Ni Wei snatched the book from his hand and turned to leave the study.
“So what if she came a few years earlier…”
In the corridor, Ni Wei hugged the book to her chest and muttered under her breath.
***
Ever since His returned from delivering the gray crystal weapons to the royal capital, life had been strangely peaceful.
During this time, Ai Lin had sent him several letters, which caught His by surprise.
It seemed she was now genuinely placing herself in the position of his fiancée.
“We’ve returned to the border, though the demon race hasn’t made any moves this time. After we switched to gray crystal weapons, the several strongholds that had been taken by the demon race were quickly recaptured. The soldiers’ morale is now running high. Captain Leonard’s wounds have improved, but he still can’t participate in battle for the time being. If nothing goes wrong in the next couple of days, we’ll head back to the royal capital to report first.”
Reading the letters from his fiancée, His couldn’t help but feel somewhat surprised.
He had thought the tense situation at the border would continue for a while longer, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.
Still, the demon race watching their strongholds get recaptured without making a move—it didn’t feel like a good omen…
“Young Master.”
Li Nuo Er’s voice interrupted His’s thoughts.
“Hm? When did you get here?”
“I just arrived.”
“Oh… Is there something going on at the mine?”
“Yes. Recently, the Dawn Trading Company has stopped sending people over. The ones who were stationed there before have also been pulling out one after another.”
“I see. Alright, I understand.”
His spoke casually, but inwardly, his wariness was growing.
Behind the Dawn Trading Company was the Church of Light. They had been eyeing the gray crystal for this long—there was no way they would give up so easily.
However, the System hadn’t given him any information on this matter recently, and he had no idea what he could do about it. He would just have to take things one step at a time.
Taking advantage of this rare stretch of peaceful time, His finally began fulfilling his earlier promise to Ni Wei. Every day, he would set aside time to teach her how to control the dark element within her body.
“Focus your attention. You need to first feel the flow of the dark element inside your body. Don’t rush.”
Hearing His’s words, Ni Wei stood still, her eyes tightly shut, her little face tense.
“I know! Can you stop rushing me?”
“Alright, alright, I won’t rush you. Now, try guiding the element toward your palm.”
“Mm…”
Ni Wei complained with her mouth, but her body obediently followed his instructions.
After a long moment, a faint dark-purple light slowly emerged from her palm.
“See that?! I’m a genius after all!”
Ni Wei opened her eyes, looking at the dark glow in her palm with a smug smile on her face.
“Not bad, not bad. You’re making progress quickly.”
Seeing Ni Wei like this, His couldn’t help but reach out and ruffle her hair.
“Hmph, of course! Now you know how amazing I am, right?!”
Ni Wei lifted her chin, seemingly no longer minding His ruffling her hair at all.
“But…”
His shifted the topic.
“Even though you can successfully guide the element now, your control isn’t stable enough yet. Look—isn’t the element in your hand starting to disperse?”
Ni Wei looked down and sure enough, the dark-purple glow in her palm was flickering like a candle in the wind, gradually growing dimmer.
“You’ll need to put more work into stability from here on.”
“Ugh… Can’t you just praise me a little more?”
“Isn’t it because I want you to improve faster?”
“You!”
“Alright, alright. I believe you’ll do better next time! Now, let’s try again.”
“Oh.”
The girl pouted and closed her eyes once more.
Not far away, Rafina gently tucked a strand of pale golden hair behind her ear, her gaze resting on the two of them.
Ever since she and her sister had come to the Duke’s Mansion, her younger sister had always seemed hostile toward His, never saying a single kind word about him.
But ever since the two of them had gone to the royal capital together, the relationship between them seemed to have undergone some subtle change.
Her sister’s gaze toward Young Master His had softened considerably, and her smiles were becoming more and more frequent.
Well, that was a good thing… probably.
***
That day, His received another letter from the royal capital.
He initially thought it was from Ai Lin, who should have returned by now, but the gold-embossed emblem on the envelope told him this was a letter sent by the royal family.
His tore open the envelope and skimmed through the contents.
[To celebrate the triumphant return of the Kingdom Knights and to honor those who contributed to this campaign, the King will host a banquet in the royal capital one week from now. All are cordially invited to attend…]
And his name—His Blackstone—was prominently listed among those to be commended.
A commendation?
Hoho, he was getting an award for this? That was pretty wild.
But thinking about it more, with the border conflict just stabilizing, the royal family did need some good news to lift everyone’s spirits.
The banquet wasn’t entirely unexpected.
***
“You’re going to the royal capital again?!”
During dinner, upon hearing His’s words, Ni Wei nearly stabbed her fork through her plate.
“Yeah, I need to attend a banquet.”
His speared a piece of meat and leisurely put it in his mouth.
“A banquet? Isn’t that just eating, drinking, and chatting? What’s so great about that?”
“What can I do? It’s an invitation from the royal family. How could I refuse?”
His set down his utensils and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“Don’t worry, I’m just going to show my face. I’ll be back soon.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t care when you come back…”
Ni Wei held her fork and poked gloomily at the mashed potatoes on her plate.
Hmph, he was definitely going to see that fiancée of his again!
Last time he came back, he was absent-minded for days. Who knows what would happen this time.
***
On the morning of his departure, His was making his final preparations when the bedroom door was gently pushed open.
“Young Master, it’s time to leave.”
Rafina walked in, holding a set of neatly arranged clothes.
“This is the banquet attire you had tailored earlier.”
“Thank you for your trouble.”
“It’s my duty.”
Rafina stepped forward, placed the clothes on the bed, then raised her hand and gently straightened His’s collar.
The distance between them closed in an instant, and His could almost catch the faint, fresh scent emanating from the young woman.
“Young Master.”
“Hm?”
“Take care on the road.”
Rafina looked up into His’s eyes, her voice still gentle, but for some reason, His felt a knot tighten in his chest.
Before he could think further, Rafina had already turned and left the bedroom with a smile.
Watching her retreating figure, His suddenly felt a sense of unease creeping over him.
Why did it feel like… something was off?
He must be overthinking things.
Yeah!
That was definitely it!