Mansendis hadnât fallen asleep.
Sleep wasnât a necessity for the Saint Clan. They didnât need long periods of restâgoing days and nights without sleep had no real effect on bodies as powerful as theirs.
Normally, at this hour, he would be handling state affairs.
But today, at Thorn Castle, he had promised Wen Yuzhi they would sleep together tonight.
After a bout of flustered chaos, once he had coaxed the cub to sleep, he turned off the lights, took off his outer coat, and lay down on the bed as well.
The cub, exhausted from a full day, had long since sunk into deep sleep.
Mansendis, however, hadnât truly gone to sleep.
He only kept his eyes closed in a light doze, staying beside the cubâlike a dragon guarding its most precious treasure.
Every so often, he would open his eyes and check whether the sleeping cub had kicked the blanket loose.
Of course, that almost never happened.
In the Saint Clanâs eyes, Wen Yuzhi was a little angel most of the time. Even sleeping, he was obedient to an extreme.
Lying on one side, body slightly curled, one hand clenched into a fist on the pillow beside his headâquiet and steady, sleeping all the way until morning.
So there wasnât much for Mansendis to worry about.
But there were always exceptions.
He sensed something wrong all at once.
He opened his eyes in that light dozeâand saw that the cub who had been asleep was suddenly struggling. At first it was small, then the movement grew larger and larger.
Wen Yuzhiâs eyes were still tightly shut. His face had flushed red, brows drawn hard together, and he seemed to be murmuring in terror, âDonât come over...â
He looked like someone trapped in a nightmare.
And the mental energy that usually surrounded himâsoft and gentleâseemed to be violently stimulated in that instant, turning chaotic and unstable.
This kind of situation...
Mansendis wasnât unfamiliar with it.
Because it was the warning sign of Saint Clan mental-energy turmoil.
And recently, Wen Yuzhiâs mental energy had been calm. Steadyâalmost too steady.
Mu Luo had examined him in detail and found that his mental sea wasnât quite the same as other Saint Clan.
The Saint Clanâs power often came with a cost: their mental seas were dozensâhundredsâof times more chaotic and violent than ordinary peopleâs.
From the moment they were born, the symptoms of mental-energy disorder already existed.
Even newborn Saint Clan could show extreme aggression. And because they were young and couldnât control themselves well, while also being in the period where mental energy was at its most active development, their aggressiveness could be even stronger than an adult Saint Clanâs.
But when Mu Luo examined Wen Yuzhi, the doctor hadnât found that problem.
His mental energy was softâlike a ball of harmless cotton.
No chaos, no violent outbursts, no constant urge to provoke fights.
When the doctor said that back then, Mansendis and Mond and the others had even thought Wen Yuzhi might never experience a mental-energy eruption.
At least, not for now.
But nowâ
Mansendis was sensing the signs of mental-energy disorder on him.
His expression sank instantly.
He had just reached out to move closer to the cub, when the next moment, countless butterflies appeared out of nowhere and blocked him.
They formed a dense, airtight net, wrapping Wen Yuzhi inside, faintly carrying emotions of rejection and fear.
He could feel their hostility toward him.
They werenât trying to attack.
They were only guarding the cub with wary vigilance.
The moment he showed even the slightest intent to approach, they would tense to an extreme. The mental energy that was already unstable sharpened to a hair-trigger edge.
As if anything and anyone trying to get near Wen Yuzhi would be judged dangerousâsomething that might hurt him.
So they refused to allow anything to approach him.
Including Mansendis, the father in his bloodline. They still kept him at a guarded distance.
Mansendis knew what this was.
In a state where Wen Yuzhi wasnât fully conscious, fear made him instinctively resist everything in the outside world that tried to get close.
A defensive self-protection mechanism.
But normally, this only appeared in cubs who had suffered a major shock.
And ever since arriving at Dark Tower Star, Wen Yuzhi had been under Mansendisâs watch. Not only was he paying close attention, the Saint Clan in the palace were also watching the little Highnessâs every move.
Even before sleep tonight, Wen Yuzhi had been perfectly fine.
So how had he suddenly been shocked?
Mansendis knitted his brows, but there was no time to think it through.
Wen Yuzhiâs condition was clearly dangerous.
The butterflies were restless.
