Chapter 320: 319 “What is the relationship now?”

Royal Palace, the King’s chamber.

At the break of a new day, Liyadella, accompanied by her knight Shanai, arrived here to pay respects to her father. Their relationship was quite good, and they enjoyed conversing with each other. Even with Aridia and Shanai present, it didn’t affect their discussion.

However, for some reason, both father and daughter seemed somewhat distracted today.

Shanai couldn’t help but say,

“Your Majesty, Your Highness, you both seem a little lethargic. Did you not sleep well last night?”

Shanai expressed her concern with a hint of worry.

Anxi and Liya did not find Shanai’s question abrupt.

But…

“Do we seem lethargic? Father?”

Liyadella appeared puzzled.

“We do feel a bit listless,” Anxi responded, turning to Aridia as if sensing something, “What do you think, Aridia?”

Upon hearing this, Aridia responded calmly,

“Your Majesty indeed looks a bit lethargic, and so does Lady Liya.”

The straightforward knight answered truthfully.

“Is that so?” Liyadella nodded, as if finally realizing something, sighing, “Though we went to bed early last night, why can’t we seem to muster any energy?”

“Do you feel the same way, Liya?” Anxi sighed as well, seeking agreement, “It’s like we’ve lost something very important, isn’t it?”

With that remark from Anxi, Liyadella indeed felt a sense of empathy.

That’s right, it felt as though something important had been lost, or perhaps drifted far from themselves, which was why Liyadella felt this lack of energy.

It might just be an illusion.

Yet, as those who had received the blessings of the gods, sometimes what was thought to be an illusion was in fact a reality where unfortunate things actually happened.

Especially for those in the Mitra Kingdom’s Royal Family, being direct descendants of the Hero, they all possessed blessings from at least upper-level goddesses. Sometimes, those blessings gave rise to mystical premonitions, making people sense something.

Of course, these were just mystical premonitions.

Unless it was like Princess Luoqi, who had received blessings from the Three Great Goddesses–they could indeed sense certain omens and revelations. Generally, the premonitions brought about by the blessings were not very reliable.

Given this, although both Anxi and Liyadella were somewhat distracted, they did not take it too seriously.

Just then, a conversation came about unexpectedly.

“By the way, how is Luoqi?”

“I’m not sure, probably still in her chambers?”

“Is she resting or working?”

“She should be resting. I heard from a knight of the Holy Sword Knights that Luoqi, for some reason, sped up her work pace and finished a lot of her duties yesterday.”

“That child, she seems to do that often lately, doesn’t she? Finishing work ahead of schedule?”

“Yes.”

“…Is it for a certain Viscount?”

“…I think it might be.”

“…”

“…”

As Anxi and Liyadella were conversing like this, they suddenly stopped, both feeling a surge of unpleasantness within.

“…For some reason, I suddenly feel like making trouble for that Viscount.”

“Please calm yourself, Father. It’s very unreasonable, although I empathize…”

Father and daughter then became even more distracted.

In their hearts, two impulses emerged simultaneously.

One was the urge to give a certain Viscount a good thrashing.

Another was the eagerness to see Luoqi soon.

(Come quickly, Luoqi…)

A worried father and sister hoped in their hearts.

They just didn’t know when this hope would be realized.

…

Meanwhile, at the same time in Duke Sterling’s villa, Barry and his son Lymco were also together.

They were not enjoying a harmonious teatime but discussing some peculiar occurrences that had recently taken place on their estate.

Due to the strange incidents in the estate, Barry had called Lymco over to discuss returning to the estate together to investigate these matters and possibly resolve them.

However, despite engaging in serious discussion, this father and son inexplicably felt a lack of energy.

Especially Lymco, who had woken up early this morning with an inexplicable sense of loss weighing on his heart.

That feeling of loss made Lymco seem quite despondent, as if he had lost the meaning of life.

And Barry rarely refrained from chastising Lymco.

Because he too felt a sense of loss, as if his ambitions had unwittingly crumbled.

Thanks to this, this father and son, usually driven by strong pragmatism and purpose, uncharacteristically wrapped up their business discussion abruptly.

“Let’s just decide on this matter; make good preparations, and we’ll depart tomorrow for our estate.”

Barry waved his hand, appearing listless.

“Yes.”

Lymco agreed casually and then stood up without overthinking and left the study.

However, thinking about his imminent return to the estate tomorrow, Lymco somehow mustered his spirits.

“Before leaving, I should meet Her Highness.”

Although Lymco and Luoqi were not very familiar, it seemed good enough to possibly catch a glimpse of her from afar.

Especially today, this thought was particularly strong.

“I really want to see Princess Luoqi, really want to…”

Carrying this thought, Lymco, unlike before when he would plan silently on approaching the princess from behind the scenes, brought a gift. Like those noble young masters, he gathered in Luoqi’s sleeping chamber, waiting for the princess to appear.

