Chapter 24: The Only Treasure

After several days, Wen Yuzhi finally saw Mansendis again.

When he followed Alvin to the area near the hatch, the silver-haired sovereign had already been waiting there for quite some time.

Passing row after row of Saint Clan members who had prepared early and lined up in formation, Wen Yuzhi saw that tall, silver-white back at the end of the path.

Mansendis was wearing the same style of white formal uniform as Wen Yuzhi—except that behind him, there was an additional cape, a deep crimson one long enough to trail along the ground.

Hearing the footsteps drawing closer, the Saint Clan sovereign lifted his eyes slightly. In that instant, it was as if light and shadow shifted within those pale-gold vertical pupils.

Wen Yuzhi knew perfectly well this was not an occasion where he should be distracted, but the moment their eyes met, he still couldn’t help losing focus for a heartbeat.

The same clothes could feel completely different on different people.

On Wen Yuzhi, it was a pure-white, clean formal uniform. On Mansendis, it only made him feel an icy severity that made people not dare approach.

That presence was simply too cold.

Like the bone spines coiling around him—filled with chilling, dangerous sharpness.

Wen Yuzhi rarely had a chance to observe Mansendis like this. Most of the time, restrained by the pressure Mansendis brought him, Wen Yuzhi almost didn’t dare look straight into those eyes.

But this time, Wen Yuzhi finally worked up the courage to commit an action that could almost be called studying him.

Mansendis remained where he was, letting the teenager look as long as he wanted. His expression was calm—like the long-established lion king of a grassland, accepting the gaze of a younger, more childish, yet exceptionally frail cub.

That silent stare between the most noble-blooded father and son made the Saint Clan around them slowly hold their breath.

Mu Luo quietly recorded the scene.

The instant Mu Luo pressed the shutter, the silver-haired sovereign near the hatch seemed to sense it and glanced this way.

Just as Mu Luo thought the photo was doomed, Mansendis coldly withdrew his gaze again. Those pale-gold vertical pupils remained calm, without a ripple.

“Follow me.”

The words were clearly meant for Wen Yuzhi.

After speaking, without waiting for Wen Yuzhi to react, the silver-haired Saint Clan member had already turned and started walking toward the hatch.

Two Ge De soldiers waiting there entered a command.

With a click.

The central mechanism rotated, and the hatch slowly opened to both sides.

A blinding wash of white light poured in instantly.

Mansendis paused for a moment. Only when the lighter footsteps behind him drew a little closer did he continue walking out.

Wen Yuzhi followed behind him.

The moment he stepped outside, Wen Yuzhi’s first sensation was cold.

The season on Dark Tower Star was, unmistakably, winter.

A thin layer of snow covered the ground at the port. Frost that had congealed reflected white light under the sun.

And farther away, in the parts of the sky the sunlight couldn’t reach, everything was gray and heavy, as if separated by a veil of fog.

Under that sky, the open space before the docking field was already packed with Saint Clan members who had come to welcome them.

Wen Yuzhi’s existence wasn’t some secret.

Whether it was Alvin or Mansendis, neither of them had ever intended to hide Wen Yuzhi’s identity.

If he was royal blood, then he should enjoy the honor royal blood deserved.

Mansendis had his own pride and his own rules for how he did things.

If Wen Yuzhi truly wanted to kill him, or wanted to fight for the throne, Mansendis would accept the challenge from this half-grown cub according to Salilaino tradition.

The outcome would depend on their respective abilities.

As for hiding Wen Yuzhi away—an act no different from snapping a young bird’s wings in advance—Mansendis disdained doing something like that.

Alvin understood this too, which was why Alvin had already sent word of the young Highness back to Dark Tower Star.

Now, these Saint Clan members had all heard new royal blood had been born, and they had come specifically to pay respects to this young Highness.

“They’re all here for you,” Alvin said in a low voice.

“For me?”

Wen Yuzhi froze for a moment. Right now he was standing on the gangway. From this angle, he could take in the entire open space below at a glance.

