"Thomas I will stay in seclusion for a few years. I have delegated all my duties to different capable individuals and I am here to give you the most important task. I want you to take the responsibility of nurturing the young generation from now on. Make them strong and just so they could shoulder our Nation's responsibilities and make fair judgments for a better future. I know being a king you have a busy schedule but training the younger generation holds utmost importance and secondly, you can act and take decisions at your will. When I am in seclusion don't let anyone near my cultivating chamber and disturb me only when something of great importance comes up. Can I trust you on this ?" Augustus said, even though Thomas was the King of Ablon but still, most of the decisions were made by Agustus. He had to neglect his cultivation in order to run Ablon Nation properly. He was the only Lord rank cultivator in the Kingdom. Some years back reality struck Augustus when his body started to age. It was then he delegated half of his responsibilities to other capable individuals and even passed down the throne to his eldest and strongest grandson Thomas, as Augustus's only son had died a few decades back fighting a rogue Cultivator.
Even though Augustus had freed some of his time, still it was insufficient to increase his cultivation level. It took him some years to do his research to whom he could further give his responsibilities and Finally today he had delegated all of his responsibilities and authority to different people.
Cultiavtors had a long life-span, Human rank cultivator could live upto 100 years,Cultivators in Warrior Realm-200 years, Master rank-400 years, Grand-master-700 years, Lord-1200 years and King upto 2000 years. Augustus was at Lord-6 and was around 1000 years old and had just 200 years left to rank up and make a breakthrough to King Realm. Even though 200 years seems like a lot of time to non-cultivators but to Lord Realm cultivators it was a herculean task to level up 3 Lord ranks and get a breakthrough to King realm.
"Yes, Grandfather I will give my best." Thomas replied.
"And Thomas, take good care of both your Children, I believe you would not play favorites again." Augustus spoke, emphasizing more on the words 'both' and 'Children'. He knew that somewhere deep down Thomas held Pearl responsible for his wife Lily's death. Even though Augustus wanted to avoid interfering in the Father-Daughter relation, but he had heard everything that happened inside the room a few minutes back with his enhanced hearing. He was somewhat disappointed in how Thomas dealt with the whole situation. So Augustus indirectly indicated his thoughts.
"Yes, Grandfather I will keep in mind." Thomas said with a bit of guilt in his voice, he understood what Augustus meant."
In the meantime
Pearl had run straight to her room, laid on her bed, and buried her face into a pillow. Pearl's Muffled Sobbing could still be heard.
"Pearl , do not get so disheartened, I will surely scold Jamine for what he did today." Cynthia who had followed her said in a gentle voice trying to console Pearl.
"Mother I am not sad because Jamine was rude to me but because Father shouted at me for no reason." Pearl said with a sad tone.
"Pearl forgive him, can't you forgive him for me." Cynthia said sitting beside Pearl and stroking Pearl's beautiful long Golden-brown hair.
"Mother, father always shouts at me and never at Jamine." She then sat up straight on her bed and wiping off her tears she said- "I will become even a stronger cultivator than Jamine, then Father would love me as much as he loves Jamine"
Hearing Pearl Cynthia felt even more miserable. 'Poor Pearl, I can only imagine how you must feel seeing your father having such an attitude towards you.' Cynthia was sorry for Pearl, she herself had witnessed Thomas holding a cold attitude towards Pearl. Initially, she thought things would get better as time would pass, but things were going just downhill.
"You don't have to become strong to impress anyone Pearl" Augustus said while entering the room.
"Great Grandpa" Pearl jumped off her bed and hugged Augustus. She then spoke after a few seconds-"Did you hear father shouting at me for no good reason? If you did hear and did not scold him, go right now and give him a good scolding." Pearl said and puffed her cheeks to show her anger.
"How can I not scold someone who shouts at my precious Pearl. I gave him a good scolding and he won't shout at you again." Augustus smiled and said.
"Good Grandpa" Pearl said and gently patted Augustus' head.
Cynthia internally smiled seeing them both- 'No one in this whole world could act so casually in front of a Lord Rank cultivator. I think Pearl is the only person who had patted Grand-Father's head in this century. Even Jerimine and other kids act formally when in his(Augustus) presence.'
"Great Grandpa tell me some more stories about your friend Great Grandpa Solomon." Pearl sat up getting ready for a story. For Pearl Solomon's stories were a source of great inspiration and she often requested Augustus to narrate them to her, for her Solomon was a hero who fought against all odds to gain strength and fame.
"I have told you everything about him already" Augustus paused for a while and continued- "You know Pearl, Solomon has a GreatGrand Son and he is around your age."
"Huhhh... Great Grandpa, will he do friendship with me?" Pearl said excitedly. Pearl just had 2 friends, Kathrine and Leo. They were her aunt Senna's children, Kathrine was a year younger than Pearl (4 years old) and Leo was 8 years old. She had 2 more cousins, they were her uncle Barun's children Dane and Vayne. Dane was the elder among the two who was 6 years old and Vayne was 4. Both of them kept their distance from Pearl because of Jamine. Jamine was their role model and they followed him religiously. Even other kids avoided being friends with Pearl, no one wanted to be friends with someone Jamine disliked and it was known to everyone that Jamine and Pearl had strained relations.
"Why would not he be your friend Pearl, and I am sure he will be like his Great Grandpa. Someday I will take you Solomon's town Withlock." Augustus said patting Pearl's head.
"Thankkkk Youuuuu.... GreatGrandpa" Pearl said while clapping her hands in excitement.
Augustus then spoke in a serious tone-"Pearl, for a few years I will seclude myself for cultivating. Take care of her." Augustus looked at Cynthia while saying the latter part. Cynthia understood the last part of the sentence was directed towards her. In response, she gave a slight nod.
Hearing Augustus Pearl's expressions became dull. She didn't say much further, she turned and again buried her face into the pillow. She did not resist or tried stopping. Born into a royal family she was taught the importance of cultivation and she did not wanted to obstruct his Great Grandfather's cultivation journey.
"I will take my leave now my precious GreatGrand daughter." He gently stroked her head and left.
Pearl cried out her eyes that night. In this whole world, there were only a handful of people who genuinely liked her, and Augustus was one of them. Every other person hated her or kept their distance from her because of Jamine.