"You want to follow him to the Lantis Republic?!" Bingying couldn't hold back her scream, and she wasn't the only one. Everyone else in the audience hall gasped at the ludicrous notion. Kanari was the heir to the Highgarden Duchy. Some even regarded her as the future of the Himmel Empire. After all, the Imperial Ancestor hiding in the Royal Palace wasn't immortal. Eventually, his last light would flicker away, giving the other two superpowers the incentive to strike the Empire. For safety, many in High Society looked to their future prospects, and Kanari was by far the most promising.
A Spirit Spectre before she hit twenty-one. A rare prodigy with control over three elements. Valedictorian of Imperius Academy for five consecutive years, even with Shin, whom many regarded to be the most valuable youngster of his generation, hot on her heels. Kanari was by no means inferior to Shin and her value to the Himmel Empire couldn't be accounted for with gold or silver. So, why would anyone send her away? To a rivalling superpower no less.
"Yes, I do," replied Kanari. "Shin told me to follow him there, so I will." For a moment there, Kanari blurted out her true feelings. However, after blushing and coughing twice, the young maiden elaborated. "I mean, just like how the Lantis Republic sent you, the Himmel Empire should send someone to monitor Shin, right? By far, I'm the best choice. I'm sure the Imperial Courts would agree with that."
"You..." Bingying didn't have the words to rebut Kanari. She was right. If the Lantis Republic could send someone to keep an eye on Shin, the Himmel Empire could do the same. However, having a girl that Shin was already romantically involved in, accompany him to a place where Longyu Tian had already set up numerous honey traps to keep him tied to the Longyu Clan, didn't seem smart.
"Hahaha! You're absolutely right!" Lady Seph bellowed out in laughter. Looks like her disciple was quite the heartthrob, to be able to force Kanari to her knees and to be completely smitten with him. "Shin needs to have someone to keep him company in the Lantis Republic. So, I should be given free rein to travel there as well, right?"
"Wait, Lady Seph?!" The Pearl in the East immediately waved her hands in fright. Kanari joining was one thing, but if the temperamental Spirit Venerate were to join Shin in his adventures, there was no telling what damage the Lantis Republic might sustain. Her intricate demands and overbearing attitude that didn't care about the face of others was a nightmare for the Himmel Empire, let alone the Lantis Republic.
"What's the matter? Can't I follow my disciple around?"
Bingying felt the pressure of Lady Seph's stare, forcing her to gulp a mouthful of saliva. "O-Of course you can. However, w-we should inform the High Council first..." The Pearl in the East, one of the most influential figures of her generation, now had to hide behind the administration that ran the entire Lantis Republic.
"Yeah, you do that. Oh, I'm going to bring the rest of Shin's family and some of my subordinates along, so do account for that. Also, I want to have a five-acre mansion, preferably away from the cities. It would be good if there are a laboratory and a library to help with my research too. I'll hand you a list later on." Kanari's declaration had opened the floodgates for Lady Seph to lay down her demands. The Divine Healer didn't feel anything for the Himmel Empire anyway. So long as Shin is safe and she could continue with her research, Lady Seph was capable of settling anywhere.
"..." What was Bingying supposed to say? Decline the Divine Healer, the woman who Shin treated like a mother? Begrudgingly, the young Lantis Republic maiden laid down her hands and retreated back to her chair. She couldn't stand in the limelight anymore. God knows how many more demands would come up from the audience hall.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Fortunately, she didn't have to wait for long. Big hurried steps echoed throughout the hallways. A teenage girl, who looked no older than eighteen, jumped out into the open, wiping away the sweat off her bright face. Elyse had grown tremendously throughout the five years in the Capital. She tied up her sapphire hair in a spade ponytail, giving some ventilation to her thin and delicate neck. She lacked the substantial chest that some of her peers had, but she made up for it with her streamlined body, which made it great for her to use her favoured wind-dagger Spirit. Though, at this moment, it allowed her to traverse great distances to act as a messenger.
"Brother Shin woke up!" Elyse hollered, bringing everyone to their feet.
"How is he?" Lady Seph was the first to ask.
"Barely awake… He's still rather dazed." The young teenager dropped her eyes, not wanting to meet the eyelines of anyone in the chambers. They were waiting for the good news that Shin would be okay. Alas, good news doesn't come that often. Shin was awake, but he wasn't of sound mind. How could he be? The visitors all let out a collective sigh. Many wanted to move into the private quarters to inspect the young man. However, Lady Seph wasn't about to crowd her disciple's room when he needed to rest.
"All of you stay here." The blonde healer waved her hands, silencing the crowd. Especially Kanari, who had both her hands tied up in prayer, displaying the same moppy eyes as an abandoned puppy. Nonetheless, Lady Seph remained firm on her decision. "I'll check on him alone." Lady Seph pivoted her heels and sped rapidly down the hallways. Every second count. Who knew if Shin were to enter a coma yet again.
There was pin-drop silence in the audience hall. Bitter smiles and shaking lips dominated the faces of the visitors, giving an air of awkwardness rarely found anywhere in the Empire. The bronzed-face scholar was the first to break the ice.
"Since Shin has come out from his coma, I think it would be best for us to leave." Principal Erudito looked back at Madam Warulee and Vice-Principal Hirda, seeking some assistance to make an elegant retreat.
