, so I might have gone a little overboard. I was really hoping they wouldn’t hand such a domain to an inexperienced, newly appointed noble. But it seems I underestimated how daring they could be."

Turning around, she sat upright and looked at the two. "I’m sorry you two will have to follow me there because of my selfishness."

Eva and Anna looked at one another and just went to hug Liana together. "It’s fine, we will be together for life," they reassured her.

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