"Good afternoon, madam," I said as I watched Aisnam climb down the stairs, my tone serious and respectful. She was in a good mood, confirming that her recovery went without a hitch. I was glad that I had managed to hide my return from her family.

I had a feeling that things wouldn't have gone that smoothly if her family members were around, trying to impede her recovery.

"Good afternoon," she answered as she approached, but I could see her expression slip a bit. She was surprised by my sudden attitude change. "What's wrong?"

I made a point of looking toward the stairs. "Her Highness wouldn't be joining us?" I asked, which made her look even more surprised.

"No —" she started, which was all she was able to say before I closed in the distance, and kissed her.

Vehemently.

"W-what was that?" she asked.

I gave her a shy smile. "Well, I missed you," I explained.

She gave me a pointed glare. "No, the attitude you had before."

"Well, that…" I started, giving her an even more hesitant smile. "That was just in case the Queen decided to come downstairs now that her illness is cured, and you haven't informed her about … the full details. I don't want to put you into a difficult position."

I interrupted her with another kiss, and pulled back a while later. "Come, I already cooked lunch," I said, and dragged her to the kitchen, leaving the little interlude unanswered as I brought her to share the small feast I cooked for her. I even opened a wine — the Spring Palace might be a prison, but it was for royalty, with a beautiful wine cellar.

As for my earlier little show, it had a subtle objective. I wanted her to show that I had no problem hiding our relationship for her sake. After all, not only she was already married to the king, but she was also from a cultivation family that actually treated the king as a lower-class citizen. Together, a homeless martial artist, no matter how skilled, was a terrible match for her.

I couldn't discuss those reasons with her because I wasn't supposed to know about her identity. However, I could still put on a little play, showing that I was willing to stay hidden to protect her reputation.

With that, I hoped to convince her to keep me around.

The lunch was fun, even when it was interrupted by some fun activities … the kind that triggered the rewards from the System once more.

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 50; Pampering Bonus - 75 (Capped)]

[125x Return - 129 Qi Strands]

Even though I was sweaty and exhausted, I couldn't help but smile when I saw the results. A part of it was the size of the reward, in my inventory, I barely had a hundred and twenty strands, collected during several weeks of rigorous activity, doubling my storage immediately.

I wasn't averse to that particular kind of hard work, but still, Qi strands from the System were vitally important. My lack of an Immortal Root meant that the best I could do without these rewards was to use my meditation technique to use the environmental Qi. It worked well to craft talismans, but sooner or later, I would need to improve my cultivation.

At that point, I would require hundreds … maybe even thousands of those strands to improve my cultivation, and even more to deal with the threats, welcoming the improvement.

The other part was the increase of the multiplier. Now that she was stronger, I didn't dare to use my essence to test her cultivation, so the System confirming that she had recovered enough to confirm the System reward was good news.

The stronger she was, the less I had to work to keep her safe, and the more rewards I received.

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"Now, how about some training," she asked once she was dressed.

If it was another day, I might have tried to sweet-talk her for another 'session' of fun, but that seemed like a poor idea. She had just recovered her cultivation, and she seemed enthusiastic about stretching her capabilities.

Knowing when to play cute and when to play obedient was an important part of living the fun way.

"Whatever you wish, madam," I whispered throatily, keeping my tone flirty even as I hooked my arm to hers and walked toward the training room. She leaned against me as we walked, showing a surprising amount of clinginess.

Interesting. I would have assumed it was the isolation, but that didn't tell the full story. She didn't seek physical comfort that much before sending me away, and she had been living in isolation even longer before we met.

Then, I shrugged. Her growing clinginess had the chance of being problematic, but ultimately, she had much bigger concerns.

"How about some no-contact sparring?" she asked.

"Your wishes, my command," I said as I took the stance of the Forest Dance, ready to show off my martial capabilities more now that my injury excuse was gone. Luckily, she recovered as well, meaning, that no matter how much skill I showed during the process, it would be still inferior to her renewed power.

Which was good, as my System depended on it.

I started with a slow, brisk pace, letting her pick the pace. She started equally slow, but barely a few seconds later, I found myself dodging a sharp palm that would have taken off my head if it wasn't for my enhanced reflexes.

It was sharp and dangerous even though she hadn't used her Qi or her essence. The passive improvement from her cultivation alone was enough to make a huge difference.

She stopped immediately. "S-sorry about that," she whispered, looking surprised at her own improvement.

"Breakthrough?" I asked.

She nodded, blushing at her own slip. "Yeah, the last month had been productive," she explained rapidly, clearly hoping to mislead me about the timing of her improvement to maintain her fake identity.

I chuckled, as I had no problem playing along with that. "Don't worry about it. It's hard to get used to the improvement without some sparring. And, with the Queen injured, you didn't have a candidate," I said, accepting her apology while trying to convince her that her fake identity was still solid.

She attacked again, I defended, and soon, we fell into a rhythm where I had been pushing Forest Dance to the limit while she attacked again and again, putting its defensive nature to the best use. Though, I did my best not to read her attacks too much.

Ultimately, she was using Verdant Palm as her primary technique. She was not bad, comfortably displaying her ability at Minor Accomplishment. The two disciples they had sent to track me were barely at the Minor Familiarity, showing that, even for a family cultivator, her achievement was impressive.

Of course, for me, her attacks were open books, easily allowing me to read them easily. Acting unaware of my foreknowledge and trying to limit myself to my eyes was the bigger challenge. Still, I managed to play along until we took a break.

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 50; Pampering Bonus - 75 (Capped)]

[85x Return - Palm of Verdant Cleansing - Minor Immersion]

"Tell me. Anything interesting outside?" she asked while I breathed hard, exaggerating my exhaustion somewhat.

I shrugged. "I didn't have a chance to check the place, so I don't know much," I offered. "However, the foreign martial artist army I had seen at the outside, preparing to march to Markas was hard to miss."

I didn't expect her to suddenly gain a sharper look. "Really, to Markas? Are you sure?" she asked, showing too much interest in that offhanded comment.

"Well, based on the idle talk of a few scouts from Tiger Fist school that passed near me," I told, creating an excuse for my knowledge before I repackaged my knowledge into a believable discussion between bored scouts, still giving her all relevant information.

It was easy to discover her with her renewed knowledge. And, I certainly didn't want to lie to her.

Still, it was interesting that she wasn't alarmed until the mention of Markas. I decided to test her slightly. "Well, not surprising. There had been a lot of gossip about that city since their civil war," I said. She tried to keep her reaction hidden, but I saw her surprise. "Particularly since two flying cultivators fought during that war, according to the gossip," I added.

An even bigger surprise.

Interesting. It implied that she had no idea about the most recent developments in the city.

"Any idea about which family the cultivators belonged."

"According to the gossip, they were from the sects. Kartpa Valley and Entsa Pavilion," I said.

Her expression tightened even more, leading me to believe that not only did she likely know about their sudden interest in Markas, but also she wasn't happy about it. But, I didn't mention those observations as I gave her a very brief explanation of events at the Markas, like I was telling her about some half-remembered gossip rather than retelling the events in which I had played a primary role.

"Let's continue," I said, interrupting her thoughts like I didn't understand her sudden concern. She nodded, and we started practicing once more.

I was interested in her knowledge, but not to the point of revealing anything more.

After all, she was both the Queen and a cultivator. I was just a boy toy.

It was her mess to deal with.