Chapter 91: The Blood Contract
— BEFORE THE EXPLOSION AT THE MAIN HOUSE —
Inside the private study of the Thorne Main House, a tense but quiet conversation was taking place. Jacob and Martha were seated next to each other behind a large wooden desk, with Vincent standing silently at attention behind them. Seated opposite them was William, the head of the Wilson family, with his red-haired Mage, Sidd, standing diligently at his back.
"Mr. Wilson, didn’t you state yesterday that you would be leaving at dawn? Why have you returned to my study at this hour?" Jacob asked, leaning forward slightly.
"Forgive my sudden intrusion, Lord Thorne, but I have been thinking... and the alliance contract we officially signed yesterday doesn’t seem fair at all," William Wilson said, his expression serious.
"Not fair?" Jacob raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. Upon reviewing the terms, it felt as though my family was benefiting far more than yours. It doesn’t seem like an equal exchange," William explained.
"I don’t see that as a bad thing, William. You are the ones actively choosing to help us during these incredibly troubled times for our Barony. A little extra cost on our end won’t hurt, since we can always rebuild and make more wealth in the future if we survive this," Jacob said, echoing the exact words Ian had once spoken to him.
"Those are incredibly wise words, Mr Thorne. But I am not trying to make you take back what you already promised," William smiled, leaning forward. "I am actually trying to add something that will heavily benefit us both."
"And what exactly is that?" Jacob asked, narrowing his eyes at the Wilson family head.
"Marriage. Your son should marry my daughter, Sarah," William stated with a dead-serious look.
"What?!" Jacob was completely shocked by the sudden proposal.
"It is exactly as I said. To make this alliance truly unbreakable, and to ensure that our future descendants never fight, we should officially solidify this with a marriage alliance."
"Yeah... I thought I heard you wrong..." Jacob sighed, suddenly massaging the bridge of his nose with a deep frown. "William, you know perfectly well about Adam’s condition. Right now, my eldest son isn’t even capable of taking care of himself, let alone taking care of your daughter."
"Aaah... I just thought it would be a good idea," William waved his hand dismissively, a sly, smug look forming on his face. "But if you are really that against pairing her with Adam, then what about your nephew?Ian?"
’I see. So that is what he was truly after all along,’ Jacob thought, suppressing a sigh. ’Martha did tell me about what happened in their town the day Ian and Isaac arrived. The Wilsons must have really taken a liking to Ian. William must assume that since Adam is ill, Ian is the most likely candidate to become the future Family Head.’
Jacob kept his face neutral. ’But what William doesn’t know is that with the help of Ian’s mysterious cultivation methods, Adam is highly likely to survive. The future Family Head position will not change.’
"Well? I’m still waiting for your decision," William pressed, tapping his fingers impatiently on his armrest.
"Well, you see... I would genuinely like to accept, but monumental decisions like these need to be decided by Ian himself, or his direct guardian. And that would be his mother, Caroline," Jacob explained diplomatically.
"I thought you were the Family Head? The one who makes the final decisions for this house. Why do you have to ask for permission for something as simple as this?" William asked, folding his arms in annoyance.
Jacob’s eye started twitching, and a thick vein visibly bulged on his forehead at the blatant disrespect toward his family structure. "Well... Mr. Wilson—"
"What my dear brother is trying to politely say," Martha suddenly interrupted, grabbing Jacob’s arm to calm him down, "is that if you truly want a marriage partner to enforce this alliance, why don’t you partner your daughter up with my son, Isaac?"
"What... wait..." William blinked, caught off guard.
"What is so shocking about that?" Martha smiled warmly. "They seem to be the exact same age. And I can reassure you, Isaac is a really nice boy. He is a little bit quiet, yes, but he is also really kind and genuinely loves to read books, so you can definitely say he is a very intelligent boy."
Martha’s smile suddenly faded into a sharp, knowing glare. "Or... is it that you were specifically targeting Ian this entire time?"
"Of... of course not..." William stammered, sweating slightly under her piercing gaze. "Isaac... Isaac is completely fine too."
"Right. You are actually taking a massive burden off my shoulders, since Isaac doesn’t seem remotely interested in finding a partner on his own," Martha laughed softly, the tension in the room instantly vanishing.
