Chapter 69: Wanting to Protect

Mansendis carried the cub out.

Wen Yuzhi leaned against the silver-haired sovereign’s chest, still a little dazed about what was happening.

Until—

The heavy doors on both sides were pushed open, and in the corridor, he saw Saint Clan soldiers standing outside like statues.

By duty, these soldiers should have been at their posts at a time like this.

But now they were all gathered here, expressions stern and anxious, practically sealing the place off so tightly there wasn’t even a crack left.

No matter how Alvin and Selet barked orders at them, these low-tier Saint Clan soldiers stubbornly refused to leave.

They had come because they’d felt the little Highness’s painful, distressed emotions.

Before they personally confirmed that the little Highness was safe and sound, their rage couldn’t settle—so naturally, they weren’t going to leave that easily.

In fact, the only reason they hadn’t forced their way in and were merely standing guard outside...

Was because they were already restraining themselves as hard as they could.

Otherwise, with how they acted purely on instinct—and with their minds filled with fury right now—these soldiers would have long since stormed in.

Even if doing that meant violating military orders.

Because to them, the one thing they wanted most in this moment was to reach the little Highness as fast as possible, and protect that frightened, trembling cub.

Everything else could wait.

—The little Highness needed them now.

That brief mental energy fluctuation just now had been received by every Saint Clan member on the warship.

The little Highness is in pain.

The little Highness is scared.

The little Highness needs our protection.

That was the logic these soldiers followed.

Simple.

Direct.

And once they decided the little Highness needed protection, they would gather here even if it meant disobeying orders and risking punishment.

Their thinking was straightforward:

If the little Highness is afraid, then we stand here—at the closest distance we’re allowed to approach.

The soldiers stood alert in the corridor, forming layer after layer of protective rings—airtight, impenetrable—so that no danger from outside could cross them and harm the little Highness inside.

So when Wen Yuzhi came out with Mansendis, what he saw was exactly that: Saint Clan soldiers guarding the doorway in a defensive stance.

Hearing the door open, they all lifted their heads at once, and pairs of vertical pupils—each a different color—turned in unison.

First they saw Mansendis.

Then, in Mansendis’s arms, they saw the palm-sized cub.

So small—like a doll—sitting in the silver-haired sovereign’s hand.

Mansendis could hold him up with just one hand.

Wen Yuzhi was still wearing his sleep robe. The little white robe on his body, paired with the small white wings behind him, made him look soft and breakable to an extreme.

Not to mention, Wen Yuzhi had just cried. The tears had been wiped away, but the redness around his eyes still stood out sharply against that snow-white face.

The soldiers almost immediately caught sight of the red at the corners of the cub’s eyes.

...The little Highness cried?

The moment that thought appeared in their minds, the entire group stirred.

Their eyes uncontrollably flooded with a blood-red tint. The vertical lines of their pupils tightened hard, and the aura around them turned ferociously murderous.

Wen Yuzhi stared at them in confusion, watching ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) them fall into anger like this.

He felt like he knew what they were angry about—

But he didn’t dare be sure.

Mansendis simply said, “They’re here for you.”

“...For me?”

Disbelief still lingered in Wen Yuzhi’s voice.

So many Saint Clan... all came because of him?

It wasn’t that Wen Yuzhi refused to believe it.

It was just that—

He had still underestimated, by far, how important he was to the Saint Clan.

He didn’t understand what a royal-blood with extremely high mental-energy affinity—and a healing ability—actually meant to the Saint Clan.

But Mansendis understood it very clearly.

Because from this mental link alone, you could already see that Wen Yuzhi’s emotions were capable of affecting these low-tier Saint Clan soldiers.

They were even willing, for the sake of protecting the little Highness, to forcibly resist the instinctive nature of obeying orders.

No matter how hard Alvin and Selet issued commands, they simply refused to leave.

That meant, in their hearts, the little Highness was more important than military orders.

And that... was almost unbelievable.

The Saint Clan were a race with strict hierarchies, always following collective rules. As soldiers, they weren’t supposed to have individual emotions—only obedience and slaughter.

