I looked around for a while, then looked at my body, still showing faint signs of the cracks. *It's like this grass itself has some kind of special healing power, because my physique wouldn't have recovered this fast on its own — not from damage inflicted by my own bloodline.*
*Yeah, host,* my System responded calmly.
"Oh, you're still here." I was genuinely surprised — it had been a while since we last bickered.
*Did you miss me. I stayed quiet so you could fully immerse yourself in this world and enjoy your life,* it said calmly.
"If you say so." I headed to the tea pavilion in my courtyard to make some tea, since Mei hadn't returned yet.
"System."
*Yes, host.*
"Why did my bloodline aura flow out so violently while we were in the vault? It wasn't like that before the seal — so what changed?" Curiosity, and some anxiety, both in my voice.
*Imagine a flowing ocean, suddenly stopped by a dam. When that dam breaks, how do you think it rushes out?*
"Oh, that's the reason. But why didn't it happen during my coma?" Still anxious.
*Because of a seal your father placed on you, to keep you safe from your bloodline's own turbulence.*
"Okay. Now I understand." I started thinking about how to use this as a trump card down the line. *I need to get my hands on something like that ring.*
"Young Master, you've returned," Mei said, lowering the eggs down from the void-boat that had carried them.
"I haven't been back long," I replied, approaching the eggs.
Once she'd brought all three down, the void-boat piloted itself away, heading back toward the clan's transport venue. I touched the one egg I hadn't appraised yet. *System, analysis.*
*Unable to analyze — insufficient realm for the host. One appraisal per day. This limit increases as you grow stronger.*
*Everything in this world comes down to strength.* Frustration, clear in my voice.
"Young Master, please sit. I want to apply some potion to your skin, to heal those cracks from earlier." Concern colored her voice.
"It's nothing much. It should have healed by now — the Patriarch did me a favor and treated most of it, if not all. Don't worry about it." I tried to wave her off, since tomorrow was going to be a busy day.
"Don't say that, Young Master. Your health is my top priority. Let me check you over." Stubbornness, plain and simple.
"If you insist." I sat down in a chair — no point wasting what little energy I had arguing against something actually meant to help me.
She removed my garment — just the top, of course; there was no way I'd let her see my full, perfect physique. She brought out a potion, liquid, not high grade, not low, just well-suited for me, and rubbed it in gently.
"Does it hurt, Young Master?" A little concern in her tone.
"Mei, don't treat me like a child, okay." Embarrassed by the whole fuss.
After the treatment, I bathed and went to sleep. *Heh, don't ask me why I don't cultivate at night — it's not the right time yet, because once I start, I mean to cultivate for a million years without noticing time pass at all.*
Next Day, Early Morning
Southern Gate, Long Clan Estate Entrance
I sat with Mei in a plain dragon carriage, the kind common throughout the city, dressed in plain clothes with no trace of the Long Clan's symbol anywhere on me. Don't ask whose idea this was — definitely not mine. Mei's, and I wasn't thrilled about it.
"Mei, are you sure you told her the time and location to meet, along with a guard to lead her here?" Already impatient.
"I did exactly as you specified, Young Master," she said, equally helpless.
"Did you confirm the meeting time with her maid directly?"
"I did that too, Young Master."
Before I could say anything else, I caught sight of her through the window — my fiancée, my wife-to-be, walking with an embedded royal grace that no plain dress could hide, her figure perfect in every proportion, exactly what you'd expect from a goddess wearing a phoenix's form. I barely even registered her maid beside her — Princess Xue was the focal point; everything else simply faded.
"She's beautiful," I muttered, then masked it fast, indifference sliding back into place.
She looked at me. I stared back, though I made sure my expression read as annoyed enough to kill — if looks actually worked that way, I'd be attending her funeral by tomorrow.
Her maid pulled the curtain open. "Hope I haven't kept anyone waiting," Princess Xue said, playful.
I wanted to fire something back, but Mei beat me to it, which honestly saved me from another punishment courtesy of my father.
"No, Your Highness." I shot Mei a cold look. Xue chuckled. "But why isn't Young Master Zaitian saying anything — just giving me that cold look? Did I do something wrong?"
I snorted and ignored her — arguing was pointless anyway, not with my father's support standing behind her and both our clans invested in this. *Now I understand exactly how it feels to be a celebrity the whole world's turned against.*
To ease the tension, Mei chimed in, a little envy slipping into her voice. "I really admire you, Princess Xue. You look perfect in anything you wear — like the world's bending over backward just to please you."
"Thank you for the compliment, Mei. Unlike someone who can't appreciate a good thing when he sees it." Mockery and playfulness, tangled together in her voice.
I stared at her, about to explode, when Mei cut back in. "Don't say that, Your Highness — my Young Master does appreciate good things. He just can't say it in your presence, because it would make you too smug, and that would wound his ego."
I turned my glare on Mei — pure betrayal, plain and simple — and she just smiled back, which somehow made it worse.
"Mei. I want to go home." I was right on the edge of losing it.
"Don't say that, Young Master Zaitian — my Lady thinks you're pretty cool and handsome too, honestly, if you weren't so cold toward her," Princess Xue's personal maid piped up.
Which earned her a look from Xue that suggested she was already sketching out several creative ways to arrange the girl's untimely demise.
That got my attention. "Young Miss, what's your name?" I asked. *Might as well know it — at least she's not like Mei, selling me out just to score points with her idol.* I scoffed internally.