Chapter 61 - Death Guards
The children all looked at Bai Rouyun as if she was a saint that had descended from the heavens to save them, and she could not help but feel her heart clench.
These children were obviously still innocent and naive; why did they have to undergo such cruelty? She had always felt that one had to be responsible for their actions, and to get a child, but abandoning them was simply unaccepted.
Bai Rouyun looked at these children and took them to a restaurant. When the manager of the restaurant saw the children, he originally wanted to bar them from entering, but when his eyes landed on Bai Rouyun, and he saw the clothes she was wearing, he knew that she was not an ordinary miss, and he begrudgingly watched as she reserved their largest room.
Here she ordered food for a full thousand gold coins. A thousand gold coins was a lot, but she was not feeling a pinch in her heart at all. Instead, she felt happy. When she was running around starving, she also wished that someone would look after her like this.
The children all looked at the many dishes that were brought in by the waiters, and their eyes shone, drool almost dropped from their mouths, but they were also worried. What could this woman"s plans be? No one was friendly for no reason, but they saw no ulterior motives in her eyes.
"Eat," she said as she looked at them. They were all aged from barely a few years to around ten years old.
"What plans do you have in life?" Bai Rouyun suddenly asked, and the children all stumped. What were their plans? They had none. They lived their lives from day to day, meal to meal. If they could not eat, then they would die.
"Would you be interested in following me?" Bai Rouyun suddenly asked. She was unaware that Li Moyun had already decided to use the Eternal Shadow Palace as her vanguard force, and she thought that if she could make her own force, she would become much closer to her revenge.
"Miss, we can take them into the Eternal Shadow Palace," Mo Chu finally said. "We already work mainly with orphans, and the Lord will definitely accept these children if you ask him."
Bai Rouyun considered what Mo Chu said. Although she would be unable to establish her own force at the beginning, it would be better for the children to enter the Eternal Shadow Palace as they had more abundant resources.
Bai Rouyun looked at the children. They were all shocked. While they did not know what the Eternal Shadow Palace was, they knew that it could not be an ordinary place. If they went there, would they be able to never be hungry again?
"Don"t worry," Bai Rouyun recognized the look in their eyes; it was much like her own once upon a time. "We will take you in and train you to become cultivators. You will become stronger and stronger until no one will dare to bully you any longer. You will get good food and a place to sleep.
"Even if it turns out that you do not have the skills to become a cultivator, will we keep you, then you will just get other tasks and jobs to handle. We will never abandon you."
Tears welled up in the eyes of the children. They were eager to join the Eternal Shadow Palace since it could change their lives; it was clear that they would grasp this chance with all their might.
"Eat first," Bai Rouyun said with a smile, and then she looked at Mo Chu, "Go back and tell Li Moyun about my decision. Don"t worry about me, I will stay within this room until you return, alongside the children."
Mo Chu glanced at Bai Rouyun. She was not very reliable, but he also knew that he had to announce this to Li Moyun, so he hesitatingly nodded his head before he left the room.
While Mo Chu was gone, Bai Rouyun spent the time getting familiar with the children. She learned their names and their history, and the more she heard, the more her heart ached for them.
The Richu Empire had begun a war campaign against a neighboring kingdom, and it was mainly because of this that these children had become orphans.
Some of them because both their parents died, others because their fathers had died and the mothers abandoned them so that they could remarry.
The more she heard, the more indignant Bai Rouyun became, but the only thing she could do was to feed the children more food.
When they were eating their desserts, the door to the room opened, and Mo Chu entered, alongside Li Moyun, who was wearing a mask.
The children were full of fear and awe when they saw Li Moyun standing in front of them with a mask on his face. They could not help but look at Bai Rouyun, only to see that she was still calm and collected, so they also slowly settled down.
Li Moyun saw the tenderness in Bai Rouyun"s eyes as she looked at the children, and he knew that she was reminded of her own past.
"I will give you all a chance," Li Moyun suddenly said. "You can choose to join the Eternal Shadow Palace as a regular guard. This means you will be treated like everyone else. But you can also choose to join as my wife"s future death guards.
"If you become death guards, you will have to give your life for hers, in case it becomes needed, but you will also be treated much better in the Eternal Shadow Palace.
"Although all of you are children right now, I hope you can make a decision. When you turn fifteen, you will be asked once again, whether or not to stay as her Death Guards, or if you would rather become a normal guard, but after that, there is no turning back."