Chapter 36: Not a Monster

Mansendis didn’t speak.

Wen Yuzhi also kept his head lowered, not stating a position for a long time.

Right now, everyone in the council hall had their attention on this father-and-son pair.

The Padar people saw Wen Yuzhi as their only hope.

They desperately wanted this Saint Clan little Highness to be as pure as possible, as kind as possible—best of all, to pity them and, right here and now, let them go.

Mond and Alvin, on the other hand, were worried.

Of course they didn’t want the little Highness to end up hating them because of this.

No one knew what Wen Yuzhi was really thinking.

They were all waiting.

Waiting for Wen Yuzhi to respond.

And feeling all those gazes falling onto him, Wen Yuzhi moved under the stare of the crowd.

He tugged lightly on Selet’s sleeve.

When the stern-faced Saint Clan lowered the head to look over, the teenager spoke softly, almost in a whisper, “You’ve worked hard. Put me down.”

“This subordinate... isn’t tired.”

Selet’s face was still that cold, keep-your-distance kind of indifference, but Selet set the little Highness down.

The tall Saint Clan even bent down on one knee and, on the initiative, neatly straightened the hem of the robe that had been messed up behind Wen Yuzhi.

That action stunned the Padar people again.

Was this really the Saint Clan they remembered—so brutal and vicious?

Unfortunately, no Saint Clan present had any interest in the Padar people’s shock and confusion right now.

Every Saint Clan in the hall watched as the little Highness, once on the ground, walked straight toward the throne.

As the distance closed, Mond and Alvin’s moods grew more and more tense.

The only one who seemed completely unaffected was Mansendis.

He watched Wen Yuzhi walk toward him.

The teenager was still wearing loose sleepwear. The slightly oversized robe made the frame look slender.

Moonlight refused to fall on the throne, yet poured freely over Wen Yuzhi instead—as if even the moonlight had an obvious preference of its own.

The clean silver glow rippled like water. Bathed in that light, the teenager’s expression was calm.

In that instant, the cub looked merciful, like an angel in a painting.

Mansendis curled the fingers resting on the throne slightly.

He watched Wen Yuzhi step through light and shadow, climb the stairs, and then come, one step at a time, to stand before him.

Father and son finally met each other’s eyes.

As if weighing the words, Wen Yuzhi fell silent for a moment. Then, looking at Mansendis, Wen Yuzhi said slowly, “They called you a monster.”

A monster.

That was what the Padar people had shouted at Mansendis just now, out of fear.

They believed the silver-haired sovereign was an emotionless monster—

Cold-blooded, violent, and inhuman.

Mansendis knew very well what the outside world said about him, and he had never cared about those judgments.

Even being accused of being a monster by the Padar people hadn’t caused the slightest ripple in Mansendis’s emotions.

Only...

When those two words came from Wen Yuzhi’s mouth, the silver-haired sovereign’s gaze darkened abruptly.

Something like anger surged in his chest.

But before Mansendis could speak, Wen Yuzhi had ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) already gathered courage and said everything that was on his mind.

“But I don’t think you’re a monster.”

“Mom once told me that nobody is a monster. Only someone with something rotten inside would use words like that to smear another person.”

When Wen Yuzhi said this, he even lowered his head a little, embarrassed.

“I actually meant... they’re the ones in the wrong. Don’t take what they said to heart.”

The feeling of being called a monster—Wen Yuzhi had experienced it personally, too. Wen Yuzhi knew it didn’t feel good.

No one is born a monster.

But there are always people who use narrow prejudice to treat someone else.

Were the Saint Clan bad?

Maybe to these Padar people, there was no race in the universe worse than the Saint Clan.

Before this, they had been nobles and elites at the top of their own people, enjoying wealth and resources taken by force, and relying on their own strength to bully neighboring “small races” that were gentle by nature and weaker than them whenever they felt like it.

But once the Saint Clan arrived, their dream of conquering the galaxy shattered.

For the first time, the always-arrogant Padar people kicked an iron plate. Not only did they humiliate themselves and hand over even their most important capital world, these pampered noble elites also had to fall into the position of prisoners.

Of course they hated the Saint Clan to the bone. Of course they wanted to vent that hatred with the most vicious words possible.

Wen Yuzhi couldn’t feel even a trace of remorse from them.

They didn’t think anything they had done in the past was wrong. And when one day they were defeated, they even turned around and blamed the Saint Clan instead.

To describe the Padar people, there was no better word than shameless.

What was laughable was that they still dared to pin their hopes on Wen Yuzhi—another Saint Clan—expecting Wen Yuzhi to suddenly be softhearted.

But...

The teenager wouldn’t.

Wen Yuzhi didn’t know what the Saint Clan looked like in other people’s eyes, but in Wen Yuzhi’s experience, every Saint Clan he had come into contact with had been good—very, very good.

And as for Mansendis, the one the Padar people called a monster... even though Wen Yuzhi still wasn’t used to suddenly having an extra father, and even though this father felt completely different from Wen Che, Wen Yuzhi had remembered everything Mansendis had done for him.

