Chapter 47: I Will Stay With You

Most cubs, more or less, will have some dependent behaviors.

Especially in the stage right after breaking the shell and hatching—when family companionship is often needed the most.

But something like that “imprinting like a fledgling” was almost never seen in the Salilaino bloodline.

That coldness and distance rooted in the blood made these royal-blood extremely independent from the moment they were born. No comfort from family was needed, and no so-called care or companionship was needed, either.

In fact, the thing that used to worry Mond the most was having to confirm every day that these noble Highnesses were still alive and well.

Because if Mond looked away for even a moment, there was a very real chance bloodline kin would end up tearing each other apart.

By comparison, a little Highness with a well-behaved, obedient personality—one who would depend on people and cling—was so adorable it was hard to describe.

It perfectly made up for all the “damage” Mond had suffered back when taking care of those royal-blood before.

What was more, in Mond’s eyes, the little Highness was already extremely good.

Even though the little Highness missed Mansendis more and was more dependent, there was no crying and no fussing. The little Highness was even willing to cooperate and obediently wash up first and get dressed properly.

So well-behaved and considerate it was unreal.

And now, seeing the little Highness want to go find Dad, how could Mond possibly refuse?

Mond just didn’t forget that the little Highness’s belly was already hungry.

As soon as the message was sent out, the entire palace started moving. Almost at the exact moment Wen Yuzhi followed Mond out of the room, an attendant arrived with the thing Mond had specifically requested.

Wen Yuzhi blinked.

Mond spoke as naturally as if it were the most normal thing in the world. “Little Highness, have this on the way to pad your stomach first. The proper breakfast will be delivered shortly.”

Wen Yuzhi followed Mond’s words and looked at what the attendant was holding.

It was a small bottle, not very {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} big, filled with milk that had just been warmed.

If you looked at them separately, there was nothing wrong with the bottle, and nothing wrong with the milk.

But put together, it looked like...

A baby bottle?

That feeling peaked when Wen Yuzhi took it into hand, and for no reason at all, noticed the Saint Clan around suddenly lighting up with a strange kind of gleam in their eyes.

...Why did it feel kind of... weird?

Wen Yuzhi was still thinking, but once the scent of milk reached the nose, the hunger in the belly made Wen Yuzhi bite down on the straw without even thinking.

Gulp gulp—

The moment the warm milk slid into the stomach, any weird feeling, any odd embarrassment, was thrown completely out of mind, and the cub focused wholeheartedly on drinking.

Gulp gulp—

Filling the belly was the most important thing.

Wen Yuzhi didn’t look, so Wen Yuzhi naturally had no idea the Saint Clan around were all staring with eyes brighter than the next.

Especially when a tiny cub hugged the bottle and sucked on the straw, their hearts all felt like something had hit them at the exact same time.

“!!!”

Yiluo and Feier could barely suppress the excitement surging up from deep inside. The exoskeleton on their bodies almost fully surfaced, and they were only a hair’s breadth from shifting into their true forms.

Mond wasn’t doing much better, either. Even this chief affairs officer who had served in the palace for most of a lifetime was a little out of control in this moment.

Mond had imagined that the sight of the little Highness holding a baby bottle would be incredibly cute, but Mond hadn’t expected that after actually seeing it, Mond still wouldn’t be able to resist getting completely overwhelmed by how adorable the cub looked drinking milk so obediently.

Wen Yuzhi hugged the bottle and drank while walking, drank while walking—and by the time the council hall doorway was reached, the milk inside was just about finished, too.

Using a wet wipe Mond handed over, Wen Yuzhi wiped the mouth and the milk stains that had accidentally gotten onto the lips.

After making sure the little cheeks were clean, Wen Yuzhi fluttered the wings and quietly crept to the edge of the door, poking out a small head to peek inside.

A routine morning meeting was in progress.

This kind of once-every-three-days morning meeting was mainly for work reports, and the topics weren’t particularly severe. The atmosphere in the council hall was relatively relaxed as well.

The carpet and walls that had been dirtied by the Padar people had already been cleaned and replaced. The entire council hall showed no sign at all that, not long ago, it had just gone through a bout of chaos.

Mansendis still sat on the high throne. Looking down at the officials below, the eyes were lowered... but the mind was openly wandering.

Had the cub woken up yet?

Mansendis had already sent Mond over in advance.

And yet worry still wouldn’t settle.

For the past few days, Mansendis had been with Wen Yuzhi the whole time. Now neither Mansendis nor the bone spines were by the cub’s side. Would the cub be used to it...?

Suddenly, Mansendis felt a gaze land on the body.

That familiar sensation...

The silver-haired sovereign lifted the eyes thoughtfully, and as expected, the line of sight met the cub peeking from the door.

The instant their eyes met, Wen Yuzhi reflexively pulled the head back.