"That's right. Please give him our regards." Vice-Principal Hirda carried the basket of rare fruits and handed it over to Kanari, who was still biting her nails out of worry. "A small token… Also..." The middle-aged woman leaned in and breathed into the maiden's ear. "I hope that you'll at least graduate from the academy. We can arrange a special ceremony for the few of you."
"That… Thank you." Kanari's eyes widened for a bit, before finally settling down with a glimpse of warmth.
Truth to be told, there wasn't anything left for Imperius Academy to teach the two geniuses. Spending their final year in the institution would just serve as a buffer period where the pair would flirt before Shin left. Though, knowing Shin and his desire to take down the Black Masks, it was highly doubtful that the Black-Haired Tyrant would stay still for a full year.
The ravens of the night cried out while the delegation from Imperius Academy made their departure. It was a serene night with no clouds in sight. Rarely has there been a full blanket of stars in the Capital, where light in the night was rampant. 'Perhaps it was a sign of good things to come', Hirda thought. 'Nah, I shouldn't get ahead of myself. Let's just hope that Shin comes out of this ordeal a more complete man…'
❖❖❖
"Shin! Shin!" Unlike the tranquillity of the night, Shin's personal chamber was a loud chicken coop with one squawking woman sending deafening shrieks in his direction. Broken out of his sleepiness, Shin's vision started to clear, and the world turned coherent. The gorgeously laid-out flowers and the beautiful face of a blonde, white-robed lady came into view.
"M-Ma-Master?" Shin spoke his first words since awakening.
"Shin! You're finally responding!" A loud thud echoed inside of Shin's dazed head as Lady Seph pulled Shin into her embrace. When they first met, Shin was far smaller than Lady Seph. His head barely reached the top of her waist, while his lean body was far from capable of dealing with her hugs. Now, Shin was about half a head taller than Lady Seph, as it was the blonde beauty's turn to be injured by their hugs.
Though it was an emotional moment, Lady Seph still remained professional and checked every corner of Shin's iron-clad body. Every single muscle molecule was tested and her spiritual sense pierced through all facets of his immune system and mana circuits. Taking a moment to examine the young Adonis, Lady Seph finally let out a massive sigh of relief, when she found out that there was nothing malfunctioning internally. So, here comes the primary problem. The Divine Healer had to deal with the mental wound that Shin had sustained.
"How are you feeling?"
They had been through thick and thin. Lady Seph was there when Shin had been kicked out from Frie Mountain and when Junius sent out the order to murder Ariel. Lady Seph had been there when Shin was at his best, and when he was at his lowest. She knew what to expect because she had been in this situation before. Also, what good was a Divine Healer if she couldn't even treat psychological wounds?
"Master… I… Killed Latina's father." Shin didn't even bother to lie. He just confessed to everything straight away.
"So I've heard." Lady Seph shuffled her soft buttocks closer and pulled Shin's head onto her shoulders. "However, that's just bad luck. Killing someone in the cultivation world is just the norm. Whenever there's a winner, there will always be a loser. If you didn't kill Latina's father, he would have gone on to kill many more people. Worse still, what if he killed someone close to you, just like Junius did Ariel? You did the right thing that day. You shouldn't blame yourself."
"..." Those comforting words didn't affect Shin in the slightest. He sat there, not crying. It felt like an empty hole had just opened up in his chest, and that emptiness couldn't be filled. Neither by emotions or by comfort.
"You know… I've heard stories about her father from Latina." Tapping his fingers on the soft silken bed, Shin went on a tangent, perking Lady Seph's ears up. "He had a hobby of crafting wood figurines. They would often go to the barn where Latina would watch him take a blade and turn a log into a man. He liked to eat wild boar meat. No, it was Latina who liked the gamey taste of wild boar. So, he would dive deep into the forest to hopefully find just one wild boar to cook for dinner. Sometimes, he would even come home after ten, when the sun is out and the cold of the night settles in. To fulfil his daughter's request, the man would continue to hunt even when visibility is low."
"What a silly man." Lady Seph laughed.
"Silly man… Perhaps that's what you would call any father. Maybe mine was like that as well..." The corners of Shin's lips crept up as well. He was raised without a father, without a mother. So he didn't understand how parents reacted to their children. Were they all loving? Or were they indifferent? Shin didn't know.
"I grew up without parents, Latina grew up with one. He may have been gone for over half a year at a time, but he still loved and cared for her. Star Face… No, Garland Mull. He was a proud father. A loving father… And now, he's a pile of bones decomposing somewhere that I can't even locate."
"Shin, it's-"
"I KNOW!!!" A cry. Or a plea for help? Shin didn't know anymore. "I know all that! You think I hadn't considered it?! Garland Mull had blood on his hands! If not for his assistance, perhaps the tragedy in the Land of Dreams would never have happened! If I let him go, thousands more may have died! Thousands of faces, each one with their own families, their own friends, their own hobbies! THOUSANDS! But right now, there's just one face that matters to me..."
Shin was broken. He didn't know what to do. Latina's crying face was plastered into his subconsciousness like a glued-on poster. No matter how hard he tried, the vision still remained. Craig, Susan, Winfred… How many more of those he killed now had orphaned children because of him? How many more had to suffer because he killed without thinking? Shin didn't know. Shin didn't want to know. Because… As he was right now…
'I just want forgiveness...'
✵✵✵
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