Who told him to rush up there?.

Chapter 176 Engagement Ceremony
Eli had no intention of paying attention to what Prince Charles and Lina said. In any case, he said goodbye and left after not staying for long. Lina's expression did not change at all. It seemed that they just chatted for a few minutes.

Eli did not want to have too much contact with Prince Charles. After all, this life was different from the previous one. Because of his strong participation, the losses suffered by the demons during the outbreak of the elves were far greater than in the previous life, and their recovery time would be delayed a lot.

In this way, the time of the Dawn Empire's demise will be delayed, and maybe it can be delayed until the day of appointing a crown prince or even passing the throne. In fact, he does not dislike the scheming Prince Charles, but he also does not want to get involved in the fight for the throne of the Dawn Empire.

The most crucial thing in the war with the demons lies in the victory or defeat in the central battlefield and preventing the entire battlefield from collapsing. Even if the Dawn Empire is the number one empire on the continent, whoever leads it cannot change the situation.

After all, the honorable emperor seldom leads troops in person to fight in the battlefield. At least now, even though his most beloved daughter died on the battlefield, the old emperor did not personally lead the troops to avenge her. Of course, given his physical condition at the time, which caused him to be bedridden due to the loss of his beloved daughter, he was indeed unable to lead the army in person.

Perhaps changing to a more radical emperor would be better for the war situation? Eli couldn't say for sure, and he didn't want to try it. He was afraid that too many variables would affect his plan to save Tianqing.

Just let it develop naturally. The old emperor still has a long life ahead of him. He managed to survive until the fall of his country despite the difficulties in his previous life. It is impossible for him to die early in this life.

Thinking about all these random things, a long time had passed unknowingly. After that, some princes and dukes came to contact him under the banner of visiting his sister, and Eli dealt with them one by one. He was neither close to anyone nor distant from anyone, and treated everyone equally.

But not every prince came here with other purposes. At least two little princes who looked about three or four years old came here sincerely to play with their sister. After all, everyone knew that Princess Lina had many treasures.

After dealing with Princess Lina's brothers, Eli felt a little dizzy. Only at this time could he experience the joy of being an only child. It was really difficult to deal with too many brothers, and he didn't know any of them well.

Fortunately, Her Royal Highness the Princess was of noble status, and apart from the princes and princes who dared to disturb them, no one else came, so they were finally able to be quiet for a while.

However, due to the previous delay, it was already a little late. Not long after, a group of maids and a guard of honor came outside, and the engagement ceremony was about to begin.

As the male and female protagonists of the engagement ceremony, Eli and Princess Lina walked hand in hand from the backstage to the stage. On one side of the way were the empire's most elite Royal Knights, and on the other side were children of appropriate age, both boys and girls. Eli couldn't figure out what kind of lineup this was, but it looked weird anyway.

The heights of both sides are asymmetrical. If someone with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder were to go this route, they would probably be so angry that they wouldn't even get married.

The moment Eli and Princess Lina appeared in front of everyone, countless salutes sounded at the same time, petals rained down from the sky, and the royal orchestra began to play festive music. Eli didn't like these, but they were all necessary.

They walked onto the stage amidst music and a rain of flower petals. The guests, whether familiar or unfamiliar, applauded and congratulated them, as if everyone was optimistic about them as a perfect couple.

The person who presided over their engagement ceremony was a cardinal of the Holy See of Light. In the entire Dawn Empire, only His Majesty the Emperor could invite him. Although he was only one "grand" away from the cardinal who blessed Eli at his coming-of-age ceremony, their status was vastly different.

Cardinals can only be regarded as relatively high-ranking clergy, while the archcardinal is second only to the Pope of Light in the Church of Light. His status is even higher than that of the Son of God and the Holy Virgin. There are only three archcardinals in the Church of Light, whose believers are spread all over the continent.

Archbishop Bode was well-known for his decisiveness. After the two fiancés walked onto the stage, he discarded all the formalities, asked Eli and Princess Lina to stand in front of him, and started the ceremony without even a word of opening remarks.

