Endless Evolution: Last Star

Silvana gulped, feeling goosebumps go down her body. She realized that Franz hadn't meant to scare her, but because he wasn't in control of his emotions, his aura was out of control.

Adam felt normal, he could withstand the impact of such an aura without any serious repercussions.

Then, Silvana glanced at Rosalind, she wanted to know how she was dealing with this.

'What...?'

Silvana's eyes went wide as Rosalind remained as calm as a moment ago, no emotion appeared on her face.

'Is she a Phantom as well? Although... that's not a fact.' Silvana pondered as Douglas's silhouette appeared in her mind, 'He's definitely not a Phantom, but he's also much better at withstanding the aura than I am. Damn, how do they do that?!'

Every time Adam encountered someone powerful or during his training, Silvana felt how weak and insignificant she was compared to powerful beings like high-level Phantoms.

However, this was not a common problem since Silvana saw that some people could successfully resist the pressure.

Adam watched Nelya for a while, comparing it to Franz.

'Damn, they look like copies of each other. If Franz were born a woman instead of a man, they'd practically be twins. Is it a coincidence or the appearance of all high nobles is similar in some way?'

Soon, Franz's aura weakened as he came to his senses and took a deep breath.

"I apologize, I was a bit distracted. Even though it's been some time since that day, I'm still freaking out about this situation!"

Franz uttered, gritting his teeth.

Adam ignoring Franz's reaction and struggle with himself, pointed to Nelya's photo and asked: "Did someone want to marry her too?"

Franz smiled bitterly.

"Not really. It's quite possible that if it was a normal young man from the Marzo Family and they had mutual consent, then I wouldn't mind. After all, I wish nothing but happiness for Nelya, like any older brother in my place."

Adam blinked as his eyes went wide for a moment. Only then did he realize that he and Franz had more in common than he thought.

He and Franz, both of them, were older brothers with younger sisters.

'Oh, I should have thought of that earlier. He's a high noble, obviously, his family is quite large and he probably has younger brothers or sisters. Well, I only found out about it now, right?' Adam shrugged inwardly.

Franz continued:

"However, that situation has nothing to do with my words. First of all, let me show you who we're dealing with." Franz pointed his hand to the tablet where another photo of a different person appeared next to Nelya's picture.

It was a middle-aged man with thick brown hair, his hair was divided into several thick locks with sharp tips reaching his shoulders. The man had hazel eyes and his face with a wide smile had several wrinkles, especially on his forehead area.

"This is Zarot Marzo, he is a Light Noble and also a Nirosh Marzo's father. Hah, two bastards, the son took after his father." Franz shook his head with a slight smile, but his lips trembled with anger as he glared at Zarot.

Silvana frowned.

"Zarot is Nirosh's father? How convenient... for you."

Adam's eyes went wide.

"Wait... Nirosh Marzo, that's Osana's fiancé."

Then, Adam looked intently at Franz.

"So... What did he do to Nelya? You said he wanted to marry her, so he left his wife and decided to choose someone younger?" Adam assumed, trying to guess the spoiled nobleman's motives.

Franz waved his hand, showing that Adam was wrong.

"Well, my anger is conditioned for a multitude of reasons. Zarot is a Light Noble like his son, but unlike Nirosh Marzo he is not a Natural Phantom, but the Artificial One. However, in this case, that was enough."

Adam nodded. He remembered the hierarchy of the Twelve Branches, especially when it came to weddings.

The Light Nobles were only equal before each other if their origins were the same. Osana was the Artificial Phantom, and Nirosh Marzo was the Natural One, so she couldn't deny his desire to marry her.

Obviously, the Light Nobles' attitude towards the Hallow Nobles, the nobles who were not Phantoms, was far harsher.

Franz took a deep breath.

"So, Zarot wanted to make Nelya his side wife or simply put a concubine. Nelya has no right to be the primary wife of the Light Noble, so Zarot decided to do it this way."

Adam frowned, his face filled with disgust when he imagined for a moment that in Nelya's place was Trici.

It wasn't even about the rules of nobility or the fact that Zarot was considerably older than Nelya, it was about using the rules and traditions of the Twelve Branches to satisfy his desires.

"My family considered for a long time whether it was worth agreeing, but in the end, thanks to my persistence, we turned Zarot down." Franz said calmly.

Silvana narrowed her eyes as there was important context in Franz's words. Find more to read at empire

'I see... She's a Hallow Noble so no one was going to ask her opinion. If the Balo Family didn't refuse, she would have no choice but to become Zarot's concubine. Fuck, this kind of thing is truly horrible.'

Franz cast a sidelong glance as he clenched his fists tightly and the veins on his forearms swelled.

"As you can imagine Zarot was not happy about this outcome. He demanded that my family change the decision, but that was the final answer. Zarot considered it a humiliation and vowed revenge."

Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.

Franz's aura increased again, this time was much stronger than the first, even the tips of his hair rose up and his amethyst eyes grew darker.

Silvana found it hard to breathe.

Tap.

Rosalind's hand fell on Franz's shoulder.

"Sir, you should calm down."

Franz nodded.

"Yes, I understand. Agh..." Franz glanced at Silvana and Adam, "Anyway, a couple of weeks after that day, at one banquet where many of the higher nobles gathered, including Nelya and Zarot, several waiters, 'by accident' assaulted Nelya."

Crackle.

The wooden floor beneath Franz's cracked as his aura grew even stronger.

"Their goal wasn't to kill her, Zarot wouldn't have gone so far, but... he found his way to get revenge. The attackers cut open Nelya's dress, leaving her naked in front of dozens of nobles and hundreds of influential people. It was a humiliation and a trauma from which she is still recovering."