"Wait…" she suddenly spoke in realization, "you knew who I was this whole time?!"
With the way Damien had been acting, she thought he was some newcomer in the Beast Domain who'd never heard of or seen her, but that didn't seem to be true at all!
"I mean, I've only heard the reputation of the devil princess and seen a portrait of you, if that makes you feel any better," Damien responded.
"It doesn't!"
"Too bad then."
"Hmph!"
"Alright, stop harrumphing and lead me to your father already."
"I won't!" Astoria suddenly exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips defiantly.
"Is there a reason why or is this just a devil princess thing?" Damien asked with a frown.
"Uhm…both!" Astoria replied, sticking her tongue out cutely.
"Understood," Damien responded, "then…"
Two especially fierce sacks of rice went over Damien's shoulders.
"I'll find the palace myself. I'm sure you won't get off easily when your father finds out what happened. You want to try and escape punishment in front of me? Don't make me laugh," Damien scoffed sarcastically, ignoring Astoria's pounding on his back.
'Now then…'
He spread his awareness to find the Golden Dragon Clan's main palace, covering over a hundred thousand miles with his awareness.
Unfortunately, he seemed to be on the wrong side of the planet, evidently Astoria's arrangement, so he needed to teleport a good few times before the beautiful golden scenery of the Clan Estate revealed itself to his eyes.
"So this is the Golden Dragon Clan, aye? What a pretentious group," Damien muttered.
The sheer amount of gold that went into building the several hundred thousand kilometer-large estate ground was blinding. It was enough gold to make someone never want to see the color gold again in their lives.
Of course, most of the buildings and flora were untainted, but the entire estate ground was connected through a series of golden roads and trails, almost looking like the veins of a—
'That's exactly what it is.' Damien realized.
The fearsome and domineering dragon aura that clouded the air and even stimulated Damien's draconic bloodline didn't originate from any treasure, but from the strange road itself.
Damien was almost certain that the road was created using the remains of a true dragon, likely at the Godbeast level.
'The main palace is…'
Damien teleported to the air above the main palace and flared his aura, making his presence known.
"Package delivery! Did anyone here order a package?!" He yelled, his voice booming into the surroundings, backed by mana.
The following processes happened so rapidly that they were hardly worth mentioning.
Golden Dragon Clan guards surrounded Damien and pointed their weapons at him, only to immediately lower them when they saw who he was carrying with him.
Eventually, an imperious voice came from within the palace, inviting him in.
"Let him through."
Those three simple words, with no sign of emotional fluctuation at all, carried heavy power, not just in a literal sense.
Damien's gaze narrowed somewhat. From this alone, it was clear that the Golden Dragon Clan's Emperor was a shrewd person.
Only, was it shrewdness or indifference?
Damien teleported into the palace with the intention of finding out, following the aura traces until he made his way to the throne room.
Here, he was met by a congregation.
Several tens of Golden Dragon Clan Members, presumably people of the royal family, stood lined in rows on both sides of the hall, watching Damien as he walked through the door.
However, his eyes didn't leave the man seated on the throne.
'That's it. That's the real deal right there.
Long midnight black hair, sharp and divine golden eyes, a chiseled face, a robust body that was covered in an incredibly arrogant golden armor, everything about the man screamed "domineering!"
'This is what that brat Long Chen could've been if he followed my suggestions and became a cultivator in real life! I didn't think I'd ever get to see it in my lifetime!' Damien exclaimed inwardly, his spirit shedding cheers of joy.
Truly, the differences between this man and Long Chen, whether in appearance or aura, were not many at all.
"What is your purpose for coming here?" The man said, cutting straight to the chase.
Damien shrugged with a smile. "I found your stuff scattered in the starry sky, so as a good samaritan, I came to return it. Satisfied?"
Thump!
Thump!
Two dull sounds rang out as Astoria and Titus were dropped on their butts.
Whoosh!
They disappeared instantly, whisked away by a random clan member and kept far, far away from Damien.
However, this action didn't symbolize hostility, merely wariness.
"Since you've acted so straightforwardly, I will not be needlessly hostile to you. Tell me what you desire and I will make sure you can get it," the man said afterward.
Even if he acted like this, the past few days had been utter chaos for him.
He set up the marriage tournament for his daughter's hand and the Genesis Bead to draw out the forces hiding in the dark, but it seemed Astoria herself was far too against the concept of getting married to even consider this kind of plan.
How she managed to sneak away under a Demigod's nose? Even the Golden Dragon Emperor himself didn't know! Ever since she was young, Astoria seemed especially gifted at slipping away from situations where it should've been impossible for her to do so.
With the Black Dragon Clan's recent signs of aggressiveness, Astoria absolutely couldn't be allowed to roam as freely as she used to.
Therefore, the Golden Dragon Emperor truly was grateful to Damien for bringing her back.
"Unfortunately, I don't believe it'll be so easy for me to get what I want from you." Damien finally responded. "However…hold on, give me a second."
Damjen halted his words and teleported away, appearing several tens of meters away at the entrance to the throne hall.
He swept his hand through the air like a crazy person, however, when his arm finished its arc…
"Astoria!"
"How?!"
Multiple exclamations rang out when the people in the room saw what Damien had caught.
The little princess that had been on the completely opposite side of the throne room a mere minute ago was now in Damien's grasp.
"Let me go! Why did you catch me?!" Astoria complained as she tried to escape from Damien's clutches.
"Hm? You think you can escape? As long as I'm here, you're not leaving this place until you tell your father what happened."
"I don't want to! Let me go! I want to play!"
"Play later. This is more important."
"Nothing is more important than playing!"
"Oh? Okay, let's play then. I'll 'play' with you the same way I 'played' with your brother."
Astoria's face suddenly paled. Her eyes robotically creaked as her gaze moved to her brother.
Despite being in the palace now, he still remained standing.
Not because he wanted to, but because sitting down would probably bust his ass into a million pieces!
Astoria absolutely didn't want to experience that!
"Fine, fine! Put me down! I'll stay!"
"Will you?"
"I will!"
"You definitely won't."
Damien ignored her pleas and brought her back to the front of the room, keeping her in his grasp so she couldn't escape.
"Now, properly explain to your father before you go anywhere," Damien commanded.
However, inwardly, his thoughts were elsewhere entirely.
The way this little girl was trying to escape…
Damien didn't think such a coincidence existed.
Somehow, in this place, he'd found a genius with spatial talent that was almost on the same level as his own!
