Chapter 940: Visitors
For 3 days in a row, Lex the Great did not summon Chen Rui, but Chen Rui was not at ease. Due to the disclosure of his ‘ident.i.ty’, there was an endless stream of n.o.ble families who came to visit, including the brothers and sisters of ‘Arthur’.
It was more difficult for powerhouses to produce offspring than ordinary people, but human’s fertility was far greater than demons. Lex the Great’s concubines were not many, 20 plus, and he had a total of 12 children.
Among them, the deceased Queen Ikrina had a son and a daughter, Third Prince Arthur and Seventh Princess Freya.
The oldest was Princess Royal Qins, who married Great Prince Houston of the Blue Glory Empire 10 years ago. Including Second Prince Garfield and Fourth Prince Luke, who were the most popular now, both born of imperial concubines. After Ikrina pa.s.sed away, Lex did not have another queen.
Early this morning, Fourth Prince Luke and Princess Freya came to the Golden Cloud Palace where Chen Rui currently lived. Princess Freya was 17 years old. She was once a silly little girl who didn’t know anything and would only run around behind Arthur. Now she was a beautiful and lovely young lady. Her fiance was the military upstart of the Dragon Bright Empire, Military Administration Council Dean Chamosco’s eldest son, Proyo.
The n.o.ble families had power and wealth that the commoners admired, but they could not decide their marriage or even the direction of their lives, especially those in the royal family.
When they first met, Freya was a little timid toward this familiar yet unfamiliar brother. After Luke mentioned some interesting and embarra.s.sing stories about the 3 of them, she relaxed quickly and became more affectionate with Chen Rui.
“Besides Yini and Zola, I have 3 friends with me, but now they’re all out.” Chen Rui was talking about the poison dragon couple and Dodo. The poison dragon didn’t like to stay in this kind of restricted palace, so he went to Yerodisha with Ms. Emerald Dragon earlier. The witty friend Dodo naturally followed.
Those who remained in the palace were ‘Yini’ and Zola. After the madam wives had the t.i.tle of ‘guardians’, they could justifiably accompany him by his side.
Although wearing a veil, and her original beauty had been reduced a lot by disguise, her innate temperament was still difficult to hide. This had attracted Freya’s envious eyes, “No wonder my brother has not come back to see Freya. It turns out you have Sister Yini and Sister Zola to accompany you.”
‘Arthur’ and this younger sister were from the same mother, so they had a close relations.h.i.+p since childhood. Chen Rui had a strong affection for Freya in his mind. He smiled and touched her head, “It’s not that brother doesn’t want to come back, but I can’t for some reason.”
“Now that third brother is back now, he won’t be missing again.” Luke smiled, “I still remember when third brother took me and Freya to steal wine when we were young, and we all fell drunk. Freya and I were fine, but third brother’s b.u.t.t was whacked by father… This time in the conference hall, third brother has changed so much that I couldn’t even recognize it.”
“Little Luke, I almost didn’t recognize you either.” Chen Rui took a deep look at the younger brother who always followed behind ‘Arthur’ in his memory, “You have grown up. As I said before, people will change.”
Luke felt that Chen Rui’s gaze had some kind of penetration that could see through his mind. He felt guilty for no reason, and he couldn’t help but look away.
Soon, the attendant reported: Golden knight Samuel requested to meet. Luke immediately got up to say goodbye to Chen Rui. Freya, who was talking speculatively with Isabella, was unwilling to leave.
Isabella rolled her eyes and took the ‘little sister-in-law’ to the inner hall to discuss the topic of makeup.
After a while, Samuel brought Joanna and Ina into the hall.
“Greetings, master!” Samuel and the 2 women bowed together. After being acquitted, the ‘misunderstanding’ of ‘a.s.sa.s.sinating the second prince’ was also clarified. Samuel was still a member of the golden knight and the Dragon Knight Legion.
“My most loyal friend, call me Arthur. There are no outsiders here.” Facing Samuel, Chen Rui didn’t have the slightest bit of vigilance as when facing Luke, “This is Zola. Like Isabella, who goes by the alias Yini, she is my wife. You can rest a.s.sured that I have turned on the soundproof enchantment. Even the guards at the door can’t hear our conversation.”
Samuel hurriedly brought Joanna and Ina to Zola and greeted Zola with the t.i.tle of ‘madam’, which made Ms. Fairy Dragon happy.
Chen Rui looked at the situation of the 2 women beside Samuel, and he laughed, “Looks like even our Commander Ina failed to escape your clutches in the end? Knight Samuel.”
Samuel smiled shyly. Even the always generous Ina blushed, while Joanna smiled and said nothing.
During this time, Ina and Joanna had been running around, trying to save Samuel in every possible way. They had gone through many ups and downs together. The most thrilling one, if it wasn’t for Ina’s shrewdness to use the clues of a mysterious intel to rescue the kidnapped Joanna in time, Joanna had already fallen into Garfield’s hands and became part of Samuel’s revenge scheme.
