Here, under the designers’ guidance, Wen Yuzhi had already started touring the entire armants manufacturing plant.
On either side of the cub stood Alvin and Selet—two adjutants, one handling civil authority, the other handling military authority.
Behind them were Yiluo and Feier. Along with the designers from inside the base, Wen Yuzhi’s surroundings suddenly felt especially lively.
Almost every Saint Clan mber present was clustered around the cub, like stars crowding around the moon—everyone surrounding him in the center.
anwhile, Mansendis, the Saint Clan sovereign, seed to be the one getting left out.
There was no one beside him. Even when he left, it was silent and unremarked, and it didn’t draw the attention of any of those Saint Clan mbers.
But Wen Yuzhi, wrapped in that crowd, noticed the mont Mansendis walked away and turned his head.
Seeing Mansendis already so distance off, Wen Yuzhi hesitated—yet in the end, he didn’t follow.
Wen Yuzhi knew Mansendis was busy. At a ti like this, there had to be sothing that needed doing.
So after a brief wave of disappointnt, Wen Yuzhi turned back and kept discussing with the designers what else might be worth adding to a warship’s exterior.
Off in the distance, three female Saint Clan mbers happened to catch the entire scene, and the color in their eyes shifted—so faintly it was almost imperceptible.
Anyone could tell the little Highness depended heavily on this father.
You could already see it in the way the cub and Mansendis had /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ interacted earlier.
When he was in Mansendis’s arms, whether it was Wen Yuzhi’s tone, or the tiny expressions in the corners of his eyes and brows—anyone whose eyes weren’t broken could clearly see how completely relaxed the cub was.
He would chatter excitedly with Mansendis about what had happened today, and when he got to sothing that made him especially happy, the fluffy little wings behind him would even give a small tremble.
That was sothing you only showed in a safe environnt.
The cub was entirely nestled into Dad’s arms. That closeness and trust couldn’t be faked.
At the very least, no royal-blood would be willing to fake that.
After all, cold, distant relationships among royal-blood weren’t rare.
On the contrary—royal-blood who could get along smoothly, harmoniously, were extrely uncommon.
The more powerful the beast, the stronger the territorial instinct. That rule applied to royal-blood just the sa.
Like certain large felines, they were used to traveling alone, and they found it hard to tolerate the presence of another royal-blood at their side—one who could threaten them.
That also ant their relationships, from the mont they were born, were locked in a tense state of mutual competition and mutual wariness, brewing countless bloody struggles centered around kingship.
That was why the three of them felt... a little unbelievable.
For Mansendis, and for Wen Yuzhi.
“Mansendis, Your Highness... no, Your Majesty...”
“It’s exactly what you saw. The little Highness likes His Majesty very much, and His Majesty cares about the little Highness.”
Mond drawled from the side.
...Mansendis cared about this child?
They pressed their lips together, and it seed a decision had already ford in their hearts.
In truth, after seeing Wen Yuzhi with their own eyes, their attitude had already begun to loosen.
Now, with Mond’s words—combined with everything they had just witnessed—their leanings gradually tipped to the other side.
“It’s ti for you to fulfill your promise.”
Mansendis had Mond find them a quiet place.
It was still the female Saint Clan mber with the silver rose brooch who stepped out first. Her na was Kasha. She and that head maid Kalli—the one who had been killed—were biological sisters, and at the sa ti, Kasha served as the captain of Tasiya’s personal guard.
“What do you want to know from us?”
This ti, Kasha’s attitude had clearly changed. It wasn’t as resistant as before.
Mansendis knew it was all because of the cub.
And it also proved his guess.
—They knew Wen Yuzhi existed.
So when Kasha finished that sentence, Mansendis lowered his eyes and looked at Kasha.
“Everything. Tell everything you know. I don’t want any concealnt.”
The silver-haired sovereign’s voice was ice-cold.
His gaze fell on the three female Saint Clan mbers before him, and he stared in silence, as if appraising sothing.
For an instant, they felt as though the dust-sealed, carefully hidden secrets buried deep in their hearts had been seen through.
Every layer of cover was nowhere to hide.
Kasha could only force herself to remain steady under Mansendis’s gaze. She took a deep breath and began recalling the past.
“Kalli and I held different posts. She stayed close to the queen, and I was responsible for handling things outside.”
The two of them—one handled matters of governance, the other handled matters of the army.
“It should’ve been winter. The queen suddenly summoned the five of us and said she had a mission to give us.”
And it was that day, in the nursery at Thorn Castle, that they saw Tasiya—radiant with joy.
Tasiya looked very happy.
So happy that when she saw them arrive, she even waved them over with a smile.
And in the cradle—
There was an egg. An egg that looked like a pet egg soone had brought ho.
It wasn’t until they noticed there was a massive quantity of red crystals placed beneath the egg that they finally realized:
That egg was a royal cocoon.
The discovery left all of them stunned.
And what shocked them even more was what Tasiya said next.
“This is Mansendis’s child,” Tasiya said calmly. “I took one drop of blood from him.”
The tone was casual, like it was no different from saying what she ate today.
Not like she’d taken a drop of her younger brother’s blood—behind his back—and made a child.
Kasha and the others were plainly struck senseless by the sudden, explosive news.