But even so, that vast, dark mass of a welcoming formation still stretched beyond the edge of his vision.

The port buildings were semi-open. There was no cover over this area, which meant these Saint Clan members were standing here in the biting winter wind.

And they were doing this... just to see him.

Wen Yuzhi couldn’t describe what he was feeling.

He had never met these Saint Clan members before. And he was only a royal blood who had appeared out of nowhere halfway through...

Was bloodline—being of the same race—really that important?

But if it was important... why had he never felt even a trace of warmth that belonged between family when he was in the Wen family?

Wen Yuzhi was at a loss.

Yet when he saw those different vertical pupils—when they landed on him, it was as if they all lit up at once, the excitement and joy in them— the faint knot in his chest that had just formed instantly dissolved into smoke.

The Wen family had long since become strangers to him. What they thought had long since had nothing to do with him. Why should he care about strangers like that?

With that thought, the confusion in Wen Yuzhi’s eyes gradually hardened into resolve.

He straightened his back. His lips pressed tight. When he lifted his head again, his face had already settled into calm.

Wen Yuzhi couldn’t see it, of course, and naturally didn’t know that the way he set his face just now—his expression and bearing—looked unbelievably like Mansendis.

But Mansendis noticed that the cub at his side was, intentionally or not, imitating him.

Mansendis didn’t say anything. He simply slowed his pace without a sound, letting Wen Yuzhi move from being behind him at the start to gradually reaching his side.

The moment they appeared in the same frame, those identical silver strands of hair and those strikingly similar pale-gold vertical pupils made the Saint Clan below fall into a kind of daze.

...This was their young Highness?

The moment they saw that small figure walking at the king’s side, it was as if something struck the Saint Clan present straight through the heart. Their cold, hard, indifferent interiors seemed to soften in that instant.

With their sharp senses and eyesight far beyond ordinary people, even from this distance, they could still see Wen Yuzhi’s appearance clearly.

Mm... The young Highness seemed to look different from them. Different even from the Salilaino, famous for strength.

There was no powerful body. No hard scales. No sharp exoskeleton.

Instead, the young Highness looked like nothing but a cub—soft, small, as if they could scoop him up with one hand.

...Cute.

It was a word rarely used to describe the Saint Clan, yet in this moment, they found it perfectly fitting on their young Highness.

By rights, royal-blood Salilaino carried a natural, powerful suppression over them. Even a Salilaino in childhood made the Saint Clan feel only fear and reverence.

But from Wen Yuzhi, these Saint Clan members felt something else—something unfamiliar.

A desire to get close. A desire to protect. A desire to hide their young Highness away so he wouldn’t suffer even the slightest harm.

This wasn’t one Saint Clan member’s thought. It was the same thought arising in tens of thousands of them at once.

It was, in truth, unbelievable.

Because of racial nature, the Saint Clan had always been a place where the strong were revered, where efficiency was pursued to an extreme, and individual emotion was suppressed.

Whether high-tier or primitive-tier, they were cold by nature—as if they were born missing that part of feeling. Even basic joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness were rare. In fact, because they were tortured by mental-energy turmoil, from the moment they were born they had never experienced what could be called happiness—what could be called liking.

What ran through their lives seemed to be only obedience and endless slaughter.

These Saint Clan members were like emotionless war machines—never tiring, never knowing pain.

And the outside world’s evaluation of the Saint Clan basically never left words like cold-blooded, violent, cruel, madmen.

A race like this—how could they possibly understand the meaning of treasuring, of protecting?

And yet, the impossible became possible today.

And it spread with terrifying speed, sweeping through the entire clan.

Wen Yuzhi couldn’t peer into the thoughts in these Saint Clan members’ hearts, but some emotions couldn’t be hidden.

Like affection.

And besides, these Saint Clan members had no intention of hiding it in the first place.

Wen Yuzhi could see it. He could feel it. Beneath their indifferent, hard exteriors was emotion boiling hot.