The lower obey the higher.

The weak obey the strong.

Those rules were carved into their bones.

Since the Saint Clan’s birth, that system had never changed.

But today—

Alvin and Selet were their superiors. They were also Mansendis’s adjutants; their orders, to a certain extent, represented Mansendis’s will.

Yet for the little Highness, these soldiers still chose not to obey, even at the risk of punishment.

Clearly, they cared more about Wen Yuzhi’s safety.

Mansendis had brought Wen Yuzhi here because he wanted the cub to see it with his own eyes—

To see that there were people worrying about him, and feeling anxious for his sake.

“They felt your mental energy. They’re standing here because they’re worried about you.”

Worried... protecting...

Wen Yuzhi looked at the soldiers in front of him.

In those cold vertical pupils, he could see—

They were angry.

But they were angry for him.

Because these soldiers believed he must have been bullied to become scared—to cry.

That was why Mansendis had said they were all here for him.

They wanted to protect him, so he wouldn’t be afraid.

Wen Yuzhi blinked.

Tentatively, he flew out of Mansendis’s arms and toward the soldiers.

These soldiers were generally tall and powerfully built. Compared to a palm-sized cub, the difference was like lions next to a kitten.

And they didn’t look like Heimo, who were more in line with common aesthetics.

Because their imitation forms were incomplete, external armor clung to their bodies, making them look more feral—more eerie, cold, and sharp.

No wonder so many outside races always used words like “monsters” when they talked about the Saint Clan.

Because this group really did look like monsters.

But these Saint Clan soldiers—monsters in other races’ eyes—now used movements and strength that could only be called gentle.

With the hands that had shredded who knew how many enemies on the battlefield, they carefully received the cub who drifted down in front of them.

And in the process, that soldier copied Mansendis’s posture with extreme care, cradling the cub in the palm.

The action of holding him in both palms carried its own meaning—cherishing, protecting, carefully sheltering—so strong it was almost symbolic.

Even Wen Yuzhi, who hadn’t dared believe it before, could feel their cautious, cautious attitude toward him now.

After taking the little Highness, the soldiers didn’t blink as they examined Wen Yuzhi closely.

From head to toe.

Including the little wings behind him.

From every strand of hair to every single feather, they looked at him carefully and seriously.

Only after confirming there wasn’t a single wound on the little Highness did they finally relax a little.

Meanwhile, Wen Yuzhi—seeing how careful they were—felt a bit embarrassed.

Because if you really talked about it, he wasn’t hurt at all.

It was just a nightmare.

Even if the dream had felt real, before the things inside it were proven, Wen Yuzhi still treated it as only a dream.

Yet now it had turned into such a huge commotion, and everyone was this worried about him...

Wen Yuzhi felt guilty without thinking.

So he explained to them, “I’m fine. I’m not hurt. I just had a nightmare... in the dream there was a bad guy...”

Wen Yuzhi noticed that the moment he said “bad guy,” the soldiers instantly shifted into a guarded stance.

As if all he had to do was nod—or give a single command—and they would immediately go erase the “bad guy” from his words.

A feeling he couldn’t quite describe rose in Wen Yuzhi’s chest.

Warm.

Like something soft had wrapped around his heart.

The rest of what he meant to say stuck in his throat.

He could only blink and soften his voice. “...I’m awake now. The bad guy is gone too.”

So please don’t worry.

He didn’t say those last words aloud, but the soldiers all understood the little Highness’s meaning anyway.

The blood tint in their eyes gradually faded, and their anger was soothed bit by bit by Wen Yuzhi’s words.

Seeing that, Alvin couldn’t help feeling some emotion.

Earlier, no matter what they said, they couldn’t calm these low-tier soldiers down—

But the little Highness had used a single sentence to soothe them.

It showed just how much influence the little Highness had among low-tier groups like Ge De and Tas.

Thinking that, Alvin cautiously glanced toward where Mansendis stood.

It wasn’t that Alvin was overly sensitive.

