Chapter 276 - Rescue And Punishment
The mountain-like pressure suffocated the senior maids as their breathing became difficult while their backs were drenched in cold sweats. They never knew the prince's gaze could be so frightening!
The three senior maids were frozen solid, not daring to move a single inch. They were under the illusion that if they did, they would die! The prince's black pupils were like endless dark abyss that would swallow them whole!
The sleeping Lily was still mounted on Leon's left shoulder like a dead log, while Sherry had followed right behind.
When Sherry looked inside and saw the state of her fellow sisters, she quickly gasped with watery eyes. "How horrible!"
"Your Highness!"
The joy in Melody's eyes could not be hidden as tears she had been trying to hold back burst like a collapsing dam. The prince's timely appearance represented hope for Ellie!
'Please save Ellie!'
Without saying a single word, Leon had already flickered right in front of Ellie before Melody could voice these words.
Under his Divine Will, the grey ring of energy lit up with a bright green glow and spun at high speed. Layers after layers of wood element spilled out of his body and gently wrapped around the dying Ellie who had already closed her eyes.
At the same time, a Tier-3 All-Purpose Healing Pill shot out of his Worldspace and entered Ellie's mouth before melting into pure medicinal essence that quickly spread throughout her body.
Leon was accelerating the absorption of the recovery pill with his Divine Will, while he observed the situation and changes of her body with his divine sense. He was wholly focused on Ellie's recovery.
It was a race against time, but he knew he was going to make it! Nevertheless, a drop of sweat still managed to trickle down the side of his face!
Several shattered bones and multiple crushed organs. From the shape of concavity outside, Leon could tell it was the result of a single kick and a terribly vicious one at that!
The new maids were only 1st step Awakeners, while their divine cultivation was surprisingly at the 4th layer of Body Tempering Realm!
With the monthly allocation of cultivation resources to all palace maids and palace guards, it was no problem for the new maids to have reached the 4th step Awakener Realm by now. What the hell was going with that?!
Leon did not know what had transpired before, thus he did not hastily mete out punishment. Otherwise, the two senior maids would have been crippled by him.
When he had swept his divine sense over to the room, the two new maids were already grievously injured with the three senior maids surrounding them.
Ellie, in her unconsciousness state, she had a dream. She felt like she was floating down a river stream of ice and fire.
One half of her body was freezing from the loss of blood and decreasing body temperature, while the other half was burning from the pain.
Her body was powerless and could not respond to her will as her body continued to be carried by the flow.
Just when her body was about to reach the edge of the stream and plunge down the waterfall of ice and fire, the lush green trees on each side of the stream extended countless rope-like leaves and caught her from plunging over the edge.
As more and more leaves wrapped around her body and slowly pulled her back, she no longer felt the burning fire nor freezing cold, but a gentle warmth from autumn and a soothing coolness from spring. In short, she felt like she had returned to nature's embrace.
Before she realized it, everything ended as her consciousness returned and her eyes slowly opened. What greeted her next was the prince's wholehearted attention and focus. The comfort she felt had come from the prince healing her!
Ellie felt that all the unfair treatment she had suffered in the past two months was for this exact moment. Her young maiden heart was snatched away as she looks at the prince with a quiet gaze and warm trickling tears.
"Everything is alright now."
Leon sighed with relief as the new maid's condition had stabilized. He swept his cold gaze across all three senior maids.
"Who can tell me what happened here?"
"I… can tell you what happened, Your Highness."
Melody's unsteady voice mixed with pain drew Leon's attention.
Claire did not know when, but she had long released her grip of Ellie's hair, but Darcy still had one of her feet on Melody's broken hand.
Leon's gaze fell on the foot before he shot Darcy a casual look before the senior maid retracted her foot and retreated with a pale face.
In that single glance, she had seen the manifestation of death itself in the form of a behemoth-shaped black gassy aura. Everything seemed like it was just an illusion, but her body would not stop trembling with fear.
Leon's gaze returned to Melody, silently acknowledging her continuation. Another All-Purpose Healing Pill found its way into her mouth and traveled to her two broken hands as they recovered slowly.
"Thank you, Your Highness."
Melody silently appreciated the miraculous effects of the pill before she drew a sharp breath and steadied her mind.
"Everything happened after Senior Claire accused Ellie of stealing Senior Claire cultivation resources while cleaning her room. But your Highness, I know Ellie! She would never steal! In fact, I saw Senior Darcy entered Senior Claire's room before Ellie entered to clean it!"
Although Darcy had anticipated it, her expression still changes abruptly and quickly countered. "She's lying, Your Highness! I did do such a thing!"
"Quiet."
Leon's glare immediately shut the senior maid up. He turns back to Melody and nodded.
"Continue."
"After that, it was as your Highness would expect. I tried to defend Ellie and had my hands broken. Ellie's injuries have resulted from Senior Claire's ruthless beating. I tried bringing up your Highness's name with the intention to report all the bullying we suffered since we came here to your Highness if I managed to survive. As a result, they tried to silence us. Senior Ember tried to stop them and that's when your Highness appeared before us."
