The throne room is silent if you listened carefully you could hear the thumping sound of your own heartbeat.

All the elders stared in shock as Dew's lifeless head hit the ground.

The Head Elder could not believe what happened in front of him, the passive king he had challenged all this time finally snapped! He had always thought that when this happened he could just force the king back after him and some elders had a war with words with him...

Alas, how many plans go exactly the way they were planned out to be?

It was at this moment that Darko decided to speak,

"It seems that when a king decides to be passive, everyone forgets the strength of his bite. *Sigh* Some of the Elders in this room should remember my strength from before, do you think that I for some reason allowed myself to get weaker? Could you truly not use common sense?"

Several Elders that were with The Head Elder gasped they had truly messed up, what kind of cultivator would ever allow themselves to get weak?

"This king has decided that all Elders who have helped The Head Elder will be spared. I have always been merciful, don't make me regret it. Everyone may leave"

 After the king's speech everyone left, the head elder included. That old man left while carrying his son's head as some of his servants carried the body. He was clearly angry but he wasn't stupid enough to act on it while the king was like this. 

Revenge is best served cold after all. 

"Lief, my son. Now that you are strong enough you can truly stop your sister from being forced into marriage so long as you marry in her place. We need to keep our family going after all.

Lief was prepared for this, so he wasn't shocked and just nodded.

"I have arranged for some servants to send every noble household an invitation to bring their daughters with the condition that they are under 20 years of age."

"Okay, father."

-

2 days later, the throne room is back to celebration order, as if blood had not littered the walls days before.

Crystal chandeliers placed equally around the ceiling, royal red carpets, new stainless table cloths and even silver cutlery .

Lief sat on a table on his own in the center of the hall, Darko sat on his throne overlooking everyone and his sister Alice decided to sit out this celebration. She was probably worried in case her father decided to set another example today.

The king reached down the right side of his throne and rang a small golden bell, *Ding ding* a high pitched ding sounded and the doors slowly opened, revealing a long line of women.

At first glance, all of the women wore expensive dresses coupled with expensive jewels, some were gorgeous, some were pretty and a small majority could even be described as average. Of course, some of these women would have horrible, spoilt personalities and some would have nice personalities. Every one of them looked different and every one of them had their own personality. 

Lief smiled and waved to the one at the front of the line, she was truly beautiful, daughter of one of the most powerful clans inside of the city's clans. The Swift Clan. This clan had been formed after the city moved but they had quickly taken root and became the 2nd strongest clan in the city. Armed with immense riches it was simple to get supporters. 

This girl in front of him had probably been fed food that raised her looks since birth. It was obviously chosen from birth that she would not be a pillar for the clan and instead become the "gift" that created a strong alliance, many clans did this.

She sat at his table and started talking just when Lief was about to talk.

"Hi Lief, my name is Alice as I'm sure you already know."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Next." Lief said immediately, he has never liked people who were like this. There was no way he would marry someone like her.

Alice blushed in shame whilst looking down, her eyes filled with an obvious trace of anger

After 3 hours of going through an uncountable amount of women, he had finally got the end of the line. Instead of being happy, though Lief was nervous. Not because she was beautiful or anything, but because if he didn't say yes to this girl he would have to have even more come. 

"Hello."

A young woman broke Lief's thought and he looked up at her.

She was a brunette with brown eyes, she wore a white dress with sequins in. She was quite surprising as her clothing didn't look nearly as expensive as everyone else. Lief replied with the same smile he had used to greet all those before her as he offered her the seat in front of him.

"Hi, please sit."

"Thank you,"

After the two talked for around 20 minutes Lief had learned that she was 17 and actually came from an average family her name was Sophie. Her family had spent quite a lot of their money to buy the dress she wore today. 

Sophie was not the first girl to say a story like this, there had been many before also. How many families wouldn't try to get their daughter to become a Princess?

Lief had decided that he might as well pick Sophie, after all, she wasn't bad looking and she had a decent personality. He truly didn't want to do something like this again. Besides if she turned out to have been lying today she would have broken the rules of the arrangement and would be immediately divorced and being fined 10,000 gold. 

Several hours after, Sophie's family had came and left after talking with the king and deciding that the wedding would be held in just 4 days.

Being only 4 days away shocked Lief, he had thought that he could get to know Sophie a little better but being so short he had to make sure the entertainment would be good.

He called Sugar Palace and arranged for them to make the wedding cake and many treats. The total bill from the Sugar palace was 135,000 gold even with the discount! He also sent an order for the marketplace to be cleared of all stores as he would be having the wedding there. All citizens of the city were invited and expected to attend.

2 days to go and Lief had a surprise visit from Tybalt, Sophie's brother.

He mostly complimented Lief on his good choice but there was a lot of compliments for his sister too, of course, he also talked about himself a lot. Obviously trying to get a job as a Royal Guard as he had talked about them for 30% of the visit.

After Tybalt left, Lief started to think to himself,

'Is this really okay? Maybe I should ask father to prolong the wedding so I can get to know her better... '

After going over the advantages and disadvantages in his head he decided it would be best to keep going. After all, this way his sister didn't need to worry about anything and she could take her time finding someone she could love.

A day before the wedding his sister actually visited him saying she was sorry and telling him she didn't mind if she had to marry, but Lief persuaded her this was what he wanted.

The day of the wedding. 

Everything was set up beautifully, there were plants running along the backs of each seat and on top of each plant was a beautiful flower that was scheduled to bloom as Lief and Sophie would be leaving. This would be a truly amazing day.

There was a harp playing a soft melody as Lief stood at the alter. 

The Priest smiled gently as he looked towards the curtains were their future princess would emerge from.

In the front row, the king sat next to the princess, they both smiled towards the Alter.

Sophie peered through the curtains before walking towards the alter, one step after the other. She wore a wedding dress that her mom once wore, even though the king asked multiple times her family and her were adamant on her wearing it. It looked average, the bridesmaids actually had to buy cheaper clothes so that they didn't outshine her!

As she stood opposite Lief, he couldn't help but feel this was right. That he had made the right choice, maybe, he could even enjoy life with her?

Lief was about to say his vows when he saw the angel eater in the back. He remembered that the giant eye called him Damion? 

Him being here surprised Lief, he thought he should say something when he heard him inside his head...

"Your power should fully awaken soon."

Before Lief could question the meaning he vanished.

'Why does he always vanish?' Lief couldn't help but be slightly annoyed by the way that guy acted. That man talked differently almost each time he saw him and seemed to love to disappear on him.

Lief decided he would look into it later besides, it's not as if he couldn't control his power. He had nothing to do for the past few days so he had gotten used to the feeling of going out of his body. He was sure he had slight control over it, at least to the point where it wouldn't randomly go off or anything.

Lief snapped back to reality, it was his turn to say his vows.

"On this special day, In the presence of God and all those around, this is my sacred promise to stay by your side as your faithful husband, in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, through the good times and the bad."

The priest smiles at Liefs vows.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss the bride."

Sophie and Lief lean in and have their first kiss before...

"AHHHHH"

Sophie pushed Lief back in terror, Lief noticed as she pushed him that her lips seemed to be cracking and turning black, it spread across her face whilst everyone stares in horror after she screams for several seconds before dropping to the floor. Dead.

Lief stares in disbelief at what just happened. So does the audience.

"Doctor!" the king yells

After a moments of hesitation a man jumps up from his seat and rushes towards the bride, as he arrived and checked her pulse he turned pale and yelled,

"She was poisoned"