His behavior resembled that of an animal.

An animal known as– “Simper.”

…

In fact, it wasn’t just Lymco.

Today, all the noble young masters in the Royal Capital who admired Luoqi all appeared listless. Yet, each of them rushed desperately to the Royal Palace, hoping to catch a glimpse of the princess.

It wasn’t just those noble young masters–even the common folks in the Royal Capital felt empty inside. No matter what they did, they couldn’t muster any energy and just wished for noon to arrive quickly so they could head to the front of the Royal Palace, waiting for the princess to appear.

The sky today was also a dull gray, as if even the heavens felt gloomy.

The oppressive atmosphere permeated the Royal Capital, and even the entire Kingdom, making everyone look like soulless zombies who had lost their dreams.

In such a situation, in the center of the Noble District, where the Beizut Family resided, it was as if defying the common principles of the world. It was isolated, sunny and bright, and the air was fresh, truly incredible.

Later, this day would be known to people as the Day of Loss.

Because, on this day, the Kingdom’s most treasured possession was completely devoured by an animal.

…

Beizut Family main building, Shane’s room.

In the bed, the beautiful princess, whose smooth shoulders were exposed, had woken up.

But Princess Luoqi, since she had awakened, had been doubting her entire life.

It was inevitable.

“Was I taken advantage of just like that?”

“Did I lose the most important thing just like that?”

“Who am I?”

“Where am I?”

“What exactly happened to me?”

Luoqi was plunged into disarray, unable to extricate herself for a long time.

On the contrary, Shane, since waking up, had been holding onto Luoqi’s shoulders, feeling an unprecedented exhilaration while also having an epiphany.

“No wonder men like to light up a cigarette at times like these.”

The reason was simple; it was all because of feeling too emotional about life.

Without a doubt, this felt like a very fulfilling achievement.

And to have accomplished such a successful deed, not celebrating it with a drink was one thing, but how could he not light up a cigarette?

Unfortunately, in this world, there were no cigarettes.

Disconsolate.

Truly disconsolate.

As Shane was moved to speak by these feelings, a faint voice came from beside.

“If you’re going to smile, can you not open your mouth so wide?”

Luoqi’s voice was filled with melancholy and an unfathomable resentment that others couldn’t understand.

Shane quickly reined in the smug smile on his face and showed a pleasing expression to the Princess Luoqi, who lay naked in his arms.

“I was just happy.”

Shane then adopted the appearance of a hard-working and honest man.

But the more he acted like this, the angrier Luoqi got.

An honest man?

Would an honest man strip her bare while she was deeply asleep, without her even noticing?

What despicable things had you done, did you even realize?

Honest man?

Honest my ass!

“You already stood me up, didn’t you? And it doesn’t matter that you only came back at dawn, but you even dared to lay your hands on me?”

Luoqi was so angry she clenched her teeth.

“Also, how did your hands manage to undress someone so silently while they were asleep? I didn’t know you had that kind of skill!”

Upon hearing this, Shane felt puzzled.

(I learned this from a certain maid, didn’t I?)

Even though, strictly speaking, the maid hadn’t taught Shane any of these specific skills, who was Shane?

A cheat!

A true cheat!

The skills others had painstakingly cultivated, he could learn instantly, let alone a trivial skill like undressing.

This divine skill… ah, screw it, this despicable trick, Shane was very reluctant to master.

But what could he do? He was a cheat, right?

Thus, Shane would never admit that he had put in the effort to study and reluctantly mastered this craft.

Regardless of whether others believed it or not, that’s how he saw himself.

Therefore…

“Well, it just happened without me realizing.”

The words that Shane blurted out sounded just like a detestable scumbag.

Luoqi swore, this was the time she most wanted to kill this heartless man.

If it were not too late, and the rice was already cooked into porridge, Luoqi believed that Omni Potanssen should have its first hero to fall before the Holy Sword at this moment.

“Sigh…”

After a long while, Luoqi finally sighed, seemingly resigned to her fate.

She then rolled over, pressing down on Shane’s body and placed her hand on Shane’s face.

Just when Shane thought she had gotten a taste for it and was finally becoming sensible, planning to take the role of a female knight, Luoqi was looking at him seriously instead.

“What is our relationship now?”

Luoqi stared straight at Shane, asking.

Shane blinked.

A sense of impulse surged in his heart.

That impulse called ‘digging his own grave.’

(What if I say “We’re brothers” now? I wonder what would happen?)

Well… the scenario was clear, bloodshed was inevitable.

And Shane was not scummy to that level.

Then, embracing the beauty in his arms, Shane smiled and spoke.

“What do you think? Apart from being husband and wife, what relationship could we have?”

This reply finally satisfied the Princess.

“You said it yourself,” Luoqi stated seriously: “I’ve given everything to you now. If you dare not marry me in the future, you’re dead.”

Could Shane deny it?

Of course, he nodded his agreement.