Openly. Intense and blazing.

It was extremely unfamiliar. Yet unexpectedly, this group of Saint Clan members didn’t hate it. They accepted this sudden emotion with startling speed—and projected it onto their young Highness.

But affected by those emotions, Wen Yuzhi—who had, for the first time in his life, received that much love all at once—felt at a loss.

The nervousness he’d just set down rose again.

The teenager tried to retreat behind Mansendis, but the moment he moved, Mansendis—who had been paying attention to the cub beside him—noticed immediately.

Mansendis took Wen Yuzhi’s hand.

The silver-haired sovereign’s expression was still indifferent. No emotion showed on his face. Even his voice carried a cold edge.

“Don’t be afraid. Stay at my side. Lift your head. What flows in you is Salilaino blood. You are the future sovereign they will obey.”

When a sovereign meets subjects, it’s not Wen Yuzhi who should avoid them.

He didn’t need to care about what those subjects thought. What he needed to do was accept their submission with composure.

Mansendis didn’t say that part out loud, but it was the meaning he was trying to convey through his words.

His tone wasn’t gentle, and his manner was sharp.

But strangely, the panic in Wen Yuzhi’s heart felt as if it had found something to lean on. A sudden sense of security rose in him.

An adult Saint Clan member’s palm was broad and strong. Mansendis held Wen Yuzhi’s hand, and Wen Yuzhi’s entire hand could be completely enclosed in Mansendis’s.

That airtight sense of safety was something Wen Yuzhi had never felt again since Wen Che died.

Now, it was as if it had returned.

He blinked, and his mood suddenly turned a little buoyant.

Even Wen Yuzhi didn’t understand why a gesture like this made him happy, but anyone with eyes could see it: he was no longer as restrained as before whenever he faced Mansendis, and he no longer resisted the Saint Clan identity as strongly as he once had.

So much so that Wen Yuzhi didn’t even notice that Mansendis’s words had already, in a roundabout way, acknowledged his status.

—

And when Mansendis took Wen Yuzhi’s hand, the atmosphere at the entire port froze on the spot.

The Saint Clan below stared at the scene in shock, as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

The king... could actually have such a gentle side?

Realizing that, they were shocked and astonished—and then, immediately after, flooded by an even hotter, fiercer joy.

This was the Saint Clan’s king and crown heir.

One was the sovereign they willingly offered loyalty to, the ruler they submitted to.

One was the young Highness they wanted to cherish and protect.

Both represented the Saint Clan’s future and hope.

When Mansendis held Wen Yuzhi’s hand and walked down the gangway step by step, the Heimo at the very front took the lead. The Saint Clan before them lowered their heads in perfect unison and placed a hand over the spot at the heart.

From Alvin’s earlier salute, Wen Yuzhi already knew this was the Saint Clan’s highest etiquette.

—Offer your heart to you.

They didn’t speak. They didn’t do anything especially excited.

They only stood there in silence, performing the salute, yet Wen Yuzhi still felt a wave of shock rush straight at him.

Those hearts that seemed to be offered up carried the Saint Clan’s most direct, most pure emotions.

And it was only in this moment that Wen Yuzhi finally gained a vague concept of what the word “sovereign” meant.

...

From the gangway to the inside of the port buildings wasn’t a long distance. Wen Yuzhi himself didn’t even feel it, but Mansendis—holding his hand—noticed the cub’s palm was a little cold.

The winter temperature on Dark Tower Star was unusually frigid.

But that kind of cold was almost negligible for the Saint Clan, who had powerful bodies.

In order to see the young Highness sooner, the Saint Clan present had been standing in the howling wind and snow since early. They wore only thin military uniforms. Snowflakes fell and struck their shoulders, and not one of them even frowned.

But for Wen Yuzhi’s body—pampered, fragile—that temperature was a little too low.

The teenager was still immersed in the atmosphere from just now. For a moment, his mind didn’t even react.

