Chapter 22

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Meanwhile, at the king’s residence, situated in the middle of the palace.

There were many lit candles and oil lamps in the spacious bedroom of around 60 square meters. However, the brightness did not liven up the atmosphere and, despite the warm summer night, the room felt gloomy and cold.

A splendorous wooden bed sat in the middle of the bedroom, like an isolated raft floating lonely on a vast ocean. On it lay an old man with a wrinkled face—Austin Donners—the king of Blue Lion Kingdom.

At this moment, Donner looked very pale. His skin had an uncanny dark tone, and some of it had already decomposed, giving a faint and putrid smell.

Covered in a thin blanket, he was breathing with much difficulty, his chest heaving. The sleeping King Donners looked rather lifeless, weaker than the candle flame flickering beside him.

Suddenly, there was a cough.

King Donners was jolted awake from his sleep. When he opened his eyes, he felt suffocated, choking on a viscous phlegm. He wanted to expel it from his body but to no avail. His face was swollen and red. Beneath his flabby skin, blood vessels bulged, and he sat up with difficulty, trying to attract attention for help.

However, the two guards standing at the door seemed deaf. Bang, bang, bang. The King kept hitting the bed, but they stood rooted to the spot. Under the flickering candlelight outside, the two guards cast shadows on the ground beside the door, slightly distorted, like struggling souls tempted by the devil.

Bang, bang! He coughed again.

King Donners continued beating the bed. His fists were clenched, his joints already white, the bluish veins on his temples bulged, and his eyes widened. He opened his mouth but could not breathe. He was like a fish that had been shoved on the shore by the wind and waves.

In that instant, King Donners felt a heavy blow on his back. Someone had hit him. His whole body suddenly shook, and his throat loosened. He coughed out the blocked sputum on the ground.

Puff, puff.

Donners began to gasp, and his chest heaved violently, sounding like a broken pair of bellows.

Finally, the two guards outside the door heard the noise and came in. But someone else acted faster: the palace butler—Deron. He had been keeping guard outside the bedroom but had dozed off because of his old age. After being awakened by the noise in the bedroom, he ran in to find out what happened.

When he discovered Donners sitting up and gasping for breath, with the viscous saliva in Donner’s mouth dripping onto the blanket, Butler Deron immediately understood the situation.

He walked to Donners and patted his back softly, making the king cough repeatedly so that he could spit out the remaining phlegm in his throat. Afterward, he wiped Donners’s mouth with a handkerchief and asked carefully, “Your Majesty, are you alright?”

“I’m fine… not dead yet,” Donners said, panting.

“Your Majesty, do you want to continue resting then?”

“Forget it, I’m afraid I won’t be able to sleep again tonight after waking up.” Donners waved his hand. Tormented by the strange disease, the paleness on his face was particularly obvious. He said, “Why don’t you update me on what’s happening lately? How are my two sons, William and Richard, doing? I hope they haven’t stirred up any trouble.”

“They didn’t,” Butler Deron said, shaking his head. “Both princes have been doing very well. Prince William has taken the initiative to reduce his palace expenses. He said it is to find a better doctor to treat you. Yesterday morning, he visited you, but you had just fallen asleep after much difficulty so he went back, he did not want to disturb your sleep. He even reminded me not to tell Your Majesty, lest you felt disappointed.”

“Um, William is not bad.” Donners nodded. He then asked, “What about Richard?”

“Prince Richard…” Butler Deron hesitated slightly before saying, “Prince Richard also cares very much about you, but he has been busy recently, so—”

“So since the last time he came, he has not asked about me, right?” Donners said. He was closing his eyes slowly, as if he was trying to calm down.

“Your Majesty,” Butler Deron said slowly. “Perhaps Prince Richard is still cross with you. After all, you wrongly blamed him for the incident a few years ago.”

Donners opened his eyes and fell silent for a long time. He then said slowly, “I was too impulsive three years ago. But if he had not done all those wizard stuff, why would I have misunderstood him? What is done is done. What else can I do?

“I’m the king. Does he expect me to apologize to him and ask for his forgiveness? And even if I apologized to him, I doubt he would accept it!” Upon finishing his words, Donners looked a little sad.

“Your Majesty, calm down,” Butler Deron said quickly. “You can’t apologize to Prince Richard, but you can punish those who contributed to the situation at the time. It’s said that the rumours were spread by someone from Prince William’s palace, so—”

“Don’t talk about this anymore.” Donners waved his hand. “William has already explained the reasons to me in detail. The problem wasn’t because of that employee at all, I just made a mistake a few years ago. In order to make up for one mistake, do I have to make another one?

“Richard, if he feels wronged, so be it. He will have to endure it, I’m his father! I can’t possibly hurt William again for the sake of fairness. Besides, is this world fair after all?

“You should be well aware that I think very highly of William. Both in terms of magnanimity and resourcefulness, he is far better than I was when I was young. I believe Blue Lion Kingdom will definitely become stronger after I hand it over to him. As the next in line to the throne, he cannot have any black marks.

“As for Richard, I know he was hurt. I will get William to compensate him well when the time comes. He will be granted tax exemption and the best territories. He should feel happy about it! After all, what happened in the end was that some of his subordinates were killed by mistake and he was also imprisoned for a while.

“As for those few people killed, he claimed that they were assistants he had spent a lot of time training but, in my opinion, they were just a few ignorant bumpkins and hillbillies, not even attractive servants. So what if they were killed? This is in exchange for a lifetime of wealth for him. What’s there to complain?

“He has to tolerate it, even if he’s not happy. I’m his father and the king! Everything on this land belongs to me, and everyone must obey me! I’m not dead yet, and I won’t allow anything that goes against my wishes. I- I don’t want to hear anyone defy me.”

“Yes.” Butler Deron didn’t dare refute, but his eyes flickered. “But Your Majesty, isn’t it too soon for you to say this?”

“Ha, ha,” Donners laughed. He could read Butler Deron’s mind, so he said, “Don’t worry, I know my health. Although I’m suffering from a strange disease and my health is deteriorating, I can still hang on for now. By the way, when all the leaves of the birch forest outside the city have turned yellow because of autumn, I still want to go and see it.”

“Yes, that’s good, that’s good,” Butler Deron repeated. He wore a complicated expression, and it was hard to tell what crossed his mind.

Donners was engrossed in conversation and did not notice Deron Butler’s expression.

During their chat, a candle in the corner kept burning. As it burned, the candle wick became increasingly longer, cracking, and the candlelight gradually became unstable. Suddenly, an invisible force cut off a part of the candle wick. The candlelight turned stable again.

Neither Donners nor Deron noticed this. They also did not notice a pair of invisible eyes slowly leaving the palace and rising into the sky.

Late at night, the scenery was beautiful. The night sky was studded with dazzling stars.

An invisible tape was drifting through the air. One end of it was attached to Richard, who was sitting cross-legged in a bedroom situated at the northwest of the palace, and the other end was attached to his consciousness, flying in the air.

The energy from astral projection spread everywhere in the form of multiple colored light spots.

Richard relaxed his consciousness and began to absorb that overwhelming amount of energy. Although the absorbed energy could not be stored before he successfully unlocked a magic source, he could still familiarize himself with this step and strengthen his spiritual power.

In the distance, an enormous figure that looked completely different from a bird swooped past.