As Rhys walked out of the throne room he lost himself in thoughts, 'She is a scary woman... she was able to find out a lot about me in the few minutes since we met...'
Ina, who heard his thoughts couldn't help but agree inwardly.
"Worry not, she is a caring woman. Just look at how she treats her daughters."
'I know, still... I feel uncomfortable being this weak inside her territory. Can't I just wait until my bloodline increases enough and my talent to increase before starting to cultivate?' Rhys asked something he had thought of a lot.
"Nope. There is a limit of purity your body can handle, 2% would be the most your body can handle in the True King stage, just keep on cultivating steadily." Ina broke his hopes. He thought he could just relax and wait for his bloodline to reach 100% purity... alas his hopes were crushed.
'I see.' Rhys left his thought and focused on what was in front of him.
In front of him stood Stella and Crystal, wearing imperial night blue robes that made their perfect beauty stand out even more. They had charming smiles on their faces as they looked at Rhys. Earing, bracelets, and much other jewelry made their beauty shine all the more. Making them look like real princesses.
"Rhys, I hope you enjoy your stay." Stella spoke, her cold personality and expressionless face full of different emotions.
"Naturally." Rhys smiled, he wouldn't lie to himself. It felt very nice to be here. Although he was troubled by something deep down. That was his race, compared to the others in the Palace, he wasn't exactly a spirit. Sure, he had the blood of one, but it was barely noticeable. Still, he kept it to himself.
"Can you show me my room?" Questioned Rhys as Stella and Crystal nodded.
"Follow us please." Crystal spoke as they left the main hall and left through another.
——
It took a few minutes until they reached a hall full of rooms. Of course, these were rooms where the Imperial family slept, a place no maid or servant can even think of coming into. There was one exception however, the imperial maids could go in and from the Imperial Hall.
Rhys naturally did not know this.
Crystal and Stella lead Rhys to a room that was in the middle of the hall. The door was filled with intricate carvings of moons and stars, the door itself was double doors, both opening inwardly, into the room.
When the room was opened by Stella Rhys was surprised by the sight.
"We hope you like the room." Crystal spoke as she saw Rhys's stupefied expression.
Rhys did not answer as he looked at the room, the room itself was as big as an average house on earth. There was a king-size bed against the wall, in the middle. Multiple chandeliers and the like hang on the ceiling, illuminating the room in a serene blue color.
On the wall was a window that was 7'' feet tall and 4'' feet long. It overlooked the whole city. The windows were surrounded by curtains made of the best silk.
Rhys looked and saw there were other rooms, a huge bathroom that had a bath big enough for 10 people! Another room where thousands of different robes and clothing all big enough for Rhys.
Under the bed was a rug made of fur, it was blue and seemed very soft, the floor of the room was made of wood of the highest quality.
Overall the room was beautiful and too big, even for Rhys.
"Isn't this too big?" Rhys asked, his voice a bit shaky.
"This room is a special room prepared just for you, our rooms are next to yours and the Empress, our mother's room is in front of yours." Stella spoke, making Rhys freeze.
'I'm in the Imperial Quarters? Where the Imperial family resides!.... Aah...; Rhys sighed inside of his head after calming down.
"I understand." Rhys spoke, inwardly though, he was pretty vexed that he was next to the Imperial family.
"We have matters to attend now, let us speak later!" Crystal smiled as Stella and her left the room after closing the doors. Immediately, formations were activated to make sure no one could come in without permission.
'How handy.' Rhys thought with great praise.
"Ara, aren't you enjoying this already?" Ina chuckled in Rhys's mind, 'Hush woman.'
——
Rhys was currently cultivating inside of one of the rooms in his new room, it had been over a month since he arrived in the palace. The formation in the room hid his undulations and the spatial aura all around him, as he absorbed aether and purified it to temper his body, meridians, and dantian.
Rhys's cultivation was normal until suddenly he felt something, 'I'll be breaking through soon!'
Rhys immediately focused as he felt the purity of the energy he was absorbing increasing, his body made cracking sounds as it broke and healed, getting stronger every time it healed. His dantian enlarged and so did his energy reserves, his meridians started to refine themselves to allow a smoother flow of energy as his soul enlarged and was nourished by the energy he was absorbing.
Rhys gritted his teeth as he endured the pain of his body being tempered during the breakthrough and his dantian and meridians refining themselves. He was not yet used to the pain of breakthroughs.
Crack!
His body soon stopped being refined as he felt an invisible layer of energy that held him back vanishing.
Bam!
He felt a fresh rush of energy as soon as he reached the Peak of the True King stage, aether entering his dantian and lying dormant until it was called upon again, while the cosmic energy in his body started to flow smoother.
"Ah~" Rhys let out a grunt of pleasure as he felt his body rise in power, the pleasurable feeling of a breakthrough was great.
"Ina, show me my progress." Rhys asked happily.
Soon, a screen appeared in Rhys's retina.
[
Bloodline/s Purity: 2%
]
Those were the only thing Rhys focused on as his jubilant mood decreased.
'I have reached the peak for this realm... I have to breakthrough into the True Saint realm...' Rhys pondered.