"You and me both," William chuckled, relieved. "My Sarah doesn’t show even the slightest bit of interest in romance or noble gatherings, and next year she will officially be reaching marriageable age. Maybe they were just meant to be! I can already vividly see her throwing a massive tantrum and completely rejecting this idea."
The entire room broke into lighthearted laughter at the thought of their stubborn children.
"Anyway, let’s officially add this to the contract as well," William said, reaching into his robes and pulling out a heavy, ancient-looking parchment scroll.
"Fine." Jacob raised his hand.
Without a word, Vincent reached inside his dark jacket, pulled out an identical scroll, and placed it gently into Jacob’s waiting hand.
"You actually let him keep hold of something that important?" William asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"Vincent is Family. So I trust him with absolutely everything... even my life," Jacob answered nonchalantly, clearly used to outsiders questioning his trust in Vincent.
Jacob unrolled his scroll and placed it flat on the desk right next to William’s. The two ancient parchments were perfectly identical.
"Sidd, you are up," William ordered the red-haired Mage standing behind him.
"Actually, My Lords, we have to redo the entire agonizing process that we did yesterday," Sidd sighed, stepping forward and looking at both of them.
"We know. Whenever you are ready," Jacob nodded.
Sidd took a deep breath. "Solas veth, aethera sym. Ponda kora, relis bindra..."
The Mage began heavily chanting, holding his hands over the two contracts. The ancient parchment immediately started to glow with a blinding white light. The old ink that had been written yesterday slowly began to dissolve and disappear.
The exact moment the old words completely vanished, both contracts suddenly turned pitch black, absorbing all the light in the room.
"Place your marks," Sidd grunted, sweating from the magical strain.
Jacob and William both pressed their right thumbs firmly onto the bottom of their respective black contracts.
Suddenly, a strange, echoing voice resounded directly inside the minds of everyone in the room. It sounded like dozens of people speaking in perfect unison.
"Do both parties formally agree that they will unconditionally aid each other if the other party finds themselves in a dire situation they cannot handle alone? Do both parties vow to never betray each other? Failure to uphold this pact will result in the offending party’s immediate death."
"I agree," Jacob and William said aloud at the exact same time.
The moment the words left their lips, they felt a strange pulling sensation in their thumbs. Fresh, bright red blood began magically seeping directly out of their skin without breaking the flesh. The blood floated down onto the black parchment, autonomously writing the exact conditions they had just agreed upon in a jagged, glowing, ancient language.
"Does Party A (Jacob Thorne) agree to allow their personal guard (Vincent) to teach Party B’s adopted son (Zena Wilson) an aura sword technique?And Does Party B (William Wilson)also agree to never spread or teach this technique to anyone else, including the rest of his Family? Failure to uphold this pact will result in Party A’s or Party B’s immediate death, respectively."
"I agree," both confirmed. Once again, their blood was magically siphoned to write the glowing red text onto the black paper.
"Do both Family Heads agree that they will formally enter a marriage agreement between their specific children by the end of next year? Failure to uphold this pact will result in the immediate death of both signing parties."
"I agree," they said simultaneously.
The final lines of red blood burned themselves into the parchment while Sidd continued his heavy, exhausted chanting.
When the magic finally settled, both men lifted their thumbs from the paper.
"It still completely amazes me that I can physically feel my blood being forcefully squeezed out of my veins, but there isn’t even a single scratch left on my thumb," Jacob muttered in amazement, inspecting his perfectly clean skin.
"That’s magic for you.... It just shows how incredibly mysterious this world is. No one has ever fully understood how it works," William said, leaning back in his chair.
On the desk, the pitch-black contracts slowly began to shine again, returning to their original state as crisp white sheets of parchment, while the glowing blood-red writings permanently shifted into mundane black ink.
"And Blood Contracts are one of the greatest mysteries that even the most powerful Tower Masters in the Magic Empire cannot fully explain," Sidd gasped, pulling a blue mana potion from his belt and chugging it down to recover from the intense drain.
"But the punishment is what always deeply terrifies me," William muttered, staring at the finalized contract. "It is just instant, unavoidable death out of nowhere. The heart completely stops, and the body will rot to bone within less than five minutes."
William looked up, locking eyes with Jacob. "So you better be absolutely sure you don’t screw us over, Jacob. Especially regarding the marriage part."