"What are your orders, General?"
The soldiers stood erected on the wall with stern expressions as if a war was about to happen.
Hendrick stood at the hem and peered into the distance lands, obscured by a veil of darkness.
Vision was limited, but the general marquis did not seem bothered. It was time to test a new ability, he named [Whispers of the Wind]. With this ability, he could detect the presence of all life within a certain radius by listening to the wind, hence the name.
Eyes closed, the atmosphere began to stir as the wind direction changed and gathered towards the general marquis subtlely. All sound within a mile radius were picked up by the wind and delivered to him.
He could hear everything, from the soldiers breathing to the swaying grass, the rustling of leaves and even the movements of the clouds.
Just when he was about to confirm the zero presence of other beasts, he picked up the sound of a pair of beasts battling at the edges of his range.
Hendrick brows knitted at the beasts' abnormal behavior of tearing at each other's flesh in a frenzied manner.
Shortly after, the presence of both beasts disappeared. They had both died.
"There's no need to be alarmed. There is no ambush lying in waiting." Hendrick stated.
The soldiers sighed with relief.
"Your orders to head down and collect the bull-type beast carcass, General." A soldier saluted.
"No need." Hendrick shook his head.
He pointed at the beast carcass at the foot of the Great Wall and flicked upwards.
"Up!"
Along with his command, a spiral column of wind lifted the beast carcass and shot up into the air, before landing on the wall.
"Deliver it to the research team to study."
"Yes, General!"
Afterwards, Hendrick linked hands behind his back and began leaving with a pondering look.
Something strange was happening in the Wildlands. What kind of enmity would cause two beasts to fight each other to the death in such a savage and brutal manner?
He didn't know what it was, but it was an ill omen.
"I hope the Human Domain won't be affected by whatever is happening out there…"
…
Within the courtyard of the prince, Leon was seen in the middle of a session of pill refining.
In one corner of courtyard, his personal guards were seen quietly playing cards with a depressive mood.
There was once a time, when they felt proud to be palace guards, to be 9th step Awakeners, but not anymore. Their impression of the prince had gradually transitioned from respect to awe, then from awe to self-ashamed.
They were already in their mid-30s, but they were still stuck at the peak 9th step of Awakener Realm.
They had lived their life in vain. How does the prince cultivate? At such a young age, the prince had already reached the level of one star. This was just his cultivation level and not even his battle power.
Back when the prince was in the 8th step, he already possessed the battle power to surmount a level and fight with 9th step Awakeners.
After numerous spars, they were no longer a match for the prince.
Now that the prince was at the one-star level, his battle power must be even greater. As the prince's personal guards, they felt useless and no longer needed.
If there was an enemy that even the prince couldn't handle, then it was even more so for the personal guards!
They were simply not capable of protecting the prince from stronger opponents, while they weren't needed at all against weaker foes.
"Ahh…" Howard issued a sigh as he thought about this.
"It's your turn, Howard. Just say pass if you can't beat it." Jeffrey impatiently reminded.
"Hm? Oh right. Sorry." Howard shoved the depressing thoughts behind him and focused on the card game.
Jeffrey had just played a pair of aces. He glanced at his own hand. There were only three cards left; a pair of twos and a three of clubs.
With a smirk, Howard said, "Looks like drinks won't be on me this round. Double two."
Howard played the pair of twos and proceeded to play his last card as the chances of others beating a pair of twos were small in this particular set of card game.
"Hold it!"
Unfortunately for Howard, someone just happened to hold that small probability in their hand.
"Chop!" Cain immediately slammed down a double combo capable of beating a pair of twos.
Howard froze with wide eyes. What were the chances!?
Stuck with the lowest card in the deck in his hand, he painfully watched on as the other three finished their hands.
"Aish… cursed my bad luck! Alright, drinks are on me!" Howard grumbled.
…
Leon completely ignored the palace guards' activities and focused wholeheartedly on his pill refining. He had permitted their activity out of kindness. In his opinion, standing guard all day against the zero possibility of threats would make a person bored senseless.
"It's done!"
Leon's eyes suddenly snapped open as the cauldron lid removed itself to revealed nine pearly-white pills inside the pill cauldron. These were the Tier-1 Soul Mending Pills.
"With this, my father can finally awaken from his 17-year long coma!"
Taking a whiff of the pills, Leon smiled.
"High-rank pills!"
There was some disappointment in Leon's eyes as he did not see any Supreme-rank pills among the batch, but considering it was his first-time refining Soul Mending Pills. Achieving high-rank quality was already very good for his first try.
He should lower his expectations. Setting unrealistically high expectations would only result in disappointments. Heck, one might as well set no expectation, so they would never be disappointment…
Leon immediately shook his head. That was a dangerous thought. If one had no expectation, they would have no drive and ambition to strive to meet that expectation.
