The price of being bewitched was brutal.
For a monstrous existence like Kaios, seeking death was a challenging task.
Besides the external forces of the starship’s self-ignition and high-speed impact, he also had to control his crystal bone’s instinctive defense at the last moment, in order to cleanly end his life at the instant of impact.
As a result, in a moment of distraction, the impact was off, and he failed to control his crystal bones.
When Jiang Jianming walked halfway up the mountain, what he saw was the starship reduced to a pile of scrap metal, and raging flames. Huge crystal bone fragments were scattered everywhere, golden crystals dispersing in the firelight.
He was slightly startled, the apple in his hand fell to the ground, rolling down the sloping mountainside in the firelight, passing through the wreckage of the cockpit, stopping next to blood-stained platinum curls.
A person?
Jiang Jianming held down his cloak fluttering in the wind and took two more steps forward.
Starlight fell. Among the wreckage lay a blood-covered young boy, half his face and his entire body covered with shattered crystals.
And a pair of emerald-like green eyes were staring straight at him… after two or three seconds, they slowly closed.
****
“—What do you mean by this!?”
When Jiang Jianming entered the door, Lin Ge was in despair.
She had already prepared herself mentally to bid farewell to Jiang Jianming, silently crying for half the night, her eyes swollen.
But not only did this person come back alive, he even picked up some unknown young noble and brought him home!?
What was wrong with his head!?
Jiang Jianming stood at the doorway with complex emotions, holding the young noble boy he had pulled out from the wrecked ship, his face showing rare signs of guilt.
He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”
“Where’s the apple I gave you!?”
“…Sorry.”
Lin Ge looked ashen, pointing at him with a trembling finger. “You, you, you didn’t throw—”
Jiang Jianming: “No, I didn’t.”
He shifted slightly, revealing that the apple had been tucked into the young noble’s arms.
After all, it was precious food, too wasteful to throw away, so Jiang Jianming decided to bring it back along.
Jiang Jianming carried the person inside, while Lin Ge followed behind, shouting resentfully.
“Hey! What exactly do you mean? You’ve never brought people home before! ‘Acts of kindness beyond one’s ability cannot last long,’ wasn’t that what you said yourself?”
“And he’s so badly injured, he’ll die even if you bring him home!”
“Otherwise how do you plan to treat him, give him your own medicine!? That won’t work either, look at how much blood he’s lost…”
Jiang Jianming: “Hmm, then let’s wait for him to die first, and I’ll reconsider the matter of my own death.”
Hearing him say that, Lin Ge felt her heart sank—back to that perfunctory tone, it was probably hopeless.
She glared fiercely at the platinum-haired young noble in Jiang Jianming’s arms, thinking darkly: It’s all this guy’s fault!
After all this commotion, by the time it was nearly dawn, Jiang Jianming’s whole body started aching severely again.
He didn’t want to disturb Lin Ge, so he endured it by gritting his teeth. In his dazed state, he suddenly heard faint movements beside him.
Jiang Jianming barely turned his sweat-drenched face and found that the child he had picked up had actually woken up.
In the darkness, the boy’s emerald green eyes were staring at him like a cat’s, somewhat cool, but very clear.
A young disabled human suffering from chronic crystal disorder.
Kaios thought to himself.
He was still shaking, his face as pale as snow. It made His Highness the Crown Prince wonder if he would shatter if poked.
As Kaios thought this, he moved his finger. His crystal bones were severely damaged, but he still endured the pain and formed a wrist-thick golden-red color, extending it towards himself.
The night was quiet, and in this run-down, humble room, only Lin Ge’s long, sleeping breaths could be heard.
The powerful new human extended his crystal bone towards the sickly disabled human. The tip was so sharp, carrying a terrifying aura, like a venomous snake baring its fangs.
Then…
He poked lightly.
Jiang Jianming pinched the crystal bone, his eyes calm and clear, and whispered, “Don’t make trouble, I’ll listen to you talk tomorrow. Go to sleep.”
Kaios frowned slightly, tilting his head.
He wasn’t afraid?