Rhys felt he was close to entering stage 2 of the Eternal Paragon Void Body, after that he would need to enter the Saint realms to progress into stage 3.
"It has not been long since I had a breakthrough into the High level... now I am a Peak True King cultivator... at this speed, I will become a powerhouse in 3-4 years." Rhys smiled, he knew his speed was balance breaking, he felt he would enter the latter levels of the Saint realm in that time.
"Too slow. This is too slow Rhys, you must go faster." Ina spoke, she was dissatisfied with his slow progress.
"Slow?! Tch... will I have to use the resources of the Imperial family? Isn't that too shameless?..." Rhys felt like he was a piece of shit for taking advantage of the goodwill of the Imperial family.
"It is normal, you will be the future Emperor, as you will become the husband of the two princesses, I have noticed they really like you, although it isn't true love, that is only a 'yet' and will soon become a reality. The empress also seems fond of you, you do make her daughters smile more and they seem more cheerful, but their spirit race is special as she said, I think her soul is also reacting to you and your future potential." Ina spoke, but Rhys felt bad for using the love of the girls to his advantage.
"I should try harder, then I won't feel bad for trying to use their resources. Although I refuse to do so, I really don't want to take advantage of their kindness." Rhys made up his mind as his eyes flashed with a purple glow, aether.
——
The next day Rhys woke up and left his room before the imperial maid came to pick him up. He knocked on the door of Crystal and Stella before telling them he came to wake them up so they could go out together into the city.
For once since he transmigrated, Rhys felt like he wanted to leave all distractions behind and enjoy a day with Stella and Crystal, not a date, but at least something to make the girls feel nice.
Stella and Crystal took a few minutes to leave their rooms dressed in white robes, making them look holy.
They both saw Rhys waiting for them with a smile and they smiled as well.
"Let's go enjoy the day." Rhys spoke with a smile, a genuine one, not the ones he forced when he spoke before.
Stella and Crystal nodded happily, it was the first time Rhys had taken the initiative. It was certainly a surprise for the two of them, but they smiled knowing that at least their time with him was working.
——
Rhys, Stella, and Crystal walked down the streets, the city was a place where many high-quality materials and food were sold, being the capital of the Eternal Moon Empire everything costs a lot. But for Rhys it wasn't much, the Imperial family did not suffer much either.
They walked side by side and talked about their lives, dreams, and some other random subjects. Rhys spoke the most, talking about how he liked to become stronger.
Stella and Crystal smile to themselves as they thought Rhys's dream was one everyone had, but not everyone could accomplish.
Their day continued as they ate, played, and bought souvenirs for the Empress, although Stella and Crystal had lived here since they were born, they had never come out to buy anything like this, most of the things were bought by the maids and servants.
They would never 'degrade' themselves to come here like a commoner and buy things from the street stalls, at least that was what everyone thought. The three continue to walk as they laughed, either because of the bad jokes they made or because they made fun of each other.
One could say it was Rhy's first time actually enjoying something for a change, in his past life he never got time to enjoy anything, well, only the novels and books he was provided to keep his mental state in a good condition.
They ate in restaurants, helped commoners who needed it, stopped thieving and robbery, the kindness that the two Princesses showed certainly surprised Rhys, after all, they were from the Imperial family, arrogance and pridefulness would be the norm.
Yet for them it was everything but that, one could say that the two princesses had none of that, they just enjoyed helping their people. The same as their mother and every Empress before her.
Rhys saw some of their true selves as they helped people, making him comprehend that status does not dictate personality, the two princesses just showed him that.
'In the end, it is all about how they are raised, and by whom.'
The day continued to tick by, Rhys felt much more comfortable than before and had an easier time letting some things out, the day turned into night soon as the sun decided to rest and the moon woke up.
...
The wind swayed over the blades of grass, blue roses shone brightly as they reflected the light of the moon, which shone majestically in the sky and provided its cold, beautiful light to the world. Rhys looked to his sides, Stella and Crystal were fully absorbed in the moon, while Rhys was absorbed in them.
Rhys was charmed by their perfect beauty under the moon, for they looked ethereal. Like something that doesn't belong in this world. Rhys smiled at this.
'They truly are beautiful... they also are interested in me. I wonder what my feelings are, these weeks were fun. I enjoyed them, I want more of this. At this rate I will definitely fall in love, something I never experienced... but Swarshlen left many memories of the 'feeling' of love he had towards his wives. I guess I feel something similar. Let's see how this moves on from now on... I'm sure that they love me since they have no restraints with me. They seemed to have judged me as worthy to be their partners.' Rhys's thoughts were complicated, but he knew he would one day fall in love, just never this soon. After all, he had just met them over a month ago, yet his feelings were developing too fast.
He was anxious to see where this will lead to. He did not know if this was love or not, he felt like there was not enough time for him to fall in love. But Swarshlen fell for his wives in the few weeks they spent together, so if he compared his time with the one Swarshlen spent with his wives it was almost the same.
'Is this really love? I have never experienced such an intense emotion that makes my heart beat faster when close to them. These few weeks were fun after all.' Rhys thought as he looked at the two Princesses look at him and blush before they made eye contact and a determined expression took over their faces.