Chapter 91

91 THE BARRIER WAS LIFTED

After bathing and standing in front of the Jing Pavilion to enjoy the fresh air in his palace, Bai Chen could hear how the palace maids were enthusiastically talking about how the barrier between the werewolves and the human empires had finally been lifted.

It was still early in the morning, but the girls wearing white clothes kept whispering to each other as they planned how they would go to the human empire to buy some things today.

Bai Chen didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the whispers weren’t very soft, so when the girls walked past his pavilion and whispered to each other, the Prince managed to hear what they were talking about.

Unknowingly, it was already a week after the full moon night, and everything had turned back to normal once again in the Dong Lang Empire. The barrier was finally lifted so that the people of the two empires could leave their empires freely once again.

Bai Chen didn’t even know why the palace maids looked so excited when they were finally able to visit the human empire again.

He once walked past the market in the human empire, and he even bought some food from there. However, he had never visited the market in Dong Lang, and that was why he could not compare the markets in the two empires.

It was indeed a happy thing that the barrier had finally been lifted as it could be taken as a signal that life had returned to normal, but Bai Chen wasn’t that happy today. The lifting of the barrier was a sign of one thing, and that was the reason why Bai Chen was not so enthusiastic today.

Once everything went back to normal in Dong Lang, that would mean the Beast Hunting Event would start soon, and to be precise, the event would start at noon today.

Bai Chen sighed heavily at the realization. Even if he had prepared himself for the event, he still didn’t have enough confidence to fight the beasts in the Forbidden Forest.

.....

That bastard Feng Qingshan finally taught him how to fight after torturing him with a series of physical exercises in the first week, but then he only had one week to train himself under the soldier’s tutelage.

On top of that, he also had to start from scratch, and of course, it couldn’t be said that he was strong enough to fight the beasts in the Forbidden Forest.

He didn’t even know how to wield a sword properly, so Feng Qingshan took so much time just to teach him that he stopped holding his sword as if he were holding a stick.

Bai Chen spent the one week after full moon night training diligently, but there was still a heaviness in his heart knowing that everything he prepared probably wouldn’t help him too much.

From Ma Qiao, he learned that the hunting event in the dangerous forest was an individual event, not a team event, so he had to fight the beasts alone with no one to help him.

Besides, who would help him in this world? He didn’t know anyone with power in this world other than the Emperor and the Crown Prince, but it was guaranteed that the two men wouldn’t be willing to help him.

“If Zhu Ge was still here to help me prepare for the Beast Hunting Event, would I be more confident today?” He muttered to himself as he suddenly remembered the red-robed man.

The barrier between the two empires had been lifted today, and Zhu Ge should be able to cross the two empires, but that man would not come today when he was about to risk his life in the Forbidden Forest.

Even if he didn’t know how strong Zhu Ge was, he still somehow wanted the man by his side as he prepared himself for the event.

It wasn’t that Feng Qingshan wasn’t strong enough, but Bai Chen just thought that the man wasn’t a good teacher.

He somehow preferred to get a lesson from Zhu Ge. Even if Zhu Ge only taught him once when they were in the stables, he could easily understand the man’s words, and he assumed that the man was a better teacher than Feng Qingshan.

Realizing how he kept comparing the two men, Bai Chen began to question his sanity, ‘Why do I keep thinking about that pervert as if I miss him?’ He felt like going crazy while shaking his head.

At that moment, he felt someone approaching, and when he turned his head to the side, he could see Ma Qiao walking toward him.

The servant could even smile brightly today, and Bai Chen was envious because he assumed that Ma Qiao didn’t even have a burden on his shoulders.

In his previous life, the heaviest burden on his shoulders was related to how he should find a job and make money, and when he found out that he would become a Prince in this world, he thought that he didn’t have to think about the two things anymore.

In this new world, he indeed didn’t need to think about those two things, but he still had some things to deal with even if he was the Prince of this empire. At this point, Bai Chen realized that whether it was a human or a werewolf, they would still have problems no matter how prestigious their title was.

“Are you ready, Your Highness?” The question greeted Bai Chen’s ears after Ma Qiao stopped walking beside him.

Bai Chen really wanted to kick the old servant in the shin because the servant couldn’t read his heart at all. He was not ready, and maybe he would never be.

“You say that you are my loyal servant, but you won’t follow me to the Forbidden Forest, Ma Qiao? Now I’m starting to doubt your loyalty,” he asked the old servant and ended the question with a sneer.

He knew the answer to his question, but he was just trying to distract himself from the worry in his heart.

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“Aiyah! Even if the strength of a blade of grass is seen only in tempests[1], you can’t measure my loyalty in this situation, Your Highness!” The servant had a guilty expression on his face as he immediately responded to the brown-haired Prince. “I am only a lowly werewolf of this empire, Your Highness. Do you want to make me an offering to the beasts? It’s not that I’m unfaithful to you, Your Highness!”

‘If making you an offering to the beasts would guarantee my life, then I would definitely do it,’ Bai Chen answered the question in his heart, but he didn’t voice it as he realized that his words would be too harsh for the servant. Furthermore, he was half-joking when he thought about it.

“You said the opening ceremony would be held this morning, right?” Ignoring the servant’s words, Bai Chen brought up another topic. “I think we should go to the Imperial Palace now. If I arrive late, the Crown Prince will probably think that I want to withdraw before the competition even starts.”

It was also from Ma Qiao that he finally found out about the opening ceremony that would be held before the event officially started today.

He didn’t know what kind of ceremony would be held in the Rongyao Imperial Palace, but he knew for sure that the Crown Prince would look down on him if he came late.

Seeing how Ma Qiao obediently nodded his head in response to his question, Bai Chen finally led the way to the Imperial Palace. He didn’t know why, but his legs always felt heavy when he carried him to that palace.

It felt like he was heading to Hell, and his feet were very reluctant to move toward the Imperial Palace.

However, he continued to swing his legs even if he hesitated, and the journey to the Imperial Palace was shrouded in silence until the two of them arrived in front of the palace gates.

Instead of continuing to walk toward the gate, Bai Chen stopped his movements when he saw how many people were entering the gate one after another. The Imperial Palace seemed so lively today, and that was because the humans who would be participating in the event would also be gathering in the palace.

Both werewolves and humans would be filling the Imperial Palace today, and Bai Chen could feel a peaceful atmosphere. He couldn’t even tell a human from a werewolf, and he thought that the two creatures wouldn’t discriminate against each other since they were in the same form today.

Bai Chen sighed heavily as he brought his feet closer to the gate. ‘I just hope that I will survive the event. I can’t let myself die in the Forbidden Forest.’

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Footnote:

[1] The strength of a blade of grass is seen only in tempests: from a Chinese proverb that means “The loyalty of an official is seen only in times of turbulence.”