Chapter 435

Chapter 435

Elijah straightened up, taking the handkerchief Ye Wang handed him, and said, "If I remember correctly, Karlia, his father is a member of the royal family, known for his own looks, and his mother is prominent in politics with considerable military authority. He himself is very active in diplomacy, having taken over almost all foreign affairs."

Karlia gave a polite twitch of his lips, looking somewhat aloof. "Receiving such praise makes me uneasy—I'm just a nobody."

Elijah smiled slightly. "You're very valuable, and you don't seem afraid. Are we really that reassuring to you?"

"I think, as long as the person I face is wise and rational enough, there's nothing that can make me uneasy."

Elijah furrowed his brow slightly. "Quite confident, Your Highness. Even against an enemy?"

"Except for the insectoids."

"I understand, Your Highness. Then enjoy your cat-and-mouse game, but I have a feeling you'll get serious eventually."

Karlia looked at him with slight surprise. "I don't know what gave you that impression. Let me be clear—I am serious. You're opponents I take seriously."

"Not enough, Your Highness. You need to take us more seriously."

After answering, Elijah cut the conversation off and turned his gaze to Belinda.

Belinda, once Elijah looked at her, said, "Have Ye Wang take someone to escort him over to Ambrose later—the safest place."

As she spoke, Belinda subtly studied Elijah, then glanced at Karlia. Elijah was a bit irritated—he rarely got this way. The last time she'd seen him this angry was when Alanson ignored his command and ended up trapped for six hours.

She finally seemed to notice Karlia, sizing him up with mild interest.

Karlia unconsciously tensed his body—an instinctive human response to threat, no matter how rational he was.

Ye Wang stood next to Belinda, holding the crate, barely paying attention to Karlia. He frowned, looking somewhat out of it as he watched Elijah, like he was seeing something he didn't understand. After a moment, he said, "Elijah hasn't thrown up in a while. Does thinking stop him from feeling dizzy?"

Belinda withdrew her gaze at that and glanced at Ye Wang. "When will I get a more useful partner? Not some brainless fighter, and not someone with brains who can't even survive a hit from an insectoid egg."

Elijah once got knocked out for two days when an underdeveloped insectoid's unconscious flailing hit him in the head while he was studying its eggs. The story had spread widely ever since.

Ye Wang's reaction was to furrow his brow. "Brian will make a fuss if he hears that. Also, it's not great to badmouth Elijah to his face."

Belinda rolled her eyes at him.

Ye Wang then looked at Elijah, and his gaze shifted slightly. "Your perfect partner is here—brains and brawn."

Belinda followed his gaze. Ye Mo and Alva were walking over from the distance.

"Good. I'll add two more conditions: no kids, and no men with terrible personalities."

Ye Mo and Alva were still some distance away, but Ye Wang had already lowered his voice, barely moving his lips. "Alva's personality isn't bad, is it? Except for that period when he first arrived, he barely gets into conflicts with anyone now."

Belinda lowered her voice too—Alva wasn't Elijah. "Isn't that personality bad? I've never met anyone so uptight."

Neither of them paid attention to Ye Mo, even though his mental energy was covering the area. Nothing could be hidden from Grath.

Elijah hadn't noticed Ye Mo and Alva yet, still talking with the soldiers to get a few people brought over. He wanted to get his information up to date—Alva had come to the Rift years ago after a starship accident, after all.

"Adults but young, preferably friends with each other so I can use them as leverage. Otherwise, five... no, that's too many. Two for now—let me ask first—"

Ye Wang moved first. He set the crate down, stepped past Belinda, and stood in front of Ye Mo. He dropped to one knee, drew his dagger, and held it out.

Ye Mo stopped in his tracks. He was well accustomed to this by now.

Belinda also moved, dropping to one knee on the spot, drawing the dagger from her waist and placing it before her, lowering her head.

Elijah reacted only after they'd both moved. He had no weapon, nothing to offer, but he joined in anyway.

The soldiers standing behind them followed suit.

Ye Mo had already touched the dagger offered to him, and as he withdrew his hand, he gave a light tap on Ye Wang's blade. With the ringing sound, his mental energy radiated outward.

Ye Wang stood first, then the others.

Karlia watched from the side, his soldier still standing behind him. His gaze lingered on Ye Mo, then was cut off as Belinda rose to her feet. She glanced at Karlia, then made a gesture to the soldier.

"Take him to that building over there. Wait for Alanson to arrive, then send him to Ambrose's place."

