Unedited chapter
52. The Rival in Love Retreats in Defeat
After both Shu Shu and Edgar left the lounge, Ian turned off the monitor and stopped paying attention to the matters below.
He was not a gossipy person at all, and he was not interested in spending time on these things. Frankly, just holding a banquet already made him feel quite vexed. If not, he would’ve done it frequently and not just once in a few years.
Taking out his communication device and connecting to the star network, Ian began to read the various messages that had already been filtered by his a.s.sistant. Upon seeing this, Chris also began to read his own mail.
Both men took the time to get busy for a while. Then they heard a knock at the door.
A banquet would be held today, and a lot of people were coming into the Imperial palace. Consequently, there were some men who kept watch outside the lounge. People who did not have the right ident.i.ty had absolutely no chance to approach this area. Guessing that it was one of the few privileged people who came, Ian immediately said, "Come in."
The voice-controlled door opened in response, and the person outside came in. Ian discovered that the person who came was Myer.
"Uncle Chris, Uncle Ian." After Myer came in, he called out to them. "My body was unwell after returning from Voisines planet, so I haven’t been able to pay a visit to the two uncles in time. I came over early today. I haven"t disturbed you, have I?"
"It turns out to be Little Myer, ah. I heard you designed and made an A-ranked mech in Voisines planet? That’s really great." Ian said with a smile.
Ian was always very fond of Myer. Before Edgar"s disappearance, he even had a mind to play matchmaker for Edgar and Myer. But now that Edgar already had a sub-beastman he liked, Ian would lay this thought to rest.
Chris also gave a little nod to Myer and then saw Shu Shu who came in after Myer and then ran toward Ian’s back.
Chris really appreciated Myer, and he also thought it was a pity that his son was not together with Myer. However, compared to Myer, Shu Shu was after all his family now . . . .
“Shu Shu, why are you not eating downstairs?” Chris, who had always been taciturn, took the initiative to ask and even showed an almost invisible smile to Shu Shu.
Shu Shu also had no idea why he went up with Myer. For a moment, he didn"t know what he should say, which made him feel that he was useless.
"Shu Shu, come, come, I’ll introduce you." Ian stood up and, pulling Shu Shu, gave a simple introduction to Myer and also introduced Myer to Shu Shu.
Shu Shu was pulled by Ian and saw that Edgar was not present, so his whole person was very at ease. Myer’s heart, however, went “ba dum”. He clearly perceived that Ian and Chris’ manners towards Shu Shu was even more intimate than to him.
Just because this person was Ian’s relative? Myer was somewhat unhappy, but he had always had a very good self-restraint and never revealed the slightest bit of his feelings. Instead, he started to chat with Ian.
Myer talked about things that Ian was interested in. The two of them had a very lively chat, but Shu Shu was in a fog listening to them and basically couldn"t take part in the conversation.
It’s still not long since he knew how to read, and furthermore, his understanding of the capital star was superficial. It would be strange if he could take part in the conversation at this time!
Hearing Myer and Ian chat about things he completely couldn’t understand and seeing Myer’s every movement that was too good for words, Shu Shu suddenly felt a bit ashamed of his inferiority.
He always felt that he was very powerful. After all, he was a daemon. In this world, how many animals could cultivate into a daemon, ah? But when he arrived in this place, what could he do as a daemon?
"Shu Shu, if you feel bored, you can go find Edgar." Chris said.
Only after Shu Shu heard Chris’ words did he came to himself. After coming to himself, he felt a little baffled. Why did he suddenly become melancholy and moody?
"Oh, that’s right, why haven’t I seen Edgar?" Myer asked.
His voice just fell, and the door was opened. Then Edgar walked in from the outside.
Edgar swept his eyes over the room, gaze pausing at Shu Shu"s body, and let out a sigh of relief. He just went to the kitchen, and when he came out again, he actually couldn"t find Shu Shu. Only Synthia stayed alone in the corner . . . . Shu Shu didn"t understand anything, so he was very worried that Shu Shu would run into some problems. Now, seeing that Shu Shu was fine, he could set his heart at rest.
"Edgar, long time no see." Myer got up and greeted Edgar.
"Long time no see." Edgar gave Myer a nod and asked, "Where’s Calvin? Didn"t he come with you?" He grew up together with Myer and Calvin. Myer always came with Calvin to find him before.
"Calvin? I haven"t seen him since I came back." Myer said with a smile, his face a bit unsightly. When he came alone to find Edgar, Edgar generally wouldn"t talk to him, so he could only call Calvin to come along. Now Edgar actually lumped him and Calvin together.
"He should come soon. I call him over to see you?" Edgar said.
Myer was rather speechless and finally replied, "No need. I came to pay a visit to Uncle Ian and Uncle Chris. I can definitely see Calvin later."
What Myer said was right; Edgar nodded. Then he found that Shu Shu seemed to be slightly unhappy and immediately asked, "What"s going on with you?"
"It’s nothing." Shu Shu replied. He very much wanted to have a proper chat with his disciple and asked his disciple to not drive him out. But he didn"t want to ask in front of Myer, so he restrained himself.
