Free Web NovelThe Thanatos kept sailing through the star sea.
But what happened tonight left every Saint Clan member on the warship furious.
Compared to the others—already looking like they were about to start killing at any second—Mansendis was, at least on the surface, the calmest of them all.
He didn’t let the emotions in his chest show. The expression on his face remained as steady and indifferent as ever.
While Mond and the others were visibly thrown off by Wen Yuzhi’s words, Mansendis simply kept his face unchanged, holding a warm towel as he wiped the tear tracks from the cub’s cheeks.
The tears could be wiped away, but the redness from crying couldn’t.
Especially not when Wen Yuzhi’s skin was still so delicate and snow-white—any tiny mark on it looked painfully obvious.
All Mansendis had to do was look, and he would immediately see again how the cub had thrown himself into Mansendis’s arms and cried so hard he almost couldn’t catch his breath.
Mansendis pressed his lips together, then, with a tender restraint, lightly touched the reddened corner of the cub’s eye with his fingertip.
A tiny teardrop still clung to those damp lashes, refusing to fall. Paired with the cub’s swollen, red-rimmed eyes, it made everyone present feel their hearts ache—while their anger toward the culprits who had frightened the cub into crying only grew thicker.
Especially Mond.
Mond had watched with their own eyes as the little Highness’s relationship with the king had been getting better and better lately—and as the little Highness had become more and more lively and cheerful.
The little Highness had even been happy right before falling asleep.
And yet in the blink of an eye, whatever happened in that dream had scared the cub so badly that the crying had gone hoarse.
How could Mond not be furious?
But just like Mansendis, no matter how angry Mond was, Mond didn’t wear that fury on the face. Mond brought over the milk that had already been warmed.
Mansendis touched the cup. Only after checking that the temperature was about right did he bring it to Wen Yuzhi.
Wen Yuzhi wasn’t really hungry.
Right now, he couldn’t swallow anything.
But to keep Mansendis and the others from worrying, he still obediently drank the milk the silver-haired sovereign handed over.
And once the warm milk settled into his stomach, even though Wen Yuzhi still hadn’t fully shaken off the aftereffects of that nightmare, the tightness in his emotions began to ease little by little.
Mond had added a bit of calming medicine to the milk.
Mu Luo had been worried that Wen Yuzhi’s emotions still weren’t stable enough. If the cub got worked up again, it could trigger convulsions and a high fever, so Mu Luo had weighed it carefully and added a small amount of sedative.
Considering Wen Yuzhi’s current size, the dosage Mu Luo prescribed was very low.
But it had to be said—the effect was excellent.
After drinking the milk, the cub’s emotions visibly settled a great deal.
Wen Yuzhi leaned against Mansendis, still holding the little doll that the bone spines had stuffed into his hands.
From a distance, it looked like a slightly bigger doll hugging a smaller stuffed toy.
Mansendis smoothed a hand over the cub’s hair and asked, “Zhizhi, are you still sleepy? Do you want to sleep a little longer in Dad’s arms?”
Wen Yuzhi shook his head.
He’d only just managed to wake up from that dream. Now he had a psychological shadow over sleep itself.
Even if he was still a little sleepy, Wen Yuzhi didn’t want to sleep.
Seeing that the cub refused, Mansendis didn’t force it. He called the bone spines over.
The moment Wen Yuzhi saw the bone spines, the small thread of tension that had risen inside him immediately loosened again.
Mansendis had noticed for a while now—aside from Mansendis, even when Mond came close, the cub’s body would tense up without him meaning to.
Mansendis knew it was probably connected to the harm those people in the dream had done to Wen Yuzhi.
Even though Wen Yuzhi was awake now, his body remembered that pain—and had begun to instinctively guard itself against anyone who came near.
Everyone, except Mansendis.
Perhaps, deep down in the cub’s heart, Mansendis had already become the person he trusted and relied on the most.
So the bone spines, carrying Mansendis’s scent, were also classified by Wen Yuzhi as safe—trustworthy.
It was because Mansendis had seen that clearly that he had the bone spines come over to keep the cub company.
“Let Zhizhi play with them for a while, okay? Dad will be right back.”
Mansendis spoke in a low voice.
Wen Yuzhi froze for a moment. He didn’t answer, but both hands clenched tight around Mansendis’s clothes.
The cub was clearly using this silent way to say he didn’t want Mansendis to leave.
If this had been before, if the cub had been willing to cling to him like this, Mansendis would have felt only joy.
But now, looking at the cub in his arms—so careful, so fragile—what the silver-haired sovereign felt was only heartache.
His child shouldn’t be this sad.
His child shouldn’t be covered in tears like this.
Mansendis’s gaze darkened slightly, but the movements of his hands remained gentle.