"Eli Bruno, Lina Stocker, today we will hold an engagement ceremony for the two of you. In the presence of all your relatives and friends, and under the gaze of the God of Marriage, are you two willing to promise to love each other for the rest of your lives, and not to end this love due to poverty, illness, or even death?"

In the world with gods, all oaths have corresponding gods. Although an oath is not absolutely forbidden to be broken, those who break the oath will be punished by the gods. The severity of the punishment depends on the content of the oath and the power of the corresponding god.

Generally speaking, swearing an oath to the God of Marriage is something that one is required to do only when getting married, but considering the old emperor's love for Princess Lina, it is understandable that he would come up with this idea to let Eli swear in advance. At this time, Eli naturally thought of a sentence he often heard in his previous life: How pitiful are the loves of all parents in the world.

The old emperor was very optimistic about Eli, but he was also afraid that Lina would be wronged in the future. Asking Eli to swear to God just for the engagement was a test for him. If he did not dare or made a light oath with glib words, the old emperor might change his mind and cancel the marriage.

Of course, he didn't mean to make things difficult for Eli on purpose. After all, it wasn't just him, Eli, who was swearing. As the other party in the engagement, Princess Lina also had to swear to God.

Listening to Archbishop Bode's questions, Eli looked at Princess Lina's beautiful eyes shining with crystal luster, gently took her hand, kissed her through her white silk gloves, and then made his own vows.

"I, Eli Bruno, swear to the great God of Marriage and my dear Lina Stocker that I will love Lina Stocker forever and ever, and will never change my mind under any circumstances. This love will not be extinguished until death."

"If you violate this oath, I, Eli Bruno, am willing to give up all my strength, and my body and soul will fall into the boundless demon world, where I will be tortured by the demons for eternity and will never be able to turn over until I die."

Eli's oath was brief, without any flowery words or thrilling phrases, but he explained love and punishment very clearly. With his current strength and status, saying that he would be struck by lightning or pierced by thousands of arrows after breaking his oath was far less realistic than having his strength cut off.

It is not very difficult to kill a top strong man directly, but to make a proud and strong man who has reached the pinnacle fall from the mortal world and become a cripple is definitely more painful and difficult to accept than killing him.

No matter what others think, at least Princess Lina and her old father were very satisfied to hear Eli's oath. This boy is straightforward and they did not make a mistake in choosing him.

After Eli made his vow, Princess Lina stood on tiptoe, wrapped her two white silk gloves around Eli's neck, and kissed the corner of Eli's mouth with her bright and sweet red lips. Then, she made her vow with a red face and trembling cat ears.

"I, Lina Stock, swear to the great God of Marriage and dear Eli Bruno that I will love Eli Bruno forever and ever and be his most obedient and sensible wife. This love is unique and will never be betrayed or changed. No matter what the situation or time, even death will not end it." "If you violate this oath, I, Lina Stock, am willing to perish physically and spiritually, without a trace of regret left in the world."

Compared with Eli's oath, Princess Lina's oath is more touching. After all, Eli only promised to love Lina forever, but he did not say that he would love her exclusively. However, Princess Lina promised that her love was unique and she would never betray or change it.

However, no one cared about this issue. Those who could attend the engagement ceremony were either powerful or noble. The highest ones included the emperor and princes, the next highest ones were dukes, marquises, and important officials of the empire, and the lowest ones were nobles from other countries, ambassadors to the Dawn Empire, and the like.

Among these people, who doesn't have several wives and concubines in their family? Even if the most noble princess of the empire is married, she may not be able to stop her husband from taking concubines. If the husband is mediocre, it may be possible, but that person is Eli Bruno, the most outstanding genius of the Dawn Empire, and now one of the strongest men in the empire.

Even His Majesty the Emperor could not ask such a powerful being to only love and marry his daughter. Not only could he not do it, but even if he did, he would be opposed by others. After all, the bloodline of such a genius was so precious. Wouldn't it be a huge waste if he didn't produce more offspring?
It's not just Princess Lina. If there is a chance, who wouldn't want to send the most talented girl in the family to Eli? Even if she isn't favored, it would be worth it if she could give birth to a child. There are geniuses every year, so why can't they come to my family this year?

