Chapter 193 The prince of warmth
That same night, the seventh prince Markay finally had a chance to return home and see his parents and siblings that were eagerly awaiting his return. Each of them expected something from him, after all, the blue star from which he had come from was now the source of many good and unique things.
The only one that did not wear a true smile was the crown prince who was working hard to hide the irritation in his eyes. For three days now, all he had heard in the palace were praises for his younger brother. He braved the wild by going to the blue star on the emperor's orders. He stayed there for many months and personally oversaw the cultivation of many new types of foods. He could identify mutated beasts because Scarlet had taught him and he finally had a girlfriend which made him smile more often. He was the one who returned with the food supplies which were being distributed for free on all stars to the people. Meager as they were, as long as everyone could at least eat one or two bowls of porridge a day, especially the poor, then they could smile through winter.
One maid was even overheard saying that Markay was going from being?the fearsome prince of death to the prince of warmth.
The crown prince felt as if his ears would bleed if he had to listen to anymore praise of Markay. As he watched his father check the time impatiently on the gold watch which Markay had sent him, the crown prince felt a hot ball of fury churn within his stomach and he smiled harder.
The wide doors to the palace dining room were opened and Markay finally made his entrance. He walked in with a spring in his step, all draped in blue and silver armor which was standard for him but there was one new additional item, a long silver black fur coat. It added a regal quality to his appearance, making him look even nobler than he already was.
When he walked in, he moved straight to the emperor and got on one knee and bowed his head with one hand on his knee. "Your majesty, I your seventh son have returned after fulfilling the duties you bestowed on my shoulders."
"Rise my son." The emperor replied.
Markay slowly rose up and stood straight in front of his father with pride and a smile on his face. His entire aura had changed from something dark to something warmer, kinder and sunnier. He even appeared to be wiser, the emperor thought. This was a son worth showing off, one who could bear the mantle of emperor because he was learning. One of his guards that secretly reported back all of Markay's doings had sent pictures of him harvesting corn with the commoners, fighting crabs, sharing meals with commoners and playing football with young children. If only the crown prince could be this down to earth? Instead of trying to understand how the empire was run, he went around kissing the asses of nobles, gallivanting with their children, secretly spending time in pleasure houses. He even kept a mistress and a child outside, thinking that the emperor was not aware. Many times, the emperor clenched his fists around this son of his, to stop himself from beating him up because his wife was working on a solution.
The emperor took a deep breath, got up slowly and a servant pulled his chair away, giving him room to properly embrace his seventh son.
"You have done well, no you have done extremely well son. You have done this royal house proud."
"Thank you father, you speak too highly of me." Markay returned the embrace. But secretly in his heart?he asked himself, 'why are you patting and feeling up my fur?'
"You are looking so regal son, even more than I am." The emperor?commented.
'There it is! Markay thought, the second intent behind his father's hug. As genuine as it was, he was also interested in the fur very much.
The empress and other siblings chuckled, their father who managed to instill the wrath of a thousand mutated beasts in men could also be silly at times.
"I brought you many such winter clothes father." he replied. "Most of them were personally chosen by governor Scarlet."
"What are you waiting for to greet the rest of the family and unpack?" the emperor let him go, shooting him a disgusted look even as if he was delaying national affairs. "Hurry up!!"
The empress hugged him next, embracing him with all her motherly love to express how much she had missed him. "You have become bigger." she whispered, "They have been feeding you well."
"Haha." Markay laughed and touched his cheeks, "If there is something you never lack over there, it's food."?he explained.
She let him go and others hugged him too, welcoming him back jovially like one would a long lost brother that had been missed terribly.
"It has not been the same without you, I am having a hard time keeping them under control." the fourth prince pointed to their sisters.
"Aaaah." The third princess squealed and pushed the fourth prince out of the way. "Brother, I have missed you the most." Similarly, following the actions of her father, she patted the fur and pinched it. "It's as soft as it looks." she commented.
The empress rolled her eyes, longing to say, like father like daughter. If anybody had taken completely after the emperor in the family, it was his third daughter. They had the similar facial expressions, both were foodies and also shared a love for all things new and novel.?If Markay did not bring more of these fur coats he was losing this one to the emperor or his sister.
The crown prince was the last to come in for a hug, his overly exaggerated smile and loud laugh as he welcomed Markay back was very unlike him but no one commented.
"Okay, okay, all greetings are finished, show us what you brought and tell us everything." The empress covered up for her husband whose foot was shaking in impatient irritation.
Out of his bracelet terminal, Markay took out many things like clothes, toys, jewelries, paintings and most of all, snacks and raw foods. The biggest surprise were the live cats he brought for his mother and sisters and the robot dogs he brought for his brothers.
The women carried the cute cats and cooed over them, gushing over how pretty they were.
"These are brochures on how to care of your cats, they have to be fed, groomed, taken on walks and played with. If you won't be able to do all these I have been asked to return them to the blue star immediately because as you know, domesticated animals are still rare."
"Father, this one is a gift from governor Scarlet to you." he took a grown spiritual dog, from the storage pod and carried it to the emperor. "It's quite big, as you can see and it's well trained, I was told to share similar instructions."
The dog was placed on the emperor's laps and it barked twice.?Royal guards took out their weapons, all they saw was a beast with large teeth fiercely threatening the emperor.
"Stand down." Prince Markay commanded them sternly.
"It's okay." the emperor added, "I have seen videos of Esong and his dog, they are completely in sync." the emperor imitated things he had seen Esong do like scratching it and allowing it to sniff him. "It's memorizing my scent, right?"
"Yes." Markay replied. "And it might pee around but that's just how it marks it territory, Scarlet said his name is Brutus, I also brought myself a female dog..."
"I will take it as well." The emperor said, "They can become husband and wife, Esong has one and I have two."
Around the table, the emperor's children and his wife held back their smiles, Markay would soon come to discover that his father's new personality was like that of a young kid, declaring mine on every pretty thing he saw.
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