"We are one entity! Entity! Entity!"
Tens of thousands of people cheered along.
Song Zheng stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows upstairs, watching everything unfold below, filled with satisfaction. In his joy, he simply waved his hand and declared a day off to celebrate.
When the news spread, everyone was even happier.
Students from other programs cast envious, jealous, and resentful glances at those from the Land War Academy, knowing they hadn’t had a break or rest for over three months— even iron men would falter.
They all dreamed of having a holiday.
The results of the hearing were immediately disseminated. At that time, Theresa, having been previously stuck in the Royal Starship Academy, had not been able to watch the live broadcast directly. When she finally made it back from the school to the Imperial Palace, she was summoned to the palace of Second Prince Hughes.
Though it was called a summons, she had, in reality, no room to refuse, which secretly infuriated Theresa.
Before this, the court guards would never dare to treat her with such forcefulness.
In the garden, Hughes practiced swordsmanship, not the usual military swordsmanship, but that of the Mecklenburg Family, which possessed both aesthetic and offensive qualities.
Hughes, dressed in a loose-fitting leisure robe, wielded his longsword. It should have looked graceful, yet he executed it with a chilling intent to kill.
As soon as Theresa walked in, she could feel the sharp wind slicing against her skin.
Sure enough, the four maids by his side were already covered in tiny wounds, looking like bloodied figures. But they stood still, unflinching in their pain, their expressions solemn.
Theresa inwardly scoffed.
Her elder brother was always so brutal and merciless, utterly careless of his own reputation, which is why so many people didn’t support him.
"Big brother," Theresa began with a light laugh, pleading for the maids, "They’ve lost too much blood, they will die without treatment," she added, looking sympathetically at the four.
The four maids inwardly cursed Theresa to death.
It would have been fine if they had just endured until His Highness finished practicing. They wouldn’t have died, but now that Theresa had interceded, their deaths were certain.
This was not the first time such a thing had happened. It had happened many times before.
Indeed, Princess Theresa had started to show her promise and received support from many because every time she would step on Prince Hughes to gain a reputation of being kind, people-friendly, and sympathetic to her people.
But, in truth, everyone she had pleaded for ended up dead.
She didn’t really care about the lives of others.
She only said this to exhibit her kindness, for others to see.
The court maids, they all knew.
"Oh, is that so?" stopped Hughes, his gaze darkly sweeping over the four, sending shivers down one’s spine.
One of the maids, who looked valiant, suddenly looked up at Theresa resentfully, pulled out the longsword she held, and slit her own throat, immediately spraying blood and dying on the spot.
Princess Theresa stood there, stunned.
Seeing one of their own dead, the other three also knew that after being pleaded for by Princess Theresa, they would definitely be killed by the cold and paranoid Prince Hughes. Rather than letting her gain a reputation for kindness, they would rather die now and give Theresa a taste of the backlash.
They hated Theresa more than the prince, for her seemingly kind exterior, yet truly sinister and vicious nature.
In rapid succession, the three bodies collapsed into pools of blood, each casting a resentful glance at Theresa before dying.
In the entire garden, all the guards silently watched Theresa.