Buy a maid?
Let a maid serve Serena, do these things for her?
What a joke.
Even if it's a woman, Prince Nolan won't allow it—no woman is allowed to touch Serena like that. No matter what Serena says, Nolan just won't agree.
She is his woman. He'd rather work a little harder himself than let anyone else touch her, even if it's another woman.
Serena's request was ruthlessly rejected by Prince Nolan. Although she felt a bit frustrated, inside she was extremely happy and blissful.
Prince Nolan was willing to do these little things for her, and never got tired of it. Wasn't this, too, a sign of their affection and intimacy?
After that, Serena never brought it up again. Since Prince Nolan was happy to do it, if anything came up, she'd just get used to it and grow a thicker skin.
Although Nolan still blushed every time he bathed her, he was much better than before. Plus, Serena's hands were gradually recovering, so as long as things weren't too intense, they could do them just fine.
With both of them satisfied, they rested for another ten days. Once the Master of the Mystic Healer Valley declared Serena stable, Prince Nolan finally took her and continued on their journey.
Before they left, Prince Nolan called Zed over and told him they had important business to take care of, so it wasn't convenient to bring him along. They would send him back to the Demon Sect first. Zed timidly agreed, and just before leaving, he whispered to Prince Nolan, "I'm sorry."
Prince Nolan pretended not to hear. A flash of unease passed through Zed's eyes, but he said nothing more.
Anyway, once he was back at the Demon Sect, they'd never see each other again. If Prince Nolan and Serena disliked him, so be it—he didn't need their approval.
With no Damien of Southlyn stirring up trouble, and no Zed causing mischief, their journey was unusually smooth. Although a few assassin organizations tracked down news of Dorian Owen, hoping to take the chance to kill him, the massacre at Red Blood Hall made them think twice.
With Prince Nolan from Eastlyn guarding Dorian Owen, they knew better than to provoke him. As for killing Serena?
Yeah, right... Did they not see that the Assassin Alliance elders and the hidden young master Dorian were all sticking close to Serena? Why go looking for trouble—did they want to die?
All sides found a balance. Anyone who wanted to make a move was now just watching, too scared to act rashly.
This was exactly what Prince Nolan wanted. Even though he doubled the number of dark guards secretly protecting Serena, it was still better if no one came looking for trouble.
With Zed by his side, Prince Nolan kept a low profile and even went out of his way to hide Zed's presence, lest Jianghu people come after him demanding he hand Zed over.
Of course, Prince Nolan could hide Zed from the Jianghu, but not from the emperors of each kingdom. He even made a point to inform the Eastlyn Emperor himself.
After receiving Prince Nolan's memorial, the Eastlyn Emperor swept away his earlier gloom: "My Ninth Brother, I fear he's just busying himself for nothing this time. Out of kindness, I won't get involved."
The Emperor smiled handsomely, while Felix Fuller stood in the hall, head lowered, a faint, unreadable smile in his eyes.
There was no way Prince Nolan was busying himself for nothing. If the Emperor could uncover the battle between the Demon Sect and the orthodox Jianghu, surely Prince Nolan knew too—although...
Prince Nolan may have arrived late, but that didn't mean he was wasting his efforts. What he wanted wasn't the Demon Sect itself.
Of course, Felix Fuller wouldn't dare say any of this. If he did, it would surely sour the Emperor's mood.
The Emperor hadn't been happy at all during this period.
He'd thought that with Prince Nolan gone, he'd have a chance to clean up the government. But Prince Nolan never gave him the opportunity—during this time, several murder and atrocity cases erupted, stirring huge public outrage. And those involved were all the sons of powerful noble families in the capital.
These sons all shared one trait: their fathers, brothers, and clans were die-hard royalists, the same people who helped force the previous Minister of Revenue to his death.
Everyone—Emperor and ministers alike—had assumed Prince Nolan wouldn't pursue the matter. After all, he'd shown no reaction at the time, not even attending the old minister's funeral. But unexpectedly...
Prince Nolan struck when the old minister's family returned to their hometown and he himself was away from the capital, attacking the Emperor and stirring up public anger to force the Emperor to act against his own courtiers.
Ruthless, precise, and cold.
Besides the Eastlyn Emperor, the Southlyn and Lyndaria Emperors were also watching Prince Nolan's moves closely. Seeing that he wasn't targeting them, the Southlyn Emperor let him be.
The Demon Sect was a shadow of its former self, and the Southlyn Emperor no longer saw it as a threat. Besides, the sect had always been hostile to the kingdoms. Prince Nolan trying to ally with them was impossible.
The Demon Sect's young lord had nearly died at Prince Nolan's hands—there was no way the sect would cooperate with him.
The Lyndaria Emperor was relieved to see Prince Nolan wasn't going after Prince Terrence, either.
None of the emperors thought much of Prince Nolan's trip. They all saw it as a pointless effort, and their attention shifted back to the Miasma Forest.
Prince Rowan of Eastlyn had already led his troops to the edge of the Miasma Forest and fought a minor skirmish with Prince Terrence of Lyndaria, ending in a draw. They clashed a few more times, each side winning and losing.
Southlyn's armies soon arrived as well.
Everyone was watching the battle closely, worrying in secret and itching to get involved...
On the surface, the three kingdoms seemed peaceful, but underneath, currents were raging. By heading to the Demon Sect at this time, Prince Nolan had stepped outside the three-kingdom struggle.
With Zed leading the way, Prince Nolan and his group reached the Demon Sect smoothly. Just as the intelligence reported, the sect had already been destroyed—the Demon Sect Lord had escaped with a handful of followers.
The entire Demon Sect was deathly silent, not a single living soul in sight.
They had arrived too late.
"How could this happen?" Staring at the ruined, desolate Demon Sect, Zed's eyes turned red. He jumped off the carriage and ran toward the main hall.
Corpses littered the ground all the way, the air thick with the stench of blood and decay, making one want to retch.
"Grand Elder, Third Elder, Little Shunzi, Lady Bao... Who did this? Who killed them?" Zed ran past familiar faces lying dead, his small figure wild-eyed and crazed like a little lion, fists swinging as he roared in grief.
"Who—who killed them, who destroyed my home?" Zed charged into the hall, smashing and wrecking everything, like he'd gone mad.
Prince Nolan ignored him, ordered a set of all-black clothes for Serena, wrapped himself up completely, and entered the Demon Hall. He signaled the dark guards to investigate the scene.
The others did the same, wrapping themselves up and moving through the corpse-filled Demon Hall like ghosts.
"These people have all been dead for more than ten days." The Master of Mystic Healer Valley followed in, sighing inwardly at the loss.
Too late. Far too late.
The Demon Sect's treasures had surely been taken too—what a loss.
The hall reeked of blood, most bodies already rotting, the stench overwhelming. Serena stayed outside, guarded by Dorian's master, which eased Prince Nolan's mind. The only thing that worried him was Dorian.
Because after Dorian entered the Demon Hall, he disappeared...