Chapter 1571: Chapter 1571. Caged...? Bird.

Within the Scarlet Sun Empire, a prince sat in his office with a thoughtful gaze. He recently gained a wife, but the problem was that the wife didn’t know she was his wife. It was a very complicated situation planned by the woman’s sect and their empire.

A maid by the side, someone who the prince trusted deeply, spoke with confusion. "Lord, why not use mental influence? That woman looks dull enough."

"Is jealousy blinding you, Saira?"

Saira flinched, and the prince sighed as he leaned back. "While she has moved in with the excuse of gaining better cultivation resources, I don’t really know how to interact with her."

Saira frowned. "... Your Highness Xinghong, may I be rude and speak freely?"

Xinghong Wang glanced at Saira, and seeing her tight expression, he sighed. "It’s only because you’ve been with me since I was a child. Speak."

Saira nodded stiffly and spoke up. "The deal between you and that sect was moving that woman."

"Princess Cecile."

"...Princess Cecile to a room and making sure she doesn’t know she has been married off. You’ll use better resource allocation and treasures to increase her own strength to lure her in. Then, under the disguise of giving her those resources, you’ll slowly deepen your feelings together and eventually make the marriage happen truthfully."

Xinghong Wang nodded. "That’s the intent, yes. She is a woman practicing an incredibly strong Yin Attributed technique. Therefore, it is normal for her emotions to lack much fluctuation. For these types of women, you need to be patient. I guess that after one or two thousand years, my feelings should start to be answered."

"...What if it doesn’t happen? Is Your Highness prepared to have wasted two thousand years’ worth of resources in a failed love? That woman’s temper is not good, and the times she has killed without blinking are not few. Your Highness might be raising a wolf at home instead of an obedient dog."

"Saira." The Prince’s eyes became cold. "Don’t compare her to a dog ever again, or I’ll truly get angry. That’s your future mistress."

Saira was reluctant. While the Prince had concubines, the seat of the Main Wife had always been vacant. That was not because there were no qualified women, but because the Prince himself was someone with a lot of pride.

As one of the most talented individuals in the world and the Crown Prince of the Scarlet Sun Empire, he had never been completely satisfied with any woman to make her the future Empress.

So, in her delusion, Saira had thought that this position would eventually fall to her. Saira was, after all, the first partner of the prince and someone who had stayed by his side for thousands of years. The love between them was not shallow.

And yet, that beautiful fantasy was cracked not too long ago.

Around 30 to 40 years ago, the prince went out to a Secret Realm to get a precious metal for forging. During that time, the prince encountered a woman.

To describe that woman, Seira could only use one word, even if she was reluctant. That word was "peerless."

Never in her long life has she seen a woman whose beauty eclipsed all. Her platinum blonde hair, icy and sharp phoenix-blue eyes, perfect white skin, gorgeous phoenix wings, and facial features that perfection could barely describe.

That woman, like the lone full moon in a clear night sky, eclipsed everything by just standing there expressionless. She was basically the ideal manifestation of how a peerless Empress would look.

Saira could only imagine how those peerless features would look when she smiled, and just imagining it made even her feel her heart thump. Regardless of how disgustingly jealous of her she was, Saira couldn’t deny that compared to Cecile, she was a pebble on the side road.

Worse, Saira, back then, had wanted to embarrass such perfect beauty by hiring a few strong powerhouses to fight her for her treasures.

What happened?

The woman manifested a magnificent feathered bow, and with elegant movements like jumping from flower petal to flower petal, every single powerhouse became a sieve. The woman’s dress didn’t even get dusted, and her expressionless, perfect face maintained the same look throughout the short fight and even after.

As her silvery phoenix wings spread open and Cecile fought, Saira knew it. ’This woman has stolen His Highness’s heart.’

She didn’t even need to look at Xinghong Wang to know that he had become infatuated, as even she, who hated Cecile, almost fell prey to Cecile’s beauty during that fight.

Thankfully for Saira, a single trace of hope remained. That woman’s emotions were... nonexistent. Moreover, she was fully focused on cultivation, so the chances of her accepting marriage or becoming the Dao Companion of anyone were null.

Stupid of her to think that.

Being as single-minded as she was, deceiving her was just as easy as long as you never mentioned the main goal. So, that woman’s sect and Prince Xinghong made a deal. He would take care of Cecile’s cultivation resources and marry her in exchange for the Scarlet Sun Empire’s support of the sect.

Surprisingly, Saira also knew that the one who accepted this deal was not Sect Master Bai, but the Grand Elder named Bing Chen.

So, with a bit of plotting and maneuvering from both sides, Cecile was successfully moved away from her sect and placed in one of the best locations to cultivate inside the Scarlet Sun Empire... the Prince’s house.