It was just that the attitude these soldiers displayed—no matter which sovereign you placed it on—could easily breed suspicion.

Disobeying orders. Drawing close to the crown heir.

Each of those actions was, without question, shaking the current sovereign’s authority and position.

And Ge De and Tas were the two most numerous groups among the Saint Clan. The bottom-tier soldiers and craftsmen were almost all made up of them.

You could say that if Wen Yuzhi controlled them, he would control more than half of the Saint Clan’s strength.

Alvin had been by Mansendis’s side for a long time. Alvin knew very well that Mansendis was not a generous or kind sovereign. The silver-haired sovereign had seized all power into his own hands the moment he took the throne.

In that situation, Alvin wasn’t sure whether Mansendis minded these soldiers’ behavior.

Especially...

Before taking the throne, Mansendis had killed every other royal blood besides himself in one sweep.

Given all of that, Alvin couldn’t help worrying.

While Alvin’s thoughts were still shifting, sensing that glance, Mansendis lowered his eyes and flicked a look over.

The silver-haired sovereign’s gaze was ice-cold.

Just one glance made Alvin’s heart seize. All those messy thoughts froze, as if iced over.

Almost instantly, Alvin felt a suffocating pressure clamp down.

Fortunately, Mansendis was only warning.

Before Alvin’s face could go pale, the silver-haired sovereign had already calmly shifted his gaze away.

The taut string in Alvin’s chest snapped loose. Alvin’s body swayed uncontrollably for a moment.

By the time Alvin recovered, the back was already soaked through with cold sweat.

The Saint Clan rarely felt fear.

But faced with Mansendis, no Saint Clan would dare claim they weren’t afraid.

The more you understood, the more clearly you knew just how enormous the gap in power was between them and the silver-haired sovereign.

..........

Wen Yuzhi, of course, had no idea what had just happened between Alvin and Mansendis.

He was still soothing the soldiers in front of him.

More precisely, he was telling them he was fine.

And it seemed that simply saying it wasn’t quite enough.

So Wen Yuzhi spread his mental energy outward, letting it extend—using that now-calm, gentle mental energy to let the Saint Clan know that he truly was all right.

And it worked.

The soldiers all lowered their guard.

Wen Yuzhi looked at them and said, “I made you worry.”

The soldiers shook their heads. Their voices were rough and hoarse—like people who almost never spoke.

“Protect... little Highness... we...”

Maybe because they spoke so rarely, the words came out halting, stumbling.

“You mean... you want to protect me?”

Wen Yuzhi asked, not entirely certain.

The soldiers nodded without hesitation, and emphasized it again, as if insisting: “Protect.”

As they spoke, their eyes stayed fixed tightly on the cub in front of them.

Wen Yuzhi fell briefly speechless. He could feel that they meant every word.

Because words could lie—but the body’s reactions couldn’t.

These soldiers weren’t like Heimo, who could speak smoothly. Their faces held little expression, and they looked cold, hard to approach.

And yet, the emotions they revealed were hotter—and purer—than any other Saint Clan.

They almost didn’t hide at all how much they cared about Wen Yuzhi.

It was blatant—so obvious Wen Yuzhi couldn’t pretend not to notice.

In their eyes, Wen Yuzhi could clearly see their tension and worry.

For Saint Clan soldiers who weren’t good at expressing themselves, that was already a very obvious emotional leak.

And in that moment, Wen Yuzhi suddenly understood why Mansendis had brought him to see them.

Because the silver-haired sovereign was telling him this way—

He was loved.

He wasn’t the defective product those people had called him.

In these Saint Clan soldiers’ eyes, Wen Yuzhi couldn’t see even a trace of dislike.

All he saw was fondness and closeness.

Even if he didn’t have overwhelming force—even if he wasn’t like other Saint Clan at all—it didn’t matter.

To these soldiers, the little Highness was a treasure they wanted to carefully shelter.

Realizing that, Wen Yuzhi pressed his lips together.

He looked at the soldiers, then looked at Mansendis, and couldn’t help saying, “Thank you.”

Thank you for liking me.