TO CELEBRATE THE Crown Prince's success in the assessment, having the ability to conjure fire in the future, the emperor decided to hold a small banquet inviting only the first-rank nobles. Of course, the Pei Family included. And as usual, Duke Pei didn't attend, saying he was in poor health and was starting to get on with his age. Those words startled everyone.
Emperor Jun even thought that the duke was dying. Otherwise, why did Duke Pei keep on refusing to show himself?
The thought was fascinating, but Emperor Jun didn't want to expect too much. He might end up having his heart broken if he learned that Duke Pei would still live for another hundred years.
"The Duke is already old," Emperor Jun said with a sigh, "Although This Emperor wanted to see him more often, This Emperor is more concerned about his health," acting as if he remembered something, he added, "How about letting Elder Leo have a look at the Duke's body? He is an expert, after all. Maybe, he could help him with his health." His eyes were gentle, and he spoke as if he was indeed thinking about Duke Pei's health matters.
Lily took a sip at her teacup. Her face contorted, showing her annoyance. Although she attended this banquet, she only did so because she had a plan that would take place in this palace. She didn't come here to entertain anyone. She came here to be entertained!
How bothersome!
"No need," she replied dryly. "My grandfather is too obsessed with cleanliness. Rather than a disease, he might die from someone else's hand."
The atmosphere froze. And Elder Leo, who decided not to give the girl any attention, had a dark face that even the bottom of the yok couldn't even compare.
"What do you mean by that, little girl?" asked Elder Leo. His voice was cold, sending chills to the nearby people.
Lily's head turned sideways to give the elder a look. Her eyes blinked innocently as she replied, "Exactly what I mean, Imperial Preceptor Leo."
"Impudence!" Elder Leo huffed. He was being taunted by a girl, and that thought angered him so much!
Lily's eyes blinked even more. "Imperial Preceptor Leo jests. Which part of what I said is wrong?" Then she creased her brows, seemingly confused about something. "My grandfather is, indeed, obsessed with cleanliness. He would have seizures when touched by someone he didn't know. That's why we never ask an imperial physician from the palace whenever he fell ill," she sighed in regret before adding, "What to do? I can only watch in horror and sadness while my grandfather groans in pain."
She sobbed, and even wipe a tear or two from her eyes. Her act was good and could almost fool anyone, if not for the fact that there was not a single tear coming out of her eyes.
"....." said everyone.
Now, Elder Leo's anger was turning into rage. Don't say he didn't know what the girl meant earlier. He was accused of having thoughts of killing the duke!
His gaze at Lily was turning sinister. Everyone thought he would snap when he suddenly took a deep breath and swung his sleeves before leaving the area.
Lily rested her head on her palm as she continued to stare at the elder's leaving back.
Ah, what a shame!
She didn't know that the newly appointed Imperial Preceptor has good patience. She really thought he would suddenly charge at her given the atmosphere was turning heavy.
Her eyes then turned to the emperor who was standing stiff at her side. The two of them locked gazes for 20 seconds before the other coughed and left without a word.
Ah, another coward!
"Young miss, that was too reckless of you," Ji Mei whispered.
Lily clicked her tongue. "He wouldn't dare," she said with confidence, "Although he thinks highly of himself, he still needs his reputation."
Ji Mei's face was blank as she said, "What reputation? The Medicine Sect has long lost its good reputation. What's there for him to still think of?"
Lily shrugged.
Elder Leo still needed to establish himself in this empire.
The Pei Family was the empire's hero and protector. If he hurt her now, he would lose the trust of the common people. They would protest to the emperor to kick him out of the land.
As a monarch, the emperor, of course, needed to listen to his subjects. Otherwise, it would be him that would lose a good reputation. The commotion might even cause a rebellion.
So, in short, Elder Leo had to be patient. He needed to gain the trust of the people in the empire, and slowly scheme from behind. Lily couldn't help but look forward to the elder's next moves. She could tell from his eyes how badly he wanted the Pei Family gone.
Anyway, that was still a long run. What Lily had to focus on for now was to make sure the little prince could get out of the palace, and take him with her. She hope Hugh's good shadow guard was already on his way to the northern palaces.
---
"....."
Shadow Guard Loid stood motionless, looking speechless. For someone who claimed that she had no idea about magic and the Earth Realm, Young Miss Lily sure did own a lot of magical weapons.
"It looks fantastic!" Prince Zak exclaimed. His eyes twinkled as he observed the cool weapon Shadow Guard Loid was holding.
The magical weapon was a metre long, its silver body glistened from the moonlight, and it was covered in colourful gems which were an inch apart from each other.
"What kind of weapon is that?" he asked with curiosity.
"It's a fourth-grade elemental sword," Shadow Guard Loid answered.
"It didn't look like a sword, though." But it still looked cool!
Shadow Guard Loid pursed his lips. Then, he pointed the tip of the weapon at the young prince's bed; seconds later, blue fire came out and shot into it, rendering the bed ablaze.
Prince Zak gasped as his eyes widened in surprise. He thought that the fire would spread, but it just kept on burning the bed. It didn't take long before the bed turned into ashes, into nothingness, and the floor vanished until the blue fire reached the mud. However, it was still blazing. Then, maybe it thought that there was nothing more to burn in that particular area, hence, it began spreading, looking for something to burn.
This scene astonished Prince Zak even more. His eyes turned to look at the magic weapon, and he couldn't help but long for it!
Shadow Guard Loid noticed his eyes, so, he immediately explained, "In order for you to use something powerful as this magical weapon, you needed to break through from your cultivation first. Fifth to first-grade magical weapons could only be used by those people who could already utilise their attributes."
However, it was not necessarily mean that the magic user who could utilise his attributes could produce this kind of fire. Like its name, elemental sword, this magic weapon would produce magic depending on what kind of element the magic user was using. Shadow Guard Loid was in the storm category, but he could use his energy to push out the magic left in this weapon by the owner.
In addition...
Shadow Guard Loid's face showed confusion. This fire was not a simple fire. No one could perfectly conjure such a thing. He wondered whose magic weapon was this. There was no mark, but it certainly had an owner. Otherwise, the attribute that it would spit out would be his, not someone else's.
The more he thinks, the more mysterious Young Miss Terra gets!
Meanwhile, Prince Zak's shoulders slumped down after hearing those words. But then his eyes lit up in determination a second later. He just needed to work hard!
Looking at the prince's determined expression, Shadow Guard Loid nodded in satisfaction before ignoring him. Finally, he did what Young Miss Lily told him to do.
He waved the elemental sword and burned the courtyards located at the northern palace.
The plan was to burn the area where the young prince's courtyard was located. But then, the young miss suddenly thought of burning, at least, half of the imperial palace just to spite the imperial family. After all, nothing could make Lily happy right now other than seeing the imperial family in chaos.