2190 - A Mother's Love
Somewhere in the palace…
"What do you mean I can't see him today?!" Serafina raised her voice in protest. "Today is the designated visiting day, and I have enough points!!"
Serafina's face at this moment was almost red from sheer anger and the length of the argument.
It had been a long time since Serafina had seen the Silent Emperor wandering aimlessly through the palace corridors, lying beside any wall for no reason, so she had never paid that madman any mind.
But on a certain day, the day Caesar had overstepped his bounds with her mistress, she looked closely at the Silent Emperor and felt something…
That mysterious figure, that vagrant used as a curtain by the Double Hundred Cradle Empire… gave off the same feeling as the members of the Destra family?
She had fled that day… fled from the possibility that he was a son of the Destra family being used in such a degrading manner, that he had been reduced to such a humiliating state.
But the thought haunted her; his image never left her eyes, until she returned to him once more. That time, she deliberately claimed a mission as a pretext to visit him.
And this time, she was certain—he was undoubtedly from the Destra family!
Those features and that aura—she had seen every living member of the Destra family during her visit to the home planet with her mistress; she could never mistake any one of them!
But which one?!
She set that question aside and involuntarily began to take care of the Silent Emperor.
After losing her mistress and fleeing that day, she felt a strange desire to serve another person, which somehow filled a void in her chest.
She tried to seize any excuse to come to Planet Uraginus for him, combing his hair and trimming his beard that had grown down to his knee, bringing various foods, opening his mouth and helping him chew, attempting to talk to him about the weather or the history of the Destra family to elicit any reaction from him—but to no avail.
Even up to this moment… she does not know who he is, but those lost from the Destra family are not so many that he could be mistaken among them; he is certainly one of those declared dead… and he must return to his family so they can deal with him!
More than once, she begged Caesar and Peon to take the Silent Emperor, saying he was no longer the empire's facade and that everyone had realized he was just a cover, but they refused every time.
Instead, they increased the protection around him, as if they feared she might kidnap him!
Of course, what she couldn't do before, she certainly couldn't do now.
"Is the Destra Galaxy reporting that the Silent Emperor is here?"
But Lord Hedrick is Lord Robin's partner... What if major problems arise? And also, what if the Silent Emperor is one of those Father Helmor attempted to kill?
Confused, anxious... Serafina had only returned for the visit, on a specific date assigned to her after she ran out of excuses, with mandatory points she had to pay monthly if she wanted to see him—points she earned from fighting the Empire's enemies.
And today was the day of the visit!
"No means no." The person standing before Serafina replied coldly, his eyes half-open. "There is a Great Battle raging on Planet Arkathion, and any points not collected from there have been frozen until the battle ends."
Facing Serafina's furious aura, that person did not back down.
He wore a Gold-Black Cloak and a black scarf wrapped around his head, one hand behind his back and the other resting by his thigh as if keeping it ready for something...
He was one of the Royal Spirit Masters of the Burton Family, and his aura indicated he possessed more than just a single star!
Since the conflict with the Syndicate began, all contracts for the hired Nexus States were terminated, and they were expelled from the empire's planets. Of course, the Syndicate did not refund the advance payments made for them, but Caesar didn't think twice about it—no one would want a spy or even a potential assassin inside their home.
They were first replaced by Nexus States from the Wings, and then by Royal Spirit Masters!
"This is irrational and unacceptable!" Serafina shouted. "Just because there's a new war, you're freezing all my previous contributions? You're forcing me into the Arkathion War so blatantly, without even trying to hide it!"
"Yes." The Spirit Master nodded confidently. "Indeed, we must gather all possible forces in Arkathion; there's no need to hide that." Then he gestured behind him. "If we didn't know that you would come every single day for his sake, I would have gone to fight as well."
Behind the Spirit Master was a vast garden, the one located right next to the palace.
And just a few steps away from him, the Silent Emperor remained seated in his spot on the grass, watching him grow. From the beginning of the argument to its end, he never lifted his head to see what was happening.
After Serafina's monthly care, his appearance was now much clearer and more handsome...
His hair was shorter, no longer covering his forehead and eyes, and his beard had barely emerged from his skin after a full month of neglect.
His new appearance gave him a unique charm, especially with those red eyes and soft white hair, his prominent jaw and cheekbones, and his lethal handsomeness—if he appeared on the streets, it would undoubtedly cause fainting spells.
But Serafina looked at him and felt he was a child in need of care.
So she turned back to yell at the Spirit Master again.
"Hey—"
But at that moment, a voice came from the side, a voice familiar to Serafina.
"What's going on here?"
"...?" Serafina quickly turned around and found Caesar walking through the palace corridor facing the garden, looking at her with furrowed brows, with his alluring personal assistant behind him.