Belinda turned back only after she finished giving the orders.

Elijah had already squeezed to the front, launching into a serious ramble at Ye Mo. "You should have told me..."

Ye Wang tried to rescue Ye Mo. "Elijah—"

But he couldn't get a word in through Elijah's relentless chatter.

Elijah couldn't hear him either—he was already pulling up a terrain map to give Ye Mo a debrief.

"Let's think one step further. Even if you went, you should have taken the west side—there's cover there. Look..."

Ye Mo gently pressed Theodore against his chest. Theodore couldn't lift his head, so he spoke through the comm channel instead. Every time Elijah brought something up, Theodore immediately pulled up the data from that time, wrote a report to refute him, and concluded his data was correct—Elijah just didn't properly understand Ye Mo's and his own abilities.

Ye Mo dealt with Elijah while soothing Theodore, feeling like he'd just endured a full year of strategic analysis classes.

Ye Wang, unable to squeeze in, looked incredulous. "Is he lecturing a Grath?"

Elijah was a secret control freak, but he'd at least had the sense to steer clear of Graths before.

Belinda watched them too. "Maybe this is how they treat Little Grans..."

She walked over to the crate Ye Wang had set down earlier. She agreed that the Little Grans should be handled with care, but their Little Grans had already looked over several times—might as well help him out.

Belinda nudged the crate on the ground with her boot, sending it sliding toward Ye Wang. Ye Wang gave her a puzzled look, then glanced at the crate, picked it back up, and looked at Belinda again. Belinda gave a slight nod toward Elijah.

Ye Wang hesitated for a few seconds, then finally shuffled over and set the crate back down beside Elijah.

Elijah froze for a moment, then released one hand from Ye Mo and grabbed the crate again. He spoke in fits and starts. "You also need to consider—"

Elijah ended up dry-heaving and shoving his head back into the crate.

Belinda smiled slightly, stepping forward to pry his other hand—the one gripping Ye Mo's—loose, saying to Ye Mo, "Minor issue. Our commander doesn't seem to handle starship travel well."

She swept her gaze past Alva behind Ye Mo and raised an eyebrow. Alva was staying close to Ye Mo—normally, Alva kept his distance from everyone, even as a guard, always farther away than the others.

"You two have gotten along well already. Some people haven't been able to get close to Alva in years. Elijah, Brian should have already met with Alva."

Elijah lifted his head at that. "Brian? Is Brian in trouble again? At a time like this? I told him—ugh—"

Ye Mo also looked at Elijah. "Elijah..."

Belinda took his hand, drawing his attention back. "He really can't handle starship travel."

"I'm heading to Ambrose's place anyway. There should be rooms to rest there. Elijah, do you want to come?"

Elijah lifted his head again, "I still need to ask—yue—"

He lowered his head once more.

Ye Wang answered on his behalf, "He just had soldiers bring two people over to learn about the outside world."

Belinda pressed her temple as if she'd had enough, gesturing at the soldiers escorting two young men over, "There they are—you can take them along to Ambrose's place."

Belinda was almost getting a headache, "But they're soldiers, aren't they? Why bring two soldiers? Because they're easy to crack?"

The soldier escorting them heard this, stopped, and saluted, "Reporting, sir. They're friends, adults, real young, and they came voluntarily. Want us to go back and swap 'em out?"

Alan and Sadel, who had volunteered to come along, hung their heads, both a bit tense at the remark.

Fortunately, Belinda turned away and waved them off, "Go on, go on, stay with your CO."

Ye Wang then stepped up in front of them, hauling the crate, Elijah right behind him, looking a little pale, but still made a point of telling the guard on Karlia, "Keep Karlia tight and stay with us."

Everyone was just waiting on Ye Mo.

Belinda ran her hand through Ye Mo's hair, right down to the back of his neck—a move you'd use on a cat, something she'd figured out on her own. "Don't forget to send me a Grath."

She still had those starships to check, after all.

Ye Mo looked at Belinda and blinked.

Belinda spoke before he could, "A bigger one, dear."

Ye Mo tilted his head, paused, then said, "Shalom said he's coming."

"Wow, that Grath way of talking. Tell him, ten minutes tops."

"He said seven."

"Good. Off you go."

She gave Ye Mo a little nudge toward Ye Wang and the rest.

Alva stuck right behind him. Ye Mo walked past Ye Wang and Elijah, and only then did those two start moving, falling in behind him.

Belinda watched them go, a smile tugging at her lips. "Already a little lion king."