Chapter 1 Bill Runs

Bill's escape shocked the entire royal capital. The wedding celebration, which was supposed to be a joyous occasion, turned into a city-wide manhunt.

Aileen led the team in a hasty search of the Golden Fortress. After analysis, many believed that Bill could not have gone far, and was likely still hiding inside the fortress, unable to leave.

However, the royal guards turned the Golden Fortress upside down, but still couldn't find Bill. In the end, they could only accept this fact and report it.

Becky had fainted from anger earlier. After some treatment, he woke up, lying weakly in bed.

He had still held some hope, but when he heard the guards' report, he was filled with shock and anger. His heart ached again, and he couldn't hold back any longer. He roared at the guards to increase their search efforts, control everyone in the Golden Fortress, and find out who was the inside accomplice who helped Bill escape.

One order after another was issued, and the various teams of the empire immediately took action, tracking down Bill's whereabouts in different ways.

While the Golden Fortress was in chaos, Shunie, who was supposed to be the protagonist of today's wedding, was standing on the balcony in her gorgeous wedding dress, silently watching the chaotic scene below.

The carefully arranged wedding banquet venue was already a mess, with broken dishes all over the floor, and all kinds of food that had been trampled into mush.

"Bill, I hate you..."

Shunie's eyes were swollen, and there were still tear stains on her face. Her hands, pressed on the balcony railing, were clenched into fists.

Yesterday, after accepting the queen's teachings, she thought about it all night and secretly made up her mind to live peacefully with Bill after marrying him, and to try to win Bill's heart for the royal family and for herself.

She got up early today, put on her wedding dress, and waited for the wedding to begin with nervous anticipation, but she never expected to receive the bad news that Bill had run away.

Her first reaction was shock, followed by grievance, then disappointment. She cried under the covers, and then felt anger in her crying.

After experiencing a series of emotions, she now looked down at the chaos of the Golden Fortress from the balcony, and her mood was only filled with unwillingness and shame.

Bill would rather run away and be hunted down by the royal family than marry her... Shunie couldn't help but think.

She neither liked nor disliked Bill, and knew that Bill's escape might not be because of her, but her feelings had been hurt, and she only felt that it was a humiliation.

The biggest psychological gap was the current situation of being ignored.

As soon as Bill ran away, everyone was looking for him. She, the bride, suddenly became ignored, and no one cared about her feelings at the moment.

Even the king and queen were busy looking for Bill, and had no time to comfort her, the bride who should have married into a family today, but had lost her groom.

It was as if she, the person involved, was non-existent air.

Shunie bit her lower lip, and finally understood completely.

Smiling faces spoke blessings, but in fact, in everyone's heart, she was just a tool to win over Bill. Now that Bill had run away, the tool had lost its meaning to be valued, and was put back on the shelf.

The king and queen arranged this marriage for her also out of exploitation. Even if there was a part of it that was for her sake, it was only an appendage.

The next time she was paid attention to, it would be when she got married again, to a new stranger, perhaps a big figure in the tribe, or other talents.

In this way, she would benefit because the value of her new marriage partner would make her be paid attention to again. Everyone would put on the same smiling faces as in the past two months, and congratulate her on having a "good marriage" with similar lines.

No one cared about her feelings. She was just a tool to win over others, an allocated "interest."

In the final analysis, it was still that she was "insignificant". The meaning of the princess identity tag was greater than her entire person.

At this moment, Shunie felt an unprecedented desire in her heart.

For power, for strength.

"One day, I will make everyone look up to me, and no one can ignore me again..."

Shunie wiped away her tears haphazardly, took off her wedding dress, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it off the balcony.

*Thud.*

Watching the wedding dress fall heavily to the ground, her mood relaxed, as if she had unloaded an invisible weight.

Things she used to care about no longer seemed important.

Those naive, childish, and carefree thoughts were sealed away, leaving only a heart with budding desires.

The past me is dead, and the new me is born in this body.

And all it takes is one bad day.

...

The search for Bill lasted from morning to afternoon.

All the servants were thoroughly investigated, but the group of tailor servants from last night seemed to have disappeared. After being bloodily interrogated, the servant leader who arranged the work still begged bitterly, arguing that he knew nothing.

The patrol guards last night were questioned again, but everyone insisted that they had not seen Bill wandering around the castle at night.

