Chapter 17: The Next Step

*** Bonus Chapter***

After Crei and Tria saluted the emperor and took their seats, though the racket subsided, they were still being stared at from all corners. Especially Tria, she never used to go outside, so no one knew her, her being in the open right now, as the new wife of the third prince, was a novelty to the people present.

Tria did not shy away from their stares and even returned some of them, but such childish acts bored her, so she focused her attention on Crei instead. He was very attentive to her and made sure she wasn't feeling uncomfortable, he was displaying his affection as if it was just the two of them in the room. Resulting in some envious housewives, and even led some single ladies to daydream shamelessly.

"Ahem, well it is about time we start, as most of you already know, you have been called here because of the turmoil occurring within the empire. As well as the fact that a Priestess has awoken on our Land", the emperor started, breaking the awkward atmosphere.

The majority of the guests have already learned of the news, and some were already preparing to set off to where the Priestess might be.

"Your Majesty, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, we should try to get the Priestess to our Land so we can strengthen the power of our land. Also, with the priestess here, we would be able to have many more powerful warriors within our ranks."

"Your Majesty, we should send forces to protect the innocent lives endangered, we do not know where the Priestess is currently located, but we still have a duty to protect the citizens."

"Your Majesty, these clans have run rampant all over, and they are currently getting closer to the capital, we should have our army ready to defend the city."

The people present have long been waiting for the emperor to open the topic up, to them, this was a chance to contribute and to hopefully gain some benefits. They were coming with ideas, one after another, although some seemed to care about the innocents, they are only trying to make themselves look good.

Tria was listening to all of their statements, after all, she was that one priestess they were plotting about. She looked over at Crei to see her attitude towards this. He looked like all the talk around them was nonexistent, he was busy peeling some grapes for Tria, and was even thoughtful to take out the seeds.

"Husband, why do you look like you do not care about a priestess awakening?", Tria decided to grasp his stance on the matter.

"I care, I care a lot, but there is not much that I can do."

"What if you could do something, what would you do then?

"I'd tell you, but I wouldn't want to make wifey jealous", he teased her, he was getting even more intimate in the way he talked to her

"Haha, what? You're already planning to take another wife?", she teased him back, only they could hear their conversation, so nobody heard the couple's teasing game.

"No wifey, I made my vow to you, you will be the only one for me in this lifetime", he paused and seriously continued "What I mean is, priestesses have always been pitiful when it came to strength, although they could heal, save, and power up others, they had no ability to protect themselves because whatever amount of energy they absorbed, they could never advance in power level; that energy would instead be used to help others. With such vulnerability, unless they had loyal people to protect their lives, they were easy targets, that is why most priestesses did not live long lives."

Tria came to a realization, 'That is true, through the knowledge that was passed down to her from the ancient priestesses, none of them had the ability to cultivate. Then doesn't that mean that I would be the first to be able to? Ah, that will make it easier for me to hide my abilities.' She also realized Crei's intentions.

"You want to provide protection for the priestess?"

"I would just send someone trustworthy to support her, build her a temple to settle down in, by then the populace will know where she is and go there if they needed her help, it will be harder for the greedy humans to do anything to her."

Just as he finished his sentenced Tria's eyes detected a leak in his energy, she did not know what it was, but that small speck of it contained an extremely powerful aura. She scanned her knowledge and her memories to see if she could find out what it was, but she came up with nothing.

Letting the matter go, she was surprised at her husband benevolence, she liked that he was different from these officials still rambling about how to possess her.

After a full afternoon, and what seemed like an eternity to Tria, she and Crei made their way back to their manor. Back at the palace, she thought they'd have to participate in the emperor's debate, but Crei told her that this summon was just a formality, the real intentions of the emperor will be discussed with a much smaller group of people.

It didn't matter to her, as long as they didn't know that she was the chosen one, what they do next does not concern her. Right now, she had bigger issues to think about, like the next step of her and Crei's wedding.