When he heard that, Gilbert sighed and relaxed his shoulders. Valeria wore a look of surprise on her face. She couldn't figure out how Rocky was unharmed after the explosion of the wooden man.
"What brought you here, sir?" Rocky greeted Gilbert as if nothing had happened.
"I heard that you and Valeria were fighting so I had to come and stop you. What happened?" Gilbert asked, shooting Rocky a serious look.
Rocky looked at Valeria and smiled faintly. "It wasn't over anything serious. We were just fighting for fun!"
A subtle look of confusion washed over Valeria's face. She had expected Rocky to tell the truth to Gilbert. She had thought she would be punished for attacking him so viciously. What she hadn't seen coming was Rocky deliberately defending her.
A small amount of red tinged Gilbert's cheeks. "For fun? Why would you do that here? You could have destroyed my mansion!"
"Please don't be angry. It really was all in good fun. Miss Valeria accidentally exerted too much power, but that showed me her true strength. It's a good thing!"
Although Gilbert was still unhappy and knew that Rocky was defending Valeria, he would avoid asking further questions and causing more trouble.
"Guards, escort Miss Valeria back to the Fragrance Palace!" Gilbert ordered, pointing into the distance.
After that, Gilbert asked all the members and officials that were involved during the fight to heal themselves. Then, he turned to Rocky and told him to stay.
After everyone else was gone, the look on Gilbert's face softened and he asked, "Why did you provoke Valeria again?"
In front of the others, Gilbert was determined to treat everyone equally. Now that no one was around, he wanted to avoid being too harsh on Rocky. After all, he knew how important the Godly Genius was to the territory.
Rocky smiled bitterly and replied, "I didn't provoke her!"
"Then why did she hit you so hard?" Gilbert asked, tilting his head knowingly.
"It was just a misunderstanding." Rocky didn't want to divulge too many details.
Frowning, Gilbert responded, "I can see that Valeria doesn't like you that much, but for the sake of the two fiefs, please try and get along with her."
"I want to, but I'm afraid I can't, especially after today..." Rocky looked up at the sky with desperate eyes. Originally, he just wanted to act indifferently towards the engagement with Valeria so that she would take the initiative to back off. However, he accidentally took advantage of Valeria. Now, she would never let him go that easy.
Of course, Rocky didn't think that she could attack him again. He was more worried about how they could get along with each other from now on.
"Couples almost always make up quickly after having quarrels. Things will be different once you two are engaged. Due to recent events, I've decided to hold the engagement ceremony in three days. I've arranged everything to fit our standards," Gilbert explained.
"I don't care!" Valeria pursed her lips and folded her arms over her chest defiantly.
With a shake of the head, Elder Leticia said, "You're too stubborn. You think you can do everything on your own, but sometimes, a companion is what you need to get out of trouble."
"I don't want to be his companion," Valeria snapped.
"You are so stubborn. Forget it. It doesn't matter if you don't want to marry him. The engagement will happen anyway," Elder Leticia said with a frown.
Hearing that, Valeria frowned back, but she also knew that she had no choice.
While they were talking, a man that Gilbert had sent arrived and announced that the engagement ceremony would be held in three days.
"He must be feeling more anxious than us. I thought he would postpone the engagement because of what happened today!" Elder Leticia was taken aback. Valeria had made a big fuss in Gilbert's mansion and almost hurt their Godly Genius. Why didn't Gilbert lose his temper? Usually, he would try to make things difficult for the Flower Fief and fight for the best interests of the alliance of the two major fiefs. However, instead of blaming Valeria, he decided to hold the engagement ceremony even sooner. It didn't seem like something he would do.
"He must be afraid that I will go back on my word and refuse to get engaged!" In Valeria's eyes, the engagement would not benefit her.
"Or the Godly Genius of the Ghost Fief is unwilling to marry you and Gilbert wants to hold the engagement ceremony as soon as possible in case more unanticipated events occur..." Elder Leticia added.
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