Norton had not deliberately concealed Ye Muo’s presence when he brought the child here. Many gossiping about him on the galactic network even before the live broadcast of the conference.
Most of Grantz’s citizens scoffed at this. No one understood the Grantz better than they did.
Cody was one of those people. There were always countless new rumours popping up every year, and he didn’t care much about the conference either. It was the same spiel every time. Nothing would happen to them during the insect tide with His Majesty around anyway.
He lived his life as usual, occasionally mocking the outrageous gossip, “Look what they’re saying now. Apparently there’s a new member of the Grantz imperial family? Those media companies are lucky His Majesty doesn’t care to rein them in.”
His son stopped eating and looked up at his father. This child, who was excelling at the First Military Academy, seemed troubled by something ever since returning from the inter-academy graduation league.
He did not agree with his father as usually did, instead mumbling in a complicated tone, “Maybe.”
Cody’s wife laughed. “It’s kind of fun to think about though.”
Cody wanted to lighten the atmosphere through a bit of idle chit chat at the table. He continued reading, “…At this year’s conference, the confirmation ceremony was not conducted by His Majesty Norton, but an unknown minor. Note his dark hair and eyes.”
Dark hair and eyes were the characteristic features of a Grantz.
Cody had straightened at some point. His expression sobered up more as he read faster.
“Due to acting on behalf of His Majesty, this child can already be confirmed as a young Grantz. Combined with the announcement just released by Grantz’s official website, the author’s speculation have been confirmed! We are about to welcome another young Grantz at last!”
Cody’s wife had stood up subconsciously. His son also put down his utensils and quickly checked the Grantz official website.
The family all huddled around. The official website seemed to be experiencing a lot of traffic, but the front page loaded relatively quickly. The announcement pinned to the very top made them all exclaim in unison.
Cody murmured, “My god…”
An announcement suddenly appeared on the Grantz official website after the first day of the conference. There was only a short sentence worth of information and a date after removing all the official pleasantries, roughly saying that the new member would be officially announced in the near future.
This was tantamount to indirectly recognizing the existence of a new heir.
Similar scenes were happening in every corner of Grantz.
The people of the Grantz Empire almost lost their shit. Their shock melted away into excitement as the news spread across the nation. Everyone from families at dining tables to forums on the galactic network were discussing this.
[I knew there was more to him. I should’ve known earlier when Lord Ano was by His Little Highness’ side when he first arrived. Lord Ano has always been His Majesty’s right hand man, and here you all were speculating over whether he was going to leave the imperial guard and go into the military. He was obviously assigned to guard the heir!]
[His Majesty hid this too well. I couldn’t find a trace even after scouring the previous news. Then again, His Majesty dislikes the limelight. It shouldn’t be hard to hide this if he wanted.]
[I want to see more news about His Little Highness. Grr, why didn’t His Majesty inherit the empress’ photo-taking hobby?! I practically watched the last Grantz generation grow up! There’s none of that sense of participation with this generation…]
And at the military academies, especially the First Military Academy, the school forums entered a strangely quiet state. Still, everyone from the students to the teachers were actually paying close attention.
Ye Muo himself has always been very low-key, but his outstanding looks and his two older brothers who were both the Presidents of his year meant that many people knew of him or recognized him at the academy.
The live broadcast of the conference happened to be on the weekend. Ye Yun received countless PMs while he was at home. He held his terminal and replied perfunctorily to every one before focusing on doing something.
Ye He was sitting next to Ye Yun. His terminal lay on the table, untouched.
After a while, Ye Yun raised his head. “Bro, all of Ye Muo’s information at the academy’s disappeared.”
Ye He hummed. The holographic live broadcast was still in progress. In the centre was Grantz’s representatives. Seated at the top row was Ye Muo, his youngest brother.
Only when the live broadcast finished did Ye He pick up the terminal on the table. He cleared all the messages without even looking at them before turning to Ye Yun. “You just noticed? You and I are already the only children on the Ye family household registration.”
This phenomena happened in more than just those two places. All traces of Ye Muo since childhood seemed to have been expunged. Take the kindergarten’s promotional photos for activities as an example. Ye Muo used to be by Ye Yun’s side in one photo, but now there was only a conspicuous blank by little Ye Yun.
Even any discussion mentioning Ye Muo’s name on the galactic network were soon deleted.
Ye Yun went to verify what Ye He told him. He paused as the page popped up. Ye Muo really was gone. He grit his teeth and refreshed the page several times before giving up.
He bowed his head, his hair covering his expression. After a few seconds, Ye Yun threw the terminal at the bookshelf, knocking something displayed on it to the floor.
Ye He gave him a look but remained silent.
Ye Yun did not need Ye He to speak. He cursed under his breath and quickly vaulted over the table to carefully pick up the photo frame. He put it back in its original position after wiping it clean.
In the photo frame was a picture of Ye Muo as a child. It was captured by Lady Ye shortly after his arrival. He was looking up while holding a plush, occupied with talking to the nannybot next to him.