His path was bound to be an arduous one. Every Divine Kings had to put in their fair share of blood, sweat and hard work to set themselves from the mass and stand at the peak of the Divine Realm. The Divine King Realm wasn't a level, just anyone could reach. If he doesn't strive his best and work harder than everyone else, how could he expect to surpass the Divine Kings and avenge his father!?
Leon's eyes shined with determination. Once the kingdom was on track, he would be able to focus on his own cultivation with a peace of mind.
Leon placed the pills into his empty pill bottle, before stowing everything away in his Worldspace.
"I'm leaving."
Leon informed the palace guards, but in return, all he received was a few grunts and snorts.
"It's seems they hold a small grudge against me." Leon scratched his cheek with a wry smile. "No surprise there. They have been tasked to protect me, but they always lose sight of me and end up stressing where I was."
Shaking his head, Leon proceeded towards the courtyard's entrance. At the same time, a palace maid entered and flashed him a disgusted expression, before it quickly reverted.
The face of the maid changed quicker than the flip of a page, but fortunately, Leon still noticed it. He had always had this feeling that the palace maids did not like him, but never understood why. Maybe this time, he can find some answers.
"Why do you show such a disgusted expression when you see me?"
Leon directed his question, before the maid could open her mouth.
The maid's body unnoticeably shook in panic for a moment, before she quickly recovered and answered calmly, "I don't know what you're talking about, your Highness... You must have been imagining things."
"Oh?" Leon frowned. "Are you saying I was blind?"
"I don't dare, your Highness!" The maid lowered her head.
All maids despised the prince, but he was after all, still the prince. They wouldn't speak about it openly for fear of punishments.
Seeing the maid's behavior, Leon sighed.
"I've have always seen you by my mother's side. You must be her most trusted maid. Thank you for taking care of my mother all this time. There's no need to be so formal and respectful in front of me. I am simply asking out of curiosity. You may speak bluntly. I will not be offended."
"This… are you sure you won't be offended?" Lily asked carefully.
"I'm sure." Leon nodded.
"Then… I will speak bluntly?" Lily asked again.
"Please." Leon gestured.
"Alright then… Truthfully speaking, everyone sees you as a lascivious beast, your Highness. Thus, all maids are on guard against you." Lily answered.
Leon's lips twitched and asked, "What did I do to have such an awful image? How come I don't know I was such a lascivious person?"
Maybe he was at one point in his past life, but those days were behind him.
"Because you are not a gentleman, your Highness." Lily stated.
"Not a gentleman?" Leon scrunched his brows together. "Didn't I say to speak bluntly? Elaborate."
"Yes…" Lily hesitated for a moment, before saying, "Your Highness is not a gentleman because your heart is not loyal and true to one partner. Every king in the past only had one partner, their queen. However, you, your Highness has yet to ascend the throne, but already have two fiancées."
Cough* "Actually, I have three fiancées…" Leon quietly interjected.
Two were already his women, but the third was not. Their engagement was decided at birth and they have yet to develop mutual feelings. However, Rachel was still his official fiancée, thus, he mentioned three.
At the same time, he thought it was unfair for Aria that the people have yet to know of their engagement. He should find some time to change this.
Lily widened her eyes at Leon's words. Three!?
"Ehem** When there is a second, it wouldn't be a surprise If there was a third, a fourth, a fifth and so on in the future. Such a person could not be trusted to love their partners wholeheartedly and with equal importance. As such, us women would naturally look down on such type of men."
"I see."
Leon scratched his head with some embarrassment as he listened to the maid's explanation. However, there was some prejudice in her words.
"By that standard, I guess I'm not a gentleman. However, it's exaggerated to call me a lascivious beast, no? I have never forced myself on any woman, nor have I gone around flirting with every beautiful woman I've seen."
"Hm... that's true… I apologize for my prejudice, your Highness."
"It's fine." Leon waved. He didn't take any of it to heart.
But then Lily quietly thought, "Maybe the prince doesn't flirt with beautiful women because he already had the cream of the crop…"
"What did you say?"
"N-Nothing…"
Seeing the maid's unwillingness to continue, Leon simply shrugged as the two fell into a brief silence.
"Oh right, what did you come here for?" Leon suddenly asked.
"Ah, I forgot!" Lily exclaimed. "Her Majesty wishes to see you, your Highness."
"Mother wishes to see me? Just in time. I was just planning to go see her." Leon said. "Let's go.
…
The two left the courtyard together.
Lily sneaked a glance at Leon's relaxed expression, before heaving a sigh of relief. The prince was true to his words.. He wasn't offended by her words.