Edgar also couldn"t tell what the problem was, so he could only say, "Do you want to eat something? I’ll have the kitchen send some food over."
Shu Shu shook his head.
Edgar had not yet opened his mouth to continue, and Myer suddenly asked Shu Shu, "Shu Shu, which planet did you live on before? I’ve been to quite a lot of planets; maybe I’ve been to your hometown." He didn"t want to pay attention to Shu Shu before, but Edgar actually gave Shu Shu a special care and a preferential treatment . . . . Where exactly did Shu Shu come from to be able to make all his great efforts come to naught in such a short time?
"I used to live on Ga.s.s planet." Shu Shu said.
"Is it that Ga.s.s planet where Edgar trained? That place’s surely very beautiful, right?"
"It"s quite beautiful, and it has some very big forests."
"I heard the forests on Ga.s.s planet there are all virgin forests. I’ve never played in a virgin forest. It must be very interesting.” Myer said again.
Myer was very good-looking and also a good conversationalist. Shu Shu for some reason didn"t like him before, but after he started to genuinely chat with him, he felt that Myer was not horrible at all. He even felt a bit strange and unclear why on earth he would dislike Myer.
When talking about how dangerous the forest was, Shu Shu even mentioned the huge tigers in the forest animatedly. "There’re very, very big tigers in the forest. They’re so very tall and so very big and look extremely scary. One of them even wanted to eat me, and I was really frightened at that time . . . . I hate tiger the most now."
"The tiger wanted to eat you? What happened then?" Myer asked curiously. Ian and Chris also came over to listen—Shu Shu and Edgar had encountered such dangerous things?
"The tiger was killed by Edgar! Edgar’s still the most powerful." Shu Shu glanced at Edgar happily but unexpectedly saw Edgar’s slightly displeased look.
Shu Shu suddenly remembered that Edgar had said that the things at that time could not be told to others . . . . Although he did not talk about their situation of that time, but he talked about the things at that time. Did Edgar get angry because of this?
Shu Shu immediately stopped talking. But he didn"t realize that Edgar was in fact a little depressed—Shu Shu actually started to chat with a sub-beastman again, and he chatted so happily too!
Although Myer was a sub-beastman, but he was not like a sub-beastman at all and was even more strong-minded than the vast majority of beastmen . . . . A person like him, when seeking a marriage partner, would definitely not care whether the beastman was very strong or not. On the contrary, he quite probably would want to find a beastman who knew the score and acted tactfully. And Shu Shu . . . wasn’t he just like that?
Shu Shu was also very good looking . . . and the people of the Grote family liked to find good-looking people!
Edgar started to be on guard again.
"The banquet is about to begin. Calvin should’ve arrived now. Myer, let"s go down and take a look?" Edgar turned toward Myer.
Myer, hearing Shu Shu talk about his interaction with Edgar in Ga.s.s planet, had been a little unhappy. But the instant Edgar looked for him to talk, he suddenly felt happy. Now that Edgar wanted to go out with him, it was even more impossible for him to refuse. "Alright."
"I’ll go too!" Shu Shu unconsciously exclaimed.
"The banquet is about to begin. You let Mother explain some items you should pay attention to." Edgar refused Shu Shu.
Shu Shu was even more depressed.
Edgar was actually reluctant to leave with Myer and was also as depressed as Shu Shu. He took Myer along and went outside.
After Myer followed Edgar and found that Edgar did not take him to the banquet hall but took him to the back garden instead, he started to get excited.
Edgar was not too friendly to Shu Shu just now. Did he in fact feel very annoyed that that sub-beastman would actually run into the virgin forest and need his rescue in the end?
Myer was just thinking about it when he sensed that Edgar had stopped walking.
"Myer, don"t always look for Shu Shu to talk in the future." Edgar suddenly said.
"What"s wrong?" Myer"s emotions were stirred. Could it be that Edgar wanted to push Shu Shu aside and was letting him back out of an awkward situation?
Edgar deliberated for a while and thought that towards the brother who grew up together with him from childhood, he had better tell the truth. "I don"t like him talking to others. I’ll feel jealous."
Myer failed to respond for a moment. Feel jealous? Who were you jealous of?
After Edgar said this thing, he then recalled that he also had other things he wanted to ask. "Myer, I remember that you have a lot of suitors. What gift from your suitors do you like the most?"
"Why did you suddenly ask this?" Myer’s voice was a little dry.
"Besides food, I don"t know what else I can give to Shu Shu." Edgar said.
Myer gritted his teeth and bore the pain. A moment pa.s.sed before he answered, "Sub-beastmen generally like clothes and jewelry. If not, they should also like some new high-tech products."
"Shu Shu doesn"t like them much." Edgar said. The former, Shu Shu was not very interested in; the latter . . . Shu Shu very likely couldn’t use it.
"I don"t know then. You had better ask him yourself." Myer said with a smile. He kind of had an impulse to beat up Edgar.
Edgar nodded. "Thanks a lot. I’ll go back and think about it again."
Myer smiled, controlling himself to not show any abnormality.