The Capital!

By the afternoon, Richard had already returned to the capital, only to find that news of his marriage to Lilith had spread everywhere and become the talk of the city.

From a distance, he could see that the palace courtyard had begun to be decorated.

Luxurious tables were arranged there, and servants could be seen cleaning away dried leaves.

Tomorrow night. It really was too sudden.

Their beautiful queen was getting married, and Richard heard far more complaints than blessings from the capital's residents.

Just because he was a star of the kingdom did not mean they were willing to see him marry the Queen.

Richard had no intention of going to the palace now. He would only arrive when the ceremony began.

Even today, he observed Sophia's residence, but that woman was nowhere to be seen.

Richard doubted she was still around the capital.

It seemed she had gone somewhere unknown.

"Richard!"

His name was suddenly called as he was strolling around.

The voice belonged to a handsome blond man with the appearance of a scholar—none other than William Anderson.

The man smiled at Richard.

"Congratulations on marrying Queen Lilith. To be honest, you're making me jealous," he said.

"Oh? Do you like Lilith as well?" Richard asked.

"Just admiration, not obsession," William replied as he flicked his feathered fan.

"By the way, Richard, could you help me with something?" he added.

Richard glanced at him without showing any surprise at those words.

From the beginning, he knew this encounter was no coincidence.

This man had clearly tracked him down and wanted something from him.

"What is it, Brother Anderson?" Richard asked in a friendly tone, even addressing him as brother.

At the very least, he didn't dislike this man, so if the request wasn't difficult, Richard wouldn't mind helping.

"I heard you obtained an enormous amount of Nature Spirits—so much that you could even pay off the kingdom's installments," William said.

This time, Richard frowned.

Wasn't he asking for help? Why was he suddenly talking about Richard's Nature Spirits?

Seeing the change in Richard's expression, William cleared his throat and quickly continued, "I simply hope you can purchase an item that I will later buy from you. It doesn't matter if you sell it to me at a higher price."

"Oh? What item is it? And who's selling it?" Richard grew curious.

He wasn't entirely opposed to this kind of help. After all, it wouldn't cause him any loss.

Even if he spent money first, the item would still be in his possession. Who knew—it might even be useful to him.

"It's a Hidden World priced above 100 million Nature Spirits, and possibly higher, since I'm not the only one interested in buying it," William replied.

Hearing the figure of 100 million, Richard's expression only changed slightly.

William wasn't poor. He even had his own businesses. If the price weren't this high, he wouldn't need someone else's help.

"Is that Hidden World that special?" Richard asked.

"Not particularly special, but someone might need it…" William answered. "It's the training type and can serve as a clan's residence. Inside, there are energy monsters with varying strength, with the strongest reaching Tier 100. They even possess a variety of abilities. Basically, they're designed for training."

"Are you planning to buy it for your clan?" Richard asked.

"Yeah. You already know about my clan. Our members have grown quite a bit lately, but as you know, we don't have a permanent territory, so this artifact would suit us perfectly. The only problem is that Duke Dasmond also wants to buy it, so the price might rise a little."

"Duke Dasmond?" Richard recalled the name.

The King's younger brother. Luca Holystar's father.

Before Lilith ascended the throne, that man had been second only to the King in terms of power.

"But who's selling it? Is it the Golden Leaf Auction House?" Richard asked again, since William hadn't mentioned it yet.

"No, it's Master Alex."

"Master Alex?" Richard was surprised. This was beyond his expectations.

"Master Alex obtained it during a dangerous expedition. He doesn't need it, so he's selling it. He should be appearing tonight."

"All right… Contact me again tonight," Richard said.

"So you agree?" William smiled brightly.

"For now, I'll keep it myself. But how long before you buy it from me?" Richard asked.

"I can't be certain, but as soon as possible—and it won't take more than a month," William replied.

"Okay…" Richard didn't mind as long as it wasn't over a month.

Even if the item didn't interest him much, he could still use it for training.

After that, William finally left.

