The Empror's Trap-Chapter 57: Ch - Master and Servant Practice

After seeing off a visibly disgruntled Emperor, Kenji lay on his bed, reflecting on recent events.

Lina approached him: "Young Master, aren’t you going to take action yet?"

"No rush for now," Kenji gazed lazily at the ceiling. "Lina, sometimes you shouldn’t be too hasty. The Fifth Prince initiated contact with me - why should I make the first move? Waiting for him to come to us is the proper way. It’s not like he’s going anywhere."

Earlier, while welcoming General Balinos, Kenji had someone deliver a reply to the Fifth Prince, inviting him to come discuss matters at his mansion.

Given such an invitation, the Fifth Prince surely wouldn’t refuse. Though his thought processes were rather unique in some areas, he definitely wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to either befriend Kenji or gather intelligence. Kenji was counting on exactly this psychology.

That’s why Lina asked about taking action. After all, if the Fifth Prince really came to Kenji’s home, it would be like a sheep entering a tiger’s den - he could easily kill the prince.

But Kenji wouldn’t do that.

The Fifth Prince was still part of the royal family. Even as Imperial Family Director, Kenji was an outsider. Using just that title to try executing a prince would bring extremely fierce condemnation.

It would also make his future governance of Camelot quite inconvenient.

This time, Kenji just wanted to understand exactly what kind of person this Fifth Prince was. The fact that he was willing to warmly reach out after targeting him made him quite an oddity, in a sense.

"What do you need me to do?" Lina asked.

"You’re in charge of protecting me from the side."

Kenji gave Lina her usual job.

He wasn’t planning to kill the Fifth Prince immediately, but that didn’t mean the Fifth Prince wouldn’t take this chance to kill him. Therefore, Kenji needed Lina ready at all times. Especially in situations like this where everyone hid daggers behind their smiles, Lina was his last line of defense.

"Then, what if you suddenly decide to take action?"

Lina continued asking.

"If I really decide to kill the Fifth Prince... I’ll signal by dropping a cup."

At this point, Kenji stood up and circulated the spiritual energy in his body - his condition still wasn’t great. Alcohol affected him too strongly.

"Come on, let’s go to the training ground."

"What for?"

"Spar with me," Kenji stretched his arms, getting every joint moving. "I’ve been too busy these days, haven’t even had time to practice. Besides... I see you’ve been neglecting training lately."

"Young Master, I was training while you were reviewing documents."

"Oh really?" Kenji smiled. "Well then, perfect - you can help correct my mistakes."

Sometimes when you think too much, your mind gets scattered. That’s when you need physical release.

......

The Imperial Family Court naturally had no place for them to practice, so the training ground Kenji mentioned was specifically for the imperial guards and forbidden army troops to train within the palace.

They walked straight to the training ground. At this hour before rest time, the imperial guards were mostly hovering around the Emperor, so they wouldn’t come here yet.

"Oh right," Kenji removed his official robes, looking at Lina in her fitted black robe. "The martial selection ceremony should be held again soon - what do you think? Want to participate?"

"Are there any benefits?" Lina asked as she tightened her waistband and tied up her hair.

"Those who perform exceptionally can become military officers. The most outstanding ones, I believe this time they can become disciples of the empire’s Grand Mystical Masters."

"Grand Mystical Masters..."

Lina considered carefully, then shook her head: "No need, I don’t need that."

"Those are Camelot’s Grand Mystical Masters - only seven in the whole nation. You don’t want to study under them?"

"Not interested, Young Master."

After speaking, Lina took a deep breath.

Then her figure suddenly darted forward.

Kenji stood with feet apart as the sound of wind grew closer to his ears, followed by a small-looking fist shooting toward his face.

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

He raised his arm, using spiritual energy-enhanced limbs to forcefully block the punch, then rotated his waist to drive his other arm, smashing toward Lina.

Obviously, Lina’s speed was somewhat faster than his - she dodged past his fist by a hair’s breadth. But in that moment of dodging, Kenji had already followed up half a step forward, his solid frame now slithering like a snake to her front, launching an elbow strike that slammed into her.

With heavy footsteps, Lina was knocked back several steps before stabilizing.

"You need to study more. How can you protect me in the future just relying on past experience?"

Kenji exhaled deeply.

Lina’s advantage lay in being skilled in both demonic sect techniques and the techniques of court masters. In a sudden unrestricted fight, Kenji would easily be at a disadvantage.

But direct confrontation was different.

The duke title wasn’t just for show - all Kenji’s techniques and skills were learned from life-and-death battles on the battlefield. Having followed his father campaigning everywhere since childhood, his direct combat ability, though not matching the Grand Mystical Masters, was still top-tier.

"It’s not that I don’t want to improve," Lina rubbed her chest where the elbow had struck - Kenji hadn’t really hit hard, that last strike was more like pushing her away than an actual elbow. "But my techniques - those Grand Mystical Masters can’t teach me. Demonic cultivation is completely different from the techniques of Camelot’s seven Grand Mystical Masters. Rashly learning would just make my practice more confused."

Just as she finished speaking, Kenji’s pupils contracted sharply. His upper body tilted slightly backward as he reflexively reached out, catching an unsharpened iron spike that stopped just centimeters from his nose.

"Young Master’s skills haven’t dulled," Lina evaluated.

Lina had always been confident in these surprise moves - most people wouldn’t even realize what had happened, but Kenji had caught the spike.

Actually, his brain probably hadn’t even processed it - his muscles just moved before his mind did.

"That strike... if I hadn’t reacted in time, even unsharpened it would’ve blown a hole in my head, right?" Kenji felt a bit unnerved.

"Not at all," Lina tilted her head, lifting her clothes to reveal her smooth waist where a thread was attached. "If you really couldn’t block it, I would’ve pulled it back."

"What if you couldn’t pull it back?"

"With your constitution, getting stabbed by an unsharpened spike would just leave a hole at most - still salvageable."

"..."

Damn it, is this guard here to protect me or kill me?