Courtiers and royal family members were controlled and questioned about their contact with Bill.

Among them, the courtiers were the most suspected. The king believed that there must be an inside accomplice helping Bill escape, otherwise it would be impossible to escape the Golden Fortress. So, ignoring the courtiers' panic and complaints, he ordered the Golden Fortress guards to directly search their rooms and control the courtiers' servants.

Before deciding to take action, Roman had already cleaned up all the clues. Although he was close to Bill, the guards could not find any evidence that he had helped Bill escape at the moment, and they could not use torture on ministers at will.

The residences in various districts of the royal capital were searched by city guards, and even the ministers' residences were not spared. However, Roman's stronghold properties were not in his name, but belonged to blood relatives from different tribes who stayed in the royal capital. These people had complex backgrounds and were all his allies, so it was difficult to trace back to him.

In addition, the gate guards of the royal capital were also gathered together to ask if anyone had left the city last night.

The gate guard captain who took the money to open the gate last night was so frightened that his legs went weak.

Originally, this was an open secret among the gate guards. Taking money could violate the curfew and allow residents who missed the opening time of the city gate to leave the city at night. Usually, no one would expose it, but when such a major event happened, no one dared to hide it.

The guard captain couldn't hide it even if he wanted to. He was directly reported by a group of colleagues and was taken away, crying and shouting.

Before long, the various gains from the massive search were completely summarized in the king's hands.

Aileen and other direct high-level officials, such as the royal guards and the city guard commander, were all gathered in the king's bedroom.

Becky didn't have the strength to go to the study, so he sat on the edge of the bed, quickly listened to everyone's report, and looked gloomy.

He clutched his heart, took a few quick breaths, and then said angrily:

"Bill left voluntarily. He was not coerced. He has been deceiving me all this time. In fact, he wanted to escape long ago! I have never mistreated him. How dare he do this to me!"

Aileen hesitated to speak.

If you hadn't pushed Bill so hard, maybe nothing would have happened...

But this kind of thought could only go around in her mind. No one knew what Bill was thinking.

Becky said in a deep voice: "Bill is willing to give up the benefits I promised and run away with someone. Then the person who helped him must have offered a higher price than the royal family, but I haven't figured out what it is yet. This force must have a need for Bill, wanting his service or the new type of xeno-blood potion formula in his hands. These people have huge plans... I suspect it's the various tribes. Only they have the ability to infiltrate the Golden Fortress."

Everyone dared not speak when they heard this.

Becky gasped again and said coldly:

"Do they think that they can hide it forever after taking Bill away...? Find out information for me. As long as the new type of xeno-blood potion appears in a city controlled by a tribe, Bill's disappearance is mostly related to that tribe. Directly ask them for the person. If they dare not hand him over... Humph!"

"What if the new type of xeno-blood potion appears in many cities?" someone couldn't help but ask.

"Then call them all to the royal capital for questioning. Whoever dares not come has a problem!" Becky said angrily.

As he spoke, he became emotional, and his heart ached again.

Becky quickly gasped and rubbed his chest. He calmed down for a while before recovering.

He took a deep breath and spoke again: "Now that Bill has left the city, he can't go far in one night. Immediately notify the imperial hunters to move out! They are good at tracking. Find Bill for me!"

At this time, Becky paused and gritted his teeth:

"If you can't catch him back, and can't let him fall into the hands of others, then... kill Bill!"

Everyone's hearts trembled.

He actually wanted to kill Bill...

The king was completely disregarding the backlash and going his own way...

If he couldn't get him, he would destroy him. What a pity for such a genius potion master.

With different moods, everyone took orders and left.

Leaving Becky alone in the room, in so much pain that he couldn't sit still, he lay back on the bed, feeling grief and indignation in his heart.

With Bill gone, the royal family could no longer monopolize the resources of the new type of xeno-blood potion, and all his plans were disrupted.

The opportunity that could have stabilized the royal family's rule for decades was gone.

The future of the empire's prosperity and the royal family's stability that he dreamed of last night seemed to have vanished.

And for some reason, Becky had a vague feeling that Bill's departure was the turning point of the empire's transition from prosperity to decline...

...

Imperial Hunter Residence.

Receiving the news that Master Bill had run away, many imperial hunters were equally shocked.