Richard continued walking and eventually arrived in front of the Red Star Empress's residence.

He felt it was still a bit early to meet her, yet he couldn't suppress his impatience to see her again.

With a steady mind, of course, he was once again hesitant. Still, he wanted to see how the woman would react when she saw him again.

This time, he found Prince Alex in the courtyard.

The difference was that this time, the prince was practicing with a sword, training his sword movements.

Richard had to admit that he was skilled. Without using any power—just movements, relying solely on an ordinary sword—he could actually cut through a large stone.

"Richard."

Seeing him, the prince stopped his practice.

The look in his eyes toward Richard was slightly different now—perhaps because Richard was about to marry Lilith, his older sister.

"Prince, where is your mother?" Richard asked.

"She's inside," Prince Alex replied, showing no suspicion at all regarding Richard's intentions.

Perhaps he thought Richard had been looking for her for a long time, but when Richard met her yesterday, she had been heavily drunk.

"May I see her?" Richard asked again.

"Yes… You may go in. She isn't doing anything right now," Prince Alex answered.

Richard nodded and immediately walked toward the door, which had been slightly open from the start.

Since Prince Alex had even said he could enter, Richard stepped inside without knocking.

At once, he saw a spacious and luxurious living room—a sight that made him smile when his eyes fell upon the red-haired woman with slightly wavy hair cascading down her back.

She was wearing only a casual short dress, barely covering half of her long thighs.

Who else could it be but the Red Star Empress?

The woman appeared to be lost in thought as she stared at the teacup on the table.

She was clearly pondering something.

When Richard arrived, she instinctively looked toward the door.

At first, she may have thought it was Prince Alex.

But when she realized it was Richard, her eyes immediately widened.

She even stood up reflexively.

"Ri—Richard," she said in a trembling voice.

After standing up, she nearly staggered.

Richard hadn't expected such a reaction upon seeing him, as if she had just encountered a dangerous monster.

Her expression even looked like she wanted to flee but couldn't.

Richard didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he pretended to remain calm.

"Sister Maya, are you all right?" he asked as he walked toward her.

His calm demeanor instead caused the Red Star Empress to freeze.

Her lips parted slightly as she couldn't think of a single word to say.

She should have acted as if nothing had happened yesterday, but perhaps pretending was too difficult for her.

Even so, she clearly forced herself to stabilize her expression.

With effort, she at least managed to breathe without stuttering.

"I'm fine. Richard, why are you here?" she said after finally calming down.

"I stopped by because yesterday you were too drunk and suddenly passed out. I wanted to check on your condition," Richard replied.

When that was mentioned, the Red Star Empress looked awkward again, but this time she hid it quickly.

"Ehem…" She pretended to cough before sitting back down on the sofa and drinking her tea, clearly trying to divert her attention for the moment.

However, she forgot to invite Richard to sit.

Richard remained standing in front of her, suddenly looking like an uninvited guest.

Not wanting to look foolish, Richard simply sat down across from the Red Star Empress even though she hadn't invited him.

The Red Star Empress seemed to have too many thoughts in her head. She didn't notice anything.

"I'm fine. It was just alcohol. It can mess up my body, but it can't cause me any real problems," the Red Star Empress said after a moment of silence.

She even seemed unaware that she had taken far too long to answer.

After saying that, she appeared to remember something.

"Richard, aren't you going to marry Lilith? I heard you even paid off the kingdom's installments," she said.

When speaking about this, she finally looked as though she had no problems at all.

"It seems your harvest at that mine was enormous. Do you still have a lot of Nature Spirits?" she continued.

Everything she said was clearly just to divert the topic.

And Richard casually replied, "I still have quite a lot—so much that I don't even know what to buy. Sister Maya, is there anything you'd like to purchase? I'll definitely buy it for you. Even expensive items are fine if they're for you."

Richard spoke in an innocent tone, as if he merely wanted to repay the Red Star Empress for the help she had given him in the past.

But what he said was enough to make the Red Star Empress look awkward once again.

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