F-Rank Soul Eater-Chapter 210: She Is Bloodline Bonded

The clatter of silverware against porcelain was the only sound in the room until Alejandro broke the silence with a casual, devastating remark.

"After all," he said, gesturing toward the twins in red and black, "she is to be wedded to my sons."

Soren’s brow shot up. He felt a surge of cold disbelief wash over him, and before his internal filter could catch it, the words were out. "Baron Don Alejandro de los Elegidos..."

"Please," Alejandro interrupted, waving a jewel-encrusted hand dismissively. "Simply calling me Alejandro will suffice."

"Yes. Baron Alejandro," Soren pressed, his voice tight. "Don’t you mean one of your sons?"

Alejandro shook his head, a slow, indulgent smile spreading across his face. "No... my boys are twins. They have always shared everything. They grew in the same womb, they eat from the same plate, and they will even share a single grave one day. Surely, they can share one woman, si?"

As he spoke, he leaned over and reached out to stroke Sophia’s golden hair. It was a possessive, paternal gesture that made Soren’s skin crawl.

Instinctively, Sophia flinched. It was a tiny movement—a mere fraction of an inch—but to Soren’s observing eyes, it was a scream for help.

"But you can’t just do that!" Soren snapped, his chair scraping loudly against the floor as he shifted.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees. Alejandro turned a fiery, predatory gaze toward Soren.

The well-regulated smile was gone, replaced by a sneer of pure aristocratic malice.

"What did you just say, boy?" Alejandro’s voice was a low hiss.

"And who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do in my own house? In my own lands?"

The men in white robes near the doors shifted, their hands disappearing into the folds of their sleeves. Sensing the situation spiraling toward a bloodbath, Polystar stepped into the gap immediately.

"My deepest apologies, Baron," Polystar said, his voice smooth as silk, projecting a calm he surely didn’t feel.

He bowed slightly toward Alejandro. "My friend here is... a bit hot-blooded. Please, forgive his outburst. It comes only from a place of deep concern for Sophia. She is a remarkably capable warrior and a valued friend—a candidate for our permanent party, should you allow it, of course."

Alejandro’s eyes narrowed into slits as he looked from Polystar to Soren. "Oh... so that is why you lot are here. You intend for our dear Saintess to join your... ’noble’ party?"

Polystar nodded, doubling down on the diplomacy. "Indeed. Her talents are exceptional. It would be a tragedy for the Empire not to see her shine within a team designed to elevate her strengths." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Alejandro let out a dry, mocking chuckle that rattled in his chest. "Our Saintess does not need a team to shine, Master Polystar. She does so beautifully on her own. And I assure you... she will not be needing to join any ’noble party’."

Soren remained silent, but his mind was racing. He looked at Sophia’s vacant expression and then at the twins, who were watching her like wolves eyeing a trapped fawn.

The pieces finally clicked.

Sophia wasn’t a daughter of this house... that was clear.

Instead, she was a resource. Alejandro didn’t want her joining a party because that would mean she’d eventually be scouted or protected by another noble house in the Academy.

After all, parties usually carried the interest of the nobles that sponsored them.

By forcing her into a "marriage" with both his sons, he wasn’t just keeping her in the family—he was chaining her to this town forever.

With an ability that could knit flesh and purge mutations, she was the only reason this ’swamp’ had ’cherry cake.’

She was the battery keeping Los Favorecidos alive, and Alejandro had no intention of ever letting his battery go.

Soren caught Sophia’s eye for a split second. In that brief moment, the "Saintess" mask slipped, and he saw the raw, jagged terror underneath.

She didn’t want this. She was in hell.

Soren suddenly remembered how ahe reacted when he said that they were going to her hone town to ask that she be freed.

From the very beginning, Sophia knew that they was no way Alejandro would agree.

But she did not want to lose hope.

"We are not affiliated with the interests of any noble house," Soren said suddenly, his voice cutting through the heavy atmosphere of the dining hall.

It was a gamble—a desperate attempt to find a crack in Alejandro’s logic.

If Sophia was being kept here to prevent other powerful families from snatching her up, perhaps a neutral party was the loophole.

"You aren’t?" Alejandro asked, his eyes flickering with genuine surprise as they darted toward Polystar.

"I am the Party Leader," Soren added firmly.

Alejandro’s gaze locked onto him, growing wider and uncomfortably predatory. A slow grin pulled at the corners of his graying mustache. "And your name, boy?"

