Chapter 26: On the Return Journey

“Report, sir. The other party has given up tracking and is returning by the original route.”

“Very good,” Julian nodded, then looked at Ophariel beside him.

“It’s just as you guessed, isn’t it?”

“Of course…” Ophariel pressed her hand to her forehead, sighing helplessly.

“Trespassing into others’ territories, playing hide-and-seek with the royal battle army, and even plundering the loot of those bandits and thieves… Holy Grace above, I’ve never done such things before.”

“Once there’s one, there’s two. You’ll get used to it,” In contrast to Ophariel’s complaints, Julian comfortingly patted her shoulder.

“You’ll have to get used to it sooner or later anyway.”

Does that mean there will be more such things in the future?

Ophariel helplessly rolled her eyes at Julian. Although she had indeed put down her princess identity now, she hadn’t put down the education she received in the royal palace. In Ophariel’s view, everything must have rules and be done according to certain patterns to be on the right track. And what Julian was doing… Well, although killing bandits and seizing treasures wasn’t illegal or criminal, there was no clause in the kingdom’s law code to restrict these things. But this princess always felt a bit uncomfortable in her heart. Of course, this was just her small personal opinion, and as far as the current situation was concerned, these personal opinions were completely ignored by Julian.

Apart from Ophariel’s own small frustration, the entire operation seemed perfect in Julian’s view. After absorbing the soul power of several hundred bandits, the Wraith Warriors had already left their original “spirit form” state and begun to transform towards a “physical form” direction. Now, except for Judy who was serving as the team leader, the other nine Wraith Warriors had also regained their upper intermediate level strength. Of course, due to their different attributes, there would definitely be differences and speed issues in the process of truly becoming physical entities, but for Julian now, this result was already good enough.

In terms of money, apart from the bandit properties they had plundered before, Darlos had also given Julian quite a surprise. It seemed that keeping private money was a common trait of men worldwide. In that wooden box, not only were there various evidences of his collusion with nobles, but also dozens of valuable gems. According to Ophariel’s calculations, if these gems were put up for auction on the market, they should fetch twenty to thirty thousand gold coins, which was enough to maintain the operation of Twilight Castle until he had a stable and “legal” income.

Thinking of this, Julian raised his head to look at the starry sky in the distance. In his ears, the sound of the bonfire burning mixed with the sound of the wind. Finally, he turned around, only to find that Ophariel hadn’t left, but was still standing quietly beside him.

“Anything else?”

“Of course, my lord,” Faced with Julian’s inquiry, Ophariel was unusually shy. She raised her head somewhat uneasily, then hesitantly put forward her request.

“I want… to ask you to teach me some knowledge about combat.”

“About combat?” Hearing this, Julian was stunned for a moment.

“How much do you know about this area?”

“It’s embarrassing to say…” Hearing Julian’s question, Ophariel showed a bitter smile.

“My knowledge in this area is no different from ordinary royal nobles.”

“This seems inconsistent with your identity,” Julian’s expression didn’t change, but he easily pointed out the loophole in Ophariel’s words. If someone else had said this in front of him, Julian might have believed it. But the girl before him was different. She was once called the heaven-sent talent of the Kingdom of Wester and enjoyed the reputation of being the First Princess, not those little flowers hiding in the royal greenhouse, living in the fantasy stories of Prince Charming and Cinderella before coming of age.

“I couldn’t learn,” But faced with Julian’s inquiry, Ophariel shook her head bitterly.

“In fact, I only have half royal bloodline.”

“Oh?” Hearing this, Julian became interested. He carefully looked at Ophariel, then patted the grass beside him.

“Tell me about it?”

Faced with Julian’s invitation, Ophariel hesitated for a moment, then she tidied her dress, hugged her legs, and sat down beside Julian. Then, she began to tell her story.

This was definitely not a glorious story for Ophariel, or for the Kingdom of Wester.

Ophariel’s mother was not a queen, nor a concubine, she was just an ordinary lady-in-waiting. Her family had always been serving the West Royal Palace, and if nothing unexpected happened, her mother should have been the same, serving the royal family, then marrying, having children, and letting her children enter the palace to work, and so on in a cycle.

However, her fate changed.

It was when the former king was 35 years old. On his birthday, he won a victory, personally driving those Evak barbarians who had been showing off on the kingdom’s land back to their homeland. The double joy of birthday and victory made His Majesty the King drink a few more cups in happiness. Then Ophariel’s mother, along with another lady-in-waiting, escorted His Majesty the King back to his room to rest. Of course, even a king is just a man, and it’s inevitable to lose control after drinking. So on that night, Ophariel’s mother and the other lady-in-waiting were taken their first time by His Majesty the King – this may sound pitiful, but for people in the royal family, those who serve them should have this obligation. Like these ladies-in-waiting, they were often simply given as gifts to the king’s sons or subordinates as rewards. So after that night, everyone went about their business as usual. The ladies-in-waiting didn’t react to this, and the king wouldn’t care who had lain in his bed last night.

But later, Ophariel’s mother became pregnant and gave birth to Ophariel – this became a big problem.

