Alex stayed with the alchemists, clearing some of their confusion while telling them what to do tomorrow. 

After talking with them, he had a small conversation with Hao Ya and gave her the map of the capital to copy so that she could do her thing. 

The conversation lasted for a while before Alex decided to head back. He left the school with Elder Yao and Shufen, going back toward the Dragon Palace.

As he did, he looked at the schools that he was passing by, the Royal School of Music and the Royal School of Puppetry. According to the map, these were the two schools between the palace and the Royal School of Alchemy.

Next to the school of Alchemy on the northern edge of the Dragon Capital were the other two schools, the Royal School of Talisman and the Royal School of Formation.

On the other side of the city in the east were the rest of the 5 schools. Starting from the one next to the palace were the Royal School of Cooking, Royal School of Painting, Royal School of Artifacts, Royal School of Beast Taming, and Royal School of Poison.

“Huh? They have cooking as a school too,” Liang Shufen commented. “And it’s right by the palace too. Do you think they make these people make food for them?”

“I don’t know,” Alex said. “But the chefs in the palace are most certainly from this place.”

Alex wasn’t surprised with most of the school, even though some had certainly been unexpected. The only ones that he was surprised had a Royal School for were Painting and Poison.

Painting didn’t make sense to him a whole lot just because… what was the point? It was just colors on a canvas to him. That wasn’t to say he didn’t see the point of paintings, just that he didn’t see the point of paintings as a subject that needed to be taught in a  Royal school since it did nothing to help cultivators.

Poison also didn’t make a whole lot of sense to him since wouldn’t it be bad if everyone in the continent had access to knowledge about poisons? What would happen if a decently large fight were to break out? Wouldn’t most people resort to poison?

Maybe Alex wasn’t seeing the entire picture here.

“Still, I’m surprised there aren’t many direct combat-based schools at all,” Yao Ning said. “A school for Swords, Spears, Axes, Bows and Arrows, and other such weapons would help the continent a lot, wouldn’t it?”

“Hmm,” Alex thought. “Maybe, but I think it was more so that those schools would be redundant in a way. After all, sects and the army exists. They can learn to fight there.”

“You’re right, your Majesty,” Liang Shufen said. “Maybe there was a backlash too from the various sects. If they started a combat school, they would lose all their disciples to it after all.”

Alex shrugged, half agreeing to it, and half not caring why it was what it was.

“Let’s just get tomorrow over with, and then we can go around sightseeing the various schools,” he said and the two elders nodded.

After they arrived at the palace, the two Elders were led to the Swan Courtyard while Alex was taken somewhere else where the Dragon Emperor had been waiting for him.

He walked through the hallway, led by the old man Guqing. Right as he was about to arrive, a young man walked out of the room and stopped when he saw Alex.

He was a head smaller than Alex with youthful features that made him look quite naive and innocent. His clear eyes blinked twice while looking at the two.

He had almost no facial hair, and his eyes seemed a soft blue. His long black hair covered the front of his forehead and flowed along the side and back to his shoulders.

He looked at Alex for quite a while before looking at the old man Guqing.

“Your Royal Highness, this is King Alex of the Southern Continent,” the old man introduced them quickly. “You should greet him.”

“Oh,” the prince straightened up and bowed toward Alex. “Greetings, your Majesty, King Alex. I am the third prince of the Empire, Long Hanjue.”

“Greetings.” Alex smiled at the young man. “How old are you, Prince Hanjue?”

“I’m 17, your Majesty,” the young man said.

“Ah, 17 and entering the True realm. You are quite talented, young prince,” Alex said. “I’m sure you’ll grow up to become strong very soon.”

The prince gave a small embarrassed smile and bowed before walking away. 

Alex watched the young prince leave and turned around to enter the room with the emperor.

He entered and greeted the emperor before sitting opposite him. “Why did you call me? Did you want to have a talk?” he asked.

“I wanted to know if you’ve made your decision,” the Dragon Emperor said.

“I’ve yet to decide,” he said. “I told you, it’s not a decision I can make lightly.”

“But you have—”

“I know, I have until tomorrow,” Alex cut him off. “I can guarantee you, I’ll come to a decision by the time tomorrow’s event comes to an end.”

The emperor nodded. “I will thank you in advance for your decision,” he said.

Alex’s eyes narrowed. The emperor had already thought that Alex was going to hand over the information to him without him having to do anything.

“If that is all you called me here for, I would like to leave,” Alex said and got up.

“I hear you’re looking for a queen,” the Emperor suddenly spoke.

Alex stopped in his tracks and turned around. “That is what I’m doing,” he said as he turned around to look at the emperor. “Why? Did the prince already gather up a list?”

“May I ask why you want it especially to be players?” the Dragon Emperor asked.

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“Why do you want a strong queen?” he asked. “Isn’t it better to have a weaker queen?”

“How is it better to have a weaker queen?” Alex asked, curious.

“A strong queen will constantly be in a discourse with you, try to tell you what to do, refuse your orders when she feels like it,” the emperor said. “Even when you tell her to do something that is for her benefit, you can’t control her actions, and in the end…”

The emperor stopped talking as Alex heard a single sniffle.

The Dragon Emperor quickly wiped away whatever tears were forming in his eyes and took a deep breath. “My apologies. I shouldn’t have said what I said. Please excuse me.”

The emperor stood up and walked away in the other direction, disappearing into the hallway.

Alex stood there, stunned for a while as he realized that he had just seen the Dragon Emperor get emotional. Was that fake by any chance? To win him over maybe?

But it didn’t feel fake. It felt real. 

From what Alex could tell, the Dragon Emperor loved his first wife quite a lot and her death had affected him on a deeper level than Alex could have expected.

‘Losing someone close to you, while time can heal the wounds, it can’t remove the pain, can it?’

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