He cupped the cub’s head, and under Wen Yuzhi’s watch—
When he spoke again—
“Dad isn’t leaving. Dad will be in the lounge outside, Zhizhi.”
Wen Yuzhi blinked.
As long as it was close—still within his line of sight—Wen Yuzhi wrestled with it for a second, then finally chose to let go.
Wen Yuzhi knew Mansendis leaving now meant there was something important to handle. He also knew Mansendis had given him the right to be willful—if he insisted, Mansendis would stay for his sake.
But the cub still chose, sensibly, to release his grip.
He didn’t cry. He didn’t make a fuss. He only said, a little reluctant, “Then Dad, remember to come back quickly.”
Mansendis’s firm resolve almost wavered at those words.
Mansendis even wanted to simply take Wen Yuzhi along. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
But reason told Mansendis that some things weren’t suitable for the cub to face right now.
So Mansendis only agreed, “I’ll be back very soon.”
Wen Yuzhi nodded.
And after the silver-haired sovereign turned away, Wen Yuzhi cautiously lifted a hand and touched his own forehead.
Just now, Dad had kissed him there...
Wen Yuzhi blinked, surprise in his eyes—along with a trace of disbelief.
..........
On the other side, Mansendis went into the lounge outside.
He didn’t close the door—just as he had promised. From the bed, as long as Wen Yuzhi lifted his head, he could still see them here.
Mansendis turned back and looked once.
Wen Yuzhi was still looking this way, a doll hugged in his arms.
When Wen Yuzhi noticed Mansendis looking back, the cub hurriedly lowered his head, pretending—far too obviously—to be focused on playing with the stuffed toy.
Seeing that, a faint smile surfaced in Mansendis’s eyes.
But the moment Mansendis turned around again, that smile vanished.
What disappeared with it was the warmth on Mansendis’s face.
His expression went cold, and there was no tenderness left in his eyes—only a deep, heavy chill.
In front of Mansendis, Mond stood at the head, with Alvin and Selet behind. The three bowed slightly, offering a silent salute to the silver-haired sovereign.
“Speak. What did you find?”
Mansendis’s voice was cold, and even the tone carried an icy indifference.
The command was short—matching the high-efficiency style he always demanded. And if you listened carefully, you could hear it: when Mansendis said it, the words already carried a thread of killing intent.
Even though that intent wasn’t aimed at them, the pressure still made the three Saint Clan members’ hearts tighten. None dared to lift their head. They could only lower themselves further, their posture growing even more respectful.
Without a doubt, this Mansendis was the sovereign they knew best.
Only in front of Wen Yuzhi was Mansendis the father who wiped away the cub’s tears and kissed the cub’s forehead.
Outside Wen Yuzhi’s line of sight, facing everyone else, Mansendis was still the same cold, detached tyrant—his emotions never showing on his face.
And it wasn’t only Mansendis.
Mond and the others looked different now, too, compared to how they were in front of Wen Yuzhi.
Strictly speaking, this was their real state.
The Saint Clan had never been a race that valued truth, kindness, and beauty. Mond and the others had never been gentle or broad-minded figures. On the contrary—their nature was the same as every other Saint Clan member’s.
Coldness and ruthlessness, carved into the bone.
It was only that after spending so long around the little Highness, these monsters had, without realizing it, grown emotions.
But monsters with emotions were still monsters.
Far from Wen Yuzhi’s eyes, those emotions snapped back into coldness in an instant.
Earlier, while the silver-haired sovereign was wiping the cub’s tears, Selet had already begun investigating what Wen Yuzhi described.
Given how important the little Highness was, none of them treated Wen Yuzhi’s words as a mere unreal nightmare.
Because so many details Wen Yuzhi mentioned while describing it were real.
And they did exist.
For example—dragon-blood stone.
This was an ore that existed only in the king’s pool.
It contained abundant energy, enough to provide rich nourishment for the birth of royal blood.
And because its appearance was vivid as blood—and because it existed only among the Saint Clan—the outside world gave it the name “dragon-blood stone,” using that name to emphasize its rarity.
But within the Saint Clan, they generally only called it red crystal stone, or red crystal.
After Wen Yuzhi came to the Saint Clan, he hadn’t had any contact with the outside world. He shouldn’t have known the name “dragon-blood stone.”
That was why Mansendis and the others had doubted the dream.
So many things Wen Yuzhi mentioned were real—yet they were things they had never told the cub.
Selet said, “This subordinate found that Esoris did have a theft incident twenty years ago.”
Twenty years ago happened to be the final year of Tasiya’s reign.
It was also the year Mansendis inherited the throne.
That year, many things happened within the Saint Clan. Because of Tasiya’s tyranny—and the vicious power struggles among the other royal bloods—the Saint Clan’s governance had been chaotic for a period of time.