Only after they entered the passageway did Wen Yuzhi belatedly notice the chill.

And then, in the next instant—

A wide, heavy cape dropped over him.

Wen Yuzhi went blank for a second.

When he struggled to poke his head out from inside the cape, all he saw was Mansendis’s tall back, and the deep crimson cape that had been draped behind the silver-haired sovereign was nowhere to be found.

Wen Yuzhi lowered his head slowly.

The corner of the cape in his hands was red.

He blinked, looking surprised.

Before Wen Yuzhi could say anything, Alvin stepped in front of him.

Alvin bent down and, with gentle movements, retied the cape that had been messed up, settling it properly over Wen Yuzhi’s shoulders.

While adjusting it, Alvin said with an apologetic tone, “This subordinate failed in duty. I didn’t consider the outside temperature.”

Wrapped inside the cape, Wen Yuzhi looked one size smaller. The cape, far larger than him, covered him tightly. It still held Mansendis’s body heat.

As long as Wen Yuzhi breathed, it felt as if he could smell that strong, cold, hair-raising aura.

He’d only ever felt something similar from top-tier Alphas.

But no matter which Alpha it was, all of them together couldn’t match the pressure Mansendis gave him.

Being surrounded and wrapped in the scent of a top predator made Wen Yuzhi—who had been an Omega for more than ten years—feel uncomfortable everywhere.

On the other hand, a trace of satisfaction flickered through Mansendis’s eyes.

A cub stained with his aura finally looked a little more like his bloodline.

Wen Yuzhi didn’t have time to dwell for long. After they left the passageway, the hovercar that had come to meet them was already waiting outside the port.

They called it a car, but the space inside was unbelievably large.

Yet aside from the Saint Clan member driving in front, only Alvin got into the vehicle with them.

Wen Yuzhi sat across from Mansendis.

At first, he was a little hesitant—afraid the atmosphere would grow colder and colder on the way.

But once the hovercar officially started moving, he had no mind left to think about that at all.

Wen Yuzhi’s gaze was completely captured by the scenery outside.

Dark Tower Star was a supermassive planet—its area was about twenty Kanirila put together. Compared to it, the Padar people’s so-called Goddess Star was nothing but a marble.

In legend, Dark Tower Star was formed from the roots of the flourishing Mother Goddess, which was why it was so immense and majestic.

And across the entire galaxy, Dark Tower Star’s size was astonishing—otherwise it couldn’t support the Saint Clan, whose bodies were likewise enormous.

Before coming here, Wen Yuzhi’s impression of the Saint Clan was strong, and rich.

Now there was another line.

Technologically advanced.

That’s right. Dark Tower Star’s level of technology also far surpassed every other race.

For the Saint Clan, with abundant mineral resources, energy was what they lacked least. And energy meant productivity.

The Saint Clan only excelled at fighting and brawling—true. But they had money, and they had mines.

With constant investment pouring in, the Saint Clan’s living environment was nothing like the harsh and barren place outsiders imagined. If anything, it was far more comfortable than most races’ habitats.

Tall, magnificent buildings were clad in cool white metal full of futuristic texture. Robot figures could be seen everywhere on the streets.

The clean, orderly environment, the bright, comfortable lighting, and even green plants and flowers blooming lushly in winter—everything felt fresh and novel to Wen Yuzhi, who had just arrived.

He compared it to the imperial capital he remembered.

Even though the place he’d lived was already the best area of the capital planet, that so-called district where the powerful and wealthy gathered still couldn’t compare to this.

Part of it was certainly due to the difference in technological levels between worlds.

But more than that...

Even the richest noble Wen Yuzhi had ever seen had never been this outrageous.

With Alvin explaining, Wen Yuzhi also learned that the houses and roads he’d just seen were built from ore.

Ore that could sell for sky-high prices outside was, here on Dark Tower Star, merely stone used for building houses.

And that precious gemstone ore—said to soothe mental energy—was a symbol only upper-class people in the outside world could afford to wear. Here, it was spread like sand across the ground as decoration, inlaid into the streets.

