Ye Muo continued tugging on Ye Yun’s sleeve. “Why didn’t Big Brother come? Oh right, he’s already graduated. I heard that the League was changed to a written exam. Big Brother was probably still first. I really want to have some of Mom’s handmade dumplings and Dad’s soup.”
Ye Yun was a little unaccustomed to Ye Muo being so warm with him. In his impression, Ye Muo was always very cautious. He would submissively go do anything requested of him but never took the initiative to make requests of his own.
“Mom mentioned you liked them when she was making them. I’ll let her know the next time I see her and bring some for you next time. As for Big Brother, he’s still first. No need to worry about him. He’s a lot sharper than you are. Speaking of which, nothing happened while you were here, right?”
Ye Muo shook his head. “No, everyone is very good to me.”
He couldn’t help but add, “Don’t forget to bring some for me next time.”
Adlet returned after a while. He looked at Ye Muo with a smile and waited until he finished talking to Ye Yun. “Your Little Highness, mealtime will start soon. You can play with your friends for for about an hour.”
Ye Muo quickly nodded to him and pulled Ye Yun out of the room. “Let’s go to the garden to visit Pangzhua, Big Brother. It’s so big. We can even feed it apples.”
He also smiled at Augustus and Cairns behind him, a little embarrassed. “We’ll all go together. It’ll be fun.”
Augustus has been following Ye Muo closely. He quickly nodded. Cairns quickly shifted his gaze away uncomfortably, but he did follow.
Ye Muo was already very familiar with the way to the gardena.
He also went to the kitchen to ask for a small basket of apples along the way. Ano often brought him here to ask for apples. The staff member in charge of the kitchen smiled as he handed Ye Muo a small basket. “Pangzhua hasn’t stolen any apples recently, Your Little Highness. I’m sure it will be very happy to see you. Please wait a moment, I will prepare a few more baskets for your companions.”
Everyone walked away from the kitchens holding a basket.
Ye Yun wanted to take Ye Muo’s basket, but another hand reached for it at the same time. He and Augustus exchanged a glance. By then, Ye Muo had taken his own basket.
Cairns scoffed from the back. Ye Yun turned to glare at him.
“You have a pet now? So you aren’t planting flowers? I thought you were going to take us to see your little garden.”
Ye Yun speculated that this apple-eating animal must be some kind of herbivore like a rabbit or sheep.
Ye Muo: “I’m still into plants. The potted ones from before are in my bedroom.”
Ye Yun glanced at Ye Muo. “Didn’t they give you a spot in the gardens? A pot or two barely takes up any space.”
He said, weighing his basket with a hand. The basket wasn’t big, but four of them added up to a lot of apples. “
How many pets do you have? Can they finish this much?”
Ye Muo led the way. “En. There’s only one. It’s a big eater.”
Ye Muo stopped in front of a window and opened it. His psychic power instinctively swept through the forest outside before he turned in one direction and called out, “Pangzhua!”
The sound of rustling and snapping branches soon came from the undergrowth. Seconds later, Pangzhua leapt out in a burst of broken branches and leaves. Its mane flowed through the air as it quickly rushed downhill towards the window.
Ye Yun responded the fastest. He let go of his basket and pushed Ye Muo back with his right hand. A few apples rolled onto the windowsill.
In the back, Augustus and Cairns each took one of Ye Muo’s shoulders and pulled him further back.
Pangzhua quickly rushed to the window. Its body slammed into the wall with a dull thump. Next, big paws reached onto the windowsill and tugged the basket outside. Then a big head poked up to bite an apple rolling on the windowsill before quickly ducking down. Although it could swallow the fruit whole in one gulp, it carefully bit into the apple and really savoured it over several (relatively) small bites.
Only then did Ye Yun and the others react and slowly let go of Ye Muo.
Ye Yun: “This is Pangzhua? The one that likes apples?”
Ye Muo walked forward after being freed. “Yes. It gets excited when it sees people and likes to pounce on them. Well, it likes pounce on me. That’s why I’m afraid to go find it outside. But its fur is really soft and it’s rather obedient.”
Pangzhua dared not come close to Norton and Ano, for they were not above actually hitting it.
Ye Muo looked down and reached out. “Pangzhua, give me back the basket.”
Norton and Ano were in the study, which happened to face the garden. Both of them sensed Ye Muo’s psychic power sweeping through the forest. Ano got up and opened the window.
Ano stood by the window. He was about to return to his seat when something caught his attention as he turned around. He stayed with his back against the wall by the window. Norton, who was originally browsing through documents, also paused.
Ye Muo’s voice travelled clearly up from below, lively and happy.
Neither of them had seen this side of the child before.
