The System had recently alerted Armad to a woman like him. But messages kept invading his thoughts, and he invited them to dinner. As they were about to leave, he stopped them but eventually dismissed Musa and told the woman to stay.

As for the woman, many things roamed her mind. She thought of the possibility that he had unearthed her secret. This could happen considering it was a cultivator's world.

Possessing another body would be quite easy, especially when she thought how easily she was pulled into another time away from her life. What powerful spells were used in doing this was a mystery to her.

She returned to her seat, her heart in her mouth, fearing the inevitable.

"Do not fear." He told her when she sat down. "Where do you live?"

She told him her address. His next question was if her parents were alive or not. She told him that they were dead and also left two siblings with her. Her only saving grace was the work she was doing in the palace.

Armad gave an audible sigh as she finished her narrative.

He had deliberately started with this opening to make her relaxed, believing that any other questions would terrify her.

But she was still tense. Something not taught in the palace was tricks of interrogation.

"You are free to move to the palace grounds today if you like." He told her. "But if you don't, it is nothing to worry about. But your siblings are my responsibility from today and I shall sponsor their cultivation study from now on.

"Your salary shall henceforth be tripled but if it isn't enough, it shall be doubled six times that amount. And to twelve if it isn't to your liking. You seem to be in a troubled state of mind and need relief." He stared at her to see her reaction as he said this.

She opened her mouth but no words came out. Of all the scenarios she had pictured, none of them matched this.

His compassion towards his people was nothing new. She stayed this long in the palace because of it. And it was why his subjects adored him, especially after the way the former king treated them.

But she never expected his generosity to affect her directly like this. The size of the gift and the giver's might rendered her speechless.

She didn't know whether to cry or to laugh. Should she go on her knees or lie flat on her face?

Suddenly, she realized that the thought of servant-Nusi had been affecting her. It was her borrowed body whose thoughts were invading her mind.

But she had her thoughts and also a mind of her own. It would be right to think of her as having two separate minds.

Her highly excited state was due to her inherited body's reaction towards the value of the gift presented to her. But to the real her, this was not a big thing.

She did her best now to calm down her other excited self and then thanked the prince duly as she should.

She stood up and took her leave with the promise of bringing her two siblings the next day.

She opted to stay away for now because she was still confused and didn't even know the right thing to do. She didn't want to be seen with this man of immense cultivation who also happened to be from a kingly lineage. It could cause her great trouble if anyone finds out her secret. So Nusi chose to keep her distance.

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It was normal for people to investigate covertly any servant or slave or any other person who seemed closer to any person of note.

What would happen if a seer-cultivator is sent to dig up things about her? He could see a new soul in a stolen body and that would spell trouble for her.

Armad shook his head. "When did you start learning cultivation?"

Nusi's heart beat wildly in her chest. Did he figure it out already? "Your Highness, I started learning about cultivation after the death of my parents in a bid to find a cultivation-related job. I followed up for one year and was eventually deemed not very bright about it. My entire pol years are just twenty-three up to now."

Armad arched his brows. So this Nusi of a woman incarnated in a servant who happened to be an inconsequential cultivator. At twenty-three years of pol, she was just a little different from any non-cultivator. The amount was so paltry.

There was something he couldn't pinpoint actually. He just felt the need to befriend this lady and help her to gain cultivation, while the System kept telling him that she was free of malice.

But apart from that, his mind kept telling him he ought to do it, that she deserved to become close to him, and that he ought to help her. She deserved to be among his warriors and he would regret it if she slid past him.

This was why he was trying to keep her close but the only setback was that both himself and the prince were woefully unskilled at keeping people close. Especially when it has to be done fast.

The prince on one hand who was brought up in a palace, was habitually arrogant and proud. All he needed to do was to command and his will was done. Tricks of bringing people close to himself, especially a woman were things he lacked.

As for Armad, he had never possessed an army before. He left home as a seventeen-year-old with fifty-five pol years and also lacking in the friendship department.

This was why, instead of calming down Nusi, he was only succeeding in making her feel terrified and suspicious.

All his tactics were falling uselessly upon his quarry.

Finally defeated, he gave up and gave her some money, he dismissed her until the next day when she was to come with her siblings.

She left for home as her working hours had already passed by.

Armad never took his eyes off of her until he could see her no longer.

She wasn't very beautiful. But she wasn't plain also. She possessed everything attractive in a woman.

But in the prince's eyes, she wasn't as stunning as the women he was used to seeing in Arion's palace. Especially those of the Wilberforce lineage. Such women had a unique grace to them that wasn't present in others.

So Armad kept wondering what exactly attracted him to this woman. Eventually, he decided to push aside everything concerning that and sent a summon to his judge.

This was the second day of his appearance in this world but many things had already taken place. Among them was meeting another woman from the same timeframe as himself.

Was something behind this? Or was there a mighty cultivator pulling them back to the past, or even the System? Was the System responsible for it or was there a cosmic change about to happen in this era? It couldn't be a mere coincidence for two people to come back in time just for the fun of it.

The judge arrived soon afterward. He found Armad in his office and after greetings, he was shown a seat.

Indeed, some habits never change. Though almost all his actions since he took over the prince's body favored those of the prince, Armad's mind and thoughts were still intact.

The ambition to become a king and defeat the crown prince was something he inherited from the late prince. But there was something else that he had yearned for all his life. That thing was family.

Parents and siblings. There was nothing he wanted more than that since he was a child. As a child, he would go into room after room but find no one at home. But Hidaya, his elder sister, once told him that their father grew up during the time of King Arion and was blessed with a long life as a Wilberforce. He even worked as an attendant in the Wilberforce palace.

She didn't give him the full story when he asked, and now, his desire for a father outbeat the prince's wish.

Now, he decided to search for his father as well.

The first man that came to his mind was the Judge. He had to ask the judge, for palace judges are more privy to the matters of the court than anyone.

There were at least more than a hundred thousand palace attendants and that was quite a great number for a prince to know them all.

The right man to ask is the judge because of his knowledge of almost every matter both in court and elsewhere.

Hence his summons for him.

"I want you to find someone named Taidara for me. I don't know if he works in the palace now but he is a Wilberforce. His first name is Taidara. Search for him. Send men if you cannot go yourself, but find him. He mustn't be confronted when he is found but send word to me as soon as that happens."

This was Armad's first order to the judge since he first appeared two days ago.