Chapter 18: Return (1)

Chapter 18

"Hello, handsome," I said as I looked in the mirror. I had just come out of the bath and sent Max to collect the things I needed for the penta enhancement array. The first stage of the array is very simple. Many ingredients that aren't in this world can be found in the shop and they aren't that expensive as well.

The prime ingredient, a vampire's blood essence is a problem. Was a problem. Now no more since I already had two already extracted by the system for me and I still had the corpse of the vampire to extract more. I only needed one though which meant that if Eric needed it, he would have to come to me.

That is of course if his system pointed at me. And if he doesn't come anyway, I will use these essences in other ways. A vampire's blood essence is precious. Not all vampires have it as well. Only those vampires who are over at least three thousand old. There aren't that many vampires who live that long.

Anyway, that is a headache I won't have to deal with until the middle of the first year when he will need it. There was about a year left until then.

While I was checking myself, the door to my room opened and Rose emerged from it. "Your Highness!" She exclaimed in surprise when she saw me and hurriedly knelt. From the loofah and the cloth in her hand, she seemed to have come here to clean my room. Such a sweet girl.

"Rose!" I also exclaimed loudly and hugged her. She was surprised at the sudden hug and forgot to return the hug. Ohhh! Soft.

[You're being a creep]

'I'm a butt guy.' I replied straightforwardly.

[That's your defense for feeling up an innocent girl?]

Maybe she was right. This hug had been going on for long enough so I let go of Rose. She was still stunned but her cheeks slowly turned rosy as realization dawned on her face.

"Your---Your hinge---Highness." She stuttered a lot and it kept on for a while before I had to shake her slightly to snap her out of it.

"Okay, Rose," I said and she attentively listened even though her cheeks were still very bright.

"What's your current rank right now?" I asked. She was puzzled a little but after checking she replied, "Rank D, Your Highness."

"What are your stat's rank?" I asked again and she gave me a piece of detailed information, "Strength D, Agility D+, Stamina D, Mana C-, Charm B-."

It was forbidden to tell someone your rank or stat details in this world. This just showed how loyal she was to me despite how Adrian treated her.

"How's your father doing?" I asked while pulling a lot of mana crystals from the inventory. I had about 21000 E- grade mana crystals, about 600 E grade, and only 2 E+ grades. Still, the amount of mana Rose needs to accumulate to hit the lag isn't much. About 10000 E- grade crystals would do.

"He is doing ver----" She stopped midway when she saw the pile of mana crystals I had made on the bed.

"Now here's what you are going to do from today onwards. You can't leave this room until you have absorbed all of these. Don't stop until you hit a limit." I instructed and Rose listened standing there, completely stunned.

"Okay," I said before tapping her on the shoulder and walking out of the room. She will soon come around and try to refuse by saying that they are too precious to be wasted on her but she would have done it anyway. I am just helping her speed up the process. She will become SSS rank a year earlier.

With her talent, it isn't difficult either as long as she is provided with training and resources. Right now I was heading to the smithy to check up on the old man and give him a little something for his help.

However, before I could enter the smithy, a silver knight came before me and said, "Your Highness, His Majesty the Emperor has summoned you to the imperial court."

I guess they already got the news. I nodded and went with him. He stopped in front of the door to the royal court. He wasn't allowed to enter it seems.

I pushed open the doors and entered. Like last time, the noble's stand was mostly empty but the members of the imperial family were all there. I made sure to look at the expressions they were all making. No matter how composed and prepared one is, they will show something when they see me in the flesh.

Heartless apathy, surprise, and indifference. There was no worry and happiness in their eyes or faces but the earlier three emotions were all I needed to know who was an enemy to me which was almost everyone except for the family of the third prince. Her daughters were just looking at me with indifference and disgust which meant that I had done something improper to them in the past.

Anyway, they weren't an enemy. The others however were. For the third prince. I was just a competitor but for the first prince slash crown prince who was supposed to be my father, I had something he needed and for that, he needed to kill me. The same went for my brothers.

As for the second prince, there was no emotion. Not even indifference. He was just sitting there as a formality.

As for the four old men, one of whom was a new addition, the commander of the Silver Sun Knights. He wasn't here last time. The four old men were amused. Although it didn't show on their faces, they were amused. I should know, I'm way older than them.

"It seems an accident occurred during this expedition. And since you didn't allow an official report, this court is called to know the details straight from you." The emperor spoke.

Yeah… No. This is a show of your authority and also to see who is it who has been influencing your children's decisions and which child it was. Well, it has nothing to do with me.

