"I-I am sorry, second brother. Sister Farah would not reveal its location to me no matter how hard I tried. She is extremely secretive about it," Mina said in a regretful tone, staring downwards. She badly wanted to help him out but failed.
Damien sighed inwardly but wasn't surprised since he expected it. He smiled as he raised her chin, "It's fine. I will just find another way."
Damien felt that this location was not only heavily protected but must contain some precious treasures as well. He also wondered why the Pandemonium Needles was so big of a deal to be kept somewhere else.
Seeing his smile that was different from his usual perverted smile, Mina got transfixed for a moment before she inwardly knocked herself.
"Why...do you seem different recently?" Mina asked in a low voice while timidly looking at him, wondering why she even asked him such a question.
Damien blinked his eyes, "That's because I have decided to change for the better. I realized that I had been falling behind because of my ways. If I want to gain royal father's favor again, I should show him some results, right? Why? Do you want me to continue my old habits?"
He said with a sly smile as he stroked Mina's cheeks.
Mina trembled as she stumbled backward and said in a panicky tone, "No, no. The current you is good enough."
Damien smiled, "Good. See you around, Mina."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Wait!"
"What is it?" Damien asked with a hint of surprise.
"I-I can teach you about the art of formations if you are still interested." Mina was feeling bad that she wasn't able to help him out by finding out the location of the Pandemonium Needles.
So she thought of helping him out by at least teaching him since he seemed quite sincere about it.
Damien felt it was quite a good thing for her to offer it and wondered if she was feeling bad about not being able to fulfill his request.
Still, he was amazed that she did not hesitate to offer him help even after knowing the kind of person he was, 'What a kind girl…'
He replied eagerly, "Sure. Then let's start now since I have somewhere else to be at noon."
Mina didn't know where this newfound courage of hers came from to teach a debauched person like Tristen.
But thinking that he himself said he was going to reform himself, she felt it was a good thing, and she could also contribute by helping him out. If someday he turned out to be the heir to the throne, then she could help him turn out to be a good one.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})The two spent quite a time in the library as Damien continued to learn so many new things that he never thought the art of formations could be this profound. Even though he only scratched the surface, he could see that the art of formations had various applications that could be combined with alchemy, like the Blood Array.
He also found that Mina seemed quite different when teaching. Her words contained confidence in her own knowledge and eagerness to pass down knowledge. He felt that she could be an excellent teacher, and her talents were wasted by staying inside the palace.
"Why don't you become a teacher?" Damien asked as she finished for today.
"Teacher? I...I am not suitable...I don't know how to handle or even look in people's eyes when talking," She said in a flustered tone, not expecting Tristen to ask her something like that.
Damien's lips curved, "Is that so hard? You did quite well to teach someone like me. So how could you not handle common people? You wouldn't know unless you tried."
Mina never felt that she could be a teacher but hearing Tristen's words of confidence; she felt that she was interested in becoming one.
She said with a soft smile, "Thank you, second brother. I will try my best."
"Good. See you later then," Damien said as he got up and left the library while Mina stared at his back with a glazed stare wondering why Tristen seemed more charming and likable than before.
Hearing his suggestion that she could try teaching people, she felt as if he was able to discern a side of her that no one else was able to understand. And the way he eagerly listened to her teachings made her smile to herself since no one else had bothered to listen to her.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Even the other princesses she had tried to make friends with told her off, saying that she was too boring and that she should go talk to books instead of them.
And the only imperial member who bothered to talk to her other than her mother was Tristen, though it was to tease her. However, now he really seemed to not mind being in her company and did not try to make her feel uncomfortable.
She then clapped her own cheeks to bring back her focus and continued to read her favorite books.
Damien got a message that the emperor had asked him to visit him in the meditation chamber, and so he walked towards it.
He felt it a bit astonishing and amusing that he was going about meeting all these emperors, including an empress with different identities, with none of them being his own.
Each time he met these big shots, he had to use his exalted identities as a cover to hide his face and true identity. Inwardly, he wasn't feeling good about using different identities since he wanted to face everything without putting up any mask since that was how he got things done in his previous life.
He wondered when he would be confident enough to face them all in his own identity and take them down one by one. He knew that the Gale Emperor played a huge part in the death of Lily's father, and that fact flashed in his mind every minute he was in this palace.
The mediation chamber was located on the other end of the palace, and he had to walk for quite a while till he came upon a large grey door with an elder standing guard outside.
As soon as the elder noticed Tristen, he bowed as he opened the door, "Your Highness, please."
Damien nodded and entered the dimly lit chamber. However, as he entered, he was assaulted by a powerful gale which would have blasted him away had he not used his complete strength to stand still.
'Damn...does the emperor cultivate in a room with such high affinity?' Damien was impressed since he could feel his Wind Seed shaking in excitement because of the high wind affinity in the chamber.
However, his eyes then focused on the middle-aged man floating in thin air in a lotus position. He was dressed in noble white robes with silver embroidery. The wind itself seemed to twist around the man and kept circling around him.
His face looked majestic, especially with his mustache that seemed to give off a regal aura. His body looked firm and robust as if tempered by strong gales, and as he opened his eyes, Damien could feel an invisible yet vast power behind his eyes.
Damien stumbled backward, feeling a strong pressure settling down on his body, making his knees bent till he almost touched the ground.
His eyes became cold as he looked at the Gale Emperor looking at him with an amused smile.
Because of his proud nature, Damien felt it humiliating to be forced to bend his knees even though this wasn't his real body.
'Don't break character too much lest he feels suspicious,' Luna warned.
Damien gritted his teeth and was about to give up resisting when the pressure suddenly disappeared, allowing him to stand up again. But still, his legs felt stiff and heavy, realizing how weak as an ant he was before a Profound Ethereal Realm existence.
This was the first time he had to endure the pressure from such an existence since his current identity was not so exalted...at least not in the eyes of the intimidating man before him.
"Now that look in your eyes was what I wanted to see from you. Good. It seems that your mother was indeed right. You seemed to have changed for the better. Before, you were too much of a coward even to look me in the eyes, but now you are bold enough to stare back at me," He said in a meaningful tone as a light of surprise shone in his eyes.
He continued to look into Tristen's eyes as he said, "So, I heard you became quite the alchemy genius out of a sudden. Care to explain?"
Feeling the Gale Emperor's powerful gaze seeping through his body, Damien knew he was expecting only the truth from him. If, by any chance, the Gale Emperor felt anything suspicious, he would be done for!
