Felix sighed, now sitting in his position at the banquet and didn’t have the courage to look at all the eligible young ladies.

Feeling shy and also forced, he didn’t know how he should act, besides that of doing as what he was told!

After an hour, not long before the young ladies might do some sort of act to try and get his attention, or the Emperor’s attention, Felix left his seat, claiming to do personal business, and that he’d return soon.

As soon as he was not around anyone, Felix sighed with relief and leaned against the wall…

He asked himself what he was afraid of…Why did it matter anyway?

It wasn’t like his life was going to change all that much…

Just as he thought this, he remembered something that someone had said to him in the past.

‘Equalize’

Snapping his eyes opened, to remembering this, he quickly became aware of a young lady looking at him from a few meters away.

 

Watching her as she comes up to him and silently bows, he sees her give a slight smile and then continues behind him.

For a moment he was in a daze, wondering if he should have said something to her, when he looked beyond where she was.

Ah, so some of the ladies are looking at the royal garden…

He had wondered briefly if she had sought him out, but by the way she silently continued on her way, he was surprised to think that perhaps she wasn’t.

“Just because she is an only daughter! Don’t worry about it Mec…Oh…Prince Felix! Your Highness, what a pleasure it is to meet you!”

Suddenly, there were three of them coming towards him and Felix panicked.

When they were in front of him, they all bowed politely, and all looked at him in somewhat the same way.

 

Those faces…

He had seen that face sometimes on consorts when his father was around them.

Are they trying to…Win me over somehow?

“Your Highness, it won’t be long now that we are able to show our talents, please watch!”

He didn’t know one of these girls, not names, not faces…And he didn’t know how to speak back to them at all!

What should he say? ‘Yes, I’ll watch’?

But…He didn’t particularly want to watch…

And the fact that they were all mostly older than him vexed him even further!

A noise sounded then and the young ladies in front of him giggled and bowed at him, “Your Highness. It’s time, please watch!”

They left around the corner, one of them showing him that ‘face’ again before leaving.

 

Sighing, Felix went back to the banquet and sat down but he had become bored easily afterwards. He wasn’t one that would show that he was bored, knowing about manners and etiquette, and he knew that he had many more banquets like this to go…It really was a duty he had to fulfil…Whether he liked it or not!

The ladies showed off in a variety of ways, as there were dancers, singers, some played musical instruments…Some had trick or two up their sleeve with their cultivation, but Felix wasn’t overwhelmed to a point where he forgot everything else, and that time would speed up like some other times…

All these ladies had felt like nothing special to him.

He may have been neglected to a point earlier in his life, but it wasn’t like he went without. He had seen some shows when they had come to the palace. In those shows there were dancers, singers and musicians and these ladies weren’t really as good as them. And well, he didn’t care much about some of the instruments, if anything one of them was interesting but that is only because he hadn’t seen it before, otherwise…He was bored…

 

Was there nothing ‘special’ about anyone? Yes…He knew his father was asking him this question silently, but the answer back was simply ‘No’.

He had believed that his brother had found someone special but…Was it that he couldn’t?

Was it that his brother was simply lucky to have found someone that made him happy?

Just as he thought he was not particularly interested in any of them, a familiar girl came onto the stage and Felix watched as she stood there.

For once, he was wondering what was going to happen…

Would she have a nice voice?

Would she look nice when dancing?

Will she be good at playing a musical instrument?

What type of cultivation would she show him?

What really got to him though, was that he didn’t find out any of those questions out, instead, she sat down quietly at the desk, that had been placed there, and obviously started to write.

At first, it was nothing special, just parchment and ink but…

When she put her brush down, she then put her hands over the parchment and closed her eyes.

 

Felix moved forward, slightly impatient in what was to come!

When the lady in front of him opened her eyes, he felt a strange feeling overcome him as she then lifted up the parchment, so that he could read it.

‘Equalize’.

People whispered over what the word said but Felix was completely flabbergasted!

Getting up from his seat, Felix made his way towards the young lady and saw that she showed very little emotion on her face…A little like himself…

“What is your name?” Felix asked, which to others was a bit rude, considering her name had already been announced but…To a few certain people with observant eyes, they could tell that Felix had not done this question to any other girl.

“Cordelia, Your Highness. I am the daughter of Minister Seller.”

 

Taking a moment to think about who Minister Seller was, Felix wondered if it was a minister that was situated in one of the towns outside of the capital. There were a few that helped govern the outside towns so…

So…He could be…

Her eyes are so pretty…

She had hazel eyes, that went well with her brown hair…Her hair was pretty too…

Seeing her hair up in a way that he wouldn’t have an idea on how it worked, he suddenly became aware that he had never been this interested in a female before…

Just as Felix felt himself start to drift to some unknown place that felt it could be sweet, Cordelia stopped their connected gaze and then bowed her head.

