After seeing his mother leave, Wang Chang stared at Anatolia in his room.
She had pale yellow hair and a beautiful face. She wore a dress that loosely wrapped around her bountiful body.
Anatolia sat on the bed with him sitting beside her. She repeatedly blinked her eyes and pointed at her breasts.
Wang Chang turned his head away. He was old enough to completely eat solid food, and his baby instincts had stopped desiring to drink milk.
His pride and shame maintained his dignity in front of Anatolia, who had strong motherly desires.
With him turned away, she stared at him expectantly.
Wang Chang looked at her and mercilessly shook his head. This wasn't the first time she asked this question. Eventually, he decided it was enough and stopped taking the milk from her.
And now that the two of them were alone in Jin Jiayi's room, she was exceedingly persistent.
Anatolia covered her eyes as she teared up.
"Jiayi doesn't want my milk anymore…"
Wang Chang closed his eyes and went to sleep. He thought of her like a second mother, but she needed to accept that he had grown.
. . .
When Wang Chang woke up it was nighttime, he opened his eyes to an Anatolia who was hugging him tight. His face was buried in her chest as if she hoped he would feed on them in his sleep.
What an intense motherly desire…
Wang Chang was amazed by her. If she had a baby, that baby would be spoiled more than he did.
He carefully escaped her clutches, climbed up the chair, and gazed outside the window. He looked in the direction where his mother had left as a desire to find her filled his heart.
This feeling is the same. It feels like I'm missing Ying'er.
A colorful painting of emotions clouded Wang Chang's heart. His memories of Luo Nuying were replayed in his mind.
They were all happy memories, but somehow, they became sad when he remembered them. Her kind smile and her blushing face gave him a sense of loneliness.
I miss her too.
Wang Chang realized that he still had emotions for his wife. He had repeatedly tried to bury it, and he thought he had succeeded.
But the overlapping emotions he felt had dug them out and laid them bare for him to feel and remember. This feeling of loneliness consumed Wang Chang.
He struggled to settle his emotions as he gripped the windowsill tight. He wanted to fly and find both of them at this moment.
Maybe I should cultivate.
Wang Chang sighed as he realized the convenience of cultivation.
Su Zihao, the Imperial Preceptor and his self-proclaimed master had told him about the realms of cultivation. He explained them to him when he was trying to ascertain if Jin Jiayi could understand him.
People who hadn't cultivated were called mortals. These are people with minuscule amounts of spiritual energy in their bodies.
This spiritual energy was the source of a cultivator's strength. It existed in everything and it was considered a mysterious form of energy. As long as it was abundant, the cultivator could keep using their abilities.
There were many stages for cultivation. Su Zihao was only privy to two of them because of his master.
The Spiritual Gathering realm was the first step in cultivation. Mortals could easily reach this realm if they had the resources to do so.
Su Zihao reached the 7th stage of this realm, and there were 11 stages in total. He had filled various parts of his body with spiritual energy, allowing him to use supernatural magic.
The cultivators of this realm could float at the 11th stage. It was the sign that they had fully filled their body with spiritual energy.
As for the next realm, the Consolidation realm, Su Zihao could only explain that cultivators of this realm could fly. He had also said that his master was such a cultivator.
Wang Chang was inwardly shocked while he maintained an expressionless face back then.
As he thought of the Consolidation realm, he imagined himself flying through the sky and meeting with his mother. He envisioned her surprised face and happy smile, and he couldn't help but grin.
Then Wang Chang's mind wandered into imagining flying back to his village and seeing his wife waiting for him there. He imagined Luo Nuying's face as she saw him fly from the horizon. He imagined embracing her and spinning in circles while excessively smiling.
I…
Wang Chang struggled. His lack of desire for cultivation mixed with his emotions and the two sides battled each other.
He remembered his mother's words.
"Jiayi, you're going to have a tutor. I don't think he can teach you yet, but he will help prepare your body for cultivation."
The Empress wanted him to cultivate for the sake of the empire, and as her son, he wanted to meet those expectations.
Adding to this were his current loneliness as well as his desire to meet Luo Nuying.
These various emotions mixed together and drained the blood from Wang Chang's head. He became lightheaded as he couldn't immediately come to a decision.
"Suffering is a part of cultivation, Miss Anatolia. The Crown Prince of the Jin Empire ought to start earlier than everyone else."
He remembered Su Zihao's words to Anatolia back then in the bathhouse. He hadn't thought much of it previously, and now he realized the implicit meaning it had.
I need to cultivate not just for me and finding Ying'er… but also for the sake of my new life. If I don't cultivate, I might not become the Crown Prince in the end.
His mother's warning surfaced in his mind.
"Unless he displays inadequate abilities, he will remain as Crown Prince."
It was a direct warning in public which meant that she wouldn't be able to go back on her words or she would lose trust among the people.
The more Wang Chang thought, the more he realized that he had no choice but to cultivate. He sat on the chair he was standing on and took several deep breaths.
I need to cultivate. I don't want to upset Mama, I want to become the Crown Prince to make her proud, and I want to… see Ying'er again.
Wang Chang accepted it. He had been slacking in cultivation ever since that bathhouse incident. As he came to a decision, he sensed he was pressed for time after wasting them.