Chapter 21: Mental Energy Turmoil

Wen Yuzhi didn’t think too much about it.

He assumed Mansendis was simply strict about table manners—and it really wasn’t great to keep looking around while eating.

Only Alvin knew best: when had their king ever cared about etiquette and rules like that?

Who this sudden “rule” was deliberately aimed at was practically self-evident.

And it made Alvin even more certain that the king was not, as Alvin had feared, completely indifferent to the young Highness.

Or rather—Mansendis hadn’t even noticed it personally, but the way Mansendis treated Wen Yuzhi could genuinely be called unusually tolerant.

Wen Yuzhi didn’t understand any of those twists and turns. After being reminded just now, he paid careful attention to his posture for the rest of the meal, moving cautiously and trying not to make the slightest sound.

Mansendis’s original intent had been to keep Wen Yuzhi from getting too close to a subordinate.

But when one sentence of his made the cub truly draw in that smile and become exceptionally quiet—so quiet that he even looked a little stiff and careful—what Mansendis felt wasn’t relief at having the order strictly obeyed.

It was an irritation he couldn’t put into words.

The bone spines at his feet also began scratching back and forth in a hurry.

Cub... eat... give... cub...

They kept pushing their meaning toward Mansendis.

Mansendis glanced at the food on the table.

Everything that could be fed directly to a cub had been carefully selected by Alvin, making sure each item repeated as little as possible. But precisely because of that, when they were all brought out at once, Wen Yuzhi had been put in a difficult position—he didn’t know which one to eat.

In the end, when it came time to choose, Wen Yuzhi still picked the dishes closest at hand. As for anything farther away—anything that would require reaching past Mansendis—Wen Yuzhi abandoned it immediately.

Mansendis noticed.

Mansendis could tell the cub didn’t dislike those dishes. For some reason, Wen Yuzhi simply hadn’t touched them.

Like a rabbit that was timid by nature: when it poked its head out of a burrow, it only dared lower its head to nibble the grass right nearby. As for the grass beside the tiger in the distance, it wouldn’t even dare glance twice.

Mansendis had no awareness of being treated like a tiger.

Mansendis only looked at the boy’s slender, underfed frame and frowned unconsciously.

Whether compared to ordinary Saint Clan cubs, or to the Salilaino royal blood in memory, the cub before his eyes truly did look exceptionally frail.

So after Wen Yuzhi finished a rice cake, Mansendis directly slid the plate of Lulu Beast chops that was near his own hand and set it in front of the boy.

Wen Yuzhi, who suddenly had an enormous plate of meat appear in front of him: “......”

He blinked once... then blinked again.

The silver-haired sovereign at the head of the table spoke.

“Eat more.”

After that, there was a flat, cool assessment.

“Too thin.”

Wen Yuzhi was about to argue that he hadn’t been eating that little.

But when he remembered the silver giant beast’s near-sky-covering size, he silently closed his mouth.

Still, the gesture was goodwill. Wen Yuzhi thought for a moment and, despite already being full, forced himself to eat another half a portion of the chops.

And, unsurprisingly—

he ate too much.

Mansendis was the complete opposite.

Unlike the meal prepared with variety for the cub’s health, what sat in front of Mansendis was still only a few bland nutrient vials.

And though Mansendis was sitting here “eating together,” he never once showed any intent to touch them.

Instead, his attention stayed loosely trained on Wen Yuzhi the entire time—and he even did something unprecedented: feeding the cub.

After Wen Yuzhi was full, he also noticed what was going on on Mansendis’s side.

He didn’t know why Mansendis was sitting here only watching him eat, but courtesy demanded a response. Mansendis had given him a plate of meat; Wen Yuzhi thought he should also show something in return.

So the boy’s gaze swept over the dishes on the table and finally landed on the spiky fruit that looked plump and bursting with juice.

Yes—this one.

Wen Yuzhi remembered the Saint Clan seemed to like it. Last time, Mansendis had eaten the fruit Wen Yuzhi had offered.

With that in mind, Wen Yuzhi carefully slid the untouched plate of spiky fruit in front of Mansendis.

The first time was unfamiliar, the second time less so.

When the cub offered it a second time, Mansendis still had no interest in the cloying sweetness, but under Wen Yuzhi’s watching eyes, he still reached into the plate and took one.

He frowned, about to eat it—

and a sharp stabbing pain struck without warning.

Almost instantly, the mental sea that had just calmed down turned chaotic again.

Mansendis tried to suppress it, but the mental energy that surged up in a sudden riot not only failed to settle—

it even showed signs of slipping out of control.

The golden slit pupils gradually dimmed. The aura around the silver-haired sovereign abruptly became dangerously sharp.

The bone chains coiling along the ground began to thrash violently. Wherever they struck, objects were crushed into powder in an instant.

And the fruit in Mansendis’s hand had already been unable to withstand the force in those finger joints—joints strong enough to crush an enemy’s skull.

In the blink of an eye, it was crushed.

Bright red juice ran down, staining pale fingers like blood.

Everything happened too fast.

Before Wen Yuzhi could react, he suddenly met a pair of brutal, indifferent eyes.