"Soren.... Simply Soren."

The Baron’s interest was piqued. No last name meant no noble family.

But his next question was the one Soren dreaded. "And what is your rank... Soren’?"

Soren hesitated, the weight of the silence pressing down on him. "F-rank."

The reaction was instantaneous. Alejandro’s face contorted into a mask of unshielded disgust.

He leaned back, the intrigue vanishing as if doused by cold water. He looked at his sons in red and black; they both shook their heads with synchronized contempt.

"And your Polystar family," Alejandro turned to Pill, his voice dripping with condescension, "they allow you to join this... useless party? Led by a bottom-feeder?"

Polystar didn’t flinch. "Trust me, Baron. Our party leader has other talents besides his... disgusting low rank."

Soren glanced at Polystar, wondering for a split second if this noble boy was insulting him or helping him.

But Polystar maintained a stone-cold expression and continued.

"I am sure that by now, even a distinguished Baron such as yourself has heard of the cadet who killed a Soul Mecha Pilot with nothing but a blade." Polystar pointed directly at Soren.

Alejandro’s eyes brightened instantly. "Oh? That is him?"

The twins shifted, their predatory gaze returning, but this time it was tempered with a sliver of wary respect.

Alejandro tapped his chin, his mind visibly whirring. He nodded slowly before dropping a bombshell that made Soren’s heart skip.

"Very well. I will allow the Saintess to join your party."

Soren and Sophia both looked up, their eyes wide with shock.

A spark of hope ignited in Sophia’s dull blue eyes—but it was extinguished a second later.

"On one condition," Alejandro added, grinning mischievously. "Your party will sign a Soul Oath with me."

"No," Soren interjected immediately. A Soul Oath was practically walking into prison on their own accord.

Alejandro would control them. And from the looks of it, this man would not be the best patron.

"Then you are not ready," Alejandro snapped. "And the Saintess goes nowhere."

Before the argument could escalate, a low murmur began to drift in from outside. It wasn’t loud, but it was the sound of a thousand voices vibrating in unison.

Enrique, the butler, leaned down and whispered into Alejandro’s ear.

The Baron’s eyes lit up. "So, it is time. Good. Lead the way." He stood, gesturing grandly toward the doors.

"You lot want to take our Saintess? Come. Let me show you that she is at home here. That she is loved."

As they followed him out, Soren saw the look of absolute dread return to Sophia’s face.

They emerged onto the wide stone balcony of the manor. Below them, the square was packed. Hundreds of people—deformed, limping, and stained with the purple hue of advanced ectoplasm poisoning—stood in the flickering light of torches.

When Alejandro appeared with Sophia at his side, a roar of adoration went up.

They didn’t cheer like sports fans; they wailed like starving men seeing bread.

Alejandro raised a hand, and the clamor died down into a respectful, heavy silence.

"For many years," he began, his voice dripping with practiced passion, "I, your Baron, have worked to see these lands saved! I have prayed that you might have food on your tables and health in your veins!

It was this desire that drove me to my knees to pray to the God of the Neuralink... and She gave me a vision. That vision led to our Saintess!"

The crowd erupted. Alejandro waved a hand, and Sophia, moving like a puppet on strings, stepped forward.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, landing on a young girl in the front row.

The child was a horror of mutations—a third arm dangled uselessly under her armpit, and a vestigial leg protruded from her stomach. The girl stepped forward, trembling, holding a basket of dark, handmade bread.

"I accept your gift as condition," Sophia whispered.

The Neuralink flared on the girl’s neck. White threads of light raced across her skin, and with a sickening series of wet pops, the extra limbs withered and dissolved into ash. The girl stood whole, her skin clear for the first time in her life.

The girl celebrated as she thanked sophia with tears in her eyes.

The crowd went feral, pushing and screaming to be next, but the men in white robes shoved them back with brutal efficiency.

"As you know," Alejandro shouted over the din, "the Saintess is but one person! Healing takes her strength! She is tired, and there are so many of you!"

The people let out a collective moan of despair.

Alejandro waited for the perfect moment of silence before dropping the final blow.

"And so, the God of the Neuralink has shown me the way forward! Today is a great day! Because tomorrow, the Saintess shall marry my two sons! And from her shall be birthed a generation of Saintesses who will shower the world with her goodness forever!"

Shock rippled through the cadets. But for Soren, the shock was followed by a chilling, razor-sharp realization.

So that’s why... she is Bloodline bonded.