Chapter 23: The Royal Banquet (Part 3)
“What, do you want children now?”
Jin Chi’an looked at the worried Qin Hua in front of him with some amusement.
“Were you persuaded by those noble ladies? Want to continue your Qin family’s excellent bloodline?”
“Of course not.”
Qin Hua sounded a little awkward.
“I’m just curious why the nobles in District One are so obsessed with bloodline genes with high sentinel-guide awakening rates.”
“Of course it’s for power.”
Jin Chi’an rubbed the Maine Coon standing on his shoulder, his gaze drifting toward a noble passing by nearby.
“The empire’s royal family was selected through bloodline over thousands of years. But how much longer can a royal family that developed a hereditary mental illness hundreds of years ago really last?”
Meeting the gazes of passersby, Qin Hua hurriedly covered Jin Chi’an’s mouth, which kept saying such blunt truths.
“Say less.”
Jin Chi’an pulled away the hand blocking his mouth and said teasingly, looking completely unconcerned, “Qin Hua, your Qin family has also been eyeing that position all along.”
“Enough. Stop talking.”
Qin Hua anxiously looked around. Seeing that the passersby were only hurrying past, he finally relaxed.
“Let’s not talk about this first. We should hurry downstairs.”
After saying that, Qin Hua tugged Jin Chi’an by the sleeve and walked outside, his eyes warily watching Jin Chi’an’s next move, afraid he would say something even more treasonous.
“Qin Hua…”
“Don’t say it.”
“It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“Then say it.”
Thinking about the issue of descendants, Jin Chi’an asked him in some confusion, “Say, if Felix and I were to have a child, how likely would it be that the child is a little tiger?”
“Zero percent,” Qin Hua said decisively.
“You’re that certain?”
Jin Chi’an was clearly dissatisfied with this answer. In his mind, all that remained was the disappointment of never being able to rub his own little tiger again.
“Of course. You would only give birth to a sentinel with mental illness. If things turn out better, then a guide without illness.”
“Are you cursing me?”
“No. Think about it. Why is it that even though the royal family clearly incorporated beastman blood into their line, there has never been any record in history of a beastman being born?”
As the steps before them gradually decreased, the symphony from the garden downstairs slowly reached their ears. The conversations among the nobles also gradually drowned out Qin Hua’s extremely quiet voice.
As if feeling that what Qin Hua said was not without reason, Jin Chi’an’s thoughts were invaded by this baffling fact.
Since Charlemagne II, the royal family, which had inherited the bloodline of the first emperor and a beastman woman, had never produced beastman descendants.
But clearly—clearly beastman genes were powerful enough to alter the structure of the Charlemagne family’s consciousness clouds.
“What are you thinking about? The royal line’s sentinel-guide awakening rate is one hundred percent. How could beastmen possibly be born?”
Qin Hua expressed disdain for the accuracy of that data.
Forget the current era, when sentinel-guide awakening rates were low across the empire. Even if one only looked at the Qin family, the probability of branch members awakening sentinel or guide abilities was already far lower than before. Let alone the royal line, which had been troubled by genetic illness for hundreds of years.
How could it be possible that everything they produced day after day was mentally ill?
However, the absence of beastmen being born was indeed the royal family’s biggest mystery to date.
Just as the two of them were thinking about the truth of all this, the eastern garden of the palace gradually revealed its full appearance as they approached.
White rose bushes were planted all around. Their neatly trimmed outlines and natural floral fragrance made it feel as if one had stepped into an oil painting of white roses.
Those squarely trimmed flower bushes divided the paths, allowing the symphony echoing through the garden to linger within the maze-like flower beds.
The two were admiring the breathtaking scenery before them when three figures blocked the view entirely.
“Why are you only coming down now? The dinner banquet is about to begin.”
Several Allied Forces members who were part of this operation blocked their path. Seeing their absent-minded expressions, they asked in confusion.
“We took a bit longer preparing. Did anything happen just now?”
As Jin Chi’an explained, his gaze unconsciously drifted toward the center of attention in the distant crowd.
A nobleman with long white hair was surrounded by several young ladies from aristocratic families. He seemed rather popular.
The teammates who had arrived earlier followed Jin Chi’an’s gaze.
“You mean Bai Ye?”
“I don’t think I’ve seen him at District One banquets before,” Qin Hua said suspiciously as he looked at that unfamiliar head of white hair.
That striking silver-white hair certainly left a strong impression.
Unlike Qin Hua’s confusion, Jin Chi’an felt that this person looked somewhat familiar, as though he had seen him somewhere before.
Before he could remember, one of his teammates hurriedly explained.
“He is the son of the previous generation’s Third Prince. In other words, the current emperor’s nephew. But apparently his mental body takes after his mother’s family, so he has always grown up on his mother’s side.”
“His mother’s family is…”
“An old family from District One’s northern hemisphere. I heard their mental bodies are all birds.”
Looking at his smooth white hair, long lashes, and long, well-proportioned legs, his entire person seemed to exude an elegant temperament.
Just as Jin Chi’an felt that his gaze was too blatant, the white-haired man slowly approached under his gaze.
When there was only the distance of one person between them, the man turned and brushed past them.