That was why, when the Padar people accused Mansendis of being a monster, the first thing Wen Yuzhi felt was anger.

Wen Yuzhi didn’t agree with them.

In Wen Yuzhi’s heart, Mansendis wasn’t an emotionless monster.

Mansendis was his father—his father who cared about him, his father who would teach him.

Meeting the silver-haired sovereign’s gaze head-on, Wen Yuzhi finally took a deep breath and said with firm resolve, “...No matter what they think— in my heart, you are my father.”

That word, father, was spoken very softly.

But when it fell into Mansendis’s ears, it hit like a heavy blow straight into the heart.

Mansendis had never once heard the cub call him “father,” not for real.

They had recognized each other far too late.

In the part of Wen Yuzhi’s life Mansendis hadn’t been in, Wen Yuzhi already had parents who loved him.

Wen Che and Madam Jilanya had raised him well, given him so much care, and given him a truly happy childhood.

Even later, when they were gone, Wen Yuzhi hadn’t collapsed and sunk into ruin. The full, abundant love he’d received in childhood had already become something that let him stand up to harm from the outside world.

He had stumbled forward alone, growing up in a place where Mansendis couldn’t see.

And with this sudden recognition, it wasn’t only Wen Yuzhi who wasn’t used to having a new dad—Mansendis himself hadn’t been ready to be a father, either.

Mansendis had told Wen Yuzhi that if Wen Yuzhi didn’t want to, Wen Yuzhi didn’t need to say that title.

After that, the cub truly hadn’t called him “father” even once.

Mansendis also didn’t want to force the cub.

Mansendis wanted to wait for the day the cub would be willing.

Mansendis just hadn’t expected that day would come so quickly.

The teenager’s face was a little pale. For a cub who had never experienced anything like this, the bloody scene was still too intense.

And even so—after witnessing the whole thing—Wen Yuzhi still chose to stand in front of the silver-haired sovereign.

Those pale-gold eyes, soft and clear and clean, didn’t retreat at all as they met Mansendis’s gaze.

The emotion in them was burning hot, bright and unmistakable.

Even Mansendis couldn’t help being moved.

After a brief pause, Mansendis reached out, wanting to pull his child into his arms.

And that was when the sudden change happened.

The Padar people below abruptly let out screams.

Their bodies trembled violently. They began to bloat, as if pumped full of air—swelling larger and larger, grotesquely huge.

Bang! Bang! Bang—!

Explosions sounded one after another.

A thick blood mist burst outward. Shattered flesh flew.

Using the chaos of that instant, several Padar people—who had kept their heads down and bodies curled in from the start—sprang up hard.

They charged toward the throne.

Right now, up there, there were only Wen Yuzhi and Mansendis.

And their target was clear.

They were coming for Mansendis.

The instant danger arrived, Mansendis had already reacted. Continuing the motion that had been cut off before, Mansendis yanked the cub in front into his arms.

“Don’t look.”

The silver-haired sovereign’s voice was low.

Wen Yuzhi only felt darkness fall over his eyes. Then, beside the ear, came a sound like a sharp weapon piercing into flesh.

Screams erupted again.

They came from the Padar people who had rushed up to attack.

In the place the cub couldn’t see, Mansendis’s expression went completely cold. Those golden vertical pupils were flooded with something deeply dark and heavy.

Countless bone spines—wild and twisting—spread out behind him like vines.

Click. Click.

Razor-edged bone blades opened and closed.

The pale bone chains and the silver-haired sovereign controlling them combined, and right then, an eerie, grotesque scene formed before the throne.

And seeing the extreme terror in those Padar people’s eyes, Mansendis couldn’t help thinking that, in a way, the Padar people hadn’t been entirely wrong.

The Saint Clan really were monsters.

Only a cub whose heart was so soft—so unlike a Salilaino—would think they were “good.”

So naive.

Not a hint of inheriting him at all.

But before truly striking, Mansendis still chose to hold Wen Yuzhi tight in his arms, not letting the cub see this horrific picture.

The cub had been frightened enough tonight. He couldn’t frighten him again.

That was what Mansendis thought.

And the gaze turned toward those Padar people carried a bitter coldness.

—

Wen Yuzhi couldn’t see anything. He could only hear the violent sounds constantly crashing at his ears.

But no matter how chaotic the throne area was right now, the place Wen Yuzhi was in wasn’t affected in the slightest.

Mansendis protected him so thoroughly it left no gaps.

No matter what the Padar people did, they couldn’t break through the layers of bone spines to touch the treasure the silver-haired sovereign guarded in his arms.

Wen Yuzhi knew he couldn’t help right now—and that if he wasn’t careful, he might even make things worse.

So there was no shame in being protected.

Wen Yuzhi simply stayed obediently pressed against Mansendis’s chest, not moving at all.

Only, in the dark, he kept feeling an uneasiness.

Like there were eyes watching them from somewhere hidden.

And just as that thought flashed through Wen Yuzhi for no reason, Wen Yuzhi lifted his eyes—

And saw that behind Mansendis—

Behind the throne itself—

A mass of shadow was crouched there, lying in wait.