Chapter 650: What matters.

‎Anastasha stared at the letter from Cyuren with an empty and distant gaze. She was expecting a problem with borrowing an official record, but she wasn’t expecting the first princess of the Khan Empire would handle the matter personally and be on her way to meet her.

‎"You always do these things, don’t you? Hitting two birds with one stone," Anastasia muttered to herself and burned the letter with the candle. "You want to use this opportunity to convince the Heavenly Alliance to join the empire’s cause as well, don’t you?" She raised her brows as the letter burned into ashes.

She watched the ashes fall to the table or fly away out of the window into the night sky. She sighed and somehow she felt alone because she thought Rasmus would be interested in her matter. Since Rasmus didn’t know what was coming, and she did say that she didn’t want to share it with him, she felt a bit of regret.

"I guess I judged him wrong..." She stood up and walked toward the window. "Well, not really. I know he’s that kind of a person. I guess I was expecting him to... care..." She chuckled and shook her head in disbelief of what she had just said as she rested her chin on her palm.

‎On the other hand, Rasmus had been gathering information about the martial artists that were going to compete in the main stage. Most of them were well-known and famous across the Khan Empire, but what caught his attention was the fact that this year’s tournament, the Heavenly Alliance allowed the unrighteous clans to participate. It was revealed a few days ago and shook the world of martial arts.

"(I’m a few hours away from the inn you’re staying)" Rullein telepathically informed Rasmus.

Rasmus glanced at the bed where Aris and Rullein’s clones were sleeping. He then used his draconic eyes to see Rullein’s energy from miles away, and he saw her in the distance. He immediately turned his eyes back to normal because when he looked around the wooden walls, they had been covered in thin ice. His Overlord’s power had grown more immense and robust that it revealed itself whenever he used his draconic abilities.

"(Did you cause a scene on your way here?)" Rasmus asked as he leaned against the wall as he read his notebook.

"(Hmm... no...?)" Rullein answered.

Rasmus shook his head and smiled without responding to her blatant lie.

"(But I sure did make a name for myself, though. I mean, who cares if I’m good or evil in their eyes, it’s not like it matters and I don’t really care about it)" Rullein added.

"(Do you want to eat something when you get here?)" Rasmus asked.

"(Pork soup dumplings with spice noddles. They’re delicious...)" Rullein’s voice grew deeper as if the food was right in front of her.

"(Alright, I’ll ask the cook to make it for you in the morning. Don’t forget to let your horse rest, don’t force them to keep running)" Rasmus responded as he walked toward the chair and flipped the page on his notebook.

"(Right, I’ll see you in the morning I guess)" Rullein hummed.

When morning came, Rullein arrived at the inn, and everyone murmured to their friends when they saw her. The news had spread that the Soundless Beauty was there to save Lina of the Siyen family, and they also heard of what had happened to the Siyen family that caused concern across the empire. They also heard about her killing and taking out a bandits hideout that had caused problems for merchants and travelers in the past few weeks. However, something else took their attention, and it was the people that were staying in the inn she was about to enter.

"Isn’t an Asghar staying in that inn? Do you think something will happen in there since she’s an Asghar?" A man asked his friend.

"Shh, don’t speak out loud..." The friend elbowed the man and glanced at the windows on the second floor that were wide open. "If she heard what you said, not even the official can stop her from taking your head off."

When Rullein walked into the inn, some of the people decided to walk into the inn as well and sat on the tables. Not only were they interested in Soundless Beauty, they were also interested in Anastasha and her guests. It didn’t take long when they saw Anastasha, Rasmus, Aris’s clone and Rullein’s clone walking down the stairs to have breakfast.

They were expecting Anastasha to take an interest in Soundless Beauty, but she ignored her existence and just sat at the table with Rasmus and the others. The servant came out of the kitchen while holding a tray with pork soup dumplings and a bowl of noodles. The servant approached Rullein’s table and put the food on her table even though she had just arrived.

"It’s on the house as a thank you for eradicting the bandits that have been caused problems to the merchants, which led to scarcity of ingredients," the servant said as she bowed her head to Rullein.

As Soundless Beauty, Rullein didn’t say a word and just gave a slight nod, giving a sense of mystery and grace but also cold and a menace. They then looked at Anastasha, but again, she didn’t even care about Rullein’s presence.

When everyone was busy admiring Rullein, someone walked into the inn with an excited expression.

"Everyone, Patriarch Heso just entered the city with his son, Mada!" The man shouted.

Everyone stood up and didn’t think twice about leaving the inn without ordering anything, which made the inn’s owner furious. However, he was also interested in Mada, one of the Rising Stars of the current generation. Rumors around Mada have always been about him going to be a Sword Saint.

When the inn became empty, Rullein glanced at Rasmus and she grinned happily because he kept his promise by giving her pork soup noodles and a bowl of noodles. Rasmus only smiled and took a sip of his tea, but he noticed the anxiety in Anastasha’s face. He saw her body tensed up when that man walked into the inn and shouted about someone’s arrival. It was enough to tell her that someone was coming for her, and that someone should be someone powerful because she made her flinch.

"Someone is looking for you?" Rasmus asked.

Anastasha only responded with a smile, her eyes fixated on the cup of tea in her hand. Rasmus decided to not pry into it even more after she didn’t want to answer the question.

"You want to play on a bigger board?" Anastasha suddenly asked and looked at Rasmus.

"A bigger board?" Rasmus raised his brows.

"Yes, a bigger board where the rules are more punishing but the rewards are much greater," Anastasha nodded.

"Whose board?" Rasmus asked and took a sip of his tea.

"Rulers’ board, but that means you have to abandon the current board you’re playing. It’s a high stake high reward kind of game," Anastasha answered and rested her chin on her palm. "Forget everything you know about the Khan Empire because the board I’m inviting you in, you’ll directly face the ones that rule the empire," she revealed.

"How am I going to join that board?" Rasmus raised his brows once again.

"Well, you don’t really have to because I might drag you into it soon," Anastasha answered.

"Then why did you offer it in the first place?" Rasmus chuckled. "We had a deal. I’m here to help you, remember?" He reminded.

"Right..." Anastasha looked at her finger tracing the lid of her teacup. "Yes, you’re absolutely right," she nodded before she shook her head, almost forgetting the one thing that matters in their relationship.