Even while wrapping him, they were still panickingâas if the next second they would carry him somewhereâ
Mansendis didnât dare to do anything reckless.
In truth, if he wanted to, he could use sheer mental energy to force the butterflies back and take Wen Yuzhi away by brute strength.
But these butterflies were formed from Wen Yuzhiâs mental energy. To a certain degree, they represented his emotions right now.
âFear. Panic.
Mansendis didnât know what he had dreamed that terrified him so badly, but he did know that a cub in a loss-of-control state needed comfort most.
He didnât act rashly. Instead, he carefully reined in the cold, killing pressure around him, making it as gentle and calm as possible while trying to make contact with the butterflies.
The bone spines werenât allowed to move forward.
They were Mansendisâs companions, and the Saint Clanâs strongest known talent ability.
If they got close, the butterfliesâalready in a hypersensitive stateâwould only become more frightened.
So they could only lie low on the floor, aggrieved and anxious, waiting for the result of his contact with the cubâs mental energy.
The first attempt failedâwithout any suspense.
The butterflies looked fragile and beautiful, but they were responsible.
Even facing the silver-haired sovereign, who was countless times stronger than them, they still refused to retreat.
They were determined to stand in front of the cub.
Just as the situation was about to turn into a deadlock, Mond and the others arrived.
They had noticed the sudden abnormality in mental energy here as well.
They had assumed it was Mansendis losing controlâonly to find that the one truly out of control was Wen Yuzhi.
At once, every Saint Clan present looked ugly.
Mu Luo didnât dare waste even a breath. After pushing past the Saint Clan standing in front, the doctor saw the butterflies over the bedâand just like what Mansendis had guessed earlier, the doctor immediately realized it was the cubâs stress-triggered self-protection.
This situation was very tricky.
First, they had to figure out what kind of shock Wen Yuzhi had suffered. Only then could they soothe it properly.
The doctor looked toward the silver-haired sovereign.
Anyone could tell his mood was terrible right now.
He lowered his eyes, suppressing the agitation in his chest, and said in a low voice, âWhile he was asleep, he suddenly started struggling. I suspect he had a nightmare. He kept saying âdonât come overâ...â
As he said that, he couldnât help recalling how the cub had looked just nowâeyes closed, crying.
Wen Yuzhi rarely cried. He had only seen him cry in front of him three times.
The first time was on Kanirila, when he had a fever.
The second time was in the caveâjust after he had hatched, when he still had no sense of safety in the world, and couldnât speak, so he had grown anxious and upset.
And the third time...
Was right now.
He was so frightened in his sleep that he cried.
Watching his tears spill endlessly, Mansendis had been helpless for a momentâthen the next thing that followed was a pain in the chest he couldnât suppress.
Even the first two times, he hadnât lost control like this.
That terrified, frightened tone was especially harsh to his ears.
âHis mental energy has been in a taut state the whole time. I didnât dare get close. I tried to soothe him just now, but it failed.â
His voice was low.
And after hearing it, the doctorâs expression grew heavier as well.
At the same time, the doctor was also wonderingâwhat kind of nightmare could scare the cub into this?
Alvinâs face looked even worse.
The adjutant had gone out, then hurried backâand brought bad news.
âThe soldiers outside are stirring up trouble.â
The little Highnessâs loss of control was even more serious than theyâd imagined.
Wen Yuzhiâs mental energy had been highly active, and because he was unconscious, he couldnât control it. That surge of panic and fear had spread in an instant to every Saint Clan on the warship.
In a species that existed as a collective, this was common: the core leader could transmit commands and will through a mental link to the group below.
For the Saint Clan, the one who carried that role was naturally the Salilaino royal blood.
Someone like Mansendis could command every Saint Clan under him to obey.
And with Wen Yuzhiâs mental-energy talent, he would be able to do the same in the future.
But no one had expected the cub, in a state of extreme terror, to erupt with unprecedented potentialâmanifesting a mental link without learning anything, causing every Saint Clan on the warship to feel his fear and panic.
The Saint Clan soldiers who received that emotion immediately exploded.
Heimo could still keep some measure of calm, but the lower-tier Ge De and Tas were like theyâd gone mad.
Their eyes turned crimson in an instant.
Fierce rage flooded their minds.
It made them want to go immediately and tear the culprit who had made the little Highness suffer so much into pieces.
