“Not comfortable.” Linley chuckled.
“It seems that today you aren’t in a very good mood.” Delia saw that an unhappy look was on Linley’s face. Linley nodded. “I don’t know why, but for some reason, I feel anxious and irritable.”
When one’s spirit had reached Linley’s level, it was quite rare that one would feel irritable and uncomfortable.
“Today is Wharton’s grand wedding. Be happy.” Delia consoled.
Linley let out a long breath and nodded.
While Linley and Delia were in the garden, Emperor Johann received a secret letter. His personal attendant said in a soft voice, “Your Imperial Majesty, Reynolds of the Dunstan clan died in battle.”
“Reynolds died? Which Reynolds?” Emperor Johann glanced at his personal attendant. Why did a single person’s death have to be brought to the attention to the Emperor? Did he, the Emperor, have nothing better to do than to worry about this?
“This was a classmate of Master Linley’s at the Ernst Institute. He is on extremely good terms with Master Linley.” His personal attendant said in a quiet voice. “Your Imperial Majesty, this matter involves his Imperial Highness, Prince Julin.”
“Julin?”
“According to our reports, Reynolds and his men were pursued by the soldiers of the Rohault Empire to the walls of the city, but Prince Julin ordered his men not to open the gates and to strictly defend only.”
“Defend? How many soldiers did the enemy have?” Emperor Johann frowned.
“Three hundred.” The palace attendant said.
Emperor Johann’s eyes bulged out. “Three hundred, and he had them defend only? This Julin…jeeze…” Emperor Johann felt a surge of anger, but then, in the blink of an eye, he understood what had just happened.
He understood his younger brother very well.
Julin was a person without much ambition. His main problem was that he was a bit of a coward. Emperor Johann didn’t consider this much of a flaw. After all, he didn’t need to rely on Julin to lead his armies or to do anything else.
But now, the situation had just gotten complicated. If Linley were to find out…and if Linley were to cause trouble…
Thinking back to the terrifying power Linley had displayed at Mt. Tujiao, and how powerful those two magical beasts were, Emperor Johann immediately understood that unless the experts from the War God’s College were to intervene, there was no way he could suppress Linley’s forces at all.
But how could the War God’s College intervene for the sake of a mere prince?
This was impossible.
“Julin. All he ever does is create disasters for me.” Emperor Johann rapidly considered what to do. Although he was furious, he still had to protect his little brother.
“Your Imperial Majesty, as Prince Julin tells it, they didn’t have a chance to rescue Reynolds before Reynolds and his men were killed at the base of the city walls. At that time, it was already very dark, and they weren’t sure as to exactly how many men the opponents had.” The palace attendant said softly.
Emperor Johann nodded slightly. He carefully considered how to manage this affair.
There was no way this could be totally hidden!
This was Emperor Johann’s first reaction. It was best not to try and hide something from a peak-stage Saint like Linley. Otherwise, once the lie was discovered, things would go catastrophically wrong.
Emperor Johann immediately walked out of the hall and headed towards the garden in search of Linley.
“Emperor Johann?” Linley, who was strolling alongside Delia, saw Emperor Johann walk over with a dire expression on his face. He couldn’t help but call out to him questioningly.
When Emperor Johann saw Linley, the look on his face became all the grimmer.
“Emperor Johann, what exactly has happened?” Linley frowned.
Emperor Johann sighed. “Linley, I’m going to tell you something, but you have to be calm.”
“What happened?” Linley was growing nervous. These past few days, Linley kept feeling irritable and restless. Hearing Emperor Johann’s words, he began to worry.
It seemed as though something terrible had happened.
Emperor Johann let out a low sigh. “Just now, we received word from the Golden Flame Legion based in the Southeast Administrative Province. A squad of knights led by Reynolds was ambushed by enemy forces, and was chased back the entire way…”
Linley’s heart instantly sank.
“Reynolds and a few people managed to make their way towards Neil City, but the soldiers of Neil City didn’t have enough time to save them. Reynolds and his men…all died in battle!”
“All died in battle!” “All died in battle!” “All died in battle!” ….
These four words struck Linley like thunderbolts, reverberating and echoing in Linley’s mind. Linley felt as though his mind had gone blank, and all strength had left his body. Everything had gone blank!
After a long time…
“Fourth Bro…Fourth Bro…he died?” Linley stuttered.
“Hi there. I’m Reynolds, from the O’Brien Empire.” Linley could still clearly recall how he had met Reynolds for the first time, as they were registering to enroll in the Ernst Institute. The first person he had met was Reynolds. At that time, Linley had been with Uncle Hillman, while Reynolds had been with his Grandpa Lomu.
Two young children had become friends, just like that.
The eight years after that, they had been together day and night. Reynolds’ sloppiness, his mischievousness, his sincerity…his joyful laughter. One scene after another swam to the forefront of Linley’s mind.
“Fourth Bro, he died?”
Linley couldn’t believe it. Just a while ago, his Fourth Bro had been chatting and laughing with himself and Boss Yale. But just like that, he had died in battle.
Linley could clearly remember how he had looked and how he had sounded.
How could Fourth Bro have died?
“Master Linley, I hope you can restrain your grief.” Emperor Johann, seeing the look on Linley’s face, began to grow nervous. He was afraid that Linley would go crazy.
Linley turned to stare at Emperor Johann, his gaze stabbing at Emperor Johann like sharp daggers. In a low voice, he said, “Emperor Johann, tell me, what exactly happened? I hope you won’t lie to me. If you are wise, you can probably guess what the results would be for someone lying to me! Tell me, what exactly happened?”