This grand engagement ceremony has just begun, and many people in the audience are planning to take part in it. They don't expect to make it so glorious, but being quietly taken in is fine. Anyway, the main purpose is not to gain any status, and being able to get closer to Saint Eli will be considered a victory.

Of course, as I said before, it would be great if I could have a son or a daughter...

"I have received your vows. The God of Marriage will make a vow for you. Now, Saint Eli and Princess Lina, please put the rings that symbolize love on each other."

Archbishop Bode made a prayer gesture, then dropped his hands, and took out two engagement rings from somewhere, and handed them to Eli and Princess Lina respectively.

The two received the engagement rings inlaid with deep red blood diamonds from Archbishop Bode. Eli first took Princess Lina's hand and put the ring on her. Then Princess Lina followed his movements and put the ring on Eli's finger.

Although it is just an engagement ring, it is made of extremely precious deep red blood diamonds, which are not comparable to ordinary diamonds. Wearing jewelry made of deep red blood diamonds can prolong the lifespan of ordinary people, and their lifespan can be more than doubled.

Even for high-level warriors whose life breath is extremely strong, or even saint-level warriors, it can increase their vitality. Wearing it will speed up the recovery after being injured, and the spirituality of the crimson blood diamond can be sacrificed to offset the injury. In the most serious cases, it can even offset fatal injuries, but after the offset, the crimson blood diamond will be shattered into ash and can never be restored.

Of course, this thing is a rare treasure for other people, even ordinary nobles, but in Princess Lina's collection, there are countless treasures better than it. She doesn't care about a deep red blood diamond jewelry, but this ring is her engagement ring, and its significance is far more important than other treasures.

"The ring is in hand, love is locked, and now, Saint Eli, you may kiss your beautiful fiancée."

Archbishop Bode's words were as concise as ever. After he finished speaking, before the audience had time to make a noise, Eli had already bent down and kissed Princess Lina's sweet red lips.

"Oh~ The Imperial Sister is kissing me, so shy... Woohoo..."

There was a little prince shouting in the audience, but his mouth was quickly covered.

"Master, you're so quick! I didn't even have time to ask for a kiss!"

Cecilia quietly hid in the corner, muttering something sourly. If she had a handkerchief to bite, it would have been more vivid.

"..."

Jessica stood beside Cecilia and said nothing, but her expression hinted that she was eager to try. It was unclear whether she wanted to go on stage to replace Princess Lina, or she couldn't help but want to show off her eloquence.

Because of their special status, Duke and Duchess Bruno arranged Evelyn and Eleanor in inconspicuous positions, which echoed their choice of Jessica and Cecilia hiding in the corner. Although they, like Princess Lina on the stage, will be their daughters-in-law sooner or later, they still don't want other daughters-in-law to be too conspicuous at the engagement ceremony of Princess Lina, who will definitely become their son's wife.

"This guy Eli is finally engaged, so Eleanor should be safer."

Not only Cecilia was muttering secretly, but Eleanor, who was waiting for the banquet, was also muttering quietly. However, she was obviously overthinking it. Whether Eli was engaged or not had nothing to do with her safety. As long as Eli didn't want to, she was safe. But as long as Eli wanted to, let alone getting engaged, even if he got married, Eleanor would not be safe.

"I'm so envious of Lina, when will it be my turn?"

Evelin held her fragrant cheek with her hand, looking at the two people on the stage who made vows to each other and exchanged rings with envy. She had already begun to imagine her and Eli’s engagement ceremony… Oh, maybe there might not be an engagement process, but there must be a ceremony for marriage, right?

"Ow?"

At the outermost edge of the auditorium, Alyssa relied on her height advantage to see the distant stage clearly. The young girl couldn't understand what the brothers and sister Lina on the stage were doing, but she seemed to be very happy. It must be a very fun thing. When could Alyssa play?
And farther away, in a luxurious hotel at least three streets away from the Duke's Palace, the tall Oliver was serving dishes. She didn't know if the capital was celebrating any festival today, but the business in the store was particularly good, and she was a little too busy to handle it.

(End of this chapter)