In the garden of the Debus Family, Alice was sitting together with Kalan, the two of them talking about the wedding.
"Alice." Kalan's face was full of excitement. "I've already spoken with my father. Our engagement date is set for June eighteenth, and the wedding itself will be on January first next year — the 'Yulan Festival'."
A faint smile appeared on Alice's face as well.
"Next year — won't that be the ten-thousandth year of the Yulan Calendar? Holding our wedding on the 'Yulan Festival' of the ten-thousandth year of the Yulan Calendar is just… too, too wonderful." As Alice spoke, she broke into a happy little laugh.
Seeing Alice's joyful smile, Kalan felt a wave of satisfaction.
"Alice, talk things over with your father as soon as you can, and give me the guest list from your side so I can make the arrangements quickly," Kalan urged.
"Mm." Alice nodded softly.
Kalan ran his fingers through Alice's silky hair, his heart full of contentment.
But the moment he thought of the predicament his family was in, a trace of anxiety crept in. Ever since he and Alice had gotten together, the Debus Family had taken an unprecedented blow — the Dawson Trading Company had abandoned them!
The Debus Family owed its current glory in large part to the Dawson Trading Company.
Yet last December, the Dawson Trading Company had announced outright that it was severing all cooperation with the Debus Family, handing over all its business operations within the Fenlei Kingdom to another family — a family that simply took the Debus Family's place.
And moreover…
That wasn't all. The Dawson Trading Company had even begun actively suppressing the Debus Family, causing them losses across every branch of business.
"Why is the Dawson Trading Company squeezing my family like this? We haven't done anything to offend them." Kalan was vexed. As the family's future heir, he naturally paid close attention to these matters.
Because this had happened right after he had told his family about his relationship with Alice, many people within the family now considered Alice a jinx.
Otherwise, why would the Dawson Trading Company — their partner for so many years — suddenly abandon them?
Still, fortunately, the Debus Family had accumulated enormous wealth over the years. Although their losses were severe, the family's foundation was at least intact. But the family also understood that, for reasons unknown, the Dawson Trading Company's suppression meant that the Debus Family now had no hope left in the world of commerce.
No one was willing to provoke a super-giant like the Dawson Trading Company on their behalf.
So the Debus Family had no choice but to seek another path.
Shaking his head to cast off these troubling thoughts, Kalan smiled at Alice. "Alice, I heard that Pruxus Hall just put a new stone sculpture on display yesterday. Apparently it's extraordinary — said to rival master-level works. Lots of people have been going to see it. Want to check it out?"
Alice, finding herself a bit bored, agreed readily. "Sure."
Kalan and Alice took a carriage to Pruxus Hall.
"This sculpture is supposedly quite remarkable. I've been busy these past two days making preparations for our engagement and wedding, so I didn't get the chance to bring you here earlier." Kalan was the first to hop out of the carriage, then gallantly took Alice's hand to help her down.
The two of them walked side by side into Pruxus Hall.
"Big brother Kalan, look — so many people!" Alice's eyes lit up as she pointed ahead.
In the deepest part of Pruxus Hall, the "Master Exhibition Hall" was packed with people, though it was very well organized — everyone entered through one door and exited through another. Each person was allowed to stay for roughly three minutes.
Every three minutes, the viewers in the Master Exhibition Hall had to leave. Want to go back in?
Sure — get in line again!
"What a long queue." Kalan was inwardly surprised. In all his years, he had never seen Pruxus Hall this crowded.
Kalan and Alice took their place in line according to the rules. They waited a full twenty minutes before their turn came to enter the Master Exhibition Hall. The crowd filed in and immediately surged toward the front.
Curious, Alice and Kalan naturally pushed forward as well.
But the moment Alice caught sight of the sculpture, she froze as if rooted to the spot, staring at the enormous stone artwork before her — that exquisitely carved group of five women, each sculpture imbued with its own unique aura.
Others were immersed in the artistic sentiment of the sculpture "Dream Awakening."
But when Alice saw it, scene after scene of her past with Lin Lei surfaced unbidden in her mind —
The first time, in the depths of despair, when Lin Lei had descended like a god.
That time on the balcony, the two of them hiding below it and talking through the night.
One scene after another came flooding back, and Alice was completely stunned. She had never imagined that the sculpture attracting so many people, a work of true mastery, had been modeled after her.
"Lin… Lin Lei…" Alice's emotions grew impossibly tangled.
Her eyes fell on the description posted beside it —
"The creator of this sculpture, 'Lin Lei,' is seventeen years old, a graduate of Ernst Academy. At only seventeen, Lin Lei is already a Level Seven dual-system mage — the undisputed number-one magic prodigy on the entire Yulan Continent. In all ten thousand years of the Yulan Continent's history, he is the second-greatest magic genius ever."
"But Lin Lei's achievements are not limited to the magic field. His accomplishments in sculpture are even greater. At just seventeen, this piece — 'Dream Awakening' —"