Chapter 19: Healing Talent

Seeing that Wen Yuzhi still wasn’t saying anything, Alvin assumed the little Highness simply didn’t like the feeling of having everything handled single-handedly.

In those few books on cub psychology, Alvin had read that cubs also had their own thoughts and personalities.

And cubs who were in the developmental period often put on an act of maturity, preferring to make their own decisions about everything.

Alvin thought: even if the little Highness was well-behaved, the little Highness’s wishes still deserved respect.

With that in mind, Alvin corrected the attitude and wording almost instantly.

“This subordinate was not considerate enough.” Alvin looked apologetic. “If the little Highness doesn’t mind, you can also personally choose the warship you like.”

Wen Yuzhi, who was actually just shocked at how insanely rich the Saint Clan was: “......”

After a brief stretch of speechless silence, he still decided to ask the question that might be a little presumptuous.

“May I ask... how many warships the Saint Clan has right now?”

Wen Yuzhi could swear he was only curious, not intentionally trying to pry into military secrets.

Alvin didn’t mind. In a gentle tone, Alvin replied, “Which class would you like to ask about? For ordinary light- and heavy-class warships, this subordinate may not be able to give you an accurate number.”

After all, the number was simply too large. Even Alvin might not remember exactly how many there were.

Wen Yuzhi could understand that, but he was still stunned into silence for a moment by the sheer “foundation” that slipped out so casually.

Under that kind of stimulation, Wen Yuzhi quietly crossed out what he had originally planned to ask, and instead went straight for the most expensive and rarest kind: annihilation-class warships.

That, Alvin could answer. “Excluding His Majesty’s private property, the Saint Clan currently still has more than a thousand annihilation-class warships.”

As Alvin spoke, Alvin seemed to think of something else. “But please rest assured—if there isn’t one you like among them, Esolis can also manufacture a new warship at any time according to your preferences.”

Wen Yuzhi blinked. This time, he truly couldn’t say a single word.

Even though he didn’t understand the distribution of military power in this world all that well, Wen Yuzhi could still vaguely sense how terrifying a number “more than a thousand annihilation-class warships” was.

And from Alvin’s relaxed tone, it was also clear that the Saint Clan still had the ability to build more at any time.

When other races might not even be able to possess a single one, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) the Saint Clan had already become rich enough to form several fleets—and still have surplus.

What Wen Yuzhi didn’t know was that this was only the tip of the iceberg.

Because Alvin immediately added, “Aside from a fleet, you will also need a close personal guard unit and a steward to handle daily trivial matters. After you come of age, the legion that belongs to you must also begin to be established.”

There were also teachers responsible for instructing the little Highness, and various other positions, and so on... every aspect would need to be reassigned and reorganized within the Saint Clan, which had not had a new royal blood born for a long time.

By that calculation, time was clearly a little tight.

Alvin’s brows knit almost imperceptibly, but Alvin knew there was no way around it.

No one had expected the Saint Clan could still have a new royal blood born.

Much less one as special as Wen Yuzhi.

On one hand, Wen Yuzhi was one of the only two royal-blooded individuals at present, holding half of all ownership of Salilaino. On the other hand, Wen Yuzhi was Mansendis’s child—barring accidents, Wen Yuzhi would be the Saint Clan’s next sovereign.

And with Mansendis’s current condition, the Saint Clan absolutely could not lose Wen Yuzhi, the only royal blood who could inherit the throne.

With such an extremely exalted status, Wen Yuzhi naturally could not be treated the same as an ordinary royal blood.

In fact, in Alvin’s view, even these arrangements were already exceptionally bare-bones. If the little Highness hadn’t been left outside for so long, the treatment the little Highness ought to have would never need to feel as constrained and wronged as it did now.

If Wen Yuzhi could hear Alvin’s inner thoughts, he would definitely shout loudly: he wasn’t wronged.

Not wronged at all.

On the contrary, under the shock of Alvin’s nonstop barrage, he had gradually gone from initial astonishment to growing numbness.

............

The conversation between Wen Yuzhi and Alvin also didn’t escape Mansendis.

With eyes closed, Mansendis sat there as if in silence, yet mental energy actually covered the entire Thanatos.

When Mansendis “saw” the traces at the corner of the cub’s eyes that looked like crying, Mansendis wasn’t as flustered and helpless as Alvin, but irritation still rose faintly.

A long bone chain roamed at Mansendis’s feet. As if sensing the owner’s unsettled mood, the joints rotated without pause, making a sound like blades opening and closing.

In this heavy, silent atmosphere, the sound of Mu Luo fiddling with bottles and jars was unmistakably jarring.

Mansendis opened his eyes.

Under the icy gaze of the sovereign, Mu Luo still looked innocent. “You smashed my medicine cabinet. There was candy in there—candy the cubs love.”

Candy...

It seemed some word caught Mansendis’s attention.

“Cubs all like candy?”

“Of course.” Mu Luo spoke with absolute certainty. The Xier Clan’s education for children had always prioritized care above all else. They worked hard to give children a happy childhood, letting children grow up in an environment full of love and sweetness.

