Vincent took back his hand. This sudden action made the woman stunned.
Mireth, on the other hand, started to feel sick.
Pain in her heart became horrendous. As if someone had ripped away part of her heart.
Vincent was shocked by her reaction.
The man and woman hastily arrived at Mireth, supporting her frail body.
At this moment, from the crowd, whose cheers were still going on, a man stepped out.
This immediately took Vincent's attention as this man looked differently than others.
He had gold-white hair.
Vincent gulped. Shivers ran through his body just being close to this man.
"Welcome, young Vincent. Would you mind me calling you that way?" The man suddenly spoke in clear human language.
"..." Vincent was unable to reply right away.
'He knows our language so well.'
Vincent immediately bowed, "Of course, no, elder."
The man with gold-white hair slightly smiled.
"You studied the elven race," he then turned to look at Mireth, whose face was in pain, "But..
looks like not enough."
Vincent also followed his gaze.
"Please, explain, elder. What is happening?"
But instead of giving an answer, the elder asked, "Young Vincent, how much do you know about elves?"
Vincent nervously gulped and began to describe everything he knew.
The elder slowly nodded as Vincent spoke.
"Everything you said is correct, but… some information is not known to the outside world. It is conserved within our race and it should stay that way," the elder spoke calmly, but it made Vincent shiver.
"I understood."
The elder nodded, "What you just witnessed was an emotional backlash when a chosen person rejects the spiritual bond."
"Books don't tell, but elves consider spiritual bonds only once in our long lives."
"This is a sacred moment for every elf."
"I'm afraid that Mireth had already made her choice before coming here."
"You must've made a very strong impression on her to make such a choice."
Vincent was unable to reply.
"I'm sorry, but it's impossible. I already have a life-long partner and have no plans on adding another one," Vincent replied confidently.
The elder's expression didn't change as he had already guessed this possibility. Yet, his quick rejection earned some of his respect.
"But do you know what this rejection will mean for her?" the elder added.
"..." Vincent was silent, waiting for the elder to continue.
"Well. If the spiritual bond is rejected, the person who initiated it will no longer be able to produce children for their entire life. Their spiritual stability will also undergo a significant change, unable that person to reach unity with the forest. Moreover, their lifespan will also decrease. By half."
Vincent was shocked by such heavy consequences, but… so what?
Just because he rescued her and she decided to initiate this spiritual bond, does he have to accept her as a lover and throw Alisia from his heart?
He chuckled.
'There's no way I'm doing it.'
Yet, he recognized that there was some responsibility despite his rejection.
But on the other hand, as he thought about this situation, this might be an unexpected opportunity.
Thinking about this, he spoke to the elder, "Elder, though I can't accept her spiritual bond, I can try to do something to lessen the consequences for her or maybe even remove them altogether."
The golden-white haired man looked at Vincent in silence as if understanding what he implied.
"She'll find out eventually and the hit will be much harder," the elder said.
"Don't worry. She'll never realise it. After all, sometimes, ignorance is bliss," Vincent spoke confidently.
"How can you be so su–"
But the next moment, the elder suddenly became silent as he stared at Vincent with wide eyes for a moment before turning back to normal.
"You are full of surprises, young Vincent. I now see where your confidence comes from."
Vincent deactivated his powerful soul force that was not weaker than the elder's.
'I will simply alter Mireth's emotional state if the situation requires it. Though it will require a lot of concentration and pain endurance. But more importantly, it'll cost me part of my soul force.'
With his soul force, such ability now became a reality.
"Oh, I've forgotten to tell you that accepting the spiritual bond provides a certain benefit that cannot be gained anywhere else and who knows, maybe you'll change your mind in the end," the elder suddenly added with a mysterious smile.
Vincent narrowed his eyes, but he didn't reply.
"Go. There's still time," the elder spoke and looked at Mireth with her parents.
Vincent understood the intention, but there was an issue…
"Don't worry. I'll help to translate," he added as if reading Vincent's mind.
Vincent was calm, but inwardly quite alerted.
He didn't fear the elders' soul force, but the experience between the two was immense.
He would be naive to think that he will be able to win the soul battle with someone of the elder's age, who lived more than half a millennium.
As the two arrived beside Mireth and her parents, Vincent deeply bowed and spoke to Mireth, who still wasn't able to calm down.
Mireth looked at him with pain in her heart.
"Please, forgive me if I did something wrong. I don't understand elven culture well enough, so misunderstandings are inevitable, sadly. Please, tell me what is happening and I'll do everything possible to help you," Vincent spoke respectfully and turned towards the elder.
The elder nodded and translated his words to Mireth in elvish.
Vincent had slight concerns that the elder might intentionally change some of his words for his own agenda.
But even if so, it shouldn't become a big problem.
Hearing the elder's words, Mireth's complexion began to improve.
She turned to Vincent and spoke something with a smile before turning to the elder.
"Mireth is saying that she apologised for her rash decision. She invited you to her home."
Vincent nodded, "I accept the invitation. This will be an honour of mine," he spoke and decided to take her hand. He had never felt such smooth skin before.
Mireth wasn't objecting to this action of his, and when Mireth heard the elder's translation, her breathing became a bit rapid. The gorgeous smile on her face became much brighter as the previous pain went away.
When Mireth was about to pull Vincent's hand and take him to her home, the elder suddenly stopped them.
"Hold on a second."
Abruptly, Vincent felt that his soul was suddenly invaded by someone. This made him horrified, but luckily it lasted just a few seconds.
"This should save you some time," the elder spoke calmly before departing into the crowd.
Vincent was confused. What did the elder do?
But he understood, as he was able to understand from the crowd.
"Benefactor. You have to visit my home. I'll treat you our best wine."
He can hear and understand similar exclamations from various elven people within the crowd.
'This is truly a mastery of soul force. The elder found the part of my soul responsible for interaction and forcefully injected elven language into it. And he did it so gently that I barely felt anything.'
'If I tried to do a similar thing with someone, it might take several hours to complete the transition while experiencing horrific pain in the process.'
Vincent took a deep breath.
'I need to be extremely careful in this place or… this place will become my grave and I will not even understand it.'