But very quickly, Wen Yuzhi realized there was no need to hide at all.

Besides, that was the whole point of coming.

With that thought, Wen Yuzhi hesitated for a moment.

And from Mansendis’s point of view, it looked like the cub’s head had shrunk back—and then, after a little while, timidly popped out again.

“A preliminary round of sealing work across all regions has already been completed. Next, which fleet should be dispatched to patrol will still need Your Excellency Selet to arrange... Your Excellency Selet?”

A Heimo was standing in the middle reporting, but the longer the report went on, the more it felt like there had been no response at all.

When that Heimo looked up, it turned out Selet seemed to not have been listening in the first place.

A colleague nearby also gestured for silence.

That Heimo froze.

And then a wave of confusion followed.

Was it an illusion? Why did it feel like everyone was looking past the Heimo’s shoulder?

With that thought, the Heimo turned around.

The first thing that came into view was a pair of little wings flapping in the air.

A bit lower, an exquisitely pretty little doll...

No—what doll?!

That was the little Highness!

The Heimo instantly recognized the figure hovering midair. Wasn’t that the little Highness everyone had seen in the videos a few days ago?!

That tiny little form, and those little wings behind that still hadn’t shed their down, looking pristine, white, and tender.

Even cuter than in the videos.

Cute enough that the hearts of the Saint Clan rose and fell along with every flutter of those little wings.

Wen Yuzhi hadn’t expected everyone to suddenly stop and look over.

With so many pairs of eyes staring while flying, Wen Yuzhi immediately got nervous.

The little wings wobbled, and the cub dipped downward.

“!”

Pairs and pairs of differently colored vertical pupils tightened in an instant.

But fortunately, Wen Yuzhi had already barely learned to control these wings these days. The body swayed, then finally managed to stabilize while flying to Mansendis’s front.

Just... a bit rushed.

As if wanting to get away from everyone’s eyes as fast as possible.

And this wasn’t the Saint Clan imagining things.

Because the Heimo below saw the little Highness fly to Mansendis’s side, fold the little wings in, and bury the whole self into Mansendis’s arms.

“...Guji.”

Wen Yuzhi threw both arms around the silver-haired sovereign.

That young, tender voice came out from behind the clothing, sounding a little muffled, but the dependent, missing-you feeling in it was unmistakable.

Mansendis lightly stroked Wen Yuzhi’s hair.

“Why did you come? Was Mond not with you?”

As that was being said, Mond knocked lightly on the council hall door.

Seeing Mansendis look over, Mond walked in at an unhurried pace.

After reaching the front of the throne, Mond saluted first, then spoke. “This subordinate failed to carry out the instruction. The little Highness missed you. This subordinate felt that the little Highness truly can’t do without the companionship of blood kin right now. Compared to this subordinate, perhaps being at your side will make the little Highness feel more at ease.”

Mansendis hadn’t expected to hear “missed you” from Mond’s mouth.

The gaze lowered—only to find that Wen Yuzhi was already so embarrassed that the face was completely buried in Mansendis’s arms.

On the exposed neck, that snow-white skin slowly spread with a faint blush.

It was only a little bit... only a tiny, tiny bit!

Wen Yuzhi insisted that internally, but the hands still clutched the silver-haired sovereign’s collar tight.

Seeing this, the chill in Mansendis’s eyes melted without noticing, turning softer.

“Then next time I’ll have the bone spines come keep you company.”

After hearing that, Wen Yuzhi stayed buried in Mansendis’s arms, not moving—but the little wings behind had already responded to the cub’s true intent, spreading out to the sides to “hug” Mansendis.

Very clearly, it wasn’t just the bone spines.

Wen Yuzhi also wanted Mansendis to stay along as well.

—No choosing. Both. Wen Yuzhi wanted both!

The cub thought a little stubbornly.

Mansendis was also left a bit stunned by this rare closeness.

In that instant, it felt like something soft gently poked the heart.

That cold, silent heart seemed to come alive, beating again.

“I will stay with you.”

The words were slow, each one deliberate, solemn in a way that was rare.

Hearing that, Wen Yuzhi lifted the head in surprise. Lips pressed together, those beautiful brows and eyes were curved now—clearly very happy.

Since the words had been said, Mansendis also didn’t have Mond take the cub away. And in any case, participating in Saint Clan affairs was a right royal-blood should have.

Up until now, there was still that small chair by the throne that had been prepared for Wen Yuzhi before.

But the cub’s body was too small now, and sitting in that chair wouldn’t be convenient. Mansendis simply placed the cub on one shoulder instead.

Wen Yuzhi sat directly on the silver-haired sovereign’s shoulder and joined the meeting like that.

This scene obviously shocked the Saint Clan below.

No one expected the King to indulge the little Highness to this extent.

Not only allowing the little Highness close, but even proactively letting the little Highness sit on a shoulder.

