Chapter 4 - Truth

"Goodbye Mary," the king said.

"Don't you ever forget my words. I'll one way or another get my hands on this boy," Mary whispered to the king before leaving the castle.

However, before she could truly leave, she said goodbye to the man of honour that day.

"Take care Julius. I hope you can find it in your heart to visit my kingdom many times," said Mary as she made an innocent face towards Julius.

"I think it's about time that you leave," said the king as he looked at her with a smile which was filled with anger.

"Don't mind her Julius. She's just speaking nonsense. Anyway..." the king said to Julius.

"I presume everything was to your liking prince Julius?" his father asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Yes, it really was. I enjoyed every part of it. Thank you. But seriously, the guests are gone so you don't have to act like that anymore," Julius said with a smile on his face which seemed genuine for the first time.

"Although, I really am sorry," Julius said as he looked at the ground in shame.

"Why would you be sorry?" the king asked.

"Well, I know how much you've been expecting out of me, especially since I'm your son after all. But after all that anticipation, my status reading in the auditorium was disappointing," Julius said.

"Oh..." his father said before changing his voice to be much calmer and understanding.

"Margaret, would you mind staying here for now? I would like to speak to Julius alone," the king asked his wife.

"Not at all, take your time," the queen replied.

Hearing those words, Henry began to walk forward towards the stairs which lead up the 5 floors of the castle which he along with his son, Julius would walk through as they had their little conversation.

"I'm sorry to break it to you but, the reason that the guests went silent wasn't because your evaluation was disappointing, in fact, it was quite the opposite," said Henry before he sighed.

"Look Julius, your status evaluation was impressive. I mean really impressive. It's completely unheard of for a person to have 10000 in any area no matter the age of a person. But for you to have them in 2 areas which are specifically the ones needed to master the secret arts, it's unbelievable," the king began to speak which baffled Julius.

"I'm not going to be fooled. You're only saying that to cheer me up," Julius said in a stubborn tone which just made his father sigh even more.

"Listen, to make this make sense to you. I'll use myself as an example. You should know by now that I am one of, if not the strongest human to live on this planet. My status points range from 1500-2000 points per category. Do you get it now Julius?" his father asked before continuing to speak.

"The combined points of your two last aspects are greater than all of my aspects combined. You hold the power to dominate this world as its sole king. However, do not be distracted as you're much too similar to a glass canon," the king said.

"Glass canon?" Julius asked in confusion.

"Think of it this way. You can do a lot of damage but the second an attack lands on you, you're basically dead. That's why we must start your training as soon as possible," the king told Julius.

"But why father? You said we could do my training slowly so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed by it," Julius replied.

"Things have changed son. You're no longer an average child. Think of yourself as a bomb which is capable of wiping out all of humanity if trained properly. Do you get it now? People would go to great lengths to have you under their control. I don't know how long I can protect you from others before they get together and destroy me. So please, listen to your father this time. Get strong enough to protect yourself and those you care for from those who seek to destroy what you love," Henry told his son with a sad smile on his face.

"I understand," Julius said. In fact he understood more than he was meant to. What his father was saying was that he would need to be sent away to cultivate for the time being and learn ways to become strong enough to take on the entire world.

Once their conversation finished, Julius headed for his room to prepare the things he would need while he was off cultivating.

When he entered his room, he was greeted by Liz who was sitting by a chair near his enormous bed. In her hand was a large book which she would read stories to Julius so that he could go to sleep.

"Don't you think I'm getting too old for you to read stories to me? After all, I'm 14 years of age now," said Julius.

"Huh? So what I'm hearing is that you don't like spending time with me? Well, someone has gotten pretty rude over a few hours," said Liz.

"No no, that's not what I said at all," Julius tried to correct himself.

"Oh, so you're saying that you like me? Pretty bold of you to make such a confession during the day of your birthday," Liz said as he tried to cheer Julius up. The prince hadn't realized it but he looked gloomy when he entered his room.

"You know what I mean," said Julius as he became flustered. He had no knowledge of what the concept of love was. All knew about it was that he didn't want to be affiliated with it. As would be expected of a boy his age. Julius hadn't found his first love yet.

Once Liz finished reading the story to Julius, she had realized that the prince had gone off to sleep.

"You've had a tiring day. However, this will not be the last of your struggles. Good luck Julius," said Liz as he pecked him on the cheek before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.