“.....!!!”

The sense of danger that had long vanished slammed back.

Wen Yuzhi felt as if his heart were being clenched tight in that instant. He instinctively retreated two steps.

And those two steps—

were enough to make the already out-of-control Mansendis seem as if he had been provoked. The long bone chains went even crazier.

One of them even whipped down less than two meters from Wen Yuzhi.

Wen Yuzhi’s vision darkened at once.

It was as if someone scooped him up. The next second, he fell entirely into a broad embrace.

“Your Highness—don’t be afraid.”

It was Alvin’s voice.

The tone had already lost its usual gentleness, turning rushed and panicked.

Pressed to Alvin’s shoulder, Wen Yuzhi couldn’t help turning his head for a look.

The silver-haired Saint Clan still sat in the same place, expression icy. Those pale-gold slit pupils were deep and dim. Under the swaying light, the cold eyes seemed layered in shadow, leaving only a murky, chilling gleam.

Behind him, countless bone chains writhed like tentacles, baring fangs and claws.

How grotesque. How vicious.

Wen Yuzhi unconsciously held his breath.

And what frightened him even more was the look directed at him.

A look entirely cold—like a predator looking at prey.

As if in the next instant, he would be torn apart completely.

Wen Yuzhi’s chest tightened.

He hurriedly snapped his gaze away, not daring to look any longer.

Alvin carried Wen Yuzhi all the way back to the room.

Wen Yuzhi had only lived here for two days, yet now this room already felt like a place where he could settle down and breathe.

Back in the familiar environment, seeing the familiar furnishings, Wen Yuzhi finally began to come back to himself.

His face was still pale, and even his voice trembled slightly.

“Just now...”

Wen Yuzhi seemed to want to ask something, but the words barely started before he didn’t know how to bring up what he had just seen.

Alvin was silent for a while. Pinching the bridge of the nose, Alvin spoke in a voice faintly tired.

“It was the king losing control again.”

“Only... Your Highness—the king did not mean to hurt you.”

“He just can’t control it.”

“Not only the king. We’re the same.”

“...I’m sorry.”

The door closed, then opened again.

Wen Yuzhi sat on the edge of the bed, Alvin’s words still echoing in his mind.

It wasn’t until a warm cup of milk was held out in front of him that he realized Mu Luo had arrived.

The elderly figure with a kindly face stroked the beard and then slowly drew a piece of candy from a pocket.

“If you’re willing to drink this cup of milk, then this candy will belong to you as well.”

Wen Yuzhi, who considered himself an adult already, heard the obvious coaxing tone and felt the tightness in his chest stall for a beat.

Helplessly, he said, “I’m not a child anymore.”

Mu Luo blinked and still placed the candy in front of Wen Yuzhi.

“Big kids get rewards too.”

Mu Luo clearly had a set of methods for dealing with cubs—gentle expression, unhurried tone.

Wen Yuzhi held the gaze for a moment. In the end, Wen Yuzhi was the one who lost first and obediently drank the milk.

Warm milk slid down into his stomach. The heat really did help Wen Yuzhi relax, little by little.

And the candy was placed into his palm as promised—a reward.

It was a liquor-filled chocolate.

Sweet, with a faint alcoholic warmth that soothed the nerves.

“Better?” Mu Luo asked with a smile.

Wen Yuzhi still wasn’t quite used to being spoken to like a cub, but Mu Luo’s actions were concern. Wen Yuzhi nodded and said softly, “Much better.”

“Your Highness is still thinking about what happened just now?”

Before coming, Mu Luo had already heard everything from Alvin and knew Wen Yuzhi was likely frightened.

At that, Wen Yuzhi did have a lot he didn’t understand.

He recounted everything that had happened in the dining hall in detail. At the end, he hesitated and asked, “Did I do something wrong?”

Perhaps because he had lived in the Wen family for so many years, and had lost the shelter of his parents, Wen Yuzhi couldn’t be mischievous and reckless the way other children could. He had to learn caution and restraint, so Wen Xingyan couldn’t catch any “handle” to use against him.

And in that process, he inevitably developed a finer, sharper sensitivity to details than most.

Adults liked to call that being “sensible.”

But looking at such a sensible boy, what rose in Mu Luo’s chest was sadness.

In the Xier Clan, a cub Wen Yuzhi’s age should have been nestled in family arms, spoiled without worry. Yet this royal-blooded young Highness—who should have been doted on beyond measure in ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) the Saint Clan—was more obedient and sensible than most cubs Mu Luo had ever seen.

Even without knowing what Wen Yuzhi had been through before, forcing a cub to grow up too fast was, without question, the failure of the elders.

With guilt and anger churning, Mu Luo temporarily forgot—selectively—that the cub in front of him was also Saint Clan, a Salilaino with the same silver hair and golden eyes as Mansendis.

Mu Luo reached out and ruffled Wen Yuzhi’s hair. Under Wen Yuzhi’s blank stare, Mu Luo said, “This isn’t your fault.”

Then Mu Luo sighed, voice heavy.

“They’re sick.”

“Very sick... and in great pain.”