The royal palace of the Crawford Kingdom was once a hot spot for people to pay a visit to.
To see the king and queen in person was an honor and the birth of the crown prince was a news, worthy of celebration.
Nobles and commoners alike would line up to congratulate with gifts to the birth of the next ruler.
However, to be part of the Crawford royalty is not a fortune but a curse. One plagued with heavy responsibility.
As the guardian kingdom of humanity, they have a duty to safeguard the Great Wall and all who live safely behind its wall from the threats that lurks beyond.
Unfortunately, the greed of human hearts corrupts the mind. Those who taste the sweetness of power would not help but want more. They would not be satisfied with their position and aim higher.
The king of Crawford had always been fair and just in his ruling, bringing stability and prosperity to the kingdom.
However, this stability was heavily undermined when Duke Agni started a coup in order to seize the throne for himself. Such action was completely brainless beyond redemption in this age.
Many would rise to oppose such forceful seizure of power. Especially when the kingdom is ruled by descendants of the Hero King, whom the people worship.
Such efforts were fruitless and would only earn the public's outrage and condemnation. No one knew what had possessed the Duke to do what he did.
The coup had dealt a severe blow to the royal family. There was no telling when the king would ever wake up from his slumber and the crown prince was lost in the chaos, his life and death unknown.
Ever since the queen had clean out the house, she had shut herself within the palace and closed it off to the public.
She no longer had the heart to uphold her royal duty.
To what purpose did her family owe the country? They had done a good job serving the country and their people but what did they repay them with? Malice?
Although it was a minority, it dealt a serious blow to her mentally. She did not even get to hold her baby for a month before she lost him. It had already showed great restrain as to not wash the kingdom in blood and turn it on its head.
Inside the king's bedchamber was the queen lying beside the king, who is wrapped up in all sorts of medical equipment to monitor his condition and provide him nutrients.
Despite already entering her early 40's, she was still as beautiful as she was at her peak.
But her eyes were soulless and her hair had already turned grey from the grief.
"Sister Elizabeth, you can't continue like this. The people need you." Another beautiful looking woman said.
She was Rachel's mother, the Duke's wife, Amelia Lancaster. She and the queen were close as sisters since childhood, just as their husbands were sworn brothers.
The two family were very close, and their son and daughter were born on the same day and year.
Such an auspicious event led them to arranging a marriage for their children to bond their family closer together.
However, things never quite happen as planned and had led to the current situation.
"They might need me, but I don't need them. Who can give me back my son?" Queen Elizabeth said hoarsely.
"Aiya, you need to take care of yourself. Your son might still be alive, but if the Capital is so chaotic, he might not be able to survive it for long."
"You don't need to try and console me with false hope. If he was still alive, how can there be no news after 17 years."
"It's true! We've recently uncovered information that one of the palace maids had sent a newborn baby to one of the orphanages in the Lower District 17 years ago during the chaos. It was very difficult to track down this information because the palace maid had died shortly after."
Some life returned to the queen's dimmed eyes when she heard her son might still be alive. She thought that her son had most likely died in the chaos that occurred within the palace without an intact corpse.
The duke who rebelled was an idiot, but he was still a master of the flame. His power over fire was so great that one would only be left with scattering ashes if one was incinerated by the duke's flame. The palace had been lit up in flames and the bedchamber, where the prince was located had been reduced to ashes.
Nothing could be distinguished from the ashes and the baby prince could only be pronounced dead or missing.
"Whose order was the maid under? Or was her action of her own volition to protect the prince? It still can't be confirmed that the baby she left at the orphanage was my son. However, the chances are high and leaves me some hope."
"Will you resume management of the kingdom affairs? Many nobles have been corrupted and involved in dirty business since the absence of royal authority."
"No. It's better to summon the shadow guards to investigate their corruption from the dark and keep records of their crimes first."
"But the prince..."
Queen Elizabeth was momentarily silent at the further mention of the prince.
"It's been 17 years since he been living out there without our protection if he is indeed still alive. I'm sure he would know how to take care of himself. It would serve as a great tempering experience for him before he takes up the crown." She spoke with sadness. No one else in the world wanted to see her son more than herself but the matter could not be rushed as they could only search for him slowly. They had limited information and could only search each orphanage one by one.
However, the matters with the corrupted nobles could not be rushed either. In the age, even if the crimes committed by nobles are worthy of death, she could not sentence them to death without concrete evidence. Their ancestors had contributed greatly to the continuation of their race, allowing their descendants to enjoy their current status today.
If she arbitrarily sentences them to death, it would only incite panic and chaos upon the masses after their retaliation. It would be silly to think that they would be willingly to kneel and let their own heads roll when she gives the word.