Compared to the Xier Clan, the Saint Clan was completely the opposite extreme. The Saint Clan seemed to be born lacking emotion—so much so that even cubs displayed an excessively early-mature composure. One was colder than the next, like killing machines that only knew destruction.

And Mansendis had undoubtedly grown up in that kind of environment.

Mansendis didn’t take Mu Luo’s words seriously.

Yet in Mansendis’s mind, the two pieces of candy Wen Yuzhi had first given kept surfacing again and again.

So fragile—so delicate, even in preferences...

Mansendis had never seen a Saint Clan member this weak.

And this cub was even Mansendis’s own blood...

Absurd to the extreme.

Come to think of it, Mu Luo was also very curious about how Mansendis could possibly have a child.

From what Mu Luo knew of the Saint Clan sovereign, Mansendis not only had no interest in reproduction—Mansendis could be said to be completely indifferent to it.

Mansendis lived the words “utterly alone” to the extreme.

At the beginning of the reign, Mansendis killed every blood relative. From then on, above the throne, there was only a solitary shadow.

So if Mu Luo hadn’t seen it with Mu Luo’s own eyes—and the identification result hadn’t come from Mu Luo personally—Mu Luo wouldn’t have dared to believe it either.

Because in Mu Luo’s eyes, the probability of Mansendis having a child was basically equal to zero.

Yet under such “impossible” circumstances, a child had suddenly appeared from nowhere.

Even Mu Luo, careful and cautious for an entire lifetime, couldn’t help the gossiping curiosity rising in the heart.

Noticing that strangely odd look, Mansendis’s brow twitched. In a cold tone, Mansendis said, “His birth has nothing to do with me.”

“A ridiculous thing like this—only Tasiya could do it.”

Mu Luo froze. In that instant, the full-hearted gossip turned into silence like a frightened mouse.

Tasiya.

Even after death, it was still a name with enormous influence within the Saint Clan.

Only—everything left behind was negative.

Like a taboo: unless necessary, the Saint Clan deliberately avoided mentioning it.

Mu Luo had been within the Saint Clan for many years and vaguely knew some of it.

Tasiya Salilaino—also known as the Bloody Mad Queen.

There were rumors that she was Mansendis’s twin elder sister, one of the thirteen noble royal-blooded individuals, and even the previous Saint Clan sovereign.

But in the end, she died under Mansendis’s sword—and along with her, eleven other royal-blooded individuals also died.

To commit kin-slaying to the point of nearly wiping out one’s entire clan—Mansendis was the first.

Mu Luo knew the inside story well enough to understand that anything tied to that Queen Tasiya was a taboo the Saint Clan did not wish to touch—and those matters were not something an outsider like Mu Luo could know.

Mu Luo pretended not to have heard and promptly shifted the topic. “If my judgment is correct, the little Highness’s innate talent should be healing.”

Healing...

Mu Luo felt a bit emotional.

Even within the Xier Clan, it was an extremely precious and rare ability—yet it had appeared in the Saint Clan, infamous for brutality and savagery.

It was like a soft, weak lamb had wandered into a pack of wolves.

No matter how one looked at it, it felt unbelievable.

Mansendis had already had a faint premonition, but when Mu Luo truly said it aloud, the Saint Clan sovereign still couldn’t help frowning.

The Saint Clan—especially the royal blood of Salilaino—possessed a powerful bloodline granted by the Mother Goddess, and the talents born alongside that bloodline were mostly abilities with extremely strong destructive power.

Since the Saint Clan came into existence, there had never been a single royal-blooded individual with a healing ability.

Just as they were born to endure the torment of mental energy turmoil, they had long accepted that while they held great power, they also had to bear pain that clung like a curse.

And as the royal blood with the most severe mental-energy disorder, the talents they possessed were all sharp, brutal, and mad.

That power made Salilaino unstoppable on the battlefield—yet it also pushed their mental sea one step at a time toward collapse.

To die in corruption—as if that were their fated destiny.

And yet no one expected that just as they had grown accustomed to darkness, a cub would appear who could soothe their mental energy turmoil—still a Salilaino, still the most frenzied bloodline.

Mansendis’s expression was icy.

Mu Luo sighed.

“Even if this may be unnecessary to say, I still have to remind you: an ability that can heal a mental sea in upheaval—its value is extraordinarily precious across the entire interstellar world.”

“You need him. The Saint Clan also needs him.”

Mansendis said nothing.

Mu Luo saluted and slowly withdrew.

In the corridor, Mu Luo ran into Wen Yuzhi.

The boy stood alone in front of the viewing window with his back to Mu Luo. Those pale-gold eyes—identical to Mansendis’s—watched the star sea outside.

“That’s a River Styx fish.”

Wen Yuzhi heard the voice and turned around, only to see Mu Luo had come to Wen Yuzhi’s side at some point. Mu Luo’s gaze passed beyond Wen Yuzhi as well, looking out the viewing window.

Mu Luo smiled. “Beautiful, isn’t it? This is a living star sea. They’re intelligent—living in the universe like schools of fish. And seeing them means we’ve arrived at the Ninth Star Domain.”

“Welcome back to your hometown, Your Highness.”