"It was a dungeon deformity. The boss went berserk even before we entered the boss room. The knights protected me and held the beast until I could escape. Maximillian Specter was the one who was assigned to protect me and take me out. Those knights sacrificed themselves for me. I am ever so thankful to them." I gave a simple report. Of course, I will have to give a detailed report later on but I could only give a simple overview right now.

However, at my words, everyone in the hall\room was astonished. Probably because they hadn't expected me to praise those knights. They would have expected along the lines, "Those peasants did what they were supposed to do and they should be thankful that they were given the honor to sacrifice themselves to the imperial family."

[Except for the fact that you killed them]

'They don't need to know that.' I replied to Allison's remark and simply waited. Waited for them to get over their surprise and get this charade over with. No one in this room cared for those knight's death but they would sure as hell use that against me. And I stood correct.

"By the honor of the imperial family, you should have stayed to protect your people." A golden-haired man stood and said with disdain. He was the same one who asked for permission to speak during the last court hearing.

Everyone in the hall knew those words were bullshit but they said nothing about it. Some didn't care, some were in the same stance as him and some, such as the emperor and the party, were simply amused to see how I would deal with this.

But before all that, who was he? He had something against me so I asked, "Who are you again?" My expression was genuine and contrary to what many might think; I wasn't messing around. I seriously wanted to know who he was.

[Yeah. Right!]

'Yeah, even I don't believe my words.' It was true I didn't know who he was. But I didn't care.

He became embarrassed at my reply. He was about to say something when the head elder spoke, "First imperial prince, have you been granted permission by the court to speak?" The head elder asked. Well, it wasn't asking but more like humiliating.

Anyway, I turned to the emperor and asked, "Does His Majesty wish for something else?" I asked with proper decorum and etiquette.

He remained silent for some time before looking at the first elder before he said, "The saint candidate Alicia has brought to our attention that we simply misunderstood the situation about you forcing yourself on her. The first elder acted rashly and you were wrongfully accused. She has requested the court to drop the accusations on you."

In other words, he wants me not to create a scene out of this. Besides in the first place, Adrian did try to r.*p.e Alicia and from the look on the first elder's face, he wasn't happy with this decision.

If I try to be cocky here, it would be detrimental to me. The emperor was basically asking for a favor here even though I was in the wrong.

"Mistakes happen, Your Majesty." I simply replied. Saying anything more would anger the first elder even further. Although these old men weren't a threat to me, I wasn't in the position to throw my weight around yet.

The emperor nodded and the court was adjourned. Everyone left and I was one of the first ones to leave. While I was heading back to my room, I saw a girl with striking red hair coming from the opposite direction along with a large man with quite a build. Her knight I presumed.

I expected them to pass me so I also didn't bother with them and kept going at my own pace. I passed them without much regard. As Max had said, the grand elder's birthday was in about two weeks. Many nobles and royals of the surrounding kingdoms were attending and had started arriving as guests.

I entered my room and saw Rose focused on absorbing mana crystals. It hadn't even been an hour since I left yet I saw about a hundred depleted mana crystals at the side. With her talent, it was no surprise how fast it was.

The moment I returned, Max followed shortly and entered my room. He must have thought I wasn't there since he didn't ask for my permission but panicked slightly when he saw me inside already.

Before his panic could increase, I asked, "Is that the stuff I asked you to get?" The interruption worked and after a slight stammer, he replied, "Ye-- Yes, Your Highness. They weren't particularly difficult to get."

I nodded and took all of the five things from him. I could have found them in the shop but considering how much I needed them, there was no doubt they would be expensive. Even the rest of the ingredients that I couldn't procure from this world, cost me about 100000 coins alone for them. Not very expensive but I wasn't exactly swimming in coins.

"What is it?" I asked as I saw him a little unsettled. He hesitated for a while, having trouble wording his thoughts but he eventually said, "Lady Asmara has requested a meeting with you."

"Who is Lady Asmara?" I knew who Asmara was. She was one of the main characters in the novel but I wasn't supposed to know that. There was also a brief mention of Asmara and Adrian's marriage.

"She is your fiancée, Your Highness," Max replied and I nodded. "Okay. Then what's the problem?" I asked once again.

"Pardon?" He asked confused. "I have lost my memory, not intellect. The way you are fidgeting, there is something else. What is it?"

"Umm… She has, she has requested for the annulment of marriage with you initiating the divorce." Max replied.