After a while, Ano tentatively said, “He seems to be very happy.”
He added after a beat, “I’ll teach Pangzhua to not pounce on people so much some other time.”
Norton hummed. Then the two got down to official business. After a while, Norton suddenly said, “Perhaps all children prefer to play with their peers.”
Ano looked up at Norton and realized that Norton was responding to what he had said earlier. Norton could even make a question seem like a statement. This was the first time Ano had seen him so uncertain.
……
Ye Muo leaned over the windowsill and handed down an apple. He had Pangzhua bite it gently before teaching him, “Don’t ruin the baskets, or else I can only bring you two apples next time, one in each hand.”
Ye Yun grabbed the back of his collar. “Don’t use your hands. And don’t lean so far out.”
“It’s all right, Big Brother. It’s very gentle.”
Adlet came to find them after they fed Pangzhua all the apples and played with it a while. He coughed and reminded, “It’s time to eat, Your Little Highness and young masters.”
Ye Muo looked up with a hint of delight. “I can eat with them?”
Adlet smiled. “Yes, of course. When the young masters are here, they’ll have everything you do.”
Ye Muo suddenly went quiet. Ye Yun turned to look at him. Anyone could tell that Ye Muo had wilted somewhat. They followed Adlet all the way to the dining room.
As soon as they entered, everyone except for Ye Muo performed a military salute. “Your Majesty.”
Ye Muo glanced back at Ye Yun. He wanted to do the same, but then he remembered Norton didn’t want to be called ‘Your Majesty’ by him and hesitated.
Norton and Ano were already seated. Norton sat at the head of the dining table. He nodded in response before looking at Ye Muo.
Ye Muo stood beside Ye Yun and awkwardly said, “Father.”
Norton: “En. Come and sit down.”
He indicated the seat beside him.
Ye Muo sat on Norton’s right, opposite Ano. Ye Yun sat next to Ye Muo, and Augustus and Cairns sat down beside him. Everyone was a bit awkward.
Ano, wearing a mask, sat across from Ye Yun.
Ye Yun couldn’t help but glance at the man. He remembered how Ano had stayed his hand while in pursuit of them before stopping the enraged Norton and saving Ye Muo.
Ye Yun has heard that Ano was the leader of the imperial guard, but he didn’t realize Ano was so close to the Grantz family that he could sit next to Norton as the leader of the imperial guard.
They were sitting at this table because of Ye Muo, so what about Ano? While Ye Yun speculated, he felt somewhat relieved as well. Thank goodness Ano’s special status allowed him to stop Norton at that time.
Before Ye Yun could draw the wrong conclusions, Ano reached up and removed his mask, setting it on the table with a faint thump.
As the leader of the imperial guard, Ano was both very famous and mysterious.
All of the children at the table were more or sneaking glances at the man.
Augustus was the first to recognize him. He passed by the portrait of the Grantz hung in his family’s manor everyday. His tableware collided crisply with the plate, but he didn’t care at this point. His eyes widened in surprise as he blurted out, “Your Highness…”
Ye Yun and Cairns reacted soon after.
There were many photos of the young Grantz on the empress’ social media accounts, most of them from when they were children. There was much fewer photos of them as adults, but few of Grantz’s citizens would fail to recognize them.
Adlet happened to set a glass of milk in front of Ye Muo at this time. When the others looked over, he placed his index finger over his mouth. “Everyone has a few secrets. I hope you can all understand.”
He didn’t remind them not to divulge this secret because no one would believe them.
Adlet then set a glass of warm milk in front of each of them. “Don’t worry, you can treat this place as your own home or the military academy. I have already arranged courses following the curriculum in the academy. Holidays are also observed. If you wish, you can live here or have a hovercar take you home to rest.”
Adlet stood back. “The teachers are also ready. In the afternoon, we will have combat class and etiquette class.”
Ano raised his hand. He didn’t even use his vocalizer. “I can join them.”
Norton nodded. “I am free this afternoon as well.”
Ye Muo immediately looked at Ye Yun nervously. Ye Yun knew what Ye Muo was so nervous about.
Ye Muo has always dreaded combat class since he was a child. He didn’t have such a marked reaction at the beginning when the instructor just taught a few simple moves and how to protect themselves when sparring. When the actual sparring began, Ye Muo would be beaten up every time.
At that time, Ye Yun happened to be instigating a one-sided cold war with Ye Muo due to the garden incident and ignored him.
Ye Muo was afraid of pain. Unlike other children his age who would play and tussle in the hallways or stairs, Ye Muo would listen to his teachers and never ran or slid down the railings.
As a result, he got beaten up every day in combat class.
In order to not have to go to school, he would even deliberately sleep without a blanket to hopefully catch a cold.
