Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master
Chapter 81 Getting Married With That Woman

A clan who had its private estates in the Holy Dragon Empire meant that it not only had a regionaljurisdiction of an area, but also was allowed to recruit troops and form its own forces. For example,the Ximen Clan and other large clans of Holy Dragon Empire all had their own estates and armiesand held respective influences in the empire. Of course, the prerequisite for anyone to acquire anestate was gaining the absolute trust of the emperor of the Holy Dragon Empire. Without this onething, one would never be officially offered an estate. The emperor had a deep-seated fear thatanyone with a private army would try to stage a revolt. Gradually, by relying on his strong army, hemight become domineering and disobey or even try to overthrow the emperor's rule. If thathappened, it would be a nightmare for the emperor. It was because of this paranoia that theemperor seldom offered anyone an estate.

So, when the emperor announced that he would bestow an estate upon Prince Basil, it alsoindicated that he trusted him most among all his sons.

"Your Majesty, I think the matter of offering an estate to Prince Basil still needs to be discussedfurther. After all, he's still quite young and I'm afraid it will be tedious for him to take on such aheavy responsibility,” Priest Dean immediately advised. He was determined to stop the growth ofRocky's power, knowing that Rocky might take revenge for the times that he had been unkind tohim. What puzzled him most was why the emperor's attitude towards Rocky had changeddramatically. Was it just because of Rocky's outstanding performance at the Dragon Birth Festival?To an extent, his guess was correct, but there were many other reasons as well.

Other officials also seconded Priest Dean's advice, one after another.

"I also have considered that. I'm thinking of arranging a royal marriage for him. Basil has to getmarried before he can obtain the estate. Those are the terms of my offer. Once he gets married andsettles down, he will naturally shoulder all the responsibility,” the emperor said seriously. He was notmaking a hasty decision to offer his son an estate. As the emperor, he had to be cautious about anyof his decisions.

As soon as the officials heard the emperor's words, they breathed a sigh of relief at the realizationthat the emperor's offer would be very conditional indeed.

"Your Majesty, may I ask whom you are eyeing to become Prince Basil's betrothed?" Priest Deanasked hesitantly. Usually, a royal marriage was a union between the major clans of the Holy DragonEmpire. He had to replace out which clan would gain the support of Rocky and would stand behind himin turn.

"The Ximen Clan,” the emperor said simply and narrowed his eyes. He was waiting for his officials’comments. He knew they would have a lot to say about his arrangement.

The officials including Priest Dean and other princes were quite started, to say the least.

As the largest clan of the Holy Dragon Empire, the Ximen Clan was quite influential, its graspextending to nearly all corners of the kingdom. Its power was beyond comparison and other clanstypically did not dare challenge it. Among ten of the Holy Dragon Empire's royal spirit manipulators,there was one from the Ximen Clan. Thus, it could be seen that the status of the Ximen Clan in theHoly Dragon Empire was so high that it was far beyond the scope of ordinary people.

Moreover, the Sky Army led by General Bryant of the Ximen Clan was the strongest and the bestelite army of the Holy Dragon Empire. It was an invincible force and was known for terrifyingcountless enemies on the battlefield before the war even began. The Ximen Clan was consequentlyone of the most important pillars of the Holy Dragon Empire, if not the most prolific one. If theychanged their allegiance and stopped being loyal to the emperor, they could try to overthrow hisrule and throw the Holy Dragon Empire into a chaotic, bloody mess.

But the Ximen Clan was well-known for their loyalty to the Holy Dragon Empire for generations past.All the members of the clan had pledged their allegiance to the royal family and had never beensuspected of any disloyalty.

The reason for the startled looks that the officials wore was primarily because of the Ximen Clan'shigh status in the Holy Dragon Empire. If the emperor arranged a marriage between Rocky and adaughter of the Ximen Clan, Rocky would become the son-in-law of the Ximen Clan and gain theclan's loyalty. Without any question, it would be a very terrible thing for those who had crossedRocky. With the power of the Holy Dragon Bead and his marriage into the most powerful clan, noone in the Holy Dragon Empire would dare to belittle him. He would have so much power at hisfingertips! Naturally, anyone who had been Rocky's enemy would want to stop the arrangedmarriage.

"The Ximen Clan? But Your Majesty, I don't remember there being any eligible woman from theclan..." Priest Dean asked, a little confused.

"Of course there is! Doesn't it have a young lady? The granddaughter of General Bryant! If Iremember right, she is also the most talented royal spirit manipulator of the Ximen Clan to havelived in recent decades,” the emperor replied at once.

"Your majesty, are you talking about Shirley?" Lena asked, feeling rather stunned.

