"I'm serious," Xion said. "Do you have a friend, the person closest to you in the whole universe? Don't you love them?"

Emma sighed. She thought of Haoran. Of course, Haoran was her best friend, and later became her boyfriend and finally husband. She felt Haoran was her soulmate, who understood Emma inside and out and would do anything for her.

Their conversation made Emma feel sad. She then nodded. "My best friend is Haoran. And I even married him. I guess if Therius was a girl, you would marry him too?"

Xion chuckled at Emma's words. "Hahaha ... If I married him, do you think your problem will disappear and you could leave him? You have quite a lively imagination."

Emma glared and took a sip of wine.

"I don't understand what you see from someone like that. Why do you want to be his best friend?"

"Hmm ... do you really want to know?" Xion asked.

"You're acting mysteriously," Emma commented. "I don't really want to know anything about him. If you don't want to tell me, I won't force you either."

Xion laughed at Emma's annoyed face.

Ahh .. he could understand why his best friend liked this girl so much. Emma was very beautiful, and her character was quite unique. She was totally different from the spoiled and weak girls who were always hovering around Therius when they were at the academy.

"I am friends with Therius because I like him, and he is actually very pleasant," Xion said in a proud voice, as if he were a father who was proud of his son.

"Pleasant? Hmmmphh ..." Emma almost spouted her wine. She could not imagine Therius being pleasant.

"I mean it," Xion said. "Therius does not know this, but he helped me the first day I entered the academy. That's what made me like him and wanted to be his friend. I never told him this and he didn't know either. You have to keep this secret well. Otherwise, he will be big-headed."

"He helped you?" asked Emma. "What did he do?"

"I can't say," said Xion. "What is clear is that he is kind to me and I like him. He and I have a lot in common and we are both often punished by our teachers."

"Teachers at the academy dare to punish the crown prince?" Emma widened her eyes in surprise. She did not believe in her own hearing.

"Uhm ... no one at the academy knew Therius' ident.i.ty as the crown prince, except the dean," Xion said with a chuckle. "They all thought he was the son of a small-time government official from the capital."

"Oh ..." Emma was very surprised to hear that. Apparently Therius was not like what she had expected, a prince who was arrogant and used his influence to oppress people everywhere.

Aha .. Emma immediately remembered that even in this s.h.i.+p Therius claimed to be the son of General Moria. n.o.body knew he was the crown prince.

"Why did he hide his ident.i.ty?" Emma asked in surprise. She understood that when she entered the academy, she had to hide who she really was because she was the daughter of a general who was sentenced to jail as a traitor, but of course, Therius had no problem at all telling everyone that he was the future king of Akkadia.

"Hmm ... Therius doesn't like to attract attention. He is always low-key. Besides, if the girls at the academy knew who he was, they will not leave him alone. All women would want to get the future king's attention and hope someday they could become his queen," said Xion. "And they could do anything to achieve that."

Emma coughed. "Uhm ... not all women."

"I mean all sane women," said Xion, without missing a beat.

"You jerk," Emma grumbled. "You are saying I'm insane?"

Xion just laughed at Emma's annoyance. He casually continued his story.

"Without his ident.i.ty as the crown prince, Therius was already very popular with the ladies. You can see how he is. He is handsome and strong. There are so many girls who want to be his girlfriend," Xion said.

"Oh, is that so? Has anyone managed to attract him?" Emma asked curiously.

"Why? Are you interested in Therius' love life? Do you like him?" Xion raised an eyebrow.

"G.o.dd.a.m.n it, Xion. I'm just trying to show interest in your story by asking this question, out of politeness. You don't have to answer it," Emma answered curtly. She rolled her eyes.

Interested in Therius' love life? Seriously.

"All right, it's good to be polite," Xion said. "But you don't have to use all formalities with me. I'm a mountain guy, not a guy from the capital like Therius, let alone a n.o.bleman. I am not used to high manners."

"You're a mountain guy? Very interesting," Emma commented. "How did you get into the academy and befriend Therius then?"

"Oh, my teacher in the village registered me to get a scholars.h.i.+p to enter the academy. All children born with magical powers get special treatment from the king," Xion explained. "Without a scholars.h.i.+p from the government, I would not have been able to enter the academy. The tuition fee there is ridiculously expensive."

"Oh, is that so? Are there many children born with magical powers in Akkadia?" asked Emma.

"Uhm ... quite a few. Every year there may be a few hundred people. But you must remember that the total Akkadian population is around several hundred millions of people. And people born with more than one magical power are very rare. If I am not mistaken, over the last century, there were less than ten mages that were known to have more than one magical power. Your mother, Princess Arreya was the most famous."

"Oh, really?" Emma was very interested in hearing stories about her mother from other people. She wanted to know how outsiders thought of Princess Arreya and General Kaos.h.i.+n Stardust. "What do you know about my mother?"

"Hmm ..." Xion understood that Emma really missed her mother and wanted to hear the story about her. "I don't know much. As I said, I'm a mountain guy. I'm just a hermit who doesn't like worldly and political affairs. I only know a little."

"It's okay. I just want to know what you've heard."

"Hmm ... actually, if you want to know more, Therius can tell you. He met Princess Arreya several times in the palace. He also visited your father in prison every month," Xion advised.

Ugh ... Therius again, Emma thought in irritation.

She understood that Xion was always trying to improve Therius' image in front of Emma so that she would treat his best friend better.

Emma thought Xion was a really good wingman. Unfortunately, all his efforts were useless, because Emma will definitely not fall for the enemy. And right now, that was how she saw Therius.

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