And perhaps that gave certain desperate criminals an opening.
The Saint Clan discovered that a black-market warship had entered the Ninth Star Sector. Not long after, Esoris lost a batch of ore.
But not long after the theft was reported, a brutal battle erupted inside the royal palace.
At the time, every Saint Clan member’s attention was fixed on the royal bloods inside the palace. A single theft at Esoris didn’t stir even the smallest ripple within the Saint Clan.
Then, after Mansendis took the throne, he reorganized the Saint Clan’s governance and military—and incidents like this theft never happened again.
If Wen Yuzhi hadn’t mentioned that the people in the dream took him and certain things away while the Saint Clan hadn’t reacted yet, Selet wouldn’t have investigated. And without investigating, Selet never would have uncovered that Esoris had once suffered a theft.
“This subordinate was negligent.”
Selet lowered the head while speaking.
The cold-featured Saint Clan member didn’t say it outright, but the tightly clenched fist at the side made the self-blame obvious.
The theft had happened before Selet took over Esoris, but after taking over, failing to thoroughly understand what had happened in the past was indeed negligence.
Given Selet’s position, the punishment for negligence would be far harsher than for an ordinary Saint Clan member.
And this time, Mansendis wouldn’t grant special forgiveness just because of Wen Yuzhi.
Selet would not only have to submit a written self-criticism—Selet would also enter another assessment period. During that period, Alvin and Merita would take over Selet’s work.
Selet had no objections.
With the punishment set, Mansendis continued asking, “Did you find where that warship went in the end?”
Selet replied, “It headed toward the region where humans are.”
Humans...
All the earlier doubts seemed to link together at last, in this instant.
If the cub’s dream was real, then back then, Tasiya should have hidden the Royal Cocoon in Esoris.
A place not on Dark Tower Star, yet not far from it—and at that time, the one overseeing Esoris had been the head maid at Tasiya’s side. Esoris truly was an ideal hiding place.
That also made it easy to explain why Mond served inside the royal palace yet knew nothing about the Royal Cocoon.
Because Tasiya hadn’t placed the Royal Cocoon on Dark Tower Star at all.
Instead, it had been hidden in a place no one would think of—
Esoris.
And this time, the reason Mansendis and the others were going to Esoris in the ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) first place was to investigate matters related to Tasiya.
Now that these changes had occurred, Mansendis, expressionless, ordered Alvin, “Have the warship increase speed.”
Right now, Mansendis only wanted to reach Esoris as soon as possible.
Alvin nodded at once. “Yes.”
.......
Mansendis said he would be back soon.
After giving Alvin the order, he returned to the room.
Wen Yuzhi was playing with the bone spines.
He sat on the bed, watching as the bone spines performed “magic” for him.
A black hat, completely empty—until it was flipped open in front of the cub, and a doll appeared inside.
Wen Yuzhi already had one doll hugged in his arms.
He looked at the one in his arms, then looked at the new doll.
Wen Yuzhi simply grabbed one in each hand.
The moment he pulled the doll out—
With a soft pop, the doll turned into a pile of candy.
A full-on candy rain poured down from overhead, scattering all over the cub.
Wen Yuzhi almost got buried, and for a moment, it was as if the air itself was flooded with sweetness.
When he finally struggled out of the candy pile, staring at the beautifully wrapped candies—stacking up like a little mountain—Wen Yuzhi went completely blank.
So much... so much candy...
And the bone spines kept urgently pushing the candies toward Wen Yuzhi.
Cub, look! It’s sweet candy—!
As long as you eat candy, you won’t be sad anymore.
The bone spines thought about it in an awkward, clumsy way.
They knew the cub was upset, so they wanted to use “magic” to conjure up a big pile of candy to coax the cub.
The bone spines stayed beside Mansendis most of the time. When Mansendis read those cub-rearing guides, the bone spines read along too.
The books said cubs all liked candy.
So the bone spines thought: as long as the cub ate candy, the cub wouldn’t be sad anymore.
They didn’t want the cub to be sad.
Sensing what the bone spines were thinking, Wen Yuzhi peeled back the wrapper and put the white milk candy into his mouth.
Under the bone spines’ tense “watching,” Wen Yuzhi pressed his lips together, then curved his brows and eyes as he said, “It’s sweet.”
Seeing that the cub liked the candy they had given, the bone spines immediately grew excited.
They swept all the candies over in one go, and then—boldly—declared that all of this was for the cub!
This time, Wen Yuzhi truly was amused by what the bone spines did.
He let out a small laugh.
The corners of Wen Yuzhi’s lips lifted, and the shadow the nightmare had left between his brows finally scattered in this moment.
“Thank you.”
