Soon enough, the Golden Dragon Emperor was made aware of what truly happened in the starry sky.
As he guessed, Astoria ran away from home after hearing about the marriage tournament, however, unexpectedly for both of them, there were already several groups waiting in ambush for her.
If she hadn't been luckily saved by the 4th prince who was returning home from an excursion, she would've died before even leaving Beast Emperor Star.
Unfortunately for the duo, they were soon forced into the starry sky by several other groups and chased for thousands of kilometers on end, taking them through a domestic teleportation array and eventually landing them in the same territory of the Beast Domain that Damien was in.
"This is absolutely the work of the Black Dragon Clan! Father Emperor, we must take action!" The 4th prince exclaimed as the story came to an end.
The Golden Dragon Emperor nodded without a change of expression and said, "Mm, I will take proper measures to solve this problem. Anyone who dares to bully my family…can only die!"
He turned his attention to Damien next.
"Clear the room. I'd like to have a talk with this young man alone."
As the Golden Dragon Clan members left the throne room, they cast strange glances in Damien's direction, unknowing of how to feel about him.
After all, he was an outsider, but he was the princess' savior, and considering the relationship they'd shown so far, he had absolutely no ill intentions towards the princess.
It was still unknown whether they could trust him or not, but since the Emperor invited him for a private conversation, it at least meant that he had some importance.
"Brother, don't be too scared! My father is actually a really nice person, he's just too shy to show it!" Astoria whispered in Damien's ear as she passed by.
His eyes darted over to the Emperor just in time to see the slight twitch of the latter's eyelids, almost making him break out into laughter.
Thankfully, he was able to hold it until everyone left the room.
"Is something funny?" The Emperor asked.
"Nothing at all," Damien responded.
"Hmm…"
The Emperor furrowed his brows and scanned Damien's body with his eyes as if trying to extract all of his secrets.
"You have an interesting composition."
"I get that often."
"Do you?"
"No, but if you think about it, I really should."
The Emperor almost rolled his eyes from the sheer amount of sarcasm dripping in that statement but chose to ignore it for the sake of furthering their conversation.
"If I am not mistaken, you have come here for the Genesis Bead. Instead of fighting in the tournament, why have you chosen such a method to come in contact with me?" The Emperor questioned.
Damien shrugged lightly. "It just ended up like that. Your daughter ran up to me while I was minding my own business and paid me to deal with her pursuers. If you want to know why me…maybe your daughter sensed something?"
At first, Damien was also questioning why Astoria suddenly ran up to him. It was clear that she'd run a great distance, and he definitely wasn't the first expert she saw, but he was the one she chose.
However, he somewhat understood now.
After all, didn't the same thing happen to him?
Back in the first dungeon, when his spatial power was first reaching saturation, he also met a similar situation where he was pushed into a corner.
At that time, his spatial affinity was what led him to Kurt's subspace and allowed him to survive.
Wasn't Astoria experiencing the same thing?
Since she was a Golden Dragon, her physique and bloodline were far different from his own, which led to their affinities manifesting differently.
While Damien had to slowly build his body and acclimate himself to the spatial layers due to his human nature, Astoria had a naturally powerful body and the same powerful connection to space, which allowed her to unconsciously and imperceptibly travel through the spatial layers while avoiding the detection of even Demigods!
In some sense, Astoria's talent was even greater than Damien's, it was just that their area of expertise was clearly different.
When Damien explained this to the Golden Dragon Emperor, even he couldn't help but be surprised. After all, even rarer than those in the entire universe, spatial experts among the beast races were one in a hundred trillion!
"You have no notion of marrying my daughter, correct?" The Golden Dragon Emperor asked, almost rhetorically.
"Correct," Damien answered anyway.
"However, despite your grace and relationship with my daughter, I cannot simply give you the Genesis Bead. Now, it has become the central force driving the current plan." The Golden Dragon Emperor continued.
"The undercurrents of our Beast Domain have been roaring and raging in recent days. While we are able to hold off the Nox with our natural defenses and the accumulation of fate, this doesn't stop internal struggles from taking place."
"The Black Dragon Clan was originally a brother to our Golden Dragon Clan, but something changed 30 years ago, completely reversing the clan's attitude and identity. Since then, they have been secretly building connections and growing influence in the Beast Domain with the intent of usurping our throne and plundering our fate."
As the Golden Dragon Emperor's words came to an end, Damien sighed. It was obvious what was about to happen.
The Golden Dragon Emperor looked at Damien as he finished his words.
"The Genesis Bead and the marriage tournament as a whole are both lures to bring those hidden forces to the light. Through the Genesis Bead, the Black Dragon Clan gains an artifact that can be used as the lifeblood of their influence, and through Astoria, they gain access to the fate of the Golden Dragon Clan. When these two factors are put in one place, it is absolutely impossible for them to stay hidden."
The meaning was clear.
'Enter the tournament and win properly if you want it, and don't interrupt my plans while you get it.'
It was a stance that disregarded Damien entirely, but he didn't let it provoke him.
The Golden Dragon Emperor definitely wasn't such a brick-like man. Considering how Damien had yet to be kicked out of the palace, it seemed there was still room for negotiation.
Damien sighed and cracked his fingers.
"Alright, negotiation it is. Just know, I'm not some soft persimmon you can bully as you please!"
Negotiation always began with money, and in line with this belief, Damien first presented the wide array of funds he'd acquired in recent years.
Honestly speaking, Damien didn't even remember how currency cards were divided anymore. With such a massive heap of them that he rarely ever used, knowing was pointless. Besides, wouldn't people tell him how much they wanted him to pay?
If anyone tried to scam him, they'd simply die. There was no need to worry.
Nevertheless, while Damien didn't know the exact amount, he was sure that he as a single entity definitely had more money than some larger influences.
Yet, with such a sum presented before him, the Golden Dragon Emperor merely shook his head.
"Our beast races don't value currency the same way the rest of you do. This scrap metal has no meaning for us."
It was a bullshit response.
How would they even maintain an economy without money?!
The Golden Dragon Emperor was definitely just trying to make things hard for Damien.
But that was still fine.
Resources, artifacts, technique manuals, he had an abundance of them all.
Eventually, one of them had to succeed.
…right?
