Wen Yuzhi did not let Mond carry him. He simply flapped his little wings and flew down by himself.

His little leather shoes landed unsteadily in Mond’s palm, both feet swaying a little.

The cub was so light that even held in the palm of a hand, there was hardly any weight to him at all.

No wonder the king was always thinking about how to fatten the cub up a little...

Mond thought to himself that at this moment, he too felt His Highness should be a little chubbier.

Still, the way the cub looked now was just right too. He was only the size of a little doll, small enough to be picked up in one hand and carried around at any moment.

At this moment, Mond finally understood Mansendis’s trouble.

He let out a sigh and carried the cub in his palm over to the lakeside.

The scenery here was beautiful, and the lake itself was lovely too.

Most of the architecture and landscaping in the palace had been built during Tasiya’s reign, and this lake was one of them.

After Mansendis took the throne, he had not altered the layout of the palace, and many of the original things had been left in place.

There was also a stretch of grass beside the lake.

Then somehow, Mond produced a picnic mat, a blanket, a parasol, and a whole pile of other things from who knew where.

He picked the softest spot on the lawn, spread out the picnic mat, laid the blanket on top, and opened the parasol as well.

In the blink of an eye, the previously empty lakeside had completely changed.

Wen Yuzhi sat down on it. Considering the cub’s size, Mond had thoughtfully prepared a tiny chair for him, while Mond himself sat across from him. Between them was the food box Mond had brought.

As expected, the afternoon tea Mond had mentioned earlier was inside.

Wen Yuzhi took one look, then quickly looked away.

The cub thought he had hidden his reaction well, but those seemingly casual glances falling again and again on the food box had already exposed the curiosity in his heart.

At that, even the corners of Mond’s lined eyes could not help curving with a trace of amusement. But on the surface, he pretended not to notice anything and opened the food box as though nothing were amiss.

At the very top was a bottle of milk. Under that were the pudding and cake Mond had mentioned.

The pudding still looked fairly intact, but the cake was a little lopsided.

That alone was enough to show that these two desserts definitely had not been made by the Gumu.

The cakes they made were always beautiful.

Wen Yuzhi stared at that slice of cake, but what he was thinking about was what Mond had said just now.

“The king made them himself.”

...Dad made all of this?

As if seeing the question in the cub’s eyes, Mond said, “I personally watched the king make these desserts.”

Mansendis had never cooked before, nor did he know how to make sweets like these.

Fortunately, there had been a group of Gumu in the kitchen to guide him, and Kasha and the others had helped from the side. In the end, they had barely managed to turn out two finished products that at least looked passable.

Thinking of Mansendis standing in the kitchen with a tense expression just to make dessert, the smile in Mond’s eyes deepened.

As for why the sovereign of the Saint Clan, who had never cooked before, would suddenly go make desserts he himself did not even like to eat...

obviously, Mansendis had gone out of his way to do it for the cub.

Wen Yuzhi looked at the cake in front of him and fell silent for a moment.

Mond, however, cut the cake into small portions and placed one on a plate. “Would Your Highness like to try some?”

Wen Yuzhi took a bite.

It was sweet, but not especially good. If this had been in his old school, this cake would without question have received a failing grade from the teacher.

It had no appearance to speak of, and no flavor either.

But Wen Yuzhi still ate it all, one small bite at a time.

Only after seeing that Wen Yuzhi was willing to eat the cake did Mond carefully begin to probe. “Might I have the honor of hearing what’s troubling Your Highness?”

Troubling...

When Wen Yuzhi thought of everything that had happened these past few days, that stifled, uncomfortable feeling seemed to surge back up in his chest.

“I can tell Your Highness is not in a very good mood today. If there’s something bothering you, you can tell me. I swear that whatever is said here today absolutely will not be repeated.”

Mond spoke gently. His tone was warm, and his gaze was calm.

He did not open by directly asking whether Wen Yuzhi had quarreled with Mansendis. Instead, he first softened the cub’s attitude with dessert, then slowly spoke in a mild, guiding tone.

And with only the two of them here, the surroundings peaceful, the two of them seated face-to-face on the picnic mat, the conversation instantly shifted from something solemn into something more like casual talk over tea.

Without realizing it, Wen Yuzhi relaxed.

Hearing Mond’s question, he pressed his lips together and told him what had happened yesterday.

He would not want the throne, and he would never kill him.

Wen Yuzhi knew that those of royal blood could kill their own kin for the throne, and that even Mansendis had inherited the throne only after killing the previous royal blood.

But for Wen Yuzhi—

whether it was the throne or anything else, he would never hurt Mansendis for it.

And because of that, when Mansendis said those words, Wen Yuzhi had felt as though he was not trusted.