Most likely, they would resist by spreading false rumors to the public about their queen going crazy and wanting to slaughter all the nobles.
It was an outcome she did not want to face. It would be better to capture them all after they have been fully investigated. That way, she could publicly execute them all while listing their crimes in one clean sweep, leaving no stones unturned.
"Sister, I hope I can leave the matters of finding my son to you." Queen Elizabeth said with pleading in her eyes.
"Sister, you are treating me like an outsider. That's my son-in-law after all." Amelia said with a smile, having succeeded in the objective of her visit today.
"Thank you."
"Haa... there you go again." Amelia shook her head helplessly. Since when did they need to be so polite between them sisters?
She took her leave from the palace after they were done talking. The matters of the finding the prince couldn't be delayed. A storm is coming to the Capital now that the monarch is exiting her seclusion. It is was better to find the prince before than after the storm.
No doubt the queen would want to stabilize the kingdom and rid it of the filth that is plaguing it as a welcome gift to celebrate her son's return and crown him as the next king.
The kingdom had always been ruled by kings and it is the prince's rightful place to sit on the throne since the current king is still in a coma.
"Kasif." Queen Elizabeth called out after Amelia left.
"At your command, my queen." Kasif appeared from the shadows and answered.
"It's time to get to work. I want you to mobilize all the shadow guards to investigate into all the corrupt nobles and record their crimes," Elizabeth paused then continued, "If you still have spare manpower, assist Amelia in finding my son."
"As you command." Kasif bowed before disappearing back into the shadows.
The shadow guards were a secret force the king had nurtured in secret after discovering a dark truth and big secret. But since the king is in coma, they answer to the queen.
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"What would you like to order, dear customers?" A waiter asked.
"Oh~ this 500-gram Amur Tiger steak doesn't sound half bad. I'll be getting it. What about you, teacher?"
"I... I... will get..." Lina's eyes were spinning. The steak Leon ordered was 4500 craws. She had never learnt of such extravagance. 4500 craws for a meal was something she didn't think was reasonable price. She felt it was extremely wasteful. She decided to pick the cheapest meal even if Leon was the one paying. She didn't want to owe Leon too much. "I will get this one." Lina pointed to the 200-gram steak with ordinary meat.
"What? How can you waste such a good opportunity to eat ordinary meat? You should try out the beast meat at least. Please get her the 200-gram grizzly bear steak." Leon overwritten Lina's order.
"Thank you for choosing to dine at our steakhouse, your food will be brought out shortly." The waiter didn't confirm with Lina. She had concluded that Leon was the one paying and was more than happy to write down the more expensive order, which was 1200 craws. It was more commission for her.
She stamped his foot beneath the table and pouted.
'Why bother asking me if you're going to order for me anyway?'
Leon played dumb and pretend not to notice her annoyed look.
While waiting for the food to come out, there was an awkwardly silence. They both stared outside the window beside them as they weren't sure what to talk about and let their thoughts wondered about.
Leon randomly thought about the human's bloodline ability. It was quite a miraculous ability that seems to incorporate the 3 system; energy, body and soul.
Although Leon didn't think that awakeners were better than Divine practitioners, he thought their ability had a lot of potential. The ability to manipulate elements was after all, something he was currently incapable of doing. He needs to break through the Tempered Body state and enter the Energy Condensation state to be able to cast spells. Furthermore, he would not be limited to one element when casting his spells, since his foundation is the 5 elements. He would be able to use spells of all 5 elements.
However, he was curious what element he was aligned with if he was to awaken. The awakeners didn't solely use energy to manipulate their ability and could use their ability for far longer duration than an Energy Condensation expert. They seem use a mixture body and mental energy. But there was a pros and cons to everything. Energy Condensation expert wield far greater power in their spells than awakeners. But one shouldn't forget that awakeners walk a different path to Divine practitioners and that there should also be a higher state to awakeners that is comparable to Energy Condensation state.
"Teacher Lina."
"Y-yes?" Lina stumbled after being called abruptly.
"How much do you know about awakeners?" Leon asked after thinking that his teacher would know more about the subject since, she was of noble descent.
People might confuse his cultivation method to be of the Body cultivation system since he is in the Tempered Body state, but it is not. It was in fact, part of the Energy cultivation system. The body tempering stage was just a necessary and foundational step to take before embarking on the true energy cultivation path. It was the concept of a weak body cannot contain strong power and only a strong body would be able to contain strong power.
The bloodline ability didn't belong to a single system. It contained traces of all 3 system but didn't seem to belong to any. It seemed more like an evolutionary talent born out of necessity for humans to survive.. It didn't exist before the Great Change.