House was a bit of an understatement, though, as the compound took up several hundred square kilometers.

"Anyway, Saira." Prince Xinghong spoke. "Are the new resources here?"

Saira pursed her lips, but she answered faithfully. "Yes, Your Highness."

The prince smiled widely. "Great! Let’s go see the Crown Princess then!"

As they moved, they didn’t notice an incredibly stealthy maid with a bow move away from a hiding point, returning toward Cecile’s side. Her silver eyes, tanned skin, and flowy silver hair gave her an exotic beauty.

Clara agilely returned to Cecile’s room and looked at the cultivating woman in the middle with a complicated gaze. Clara had known about Bing Chen’s plans from the beginning, and if she told Cecile, she was sure Cecile might transform for the first time and burn down the world.

But she refrained because this situation was actually advantageous for Cecile. How was it advantageous? Well, the resources Prince Xinghong gave Cecile were, to put it mildly, luxurious. The worst-ranked ones were mid-level Transcendence Rank, while stronger ones were One or Two Star Supreme Ranked pills and similar.

Compared to the sect she was in before, it was like night and day. So, if Cecile wanted to cultivate in silence and with the best resources, her current situation was the best.

Fylia, Cecile’s spirit, also knew and agreed with Clara. ’As long as the other party doesn’t do anything strange, we can take advantage.’

So, Clara didn’t reveal anything and continued to faithfully guard by Cecile’s side.

Cecile, who had been cultivating, slowly opened her eyes and turned her otherworldly gaze to Clara. "Is everything okay?"

The clear and cold voice others found emotionless made Clara smile. "Yes, Madam Cecile. The prince is coming soon to give more resources."

Cecile nodded. Clara told her that the prince was providing her with resources in exchange for protecting their house. So, she had asked Clara to keep an eye on the surroundings from time to time.

Clara, in turn, used this time to spy on the prince, concubines, and Saira so that there would not be accidents.

As she was speaking, Clara and Cecile heard a gentle knock. "Cecile, new resources have arrived. May I enter?"

Cecile had no intention of barring the way of the person she was supposed to protect, so she spoke faintly. "Yes."

The prince, feeling satisfied, entered with Saira in tow. Once Saira entered, she looked at Cecile with a deep frown. Noticing the malice, Cecile’s icy blue eyes shifted lightly to look at her.

When Saira was looked at by Cecile, a terrifying chill coursed down her spine, and she involuntarily moved her gaze away.

Cecile pondered. ’That woman is suspicious. The malicious gazes she sends me all the time are as if she were annoyed by me. What do you think, Clara? Do you think she is an enemy spy that needs to be taken into account? Perhaps she feels as if I am a burden to their plans of assassinating the prince.’

Clara’s lips twitched as she held back her laughter. ’No need to worry, Madam Cecile. I will keep an eye on her.’

Cecile nodded, satisfied. Meanwhile, the prince had already arrived at Cecile’s side, his eyes showing both love and happiness at Cecile’s openness. From what he heard from Bing Chen, Cecile would always act annoyed when someone came to interrupt her, but she had never acted like that to him.

So, he was very happy and satisfied even when Cecile used words as if they were Supreme Ranked consumables.

"Look at this. My subordinates found a Three Star Supreme Ranked Tundra Phoenix blood pool. I bet that it will help you greatly, right? Also, we managed to find an [Ice Mountain Clear Ying Lotus], a powerful treasure to strengthen ice skills. The rest are the usual resources."

Cecile looked at them, her icy blue eyes showing a touch of happiness. It was only when receiving these kinds of things that the prince could see Cecile’s gaze light up a touch, even if she remained expressionless.

Seeing her excitement, the man’s heart pounded happily.

Cecile took the treasures into her ring and looked up at him. "Thank you."

While this contractor was just paying her for protecting him, he was quite generous. So, Cecile was generous and decided to thank him.

Prince Xinghong laughed. "No need for that between us."

Cecile blinked. ’Right, since I am hired. This much should be accepted.’

So, she nodded, her expression unchanged. This, once more, brought joy to the prince.

Clara, at the side, had to look down, or she would laugh at the misunderstanding. It was at this moment that her communication device vibrated gently. ’Hm?’

Looking at the information, Clara stiffened. ’... To think that this happened.’ Looking at the prince’s smiling and laughing face as he spoke with Cecile, Clara felt a pang of pity for a second. ’Young Miss will be quite furious... I wonder if the Empire can survive?’

Cecile, out of duty, listened to the prince’s ramblings, answering with one or two words from time to time. His words were sometimes nice to hear, as they spoke about the current state of the world.

Listening for a few minutes every few days was not bad to break the monotony of her cultivation. ’Still...’ Her icy blue eyes couldn’t help but glance at Saira once more. ’...why is she glaring at me so much?’