If it were an ordinary child, it might have been overlooked, but the problem was that Ophariel possessed undeniable royal characteristics – that violet hair and sapphire blue eyes were the most obvious symbols of royal bloodline, unique to this family alone.

At that time, this was definitely considered a royal disgrace. According to custom, Ophariel should have been thrown into the lake to drown, then the body destroyed to erase all traces. But West IV at that time didn’t do so. This man was already 40 years old but still didn’t have an heir. Now suddenly getting such a daughter, he was naturally overjoyed. Then, despite the opposition of those around him, he married Ophariel’s mother into the palace as a concubine and gave Ophariel the royal surname “West”. Just like that, a family of lady-in-waiting suddenly became royal members.

This almost ridiculous promotion naturally aroused the jealousy of others, especially those concubines and the queen who hadn’t borne children for the king, who all had no good faces for this concubine of “lady-in-waiting origin”. Marriages between countries are mostly political marriages, and because of this, these consorts are basically princesses or daughters of nobles. Compared to them, a lady-in-waiting who served them was indeed much lower in status.

And now such a person of low status suddenly had the right to be on equal footing with them?

Because of this, from a young age, Ophariel watched her mother being ridiculed and mocked by those consorts at banquets. They blatantly despised her bloodline, origin, her upbringing, and even her daughter. This made Ophariel’s mother very helpless. After all, she was only of lady-in-waiting origin and didn’t know how to handle interpersonal relationships within the court. Faced with these vicious mockeries, she could only swallow her anger. Subsequently, Ophariel vowed to protect her mother. And she did achieve this.

She diligently studied books on politics, history, economics, and various other aspects, absorbing all kinds of knowledge. Relying on her own efforts and intelligence, she gradually became a famous flower in the Kingdom of Wester. Many of her political ideas and visions were not only recognized by commoners and nobles but also by the king. In such an environment, her mother finally no longer needed to live a life of humiliation as before and returned to a peaceful life.

Although she shone in many aspects, this princess was very clear that there were some things she absolutely couldn’t touch.

Such as military affairs, such as combat.

Of course, it wasn’t strange for women to learn martial arts and military affairs. In the kingdom, many young ladies from military and martial backgrounds started learning combat skills from a young age. But Ophariel’s identity was different. She was a princess.

Even with intelligence and talent, not learning warfare and martial arts still made many people feel at ease. But what if such a talented princess with considerable prestige started learning combat skills and military strategy?

What did that represent?

Ophariel herself was very clear that the reason she could live a peaceful life now was precisely because of this point. First, she only had half royal bloodline. Unless West IV had only her as a daughter for his entire life, otherwise, the throne wouldn’t be for her to covet. Especially after the birth of the first prince and second princess later, this possibility became almost zero. And in this situation, if she went to learn how to fight and command armies, then in others’ eyes, it would no longer be as simple as “a princess with outstanding political talent”.

“…So, it’s not that I don’t want to, but that I can’t.”

Finally, Ophariel hugged her legs and ended the whole story with this sentence. Her eyes were lowered, looking at the ground, as if recalling the past again.

As for this story, Julian didn’t have any special reaction. He looked at Ophariel for a moment, then asked.

“Why are you telling me now?”

“Because I can feel that you’ve been testing me all along the way, my lord,” Faced with Julian’s inquiry, Ophariel’s lips curled slightly, while she combed her long hair.

“Anyway, I didn’t intend to hide it, so I might as well be frank with you, to avoid always being on tenterhooks on the side.”

Hearing Ophariel’s almost complaining words, Julian didn’t show an embarrassed expression, but merely shrugged. In fact, Ophariel was right.

As early as when he first made a deal with this princess, Julian was very suspicious of her cause of death. A princess with outstanding talent who was murdered naturally didn’t rule out the possibility of being murdered due to excessive ambition. Especially in his memory, this princess had the support of both the people and the nobles. If she tried a little harder and got the military forces in her hands, then this queen would be nailed down and unshakable.

Because of this, in order to observe this princess and better understand her, Julian brought her to participate in this action, wanting to see some clues from it. And later, he found that although this princess was usually very smart, when it came to combat and military affairs, she became like an ordinary person, just like when she discussed with Judy about the strength comparison of high-rank swordsmen, her level was no different from ordinary people.

This was obviously abnormal.

And now, Ophariel’s narration had dispelled many doubts in Julian’s heart. If things were really as she said, then this princess obviously had no intention of seizing power. After all, to get the support of military forces, it’s impossible without certain military knowledge. And judging from the almost zero knowledge capacity of this princess before him, she indeed deliberately maintained it, not letting herself learn these things.

But now, why did she want to learn again?

“Because I am your adjutant, my lord,” Ophariel raised her head, her sapphire blue eyes without a trace of wavering.

“The reason you brought me out this time, apart from testing me, was to tell me that I will have to live such a life often in the future, right? And judging from the current situation, the knowledge I possess is obviously not enough to be your help in this aspect, so I hope to learn from you… Is there any problem?”

“Answered very well, plus ten points,” Faced with Ophariel’s answer, Julian nodded satisfactorily, stood up and looked at the girl before him, but then he spread his hands.

“But unfortunately, I can’t teach you combat skills.”

His answer was equally sincere.