Cannon fodder in the Interstellar

“Cousin Hebrew has completely changed. He was honest with me and said that his current success is due to Cousin Xiahai. From his words, it’s clear that his attitude towards Cousin Xiahai is completely different from before,” Hua Deli said.

Hua Deyu nodded. “Given the current situation, the empire can’t afford internal strife… Both of them are your cousins, and if the two brothers reconcile, you won’t have to choose sides.”

The eldest prince, Xiahai Adam, is Hua Deli’s maternal aunt Hua Dexi’s son, the former queen. The second prince, Hebrew Adam, is Hua Deli’s maternal cousin. Hua Deli is the son of Lixi Amber, who is the cousin of the current queen, Jenny Amber.

As half-brothers, if there is a throne to inherit, they can easily become estranged.

For a long time, due to the discord between the second prince and the eldest prince, the Hua De family firmly supported the eldest prince. Hua Deli’s position was somewhat awkward because he was cousins with the second prince, making him feel like a sandwich—caught in between and not really belonging anywhere.

No one hopes for a reconciliation between the two princes more than Hua Deli does, so he feels more pleased than anyone else about the second prince’s change in attitude toward the eldest prince.

“What about that genius girl?” Hua Deyu changed the subject.

The way this girl appeared was too dazzling, and she is a commoner—someone without any affiliation to a powerful faction. Such a genius is exactly the type that noble families love to recruit.

“She’s really impressive; her cultivation and abilities are even stronger than the legends suggest. In front of us noble offspring, her aura is not weak at all. She doesn’t seem like someone from a fringe planet; Mina has nearly lost her arrogance in front of her.” Hua Deli usually maintained a cold demeanor towards Ruo Manni, but that doesn’t mean he hadn’t been observing her.

Hearing the frustration in his son’s voice, Hua Deyu looked up at him and patted his shoulder. “I once told you that the world is vast and full of wonders, and that there are many strong people out there. It’s perfectly normal for there to be someone stronger than you.”

“And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. You’ve always been used to praise, and both you and Mina have been a bit too proud. With someone like that ahead of you, it will only drive you to work harder.”

After listening to his father’s words, Hua Deli lowered his head and pondered for a moment before realizing, “You’re absolutely right, Father. Although it doesn’t feel great to be overshadowed, having a target to strive for actually leads to greater progress. I finally broke through the bottleneck in my physical training a few days ago.”

“Strength comes from facing strong opponents. This mindset is excellent. You’ve only been stuck in that bottleneck for half a year, and you were able to break through thanks to having such a strong competitor in front of you. Otherwise, you might have struggled for one or two years without making any progress,” Hua Deyu praised.

While his father’s praise eased most of Hua Deli’s worries, as an elite disciple raised in a well-off family, he understood these principles even without anyone explaining them to him.

However, even if he understood the logic, the emotional pain was not so easily alleviated.

Aside from Mina and himself, no one could understand the bitterness of having been proud for over a decade, only to be suddenly overshadowed at a critical moment, no longer regarded as the best in everyone’s eyes.

If he didn’t know that Cousin Hebrew and Ruo Manni had both nearly lost their lives to become exceptional after escaping death, he and Mina would likely feel even deeper resentment and heartache about their situation.

To be honest, his time with Mina Olli in the past had merely been about fulfilling their responsibilities; there hadn’t been much closeness between them.

However, due to their shared frustrations and unexpressed feelings, the two of them began to communicate much more frequently, and they grew closer without even realizing it…

“I heard that Dean is getting close to her,” Hua Deyu said, lightly tapping his fingers on the table.

“At the beginning of the assessment, she was forcibly thrown into the mecha combat assessment map by the Sky Network, and the first person she ran into was Dean. He helped her, and later they teamed up, so among the ten, Ruo Manni is the one she knows best. However…” Hua Deli hesitated:

“I always feel that beneath her smiling exterior, there’s an indescribable coldness. Although she’s a bit warmer toward Dean Atchison, that coldness and distance still exist. I find her attitude quite strange.”

Hua Deyu continued to lightly tap the table, but his movements were slightly quicker than before—an unconscious habit that surfaced when he was feeling agitated.

Hua Deli replayed their earlier conversation in his mind and couldn’t figure out what content had made his father so restless tonight.

“Do you think that girl has any thoughts of climbing up the social ladder through Dean?” Hua Deyu asked.

“Not at all. Mina and I are both sure that Ruo Manni doesn’t want to get close to Dean in that way. You wouldn’t believe how she treats Dean; she just keeps a small distance. Her attitude toward the Second Prince is even colder. She tries her best to keep her distance, speaking very politely and formally, with a smile that’s almost always identical. But if the Second Prince says something unpleasant to her, she’ll subtly throw it back at him. The Second Prince has privately complained to me several times that he has never met such an arrogant commoner. If she weren’t going to be his chosen comrade in the future, he would have taught her a lesson long ago.”

Hua Deyu’s hand paused in its motion of tapping on the table, and after a moment of contemplation, he asked, “Do you have a picture of her?”

The Sky Network strictly regulates private photos and videos. Without proper authorization, what one sees are often blurry images unless someone goes out to take pictures themselves.

Ruo Manni’s images and photos on the Sky Network were no exception; apart from the color of her hair and eyes, her face could only be seen in broad outlines.

Hua Deli opened his holographic device, showing a group photo taken on the last day of their special training. Since it was a private photo, it was very clear, but if uploaded to the Sky Network, it would automatically be blurred.

When Hua Deyu saw the girl with black hair and black eyes, whose appearance was elegant and extraordinary, his pupils widened slightly.

Since Hua Deli was also looking at the photo, he didn’t notice the momentary change in his father’s expression. He spoke somewhat dejectedly, “They all say that Ruo Manni and I look about 40% to 50% alike. Anyone who doesn’t know us would think we’re siblings.”

It felt really strange to look so much like a girl. When Hua Deli was younger, he often got teased for resembling a girl, but as he grew up, people stopped seeing that resemblance. However, Ruo Manni’s appearance reminded Dean of this, and that guy teased him a few times with comments like “as beautiful as a flower,” which left Hua Deli feeling quite annoyed.

Hua Deyu did not respond to his words but quietly gazed at the photo. After a while, he said, “This girl looks wise and dignified, composed and self-restrained.”

“Bullshit! Father, you don’t know what she’s done. Do you think she suddenly popped up out of nowhere for no reason?” Hearing his father’s comment, Hua Deli even let slip some of the coarse language he learned during this special training.

For other aspects of Ruo Manni, Hua Deli didn’t have any objections, but he completely disagreed with the notion that she was composed and self-restrained.