Previously, he had only heard about the wild zones on the Blue Mother Star and the poor wandering there from other people’s fragmentary words.
In the Yongle Garden Star City, the distant poor were like lowly grass.
Tonight, he saw it with his own eyes, yet it was completely different from what he had imagined.
Neither “lowly grass” nor “lowly disabled human” seemed to fit this young man with black hair before him.
But Jiang Jianming had already closed his eyes, though he was still shaking. Kaios stared at him for a while longer, and seeing that this person really wasn’t going to pay attention to him, he had no choice but to sleep as well.
The next day.
When Kaios was half awake, the black-haired girl who was blind in her left eye crawled out of the blanket and glared at him fiercely.
The sick disabled human turned over drowsily, softly reassuring the girl, telling her to go out as usual.
“No!” Lin Ge said angrily, “What if this guy wakes up and tries to do something to you…”
Jiang Jianming coaxed helplessly, “He’s so severely injured, he won’t wake up. You said yesterday he was almost dead.”
Kaios kept his eyes closed, listening as the disabled human slowly persuaded the half-blind girl to leave.
As soon as the girl left, he opened his eyes. The morning light shining through the broken window illuminated the floating dust. He squinted for a moment before his vision became clear.
The black-haired disabled human had relaxed features. Wrapped in a blanket and leaning against the wall corner, he smiled gently at him. “Good morning, can you eat something?”
A moment later, Jiang Jianming finished washing up. Still sitting wrapped in the blanket, he held the apple in his palm, slowly peeling it with a small knife.
Cutting off a piece, he skewered it with the tip of the knife and held it to the mouth of the emerald-eyed youth lying down.
“Shh, don’t tell Lin Ge I’m feeding this to you.”
Kaios took a bite. It wasn’t particularly tasty, he had eaten fruits in the palace that were thousands of times better than this apple.
But now, his interest in this disabled human overshadowed the pain of his severe injuries, making his mood unusually good, and he didn’t mind the poor quality of the food.
“You’re from the Yongle Garden Star City, aren’t you?”
Jiang Jianming said softly as he peeled the apple, “What should I call you?”
Kaios shook his head. “No need.”
When his current interest was exhausted, he would still die.
Jiang Jianming didn’t insist, but said, “I want to know what the empire is like now, can you tell me?”
Just as Lin Ge had said, Jiang Jianming didn’t used to bring people home before.
This time was an exception, more because he felt his death was approaching.
This body had been trapped in the mire of poverty for too long, he desperately wanted to see the world outside the wild zone before he died… if not possible, just hearing about it would be good.
Kaios chewed the apple slowly, “What do you want to hear?”
Jiang Jianming: “About the emperor.”
“Odin I is dead.”
“…!”
Jiang Jianming’s hand trembled, the small knife cut a gash on his thumb, blood droplets only emerged after a few seconds.
He lowered his eyelashes blankly, putting his fingertip in his mouth, “Is that so.”
“Then… what about the White Dove Red Leaf Society?”
“Never heard of it.”
Wounded, Kaios blinked.
Indeed so fragile.
“Is the new emperor a benevolent ruler?”
“Benevolent?”
Odin I killed for power, Odin II killed for pleasure. Neither had anything to do with benevolence.
The young boy shook his head with a cold smile, his platinum curls swaying.
Rather, he was surprised that a poor person from the wild zone would have such a word on the tip of their tongue.
Benevolence, a quality only sung about in ancient books, symbolizing the “restorationists” high idealization and mindless worship of the old Blue Mother Star civilization — at least that’s how the royal family and nobles of Yongle Garden mockingly referred to it.
Jiang Jianming sighed softly, he wasn’t surprised, but his already pale complexion became even more weary.
Kaios was still waiting for more questions. However, the disabled human didn’t speak anymore, only focused on peeling the apple to feed him.
An apple was quickly finished. Jiang Jianming put down the knife, opened an overturned basin, took out some wild vegetable roots soaked in water, lit a fire, and roasted them for himself to eat.
Halfway through, he noticed that the boy was still staring at him intently, so he explained, “This is bitter, you probably won’t like it.”