One enraged Saint Clan was already terrifying.
Now it was thousands upon thousands of Saint Clan across the entire warship, feeling anger at the same time.
Even the adjutant found this headache-inducing.
Because if things went wrong, it could escalate and lead to a level of chaos not much different from a camp-wide riot.
Heimo and Salilaino were higher-tier. They could command and restrain those soldiers.
But the other way aroundâonce the lower-tier soldiers fell into madness and chose to defy their instinct to obey, even Salilaino could be overturned.
Back when Tasiya ruled, she had nearly driven the Saint Clan beneath her to a dead end.
At that time, their emotions had already reached the verge of collapse. If Mansendis hadnât taken the throne later, the Saint Clan would likely have fractured and fallen apart then.
And now, the soldiers feeling the little Highnessâs fear were also one by one in an abnormally agitated state.
The adjutant had no choice but to â§ NĐŸvĐ”Iight â§ (Original source) rush over and report to Mansendis first.
âYour Majesty, you have to go see the soldiers outside. Only you can calm them down!â
But Mansendis didnât move.
In fact, having personally witnessed what the Saint Clan were like when taking the throne, he understood better than anyone that the right move was to stabilize the soldiersâ emotions.
But going out to control the situation meant leaving here firstâleaving Wen Yuzhiâs side.
And with Wen Yuzhi like this, how could he feel at ease leaving?
So even after the report, he still didnât move.
He was waiting.
Waiting for the moment the cub woke up.
The adjutant knew he wanted to wait for the little Highness to wake, but the situation outside was something only he could suppress.
A huge number of Saint Clan soldiers had gathered nearby, and they all had only one goal.
Just like those butterfliesâthey wanted to protect the little Highness.
At a moment like this, anyone who tried to stop them could become their enemy.
Alvin and Selet might be responsible for managing these soldiers, but in the end, they were carrying out Mansendisâs orders in his place. The real authority still lay in his hands.
Thinking that, the adjutant wanted to persuade him again.
But the sound of their voices reached Wen Yuzhiâs ears.
In a hazy daze, hearing those familiar voices, his lashes trembled, and he struggled to open his eyes.
Seeing the butterflies in front of him, his mind was still sunk in the dream. He hadnât reacted yetâhe even thought he was still dreaming.
He immediately cried out Mansendisâs name and Mond and the othersâ, mixed in with a few sobbing âDad.â
That was when Mansendis truly couldnât wait any longer.
He walked straight forward.
Thankfully, at that moment, the butterflies sensed Wen Yuzhiâs emotions and scattered, barely making a path.
Wen Yuzhiâstill sitting on the soft blanketâfelt that familiar presence approach and didnât think at all.
He stumbled toward where Mansendis was.
The first step, he fell.
Luckily, it was onto the blanket.
He shook his little wings, trying to climb up, but Mansendis was fasterâscooping him up into his hands.
Carefully.
As if holding his most beloved treasure.
And the cub in front of him really was that.
His one and only treasure.
Standing in the silver-haired sovereignâs palm, Wen Yuzhi lifted his head.
The moment he saw Mansendis, he frozeâlike he was confirming whether this was real, or whether he was still dreaming.
But when Mansendis saw the cub who had been crying and calling for Dad now only staring blanklyâsilent and unmovingâhis heart sank.
He lowered his voice, and spoke softly. âZhizhi, Dadâs here.â
Hearing that familiar voice right by his ear, Wen Yuzhi finally reacted.
He flapped his wings and threw himself into Mansendisâs arms.
Mansendis froze, then in the next moment felt a faint dampness soak into his chest.
And the cubâs small, broken sobbing came in uneven bursts.
âHe was crying.
Wen Yuzhi cried so hard, like he wanted to pour out every ounce of tight, stretched emotion all at once.
The little wings behind him trembled with his body. The tips drooped weakly, and even the feathersâ shine dimmed.
But he didnât care about any of that.
Trapped in that dark place with no escape, cold and hungry, then assaulted by that piercing, ear-splitting sonic waveâ
His mind had already been on the verge of breaking. And when he heard those people say they were going to destroy him, the last string inside snapped. The fear in his heart swelled without limit.
Even now, that terror still clung to him.
He could only burrow into Mansendisâs arms.
Like a frightened fledgling, seeking the familiar shelter that made him feel safe.