Wen Yuzhi, who had once thought owning a single mineral vein made him rich: “...”

So he was actually poor.

And by the time Wen Yuzhi stepped out of the hovercar and heard from Alvin that the black giant cocoon before him was a spatial-jump station that burned an enormous amount of energy every single time it activated, he already felt almost numb to it.

Spatial jump—just hearing the name made it obvious it was expensive.

And it was. It could transfer anyone who rode it from one destination to another.

Because the energy cost of a single activation was absurdly high, in other star sectors it was generally used only as an emergency device in critical moments.

But over here with the Saint Clan, these spatial-jump stations were merely common facilities you could see every so often. The Saint Clan lavishly treated them as everyday transportation.

At this moment, Wen Yuzhi and the others were about to use it to go to the central core region of Dark Tower Star—

the floating city: Sheng Bo Mi Lan.

The Saint Clan’s royal palace was there. In the Saint Clan language, Sheng Bo Mi Lan meant Mother’s embrace. And this floating city wasn’t completely suspended in the air—around it were massive, unbelievably thick vines that supported the majestic city.

From far away, it looked like a mother holding her child in her arms.

Ordinary Saint Clan members could return to their original form, spread their wings, and fly up. This height was nothing to them.

But Wen Yuzhi still couldn’t do that for now.

Considering the cub’s frail constitution and the fact that his bloodline hadn’t fully awakened, Mansendis and Alvin chose the safer method—spatial jump—to take Wen Yuzhi up.

Inside the palace, Mond received the news and stood up from behind the desk.

Mond looked at Merita to the side. This female Saint Clan member wore a stern, keep-out face, looking cold as ice.

“Merita, don’t be nervous. Smile a little. You’re the palace’s head maid now. If you’re too serious, you’ll scare our young Highness,” Mond had to remind her.

But Merita still answered stiffly, “I’m not nervous, Lord Steward. I am smiling already.”

Mond: “...”

He stared left and right and still couldn’t see where that counted as smiling.

But there was no choice. The Saint Clan hadn’t had new royal blood born for a long time, and their current sovereign, Mansendis, didn’t like having people serve at his side.

Most of the palace servants had been dismissed long ago. Only Mond and a few elderly close attendants could remain in their posts.

Which meant that once Alvin’s news came back, the first problem the palace faced was a lack of manpower.

Other positions could wait, but the head maid position had to be filled immediately.

When Mond learned their young Highness was still a cub, Mond began to panic.

Like Mu Luo, Mond believed cubs needed excellent care from a young age.

And according to Salilaino tradition, the head maid was the servant who stayed with royal blood the longest during childhood.

The young Highness had just returned to Dark Tower Star. This was the time he needed care the most. No matter what, they couldn’t be missing a head maid.

But the nearest head maid they could trace back to was from Queen Tasiya’s era. The queen’s most loyal servant had died with her in the riot that night, and ever since then, the head maid position had remained vacant.

In urgency, Mond could only pick Merita from under Selet’s command and appoint her as the palace head maid.

What Mond hadn’t expected was that Merita had completely inherited her superior’s temperament—expressionless all day, cold as an ice sculpture, rigid in speech and behavior, like a machine without feelings.

She was nothing like the gentle, accommodating head maid Mond had imagined.

But there was no time to replace her now. Mond could only keep emphasizing it to Merita.

“Your facial muscles need to relax. Smile more.”

“...Smile. Not get ready to go fight on the battlefield!”

“Apologies, my lord. I am already smiling as much as I can.”

“...”

Even standing at the palace entrance, Merita still couldn’t produce a smile that satisfied Mond.

And at that exact moment, the spatial station sent out a clear fluctuation.

—Mansendis and the others had arrived.

Mond hurriedly bowed. In a respectful voice, Mond said, “My king, Mond salutes you and welcomes your triumphant return.”