“Honored guests, please follow me to the eastern dining hall.”
Puslin, the butler hosting the dinner banquet, explained to everyone and led the group of noble guests toward the dining hall.
Inside the vast banquet hall, a rectangular arrangement of long tables covered in white tablecloths came into view.
At every seat, an emblem belonging to each family had been placed. Clearly, the seating arrangement, from near to far, had already been prepared in advance.
Following the mental power on the emblem, Jin Chi’an stopped beside a familiar mother and daughter. His eyelid twitched uncomfortably.
“Why is it you again, Jin Chi’an?”
Jin Mian complained unhappily. From the expression on her face, it was not hard to tell that this young lady of the Jin family had most likely just thrown a tantrum.
“It is my honor to dine with Aunt and Miss Jin.”
Jin Chi’an performed a noble courtesy toward the two of them with a gentlemanly air, then took the seat beside them.
As the dinner banquet began, palace servants served the dishes one by one.
Jin Chi’an gently swirled the red wine in his hand. His gaze unconsciously drifted toward the white-haired man at the center of everyone’s attention.
He saw the other man also raise his glass of red wine, gesturing a toast to him.
Not understanding the situation, Jin Chi’an looked around at the guests seated nearby. After confirming that the other man was indeed looking at him, he belatedly raised his glass in return.
This exchange between the two of them happened to fall into Jin Mian’s eyes.
Her resentful gaze instantly turned flattering. Skillfully, she looped her arm around Jin Chi’an’s.
“Jin Chi’an, you know him?”
“…”
Before Jin Chi’an could explain, Jin Mian interrupted him, having already assumed the answer.
“Cousin, I’m quite satisfied with him. Since you know each other, introduce me to him later.”
“Jin Mian!”
Qi Wan, who was seated beside them, no longer looked like a loving mother. Her stern gaze fixed on the somewhat improper Jin Mian as she reprimanded her.
“How many times have I told you, Jin Mian? He is not within your target range this time.”
After hearing this, Jin Mian’s explosive temper was instantly ignited.
“Why, Mother? Isn’t he also a member of the royal family?”
“Of course he is. But our family does not need a powerless duke tainted with mental illness as a son-in-law.”
“You reject this one and that one. Anyone I take a liking to, you think is unsuitable. What exactly will satisfy you?”
Perhaps because she had lost her head for a moment, Jin Mian’s argument was rather loud, nearly overwhelming the dull symphony playing in the dining hall.
For a time, the surrounding guests all looked over at her in surprise.
Qi Wan had also not expected her to lose control like this. Amid several murmurs from the people around them, she nearly blacked out.
Under several whispered sighs, Jin Mian lifted her skirt and fled the dining hall.
Qi Wan, unable to bear the gazes of the people around her either, also chased after her.
After a while, the dinner banquet continued after this small interruption. However, the noble guides who had heard Jin Mian’s argument all looked especially preoccupied.
Only after the meal ended did everyone leave one after another.
A startled cry from the eastern garden entered the ears of the Allied Forces group.
Reacting instantly, Jin Chi’an immediately rushed toward the source of the sound.
As soon as he arrived, he saw Qi Wan, her hair disheveled, kneeling on the ground while holding a lynx mental body.
Qin Hua looked at the lynx, whose eyes were tightly closed and which was as still as dead water, and asked in confusion, “What happened?”
Jin Chi’an also looked suspiciously at the mental body with no signs of life. Tentatively, he extended his mental tendrils to sense it.
The similar mental power from the same bloodline told him that this lynx belonged to Jin Mian.
Jin Chi’an frowned slightly as he looked at the lynx, which was not even breathing.
This appearance was clearly a sign that Jin Mian was already dead. But his knowledge told him that once a guide died, their mental body would disappear right after, not remain in this unconscious, lifeless fainting state.
Just as Jin Chi’an was about to ask, several soldiers dressed in royal guard uniforms walked toward them.
Perhaps because she saw reinforcements, Qi Wan staggered to her feet and threw herself toward one of the guards.
“Hurry and help me search. My daughter is missing. Her mental body looks like this. She must be in danger. Hurry and find her.”
Qi Wan’s complete disregard for her appearance made it hard to believe she was a guest attending this banquet.
The guard took several steps back with some disgust, yet still maintained his composure as he advised her, “Sir, there will be no danger inside the palace. You may rest for a while. Later, the guards will conduct a patrol and give you an answer.”
The other party’s vague answer made Qi Wan, who was already burning with anxiety, even more furious. The curses that burst from her mouth made her completely abandon her noble image.
“How do you royal guards do your jobs? My daughter, a grown person, has disappeared and none of you even noticed…”
“Send this lady back to her room.”
Ignoring Qi Wan’s curses, the leading royal guard ordered his subordinates.
In a few movements, they carried Qi Wan away as she punched and kicked at them, taking her back to the guest rooms.
Only after the royal guards had left did Jin Chi’an thoughtfully say to the people beside him, “Their mental power is wrong.”
“What?”
Jin Chi’an extended his mental tendrils and sensed Qin Hua’s overflowing mental energy.
“Their mental power didn’t fluctuate at all.”
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