"Yeah, I mean her. I think she is the best choice. She is about the same age as Basil. And they have asimilar background. Their marriage would be a perfect match!" the emperor nodded, apparentlygreatly satisfied with this arrangement.

“Shirley? Isn't she that mean and aggressive girl with a flat figure? Basil's father is going to marry herto me? How can anyone stand her bad temper? He must be kidding! Geez!" Rocky's thoughts raced.He grimaced a little. He had suffered great pain when Shirley had lost her temper and hit him sohard. It had been a shameful experience. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he'd be forced tomarry her!

As soon as other people present heard that the emperor planned to marry Shirley to Rocky, theirexpressions looked rather peculiar.

They all knew a lot about Shirley, a young and tough lady. Although she looked gorgeous, with herlong, muscular legs, she was also fond of dressing rather masculine. She was also known for herfiery temper. A good number of princes and aristocrats had suffered a lot when they tried to chaseafter her and learned that her temper was easy to be stoked. Most of them avoided her as much asthey could. Of course, there were some of them who just wouldn't give up after their suffering andcontinued to chase after her. But they all met a miserable end just the same.

Apart from that, Shirley always acted in undue confidence and looked down upon her peers. Herconfidence was built on her outstanding talent as a spirit manipulator, coupled with her identity asthe granddaughter of General Bryant. Even more, she was so arrogant that she refused to becourteous to the young men from the royal family. Although countless men showed great interestin her, they were all eventually driven away by her aloof and superior characters. Gradually, sheturned into their dream girl, and only as far as that.

So, the officials on the spot all believed that if Rocky married Shirley, he would probably suffer a lot.Of course, Rocky himself was thinking the same. But just as he was about to refuse the emperor'sproposal, he heard a tender voice ring out abruptly, "I object.”

It was totally unexpected that this opposition had come from Lena, the nineteenth generation witchof the Holy Dragon Empire.

If Rocky raised an objection, it would be understandable. However, Lena's objection was prettystrange, because the arranged marriage didn't have anything to do with her.

She had spoken impulsively, blurting it out. She couldn't be more aware of Shirley's bad temper. Shebelieved that if Rocky married Shirley, then he would be bullied by her every day. She had to cometo his defense! There was also a secret reason that she had to speak for him. Since she had beengrowing up with Rocky, she always had a particular concern for him. Lena was in denial, but herfeelings for him were deep.

"Lena, why do you object?" the emperor asked, a little bit surprised. Like others, he also thought itwas odd for Lena to object to his arrangement.

Rocky himself, too, thought it was odd. He thought, "Maybe Lena likes me, so she doesn't want meto marry Shirley."

"Because..." Lena cast a glance at Rocky and responded seriously, "Basil's strength has just reachedthe Earthly Stage. The most important thing for him now is to try his best to improve his strength. Ifhe diverts his attention to married life, he will not be able to progress as quickly and efficiently asbefore. I think it's better to put off the arranged marriage.”

Upon hearing Lena's explanation, Rocky was a bit disappointed. It turned out that Lena was justworried that the marriage might hinder his improvement in strength.

"The Witch made a good point. Yet, their marriage is still imperative,” the emperor said and nodded.He agreed with her reasoning, as it was also one of the many things he had taken intoconsideration. He had taken many things into account when it came to the marriage of Shirley toRocky.

Seeing the emperor's expression, Lena seemed to guess what he was thinking and became slightlystunned, while her hand clenched a corner of her robe. If the emperor was really thinking like whatshe was guessing, she would be more unwilling to see Rocky marry Shirley. Nevertheless, if theemperor persisted in his idea and carried it out arbitrarily, she would be helpless. As a Witch of theHoly Dragon Empire, she was not allowed to disobey the emperor.

"Your majesty, if it is for that consideration, I think Prince Basil was not the only choice. Otherprinces are also qualified to be the possible candidates,” Lena said at once after a moment'shesitation. Although she knew it would be hard to persuade the emperor to give up thearrangement, she still wanted to have a try.

"But, I'm afraid it has to be Basil this time,” the emperor said in a firm tone. Meanwhile, he thoughtthat Lena showed excessive concern for Basil. He had to talk to her after the meeting. He hadthought that other officials might have a second opinion about his arrangement. But it never onceoccurred to him that Lena would be the first one to object.

Lena frowned deeply and grew quiet. She had summoned all her courage to protect Rocky in herown way. But obviously, she had failed.

When the several other princes and officials heard the puzzling exchange between the emperor andLena, they were completely confused. But they were smart enough not to ask further. If the emperorchose not to say why in public, then it was no use probing.

'Ilt's strange. I can sense that he seems to be hiding something from us..." Rocky thought, also feelingin his gut a suspicious sense.