“…”
Kaios’s eyes darkened. He just realized that perhaps the disabled human didn’t have a second apple.
Perhaps… the fruit that he didn’t find delicious just now was actually a rare delicacy for the person in front of him.
If he had known…
He didn’t need this kind of self-sacrificing charity at all.
The boy became inexplicably angry, snorted coldly, turned over and closed his eyes, facing the wall to sleep again.
This time he slept for a long time, in his dreams flashed many fragments, there was a dark laboratory, strange incubators, cold injected drugs, and Odin I’s old green eyes.
There was also a black-haired, pale-skinned disabled human, wearing a tattered cloak, sitting in the morning light eating an apple.
…
For the next period of time, Kaios was thus taken care of by the disabled human.
He soon discovered that as long as his body allowed, the disabled human would teach that girl every night.
Kaios lay beside them, just casually listening.
He didn’t expect that the more he listened, the more secretly shocked he became. What the disabled human taught were all stories he had never heard before, principles he had never heard of.
Even after Jiang Jianming blew out the candle and the night was deep, he was still immersed in it and unable to sleep.
Kaios couldn’t help but turn over and stare at that pale face, secretly wondering how a disabled human living in the wild zone could possibly have such vision and knowledge?
After staring for a while longer, the disabled human helplessly opened his eyes and said to him in a low, gentle voice. “Stop looking at me, go to sleep.”
The platinum-haired young prince’s face turned cold, feeling displeased.
No one had ever spoken to him in such a commanding tone and remained unscathed.
But he found himself at a loss for what to do. The disabled human was a fragile creature, even startling while peeling an apple would cut his finger.
If he acted, the other would surely die, but he wasn’t displeased enough to want the other to die.
The rebellious little monster became annoyed – he couldn’t possibly submit, so he stared more arrogantly at the disabled human every night, quite sinister in the deep night.
Jiang Jianming could only helplessly get used to it.
For the first few days, Kaios still couldn’t move. Besides multiple fractures, his internal organs were also badly damaged, and he coughed up no less blood than Jiang Jianming.
But his self-healing ability was much stronger than ordinary people, and his complexion improved day by day. It seemed that just lying down for ten days to half a month would fully heal those injuries.
At first, Lin Ge had hoped that this strange noble young boy would succumb to his severe injuries.
As a result, after two days, Jiang Jianming calmly stroked the boy’s curly hair amid her jumping protests. “Let’s give you a temporary name.”
The boy expressionlessly shook his head, avoiding those cool fingers, but didn’t voice any objection.
Jiang Jianming thought for a moment, “Then let’s call you… Ryann.”
“It means ‘little king’.”
Kaios was slightly surprised, thinking secretly: Could he have discovered my identity?
Then he thought it impossible, how could people from the wild zone recognize a prince?
Lin Ge was on the verge of tears. “Dawn! Are you really going to keep him? We don’t know anything about this guy’s identity or background, what if he brings trouble someday?”
“It won’t be for long,” Jiang Jianming said gently, “Ryann is of noble birth. In half a month, when his injuries are better, he can go to any city district and someone will send him back to Yongle Garden.”
At that time, they didn’t imagine that trouble would not be brought by this mysterious young boy, but would arrive quietly in another way.
Even before Odin I passed away, the style of the imperial mausoleum had already been determined to be extremely luxurious. Now that the old emperor had died, the empire would build a large mausoleum and a thousand giant monuments for him, with expensive gold and silver items buried as funerary objects.
The waves of the great era came crashing in layers. The imperial family exploited the nobility, the nobility exploited the star cities, the star cities levied a “funeral tax” on every city district, and the districts had to turn to suck the blood of the wild zones.
The “lords” of the wild zones were forced to bow and scrape before the city district guards, offering up all their resources.
Then they angrily counted the numbers and pounced on the drifters in their respective territories.
It had been snowing for those two days. Jiang Jianming’s physical condition had deteriorated severely, he couldn’t even get up in the morning, and watched Lin Ge leave in a daze.
After another short nap of about half an hour, he was awakened by a thunderous shout.
“Come out!!”
“You worthless things, get the hell out here!!”
