Hidden genius: Black belly snake

Chapter 196: What if I marry her? Part1

In a gigantic throne room, up on the northern hills of Eldoria, several golden-robed elven elders had assembled.

This was the Emperor's special seclusion palace and these elders were the council members of the Emperor himself, tasked with protecting him in case the palace was breached by enemies.

Not because the Emperor was weak, but because more often than not, one was in their weakest state in the midst of an enlightenment euphoria.

If they were disturbed during this time, then not only will they lose out on any valuable insights they had gained, but they might also suffer from a terrible backlash, which could potentially even cripple them.

So it was very common practice to enter seclusion for cultivation purposes after placing your safety in trustworthy hands.

And these golden-robed elders, of course, were the most trustworthy bodyguards for the Emperor.

They had all sworn life and death oaths to protect him and never stepped out of the vicinity of the Emperor.

In fact, they hadn't even participated in the labyrinth exploration, even though every single one of them was a Demi-God, with some of them even partially in the Deity realm.

Not many were privy to the information that these elders existed at all.

Xander might be the ruling Crown Prince of Eldoria, but even he was answerable to these elders. 

These elders were the reserve power and real strength of Eldoria that made them staggeringly stronger than the other countries.

And this fine morning, all these Demi-God realm elders had assembled in the main throne room to address a peculiar issue that had recently surfaced.

Though it was a small matter, its significance couldn't be underestimated.

Other than these high-council elders, the Empress and the other elven princes had also assembled in the throne room, along with several other prominent elven clan elders.

Everyone was patiently seated around the throne room, leaving the majestic throne at the head of the room empty, as a token of respect for the Emperor.

That was his throne and not even Xander or the Empress was allowed to sit on it.

"Freya, your son has not yet arrived?" 

One of the golden-robed elven elders spoke, addressing the Empress directly. There was a hint of ridicule in his voice.

Freya tucked away the rogue curls of her elegant silver locks behind her ears and answered awkwardly. "He will be here soon."

She was well aware that some of these elders did not favor her son Xander and she was very comfortable with these politics.

In her eyes, all her sons were equal and she had always treated them so.

To date, there has never been any open discord between her sons and she wanted this to continue. But how could things remain so simple?

Every single one of her sons except for Xavier was valiant, talented, and ambitious with lofty goals.

While this helped all of them grow and develop, this also made them constantly compete with each other.

Moreover, there was the matter of equality and reducing the power of the noble families.

This was the biggest issue in the royal court. Some were in favor of it and some were against it.

And since Xander was in favor of it, some of the high-council elders did not like the fact that he was the Crown Prince, the next in line to the Emperor himself.

Unfortunately, the majority of the elders wanted social stratification to prevail.

They wanted to maintain the proud lineage and superiority of the elven noble families. 

They firmly believed that the elves were a cut above the rest of the higher beings and the rights and responsibility to rule the nine countries, or rather the entirety of Xion was an elven royal's birthright.

This was also primarily why they had assembled today.

The recent events in Eldoria, including the ancient labyrinth, had caused significant unrest among the nine countries.

Soon after the inheritance stone tablet was destroyed by William, the entire labyrinth unfolded and was completely undone.

All the spell formations and the undead beasts instantly ceased to exist, and everyone could exit.

Xander had left the labyrinth almost immediately, carrying Tang Yue along with him. Xavier also soon followed behind him.

However, a majority of the other teams stayed behind and thoroughly sliced and diced the labyrinth from top to bottom in hopes of finding at least some sort of a treasure.

But unfortunately, no one was able to find anything else. At most, they managed to collect some valuable herbs. That was the end of it.

And since Xander had mostly soloed the Epic-grade beast, the other clans didn't even receive a sizable portion of the Epic-grade beast meat.

This entire trip was almost wasted for them. 

So everyone was extremely bitter about the outcome of this labyrinth. 

It was not like they didn't foresee this outcome even before they stepped inside the labyrinth, but nevertheless, they were still bitter about the results.

Adding fuel to this fire, what irked them the most was Tang Yue's presence. 

No one knew what had happened and how she had ended up on the 12th floor before them.

But just from how things looked, they could already tell that they had arrived just a touch too late and everything significant was long over by the time they had entered.

So who else could have obtained the inheritance if not for Tang Yue?

It was one thing if Xander himself had obtained the inheritance, but instead, this random spirit beast had obtained something so valuable?

This was absolutely ridiculous and atrocious! 

They just couldn't digest this result.

How could they allow a lowly spirit beast to obtain a treasure which even the noble families coveted?

So all the major families were disgruntled and loudly voiced out their complaints.

All sorts of conspiracy theories popped out and these grumblings inevitably reached the ears of the high council elders.

A spirit beast obtaining a powerful inheritance personally guarded by an Epic-grade beast was something unacceptable and intolerable even for the high-council elders.

So a meeting was immediately scheduled and Xander was summoned to the Emperor's seclusion palace.