At the last minute, Ina and Joanna stood up to face life and death together. From that moment, Joanna had completely accepted her.
After Samuel was acquitted, Joanna took the initiative to facilitate this good event, and Ina finally got her long-cherished wish.
“By the way, Samuel, I heard you refused your father’s request to return to the Kemplot Family?”
Samuel nodded, “I’ve made up my mind to follow Your Highness, so Joanna didn’t go back to the Philip Family too.”
Chen Rui frowned, “You don’t ask me what am I going to do this time? Or where will I go in the future?”
“Anywhere, anything, master. Please allow me to follow.” Samuel’s answer was simple and firm. Joanna and Ina also had supportive expressions.
Adversity shows true love. When Samuel was in the most difficult time, it was Chen Rui who lent a helping hand, and it was more than once. In fact, the 3 of them had all received the life-saving grace of Chen Rui before.
“Sorry for my blunder, my friend.” Chen Rui nodded and patted Samuel’s shoulder, “I will give you a ‘star conferring’ power, and I will need your power in the future. If… Joanna and Ina don’t mind, they can sign 2 more master-subordinate contracts with me, which is the same as Samuel’s at the Thunder Prison.”
Samuel’s eyes lit up. Joanna and Ina had long heard about Chen Rui’s gift of Samuel’s contract power in the Thunder Prison. Knowing the great benefits, they quickly bowed to express their thanks.
Chen Rui first performed a star conferring to Samuel who became ‘Star Apprentice’. He got the speed buff and the accelerated special attribute of [Lightning Dash], then he signed a master-subordinate agreement with Joanna and Ina. This meant that as long as 1 month later, after Joanna and Ina’s [Star-level Enhancement] completed and he redid the star conferring, Chen Rui would be able to ‘carry’ Samuel and his wives to any place the [Star Gate] could reach like the Demon Realm.
According to Ina, another subordinate of Chen Rui, the spearman Lucio, was now in the Blue Glory Empire.
In the Nightmare Plain, Lucio seized the opportunity to get acquainted with Bonnet who was rescued by Chen Rui from the Thunderstorm Tribe, and he became a small deacon outside the Blue Glory Empire Holy Sanctuary. It was he who got Samuel’s related intel, that’s why Ina came to the Dragon Bright Empire.
At this time, the attendant came to report again. Second Prince Garfield and the Holy Light Mountain Cardinal Gralin visited.
Chen Rui thought for a while, and he did not let Samuel leave first. He just let Joanna and Ina follow Zola into the inner hall.
When Garfield saw Samuel at a glance, the resentment flashed across his eyes. He smiled at Chen Rui, “Arthur, don’t blame second brother for not seeing you until today.”
“Your Highness Arthur.” Gralin also said, “I happened to meet His Highness Garfield at the gate of the palace. Sorry for the disturbance.”
Garfield was the ‘mastermind’ of the accusation against Samuel. Now he was in control of the Golden Estate belonging to ‘Arthur’. Gralin had done his homework deliberately these days. He had a more accurate confirmation on the relations.h.i.+p between Garfield and Arthur. Hence, the cardinal’s first sentence was very tactful to clear the relations.h.i.+p with Garfield, which made Garfield’s complexion change slightly.
Not to mention that Prince ‘Arthur’ was what the church had to fight for. Even if he was not, Gralin didn’t care about offending Garfield. He was 1 of the 3 cardinals of the Holy Church. Even Lex the Great should treat him with courtesy. A mere second prince couldn’t really make Sir Cardinal worry.
Chen Rui nodded to Gralin and walked toward Garfield with an affectionate look on his face, “Second brother, you’re welcome. During this time, your encouragement and motivation toward Samuel, including the disturbance toward a certain lady, I will keep it in my mind.”
The same first sentence with the same slap in the face. Garfield’s smile instantly solidified on his face.
Gralin is a cardinal, but this newly returned brother ‘Arthur’ dares to do so. Plus, it’s in front of Gralin and Samuel!
Of course, Chen Rui would not be polite to Garfield. This second prince occupied the estate that originally belonged to ‘Arthur’, persecuted the Kemplot Family and Samuel many times, and even attempted to molest the woman whom ‘Arthur’ was infatuated with. He was obviously a villain. With his current strength, he was simply too lazy to be courteous with this kind of character.
“Arthur, what do you mean!” Garfield’s eyes were full of rage.
“Second brother, you don’t understand? Aren’t you the best at plotting people behind their back? Are you bullying women with despicable means that even your IQ has plummeted to the lowest limit?” Chen Rui said lightly, “But I am still very satisfied with Samuel. My knight explained his loyalty with ‘action’ very well.”
Chen Rui deliberately emphasized the word ‘action’, and he looked at Garfield’s lower body with contempt.
Garfield seemed to have his most painful scar uncovered. His expression instantly turned pale as he roared with anger, “Arthur! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”