Merita stood beside Mond. Her body’s instinct made her give a military salute the moment she saw Mansendis. Only when she caught Mond’s almost-burning gaze did she realize she was currently the palace head maid and should be performing court etiquette.

She hurriedly switched motions, but because she was too tense, her expression tightened even more, and she somehow looked even... colder.

Mond’s plan to leave the young Highness a good first impression was completely ruined.

Mond couldn’t bear to keep looking at Merita. He quickly turned his gaze toward Mansendis’s side instead.

Wen Yuzhi was still wearing the cape that belonged to Mansendis. He was wrapped from head to toe, with only his head showing.

But even so, with just one glance, Mond dared to be certain: the one before him was the young Highness.

That pure silver hair. Those pale-gold eyes, brighter than gemstones and without the slightest impurity—those were Salilaino traits through and through.

Mond had served in the palace for so many years, attended three generations of Salilaino, and lived through four sovereigns. Mond could say this: aside from Queen Tasiya and Mansendis, that pair of siblings, this young Highness before him was the purest-blooded Salilaino Mond had ever seen.

Mond’s expression turned excited, and Mond bowed deeply to Wen Yuzhi in salute.

“Mond greets the young Highness. May you grant me the honor of allowing this subject to serve at your side.”

Wen Yuzhi clearly had never experienced anything like this. Hearing Mond’s winding, formal speech, he stood there in a daze, then subconsciously leaned a little closer toward Mansendis.

The silver-haired sovereign noticed that tiny movement.

His expression didn’t change. He simply allowed the teenager to draw closer.

The bone spines creeping at Mansendis’s feet were practically delighted as they pulled Wen Yuzhi into their territory. And besides the cub, if anyone else dared move even a little closer, those bone spines would immediately shred them.

For Alvin and the other Saint Clan members who had come down from the warship, this was already nothing strange.

But for Mond, it was the first time seeing it.

He almost thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

Salilaino temperaments were, by nature, colder than anyone’s. It came from their bloodline’s sense of dominion. And Mansendis was one of the rare ones whose dominion was so strong that he never even approached his own twin sister.

Mond had served in the palace for so long and had never once seen Mansendis allow anyone to get close to him.

To suddenly see the young Highness cling so near to the king—Mond was more shocked than any Saint Clan member present.

Mond stayed silent for a long moment. It was Alvin who spoke up and helped him out.

“Your Highness, this is Lord Steward Mond. He handles all daily affairs in the palace. If you need anything, you can go directly to him.”

Compared to Mond’s refined phrasing, what Alvin said was straightforward and easy to understand.

Wen Yuzhi nodded and politely said to Mond, “Hello, Mr. Mond.”

That soft little “mister” snapped Mond back to himself. Emotion surged in Mond’s chest until it was almost unbearable.

“At your service, my Highness.”

After introducing Mond, Alvin looked at Merita beside Mond. This was a new face. Alvin felt she looked familiar, yet couldn’t remember who she was.

Fortunately, Merita seemed to know this would happen. She lifted her skirt and saluted. “This subordinate is Merita. I once served in the First Combat Team under Lord Selet. Currently, under Lord Mond’s trust, I hold the position of palace head maid.”

...Selet.

Another unfamiliar name.

Alvin saw the confusion in Wen Yuzhi’s eyes and explained, “Selet, like me, is also the king’s adjutant.”

The difference was that Alvin assisted Mansendis with administrative affairs for Dark Tower Star and the entire Saint Clan, while Selet was responsible for military affairs.

Their duties were different.

And this campaign to take Kanirila should originally have been Selet’s assignment, following at Mansendis’s side.

But not long ago, because a problem occurred with ore mining over in Esoris, Selet went personally to handle it. That was why the one who went with Mansendis to Kanirila became Alvin instead.

Thinking about it now, Alvin felt incomparably glad it had been Alvin who went out—otherwise Alvin wouldn’t have been able to meet the young Highness ahead of time.