They were silent for a while before forcing out, voice rough with strain, “Y-You... you an this royal cocoon is Prince Mansendis’s child?!”
“Yeah. Doesn’t he look like my little brother?” Tasiya said, sounding amused. “Honestly, I’m pretty baffled too. Why does my cold, icy little brother have such a cute child? It’s making want a child of my own too...”
As she spoke, Tasiya even had them lean closer to take a look.
Kasha and the others kept their faces stiff, trying as hard as they could to stay serious, but their eyes couldn’t stop the curiosity as they drifted toward the cradle.
And once they looked, they couldn’t quite look away.
They had to admit—the little Highness was really small.
And didn’t look like the Saint Clan at all...
So pale, and looked so soft.
Were royal-blood Highnesses like this when they were little?
They couldn’t help wondering.
But Tasiya said, “He is a one-of-a-kind miracle.”
“The Mother Goddess is still watching over us.”
Then, as if sothing occurred to her, Tasiya’s expression abruptly turned solemn, and she ordered them, “I’m having you co here because I need to ask you to take him away. For now, he can’t stay on Dark Tower Star. Brand has been watching . This child absolutely cannot be discovered by them!”
“You’re my personal guard. You grew up with . You’re the only ones I trust. Now I’m handing the royal cocoon to you. Before he successfully cracks his shell and is born, your duty is to help take good care of him.”
Kasha and the others imdiately knelt and swore an oath.
Swearing that no matter what, they would protect the little Highness.
And that night, carrying a vast amount of red crystals and holding the royal cocoon in their arms, they boarded a warship and left Dark Tower Star for Esoris.
That was an arrangent Tasiya had thought through with extre care.
Esoris was only a mining star. On ordinary days, very few Saint Clan mbers went there—let alone that group of exalted royal-blood.
And the one managing Esoris at the ti was Kalli, the head maid at Tasiya’s side. In other words, Esoris was completely within Tasiya’s sphere of influence.
And the rich mineral deposits on Esoris could also mask the energy of the red crystals very well.
At the ti, this was the best arrangent Tasiya could make.
Kasha and the others truly did spend a stretch of peaceful days on Esoris.
The Saint Clan didn’t know a new royal-blood had been born, and the group of royal-blood led by Brand still kept their eyes fixed tightly on Tasiya inside the palace.
As the situation grew more and more tense, Esoris—a re mining star—beca, instead, a patch of pure land.
“Then what happened?”
Mansendis listened as Kasha recounted, in full detail, everything they knew. His expression was so calm it was impossible to read joy or anger.
Only when he heard Tasiya call the cub a one-of-a-kind miracle...
did a faint ripple of emotion appear in the depths of the silver-haired sovereign’s eyes.
But almost imdiately, Mansendis pressed it down again.
Kasha and the others didn’t even notice that instant of change.
They continued speaking, slowly.
“Later...” As if recalling what ca after, Kasha’s eyes unfocused for a mont—then ca anger and hatred.
A long-sealed fury reignited, and yet it still dragged her back to the original, burning resentnt.
“We kept obeying the queen’s orders and guarded the royal cocoon at all tis. But later, we received a ssage. It said Prince Brand and the others were preparing to launch a coup, that the queen might be in danger, and that those of us personal guards who were outside needed to rush back to support her.”
“Who sent that ssage?” Mansendis asked.
“One of our personal guard,” Kasha said, voice dropping. Her hands at her sides clenched into fists.
“Later I learned that at the ti... she was already dead.”
“How did you find out?”
“Her corpse was dumped outside the base!”
Rembering the death of an old sister-in-arms, Kasha’s voice turned especially agitated in that instant.
They received the ssage and were frantic with worry over Tasiya’s situation. After thinking it through again and again, they decided Kasha and one other Saint Clan mber would head to Dark Tower Star to check what was happening.
The remaining three would stay and continue protecting the little Highness.
But when Kasha and the other left the base, they saw a corpse outside.
And that corpse belonged to the personal guard who had ssaged them earlier—soone who had stayed at Tasiya’s side.
It was obvious the person had been killed.
The body lay in a pool of blood, reverted to beast form, the heart area torn open.
With the Saint Clan’s powerful bodies and vitality, for a high-tier Heimo to be killed this quickly—there was a high chance the killer was also Saint Clan.
And narrowing it further, soone with that ability who could do it without alerting them... could only be royal-blood.
But at the ti, drowned in enormous grief, Kasha and the others didn’t react fast enough.
It wasn’t until Kasha realized the corpse had been deliberately tossed here—and that nothing was missing from the body, except that the light-brain was gone—that she understood:
This might be a trap, set to lure them away from the royal cocoon on purpose.
Only, by the ti they realized it, it was already too late.
Worse still, the three Saint Clan mbers who had stayed with the little Highness also received a photo of the corpse outside.
They mistakenly thought Kasha had gotten into trouble. They rushed out, and at the base entrance they collided head-on with Kasha, who was hurrying back with a grim expression.
One look at each other—what was there left not to understand?
This was clearly soone deliberately trying to draw them away!
And their target, without a doubt, was the place they had been guarding!
And that was exactly the case. When Kasha and the others rushed back, the room was a wreck—ssy beyond belief, like everything inside had been looted.
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