"Anyone have anything to add or different to say to that?"
Claire and Darcy glanced at each other and knew that whatever they say would not be convincing. The swept Ember with a pleading look. Only her words could save them.
Everyone's eyes soon rested on Ember, except Ellie who only had her gaze on Leon and nothing else. Ember suddenly felt some pressure from the attention and tried to calm herself with a deep breath.
What should she say?
When she had tried to defend the new maids, Claire and Darcy had been prepared to kill her too. Even if she saves them, their relationship would never be the same, not to mention there was no guarantee that her lie would save them.
Ember no longer needed to think further. She had made her decision. There was no need to disadvantage herself for them.
"Everything was exactly as Junior Melody had said."
Boom!
It was like an explosion had gone off in the heads of both Claire and Darcy as they paled. It is over! Ember's words were no different than a death sentence for them.
"What about your cultivation levels? Care to explain why you and Ellie are still at the 1st step Awakener Realm despite the monthly quota of cultivation resource all palace maids should be receiving?" Leon asked Ember while giving Sherry a glance.
Sherry was also a 1st step Awakener, but she was less talented than Ellie and Melody as she was still at the 3rd layer of the Body Tempering Realm.
"Except for the Awakening Pills we had taken to awaken, all our cultivation pills had been taken away each month by our seniors under the so-called reason of tuition fee."
Boom!
Melody's sent another round of explosion in the two senior maids' head. It really was over for them. Ember also felt a trickle sweat. She had never taken any of the new maids' cultivation resources, but Melody did not clarify this and simply said "seniors."
"Alright, I understand everything now. I will now judge this case and mete out punishment accordingly." Leon said while giving Darcy in particular, the last glance. "Anything you want to confess before I start? It might lessen your punishment."
Darcy widened her eyes and trembled, but still gritted her teeth.
"No!"
'It was impossible! His Highness was bluffing! There's no way that he could have found out she was the thief! She had hidden very well!'
Leon's gaze soon turned cold.
"The thief who stole the cultivation resources was her." Leon pointed at Darcy for everyone to see, before contemptuously commenting, "It's the first time, I've seen such a shameless person hiding the stolen goods in their womb!"
"You truly know how to make full use of your womanly assets." Leon snickered sarcastically. No one would ever think of searching such a spot and the bodily fluids could conceal the medicinal smell of the cultivation pills. It was truly a shameless place to hide it. "Take it out!"
Leon's words shocked everyone. When Darcy did as she was ordered, everyone was filled with an even greater shock! How did the prince even find out it was there?! How!?
"I can't believe it was you all along!" Claire glared.
Darcy plopped to the ground in disbelief. She could not understand how the prince knew. Moreover, her move had moved on its own! What just happened!
"Now for the punishments."
Leon's cold words rang in Darcy's ears. She felt the prince's vice grip on her head as she was lifted and accepted her fate with closed eyes. A strange force was pulling away from her cultivation.
"Ahh! Is this some mistake, Your Highness? Ahhh…."
"No!"
Claire's cries made Darcy reopened her eyes. Claire was similarly gripped like her.
After crippling both their cultivations by draining them all and making them his own, Leon broke through to 9-stars before tossing the two senior maids like lifeless dolls to Ember's feet.
"Throw them into prison and send words to their families to reclaim their lives for 50 million Craws each within seven days! Otherwise, have the palace guards execute them after the seven days expires!"
No one felt sorry for the two senior maids. It was what they deserved.
"Ah? Am I not going to be punished too?" Ember asked with surprise.
"Did you do anything that deserves to be punished?"
"N-N… No?"
"Then do you want to be punished?"
"N-No!"
"Then why are you asking! Go now!"
"Y-Yes, Your Highness!"
Ember picked up two senior maids and quickly left to toss them into prison with a slightly embarrassed face.
"Your wounds will fully heal in the next few minutes. Alright, everything here has been settled. I'll be leaving now."
Tier-1 recovery pills would have done the trick, but Leon used Tier-3s on them. It was not strange for their recovery to be quick.
Leon left with the dead-asleep Lily still on his shoulder. He was amazed that the was able to sleep through all of that. Exactly how much sleep was she lacking?!
"Huehuehue… meat… zzz." Lily mumbled in her sleep with two reddish bumps on her forehead, one of the left and one on the right.
Leon gave her a glance and his expression went stiff. His left side was completely slobbered in drool!
Back in the third room.
"Why would his Highness go through the trouble of finding the culprit if the same punishment was going to be given to the two seniors anyway?" Sherry wore a confused look.
Melody furrowed her brows in thought.
"His Highness wanted to prove my innocence," Ellie said dazedly with warm flowing tears, but a radiant smile also hung on her face. "Melody... Sherry…"
"Uh… yeah?"
"I think I am in love."