It was as though, in Dad’s mind, he was someone who would place the throne above him.

Even though he had already told him before that Dad was the person he cared about most, the most important person in his heart.

What Wen Yuzhi was angry about was precisely that feeling of not being trusted by Mansendis. And he was angry too that the silver-haired sovereign could say something like that.

So he had simply hidden himself away and chosen to sulk alone.

Before coming here, Mond had already heard the full course of events from Mansendis. But he had still chosen to ask again, because he wanted to know how Wen Yuzhi himself saw the same matter.

Now that he knew, Mond did not rush to speak. After weighing his words for a moment, he finally said, “Before I offer my own thoughts, may Your Highness first listen to a story from me?”

“We have afternoon tea and such beautiful scenery. It would be a waste without a story.”

The old chief affairs officer blinked, making the words sound playful.

The moment Wen Yuzhi heard Mond say he was going to tell a story, he immediately sat up properly, legs together, little wings drooping softly behind him, wearing the serious expression of someone ready to listen attentively.

Seeing the cub look so earnest and focused, Mond gave a soft cough and slowly began to speak.

And what he told was his own story.

Mond was born a Heimo. His talent was excellent, so he entered the military very early and had once even risen to the very position Selet held now—back when Selet had not even been born yet.

That was also why Alvin and Selet both respected this chief affairs officer so much now.

After all, in a sense, Mond was their senior. In fact, most of the Saint Clan of today had grown up under Mond’s watch.

But Mond had not remained in the military forever. Later, his mental power disorder worsened, and he no longer wanted to stay in the army, so he simply chose to enter the palace and become an ordinary affairs officer.

The change from someone who could command the entire military to someone handling palace matters was enormous.

Wen Yuzhi blinked.

But Mond did not find anything unfortunate about it. On the contrary, he had liked this second job very much.

He had devoted nearly most of his life to the palace, and to the Salilaino as well.

Mond had served three generations of Salilaino and lived through four sovereigns of the Saint Clan. He had even watched Bartoni grow up, and the first sovereign he had served, Sein, had been Bartoni’s uncle.

Of course, that uncle had later died at Bartoni’s hands as well.

But it could be said that when it came to understanding these royal bloods, there were probably very few in the entire Saint Clan who knew them better than he did.

These royal bloods possessed strength so ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ overwhelmingly powerful that their dazzling sharpness made all Saint Clan willingly follow them.

But at the same time, they also possessed extreme flaws.

“Do you know what those flaws are?”

At this point Mond paused and chose to ask the question instead.

Wen Yuzhi shook his head.

Mond smiled. “Madness and indifference. Pride and arrogance.”

“I can assure Your Highness that among the royal bloods I have met, almost all of them were like this. Their personalities were especially extreme.”

That extreme temperament had driven the Salilaino toward mutual slaughter, and it had also shaped the way these royal bloods thought.

To them, killing the previous sovereign and inheriting the throne had practically become the correct and quickest path.

That also fit the Saint Clan’s principle all along.

They revered only the strongest.

Killing the old king was without question one of the clearest ways to prove strength.

Mansendis was not as extreme as those other royal bloods, but he too had grown up in that environment. It was inevitable that he would be affected by it.

What was more, when the same thing was placed on the cub, it became different.

He did not mind if his child had ambition, and he did not mind if the cub would kill him.

No matter what the cub wanted to do, Mansendis would support it.

Just as he had said himself, if Wen Yuzhi wanted it, Mansendis was willing to be that guide. He could personally teach the cub how to hold a sword and how to kill him.

That was where he differed from those other royal bloods.

He would not guard against his own child with suspicion. On the contrary, he deeply loved his child, and was even willing to use his own life to pave the way for the cub.

But because of his nature, when Mansendis said those words, he had not considered whether the cub would feel hurt by them.

“So you see, all these Salilaino are like that... Of course, I’m not referring to you. You’re different from all of them. Whether it’s Tasiya or the king, they’ve always been that mad and that obsessive.”

Willing to personally teach one’s child how to kill oneself—no matter what race one looked at, that was an astonishing thing.

Yet Mansendis had been able to say it calmly, and even as though making a promise, telling the cub that he had the right to do so.

Thinking of this, Mond sighed and said, “But please believe me, Your Highness. The king loves you very much, very, very much. It isn’t that he doesn’t trust you. He just... doesn’t know how to express that love.”

Even though Mansendis was already trying hard to learn how to be a good father, the environment he had grown up in had destined his way of thinking to be different from Wen Che’s.

The only thing that could be said for certain was that they both loved their child deeply and were willing to give everything for that child.

It was just that Mansendis’s care for the cub clearly also carried the shadow of that same extreme, obsessive Salilaino nature.