This room was the game room shared by the three of them, with various books, toys they played with throughout the years, and other items scattered around. Each of them had some items here.
Before Ye He left, he paused and looked back at Ye Yun. “I’ve already entered the imperial guard.”
The graduation exam was finished, and he had just passed a secret test a few days earlier.
Ye Yun looked up at Ye He and quickly responded, “Why didn’t you tell me, Big Brother??”
Ye He’s lips quirked slightly. “If you have time to be angry, why not ask around? The Grantz have a tradition of recruiting palmyates. You should be of a suitable age.”
……
Ye Muo did not need to attend the rest of the conference. He would stay with Ano. “What about the dagger then?”
Ano didn’t seem to care. “You can keep it as a toy if you want, but it’s not very useful.”
Ye Muo and Arnold happened to run into Secretary-General Lin and the legion commanders as they walked out of the corridor. They all stopped and gave a Grantz military salute, their boots crisply hitting the floor in unison. “Your Little Highness!”
Ye Muo froze for a moment. He straightened and returned a courtesy.
He was relieved when they were far away. Although some of them started calling Ye Muo ‘Little Highness’ before this, but they didn’t treat him so formally without clear orders.
Ano patted Ye Muo on the shoulder. He’s had a lot of spare time after tossing all his work to Norton lately. “Come on, let’s go see Pangzhua. It’s been holed up in the training room lately. For some reason, Big Brother ordered people to tire out Pangzhua there. It only ate half its apples yesterday before falling asleep.”
……
At the Exile Sectors’ ports where there were no administrative or legal restrictions, any starship could dock without leaving a trace.
A man got off one starship in this chaotic port. He wore a mask on his face and a cloak over his shoulders. Every inch of him was covered aside from hsi hands, which were pale and covered with scars that were obviously from being torn into. His strange appearance did not attract any attention. Some of the few things the Exile Sectors were not lacking in were weirdos and criminals.
He waited about ten minutes before boarding another starship. Inside its battered exterior lay cutting edge, organized tech. Someone took his luggage.
The man seemed quite familiar with this place. He went straight down one of the starship’s corridors and into a room at the end.
The room was dimly lit, the only source of light was the holographic screen of the console. This humble room was the starship’s command centre.
There were many people already seated at the long table in the middle. Men and women alike wore all sorts of strange clothes. The room was noisy like a farmer’s market.
At the head of the table was a young man with dark hair, blue eyes and handsome features. He wore one bone earring and had a wrench in the outer pocket of his work clothes. His feet were casually on the table and his hands behind his head. After saying something to the person next to him, he laughed loudly.
The masked man sat in the only vacant seat, which happened to be on the young man’s right hand side.
Only after he arrived did the young man put his feet down and sit up. He clapped his hands. “Let’s start.”
The room instantly fell silent.
The young man announced with crinkled eyes, “The subject of this meeting is still the same as before, how to take the glorious Grantz down a notch.”
Everyone cheered at that. The young man raised his hand and the room gradually quieted down again. He turned to the masked man, “Why don’t you tell us what you’ve accomplished?”
The masked man spoke first, “You should have heard about it already. The young Grantz’s existence has been verified. The Clay Empire has been stabilized for now. Our interests align and the other party is willing to support us. In addition, they should take action against the young Grantz in the near future.”
There was an instant ruckus at the table. “With how Norton Grantz announced he was going to end the Grantz bloodline, I thought he was actually going to do it.”
“Does Norton being in such a rush to reveal his heir mean that he doesn’t have long left? The day we’re waiting for is almost here, hahahaha. Then the Grantz Empire will be ours! I want to live in their palace…”
“What are we going to do? Kill that young Grantz? We can strike the moment Norton leaves his side. We’ll be famous after this!”
The masked man listened quietly to the others’ unrealistic fantasies and snorted in disdain. It’s been many years since the incident. Many of the Exile Sector’s trash seem to have forgotten how haggard their escape from the Grantz was back then. Just like him.
The Grantz were by no means opponents who could be treated with such contempt.
But he didn’t interrupt them. He knew who would truly be making the decision.
The young man watched them raucously argue with a smile. “Then let’s kill that little Grantz first.”
As the others cheered, the young man stood up and exchanged a look with the masked man before walking out.
The masked man spoke first, “What are you thinking? What can these rabble possibly do? They won’t even be able to get past Grantz’s border.”
The young man still had a smile on his face. “Do you feel bad for them? None of our people are here anyway. Our headquarters aren’t here either. Or do you still have some illusion regarding Grantz? Does our great military strategist miss it? You were once one of the Grantz Empire’s–”
The young man lowered his voice, but the words were very clear, “Elites, after all.”
After a while, he patted the masked man on the shoulder and laughed. “Don’t be so tense. I know how deep your hate for the Grantz runs. The Grantz are not ones to forgive traitors either.”
The smiling young man threw an arm around the masked man’s shoulders and walked out with him. “It’s fine. Even trash has their uses. Don’t worry, I’ll put them to good use. I’m not one for wastage.”
