Arthur saw his uncle looking at him with a sudden somber expression and smiled awkwardly, "Uncle Sven, I...don't understand what you are talking about."
Sven let out a solemn sigh, "Haaai~ my nephew, why do you think you can hide such things from your own uncle?"
Arthur wondered why his uncle was suddenly taking an interest in him when before, he would usually only have casual talks with him. This was the first time he saw him being so concerned about him, and so he couldn't help but feel a bit moved.
Sven walked towards Arthur and patted his shoulders as he said, "I know how the relationship between you and your father is. Even though I personally haven't seen anything, I can easily discern it from your and his face. How can I not when I had known you both even before you two were born."
Sven gave a clenched half-smile of pity as he continued, "Despite being an exemplary crown prince, you are subject to such injustice from your own father. How can I, as your uncle, keep watching from the sidelines? All this time, I thought that maybe after you reach the Sky Ethereal Realm at such a young age, he would go easy on you. But this…."
Arthur's eyes darted around as he said in a low voice, "Uncle, careful. If my father hears this, we might be in danger."
Arthur was, in fact, boiling down his caution, as even the dumbest person in the empire knew better than to speak of the Xeton Emperor in a disrespectful way since it would be seen no less than treason.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})If somebody were caught or reported to be talking about Ruthren in such a way, they would be instantly punished with death no matter who. Even if it were highly influential people who got caught, they would still be severely punished, and such events had already been recorded in the annals of the Xeton Empire.
This was the reason Arthur never expressed his dissatisfaction, indignation, and anger towards Ruthren or talked about it to others.
Whatever grievances he had, he bottled it all up inside him.
Despite being the crown prince, he felt that Ruthren didn't seem to hold much importance towards him compared to Reva.
So, the last thing he wanted was anything to happen to his mother because of him. He had been swallowing all the insults, criticisms, and beatings he got from his father with a smile on his face.
But at the same time, he never felt so much despair and helplessness that he sometimes wondered if it was his bad luck to be born as the crown prince of this empire or, to be more precise, as the son of Ruthren.
He never failed in his duties as the crown prince and always tried to keep up with his father's expectations. In this continent, he was the youngest person to touch the Sky Ethereal Realm at a young age other than Reva.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Still, among men, he would be the first youngster. He thought his father would be happy when he achieved such a feat even though he knew he fell short of Reva. But that was something understandable to him as she was always extraordinary from a very young age.
But harsh reality struck him again, and his father only seemed to put up more ridiculous expectations, making him wonder if his father was trying to deliberately put him down.
He didn't understand why his father seemed so concerned about increasing his cultivation at a fast pace. He wondered if it was because Ruthren wanted him to keep up with Reva or if it was because he was the crown prince, and as the future emperor, Ruthren didn't want him to be a weakling.
However, Arthur knew it couldn't be that since he would be at least as powerful as Ruthren after centuries based on his talent and potential. After all, he reached his current realm of cultivation not only because of resources but also because of his own blood and sweat as well.
So, the main assumption he could make was his father was trying to torture him by making him follow his outrageous demands.
Sven scoffed, "Father? You still consider him as one after the way he treated you and your mother, who is my own little sister? And you don't have to be scared of him here. This is a place where his senses won't reach, and even if it did, I would be the first person to know. It's not like he would tire himself out by keeping a watch on others on his own."
Arthur blankly nodded as he felt that Sven wouldn't say such things without taking some safety measures himself. Besides, Sven was also one of the supreme existences with Profound Ethereal Realm cultivation.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})However, he was shocked at the tone in which Sven talked about Ruthren. All this while, he had never seen Sven even slightly talk of Ruthren in a disrespectful way.
But now, it seemed as if Sven hated Ruthren right down to his bones, especially for his sake as well.
On second thought, he realized that maybe it was not that shocking considering his mother was Sven's little sister as well. Still, he never thought Sven would be this concerned about his mother and wondered whether he had been suppressing his concern for the sake of not slipping up before the emperor.
Arthur's features finally relaxed as his expression became woeful, thinking about his mother, "Uncle Sven, is there any way to help out my mother? I don't know if I can really breakthrough to the next level within a week, even though I have been trying to for the past few months. And even if I did, he would just demand me to do something else by blackmailing me. Can you persuade him somehow?"
Sven's expression wrinkled up as he said, "Persuade? Arthur, are you deluding yourself, or do you still not understand what kind of a person your father is? Your mother is my precious little sister; although centuries younger, she is still someone I took care of since her childhood, no less than as my own daughter. Do you think I never tried to help your mother out all these years? Every time I mention her name to your father, all I see is disdain and contempt in his eyes. He already sees her as a dead person, so what did you expect?"
Arthur's head lowered as his eyes shook, feeling that his feelings were true all this time. Despite how Ruthren treated him, he still held on to a sliver of hope that maybe his father still cared about his mother and was urging him to cultivate faster to take on his reins.
But now, all those hopes were dashed by hearing Sven's words that he felt even more despair, making his posture slack.
Sven's tone became grave as he continued, "That's not all. I even doubt if Ruthren even plans to make you the emperor in the future. He might have bestowed you with the title of 'crown prince,' but that is something he can change on a whim. Who is going to say otherwise? He can cook up any reason to take away your title."
Arthur's eyes went wide with his whites showing, "That's impossible! He can't possibly lie about that. Other than me, who else can be the crown prince?"
Arthur wasn't actually keen on becoming the emperor and enjoying the power and riches. But for the sake of his mother, he knew becoming the emperor was a sure-shot way of employing all resources and power in his hand to cure her somehow.
He already tried asking Leon Xeton whether Alchemist Azrael would be able to help him out. But Leon stated that Alchemist Azrael's current prowess in alchemy was not enough to cure his mother. And not even he knew how many years it would take for Alchemist Azrael to increase his soul cultivation.
So, the only other way Arthur saw was to become the emperor quickly and hopefully use some secretive precious resources Ruthren might have stashed to save his mother.
Sven let out a sigh of pity as he shook his head and answered, "Who other than your goddess-like sister?"
"Reva?" Arthur muttered in a perplexed tone and continued in a confused tone, "But that doesn't make sense. My father already stated that she would be nothing more than a princess and wouldn't even be wed away to anyone. Even though I found it surprising, it still made some sense considering how no one is worthy of her. Otherwise, my father would have made her the crown princess, not me."
Sven let out a satirical chuckle as he said, "Crown princess? What if he made you the crown prince because he wanted to divert the attention of his enemies towards you so that no one would target Reva, whom he would be secretly preparing to let her rule this empire in the future?"
A/N: Read author's note please.