For a moment, the smile on the handsome Saint Clan member’s face grew even gentler.

And when Mansendis saw Wen Yuzhi so curious about an adjutant he’d never met, he raised a brow.

Perhaps because the cub had been so obedient on the way, or perhaps because that proactive closeness pleased him, the silver-haired sovereign spoke, rare good humor in his tone.

“When you come of age, I will assign you two adjutants. If you like Selet, I can give him to you.”

Mansendis said it casually.

As if, so long as Wen Yuzhi nodded, he really would hand over the adjutant who managed his military affairs straight to the teenager.

Wen Yuzhi was so startled he shook his head again and again.

Even if he didn’t understand ranks ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ and posts, he still knew how important a deputy like that was.

It could be said Alvin and Selet were the finest among the Heimo, and they were also the two Saint Clan members with the highest status beneath Mansendis.

Before Wen Yuzhi appeared, if Mansendis fell, Alvin and Selet would temporarily take over the Saint Clan until the next royal blood was born.

All of that showed how important Selet was to the Saint Clan. How could someone like that be given away casually?

Wen Yuzhi refused without a second thought.

Then, as if worried Mansendis would keep talking about it, Wen Yuzhi hurriedly turned toward Merita, who had been ignored ever since introducing herself.

He completed the greeting he hadn’t managed earlier.

“Hello, Miss Merita.”

“Hello, Your Highness.”

Merita blinked. Remembering Mond’s reminder, she tried hard to force a kind smile onto her face.

But after struggling for a long time, the facial muscles that seemed stiff refused to move at all.

Merita’s lips moved twice. Then, suddenly, she lowered her head in a bit of dejection, trying to avoid Wen Yuzhi’s gaze.

As expected...

She still couldn’t make the expression called “smiling.”

The way she looked right now had to be ugly, didn’t it?

She’d been so looking forward to meeting the young Highness. She’d even used force to snatch the head maid position. But now...

She had ruined everything.

The light in Merita’s vertical pupils seemed to dim.

“Your eyes are very beautiful.”

Just as Merita was sulking and blaming herself, she suddenly heard the cub’s soft, crisp voice in front of her.

...Who?

...Her?

Merita’s eyes snapped wide.

And there was Wen Yuzhi, brows curved, smiling at her.

Only then did Merita realize she hadn’t misheard.

The young Highness had just praised her!

Praised her eyes for being beautiful!

Wen Yuzhi wasn’t lying. Even though Merita’s face was expressionless, she had a pair of eyes as gorgeous as rubies.

Even without smiling, she was extremely beautiful. Dashing and cold—two qualities that seemed unrelated—fit her perfectly.

Alvin stood at the side. Watching Wen Yuzhi use a single short sentence to make Mond and Merita look as if they wanted to swear loyalty on the spot, even knowing Wen Yuzhi’s temperament, Alvin still couldn’t help being surprised again by the young Highness’s affinity.

But when Alvin thought of Wen Yuzhi’s special innate gift, it didn’t feel unexpected anymore.

The Saint Clan—especially high-tier like them—might not be as impulsive and bloodthirsty as primitive-tier, but they were still monsters wearing a skin.

No one understood better than they did how ugly they became when mental energy rioted.

Biting. Killing. Destroying. Those were their real instincts.

If the Saint Clan were compared to a pack of beasts, then they were absolutely the fiercest and coldest beasts—because they could even kill their own kind without hesitation.

And yet, in a race this aggressively dangerous, the young Highness had been born—so weak he was nearly harmless.

The gentleness on Wen Yuzhi wasn’t a false mask like Alvin’s practiced one. It was a genuine softness that made the Saint Clan unable to bear harming him.

Their violence, their pain—it was as if all of it could be soothed, little by little, by the soft and clean aura on Wen Yuzhi.

Alvin had never once felt that kind of comfort from any other Saint Clan member before.

The young Highness was the only one.

And that made Alvin certain—

the young Highness was the Saint Clan’s hope.

And their only treasure.