The Saint Clan below: “......”

Suddenly it felt so unfair.

They wanted the little Highness to cling to them too.

After the brief interruption, the meeting continued.

One Heimo after another stood up to report. There really wasn’t anything major. Wen Yuzhi listened carefully for a tiny bit, and it was basically all mining, forging weapons, mining, forging weapons.

The mineral resources in the Ninth Star Sector were simply too abundant. Just what had been detected was enough for all races across the galaxy to use for several thousand years without running dry. In a situation like that, if the Saint Clan didn’t fight, there was nothing to do but go mine out of boredom.

You couldn’t use up all the energy you converted out anyway. Piling it up was piling it up—so you might as well use it to make weapons.

The Saint Clan had so many warships because they mined too much ore. Their shipbuilding speed couldn’t keep up with their mining speed, and in the end, the Saint Clan ended up with the largest fleet group in the entire galaxy.

At first, Wen Yuzhi was interested, but the longer it went, the sleepier Wen Yuzhi got.

Right when Wen Yuzhi was about to nod off, something suddenly seemed to poke at a little wing.

Wen Yuzhi looked down.

—The bone spines.

They had brought over the eggshell the cub hadn’t finished eating.

Wen Yuzhi hesitated a little.

Everyone was being so serious. Eating here somehow felt... not great.

But the bone spines were very persistent.

To them, nothing mattered more than the cub’s body.

The cub could not be allowed to go hungry!

In the end, Wen Yuzhi couldn’t resist their insistence—and Wen Yuzhi really was hungry.

The milk just now had only barely padded the stomach; it hadn’t actually reached real fullness.

Still, before eating, Wen Yuzhi sneakily glanced down first.

Yes! No one was looking at Wen Yuzhi, 0v0!

Seeing everyone listening earnestly to the reports, the worry in Wen Yuzhi’s heart finally eased.

Wen Yuzhi hugged a shard of eggshell, eyes bright, and bit down.

“Crack crack...”

A tiny sound came from the throne.

Wen Yuzhi thought that as long as everything was careful, no one would notice.

But what the cub clearly didn’t know was that with the Saint Clan’s hearing—far sharper than ordinary—forget eggshell crunching. Even a needle dropping on the floor could be heard perfectly clearly.

The “unnoticeable” noise Wen Yuzhi believed in landed in their ears as something very clear.

And these Saint Clan could even clearly see the cub hugging the eggshell and eating happily.

A shard was about the size of a thumb. The cub had to hold it with both hands to eat. Every bite left a tiny notch on the edge.

When the cub ate happily, the wings behind would even twitch lightly twice, and that little tuft of messy hair on top of the head would stick up high, wobbling and swaying with each little nod.

The picture was unbelievably cute!

But maybe those Saint Clan gazes were too scorching—feeling like the room had gone quiet, Wen Yuzhi suddenly raised the head in alarm.

Only to see that the Saint Clan below were still, with serious faces, watching their colleague report.

That Heimo was even reciting, “We’ve discovered another new vein of ore...”

Huh?

Was it just imagining things?

Looking at how normal everything seemed, Wen Yuzhi started to suspect that maybe that earlier feeling had been overthinking.

Probably just an illusion, right?

With that thought, the wariness in Wen Yuzhi’s eyes slowly faded.

Very soon, Wen Yuzhi went back to focusing on eating the eggshell in hand.

Wings twitching, messy hair swaying.

And the Saint Clan below collectively let out a breath.

So close—almost got caught.

After these few encounters, everyone already knew the little Highness was thin-skinned and got embarrassed very easily.

If they were too obvious, the little Highness might get scared.

Mansendis sat on the throne and saw all of it, including those subordinates who were usually stern and proper, now intentionally or unintentionally keeping their eyes on Wen Yuzhi.

For some reason, a wave of displeasure rose in the heart.

This was clearly Mansendis’s cub.

Mansendis hadn’t even looked enough yet—so why did they get to keep looking?

A cold, icy pressure rose without warning behind the Saint Clan. When they looked up, what they met was the silver-haired sovereign’s dark golden vertical pupils.

That warning-heavy gaze made their hearts jolt. One after another, they all pulled back the eyes they’d been placing on the cub.

And the Heimo in front couldn’t keep reporting anymore.

The voice stopped, and the entire council hall abruptly fell into a strange silence.

Fortunately, Mond stepped in right then to save everyone.

Seeing the morning meeting was about done anyway, Mond lowered the voice and asked Mansendis, “Breakfast has already been prepared and delivered. Will you take the little Highness to eat first?”

“And the crown you instructed to have made for the little Highness is finished as well. If the little Highness sees this gift, the little Highness will definitely be happy.”

As long as it involved the cub, Mansendis basically never had objections.

Just as Mond expected, the silver-haired sovereign chose to take the cub to eat first.