36 Meeting

After meeting his mother and seeing how happy she was to see her little boy, Lucien understood that the emperor somehow convinced her not to throw tantrums. She still looked beautiful, not the least bit ill, because of worry for her son.

'Let me guess how it went down. He promised nothing would happen to me or even went as far as promising he is keeping a watch on me himself.'

After chatting a bit with her, he went back to his cultivation chamber. The new maids were staying away from Lucien, only when called would they show up as fast as possible. And nobody dared to get within the 20 meters area around the cultivation chamber.

'I should contact Elena.'

Using a strand of his Soul, Lucien poured it in the communication device, straight into hole with the imprint of Elena.

It didn't even take a minute and there was a response.

It sounded like a voice was passing through a long cave when it got out from the device.

"Well, my little prince you decided to contact me after so long. I though you had forgotten about me."

"Things happened. Anyway, Elena, I'll go the location you gave me in the capital in two weeks, I'll buy 2 Vitality based Rank 1s, I'll sell some shady goods and I will propose a deal, make sure there is someone qualified enough to deal with it."

The tone from the other side changed a bit, after what was said.

"You sound different now, Lucien."

"As I said things happened, I won't go around calling you Big Sis anymore, if that is what you are expecting."

As he was already 9, Lucien was getting a bit sick of all the pretending and innocent act, he would still act ignorant when the benefits were there, but if he had a choice, he wouldn't put himself through that. And he didn't think using this card called Elena would be possible with just the child act, he would need to show more than just talent, intelligence was really important to a merchant families.

"Well I don't mind, I'm not into children anyway, so I feel you are better this way. I'll be in the capital in 2 weeks, I'll handle the deal myself. I want to see the new you."

"Suit yourself."

Saying so far, Lucien cut the connection to the device and went back to practicing his control on both Particles and Soul.

'This will take a while, I rose my Soul too fast, I can only control 75 points of it, the other 25 are just there doing nothing, of course it would be impossible breaking through in this state.'

'And control is not something All Existence can give me, it's an accumulation of practice and experience, it's something I have to do myself, I'm not a puppet to All Existence, All Existence is my puppet.'

Two weeks later, Lucien stood up.

'Now... Leaving the palace. I'll just use disguise for that, I mean I have to be the Lucien from the forest, the one Elena knows, the SilverMoon family doesn't need to know I'm a prince, at least not yet.'

'Coming in might be tricky, I'll just talk to the guards and make them recognize the disguise, hopefully they don't ask questions when I try to get back in.'

Lucien just applied the disguise again and used the covers of the Darkness to leave the forbidden area without alerting anyone.

A couple of hours later, he was standing in front of a door, it was an inconspicuous door that lead into a house.

Knocking twice, Lucien waited.

"Who are you?"

"Lucien."

"We have been informed of your arrival, but for the formal procedures, please wait, the young miss has to come and identify you."

It didn't even hit 5 minutes and there was ruckus on the other side of the door.

"You imbeciles, I told you if someone called himself Lucien, you let him in and bring him to me."

"I'll deal with you lot later."

Opening the door Elena looked at Lucien, and Lucien looked at Elena.

She was a bit surprised, by the touch of coldness that was missing in their previous meeting.

"It seems you grew up a lot in the past 1 year."

Lucien gazed at Elena.

'She is even more beautiful after turning 16, much more developed, but beauty is just an illusion, it doesn't matter to me at all. In a couple of years when I get those needs, I might need her help, but nothing more.'

"You as well, Elena. Are you going to keep me waiting outside for even longer?"

"Heh, sorry, I'll deal with them later, come with me, we can catch up inside."

After turning a couple of times through the corridors, and getting to a place that was probably underground, both of them sat down in a room with some tea.

'Seems the door is just a front, this is their base in the capital.'

Elena turned her head towards the maids.

"Leave us alone."

"Now, my prince, tell me, are the blood trials finished, can you tell me your last name?"

"No."

'I won't try to patch up that story, the more I get into details, the more holes in the story, I'll just answer simply and let them deduce the 'truth' themselves.'

"It seems you don't want to talk about it, did something happen?"

"I can't talk about it, orders. Sorry, just don't pry into it, the world is a dark place, knowing too much secrets might be your fall."

The look on her face changed, she hadn't expected such an answer, the changes in this kid over the past year were enormous.

'So this is the blood trials, it forges a kid with into this.'

"Ok then, what do you want to talk about?"

"I'm glad you are here, I'll tell you my deal, since it would work even better, if it is you who is here."

"I'll purify your bloodline, with no external changes, and I won't make you into a loyal slave, I won't replace your bloodline, just purify it. In exchange, I want you."

'If I make her into a slave, everything in her will be resisting the bloodline and trying to break away, the stronger she gets the higher the chance. I need a partner, that is willing to give everything to me, out of their own will.'

'I need someone to be my connection to the outside world, since I can't be in contact with it from that palace.'