“I’d like a moment to speak with her.” Felix stated, after clearing his throat. He then grabbed her hand and then helped her up.

Quickly, before anything else could be done, Felix took her out of the room and went into another smaller one not too far away.

 

 

“Your…Highness?”

Felix looked at her for a moment, then finally asked a question that he’s been wanting to ask since he saw the written word. “Equalize. Why did you write that?”

Cordelia looked down, properly standing there and didn’t say anything.

Felix took a step towards her…And she took one step back…

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I didn’t mean to interfere or anything, but that word seemed the one that echoed in your head…Or…Heart” Cordelia stated, not looking at him at all.

Felix frowned, then, from who knows where, got courage to pick up one of her hands. “My head…Or heart?”

Cordelia looked at him and their hands with wide eyes, “Men and woman shouldn’t be so close!”

 

What was it?

Felix asked himself why he was interested, why he seemed taken by only her out of all of them…

Was it the word? Was it her silence? Her innocent hazel eyes? Even her voice was nice to hear…

“Crowned Prince, His Majesty is asking for you.”

The voice outside brought Felix back to reality and he said back, “Then I will return directly.”

Turning back to Cordelia, Felix then asked, “Do you know why Equalize was the word in my mind?”

Cordelia finally looked up at him and briefly smiled, “Your Highness wants something else, other than your…Work…So that life is…”

With Felix staring holes into her eyes, Cordelia stopped.

A full minute went by as they stared at each other, thinking, not thinking, wondering, excited, interested…

“Full…”

So much time had gone by that neither of them actually remembered why the word ‘full’ even needed to be said now…

With a smile, Felix turned and pulled onto her hand gently, “Let us return!”

Just like that, Felix had found his bride…His Equalizer…His other part of life that would fill him up!

 

***

 

Across a distance, yet still able to see this nice, little gathering between her apprentice and what would, to her guess, be her future sister-in-law, Sahara smiled.

‘Master…Don’t you think it’s time to do something about the army? They are getting closer! In fact…Master…’

Sahara stopped what she was doing and breathed out, closing her eyes in pure astonishment!

She had completely forgotten!

It had already been a couple of weeks, they could be…They probably aren’t far away now!

And just as she thought, when going to search…They were right at their doorstep!

A huge army, a huge Divine Beast…

As early as a couple of days, and they will be ready to fight!

No…Actually, if she thought about it properly, with the Divine Beast, it seemed the army had come earlier than expected and if they kept going at this pace…They could be seen from the border probably within a day. Why say something now!? Why hadn’t anything been said to her earlier!?

Sahara knew that she may be mad, but it really wasn’t anyone’s fault but her own…She was able to keep track on the army where no one else could…

Why had she not thought to look more often? Why had she just assumed that they would take longer to get here after they had gotten the Divine Beast?

 

With anxiety, Sahara could see that the army seemed to be moving about in a way that was ready…

They looked well rested and at the front there were already people making quite a number of different balls that were getting bigger and bigger as the time went on.

There were already ‘balls’ formed, being held by a few others by wind, but it seems that they were waiting to make more. There were earth balls, fire balls and metal balls so, it was plain as day that they were ‘elemental balls’.

…Dread started to form through Sahara as she saw that the balls were condensed, and the fire balls held an interesting prospect to them that she couldn’t figure out.

“Sahara?”

Loosing focus, Sahara looked at Matthew beside her and found that she was standing.

“What’s wrong?” He asked her, passing over Kin to Steven.

 

Sahara took a moment to breath in and try to stay calm, but she just felt like there wasn’t a moment to waste!

“The army, we need to come up with ideas now! We need to set up a…” Sahara stopped and put a hand through her hair. It was all her fault!

She hadn’t spent much time watching over the army lately and it was also her fault in judgement!

When on the planet Earth, the armies had to be close enough to shoot a gun or even to drop a bomb but here…Why hadn’t she thought that on a planet with cultivation that they could be further away!?

…Any second, any second and the battle could potentially be started!

Sahara looked at Kin and tried to focus, “Look…No…”

Do I send them away? To…To Golden Haven? Right, it’ll be safe there!

Without further ado, Sahara sent Steven and Kin away and then took Matthew’s hand and teleported them to the border of Green Haven.

“…Sahara…” Matthew could feel Sahara’s anxiety…He could see it!

“I was wrong, any minute and they could start! Why didn’t we talk more about this earlier?” Sahara muttered, looking out in the great distance to not see any evidence of an army ready to pounce.

Matthew looked out and frowned, he knew that he hadn’t been in this predicament before but to hear that at any second, that they would be under attack, he thought he might have at least been able to see something in the distance!