As they were progressing towards the Capital, Lucien got some shocking news from his clone. Apparently a concubine of the Emperor just gave birth to a son. The whole thing was covered till now for some reason, but now that the child was born, the whole kingdom was notified.
It seemed a grand ball was about to be held to celebrate the birth, with all kinds of nobility being present. The Emperor personally visited Lucien to invite him, and even through he didn't notice anything, Lucien decided to hurry back and switch places with the clone for this event.
"Something happened, we are flying."
Lucien didn't wait for a response and took Maria in his embrace, spread his wings and shot towards the capital at incredible speeds.
'Why would he cover something like this? Is there something going on? Should I kill the kid?'
Many thoughts ran through his head, but he decided to wait and see.
Lucien arrived at the capital well before the event began. Resuming his normal form, Lucien entered the city and went back to his usual inn.
"Take a room and stay here. I still need something from you, but that will have to wait till tomorrow."
Maria didn't bother inquiring about details and just went inside.
Lucien made his clone leave the palace and go to this inn as well, while he entered the palace. Nobody noticed the switch.
Couple of hours later, all kinds of fancy and noble looking carriages started arriving one after another. Everyone coming out from them was dressed extravagantly and adored by many accessories. Women were beautiful like flowers.
Lucien didn't care at all about attire, he wore a simple white robe that didn't have any decorations on it, but his body and face made the robe seem fancier than it was. His red eyes and eyebrows made a stark contrast with it and his black hair brought everything back into balance.
Lucien stood up at some point and headed towards the hall. Since Henry personally invited him, giving the man a little face was acceptable.
Entering the majestic hall, Lucien completely ignored all glances and nobles, he just found a seat and closed his eyes. The music was pretty nice, but the people brought his mood down a notch.
No matter how unreachable he made himself, some people had skins thicker than a city wall.
"Hello there handsome, would you like to join me for a drink?"
Lucien decided to kill a bit time by toying some noble lady. Smiling slightly Lucien opened his eyes and looked at her.
"Are you sure you can handle it?"
The lady seemed like she was from a prestigious family even when comparing only the present families. She seemed to have experience, but it was obviously her family teaching her and no matter how much training she received, being prepared for Lucien was out of the question. The moment she heard his response and saw his look, her heart skipped a beat and her face turned red.
Nobody has spoken to her like this, even those noble sons she tried her skills on would take the roundabout way, by flattering her first for a while and then bring the conversation back on the topic of drinks. The straightforwardness and the casual attitude captured her almost instantly.
"Layla, let me accompany you, it's obvious the prince doesn't have interest."
'Ohhh the noble trash that doesn't put anyone in his eyes, it's happening.'
The man was handsome with blonde hair and blue eyes, typical noble playboy. He didn't think the prince would care at all considering his attitude till this moment.
'Best way to kill some time, hehe. What should I do?'
Layla was frowning a little bit, since she couldn't directly offend him. Lucien then spoke after he decided to make the situation bad and see how everyone reacts.
"If you are waiting for me to stop you from leaving... you can forget about it. Go ahead, accompany the dust bin for a drink."
Layla stood there stunned, her plan for him to make her stay was instantly seen through, while the playboy stood there stunned at the word used to describe him.
"Prince, it seems your tongue slipped, or did I just hear wrong?"
The fun Lucien was having was suddenly ruined by this runt, he wanted to see how would the girl react, but then this trash didn't seem to know his place.
Lucien used just peak Rank 1 speed to instantly appear before him and sliced exactly when he opening his mouth to say something. A tongue slipped and fell to the ground.
"What have you done to our young master, even if you are a prince this doesn't give you the right to attack our family without a reason."
An older noble had rushed out the moment he saw Lucien slashing, but he couldn't even speak before the decisive action of Lucien was executed.
"It seems your family has a problem with speaking. If you address me one more time, I'll make sure all of you leave behind a tongue."
Lucien didn't even pay attention to the old man, but said it while looking towards the young playboy, making sure everybody heard it.
"All right, that is enough Lucien." It was at this moment that Henry walked in, followed by a woman who held and infant.
Lucien just gazed at the Emperor, wondering if he really wanted to order him for some small family.
"I'll make sure to get a proper explanation for what happened, just don't ruin the birthday of your brother."
Lucien finally looked away and went back to his seat.
The nobles around were completely shocked at the proceedings, the Emperor promised his son something to make him stop, as if ordering him would bring a backlash he didn't want to deal with.
"Handsome, you still want to get that drink?"
"Get lost. If you hadn't hesitated, I might have considered taking your first, but forget it now."
Her eyes filled with tears, almost spilling out. However, she didn't speak another word, fully aware she blew her chance. Regretting her hesitation, she turned around and left while sobbing as quietly as possible.
Henry still kept his eyes on his son for a while longer, he seemed different from before for some reason. Something major happened and he should talk to him after this. Taking his mind off the topic, Henry walked to the majestic throne and sat down.
"We have gathered here today to celebrate the birthday of my forth son, the birthday of the Fourth Prince of the Scarlet Empire."
The nobles applauded loudly, while Lucien was observing his sibling and the mother. Looking at her Paths and blood vitality, Lucien could approximate her level. She was Rank 1, even through her age seemed no more than 20.
'It seems her background is the reason why the pregnancy was concealed, but why reveal it now?'
Looking at the child Lucien was completely dumbfounded. Even through it was newborn, the child had somehow made contact with 3 different lower Paths. Fire, Earth and Wind. A perfectly balanced build, nobody could notice since people in the Scarlet Empire rarely practiced those Paths, and even if some of them did, the Emperor would make sure they had more important tasks than this event.
The event progressed smoothly and nothing out of expectations happened, who would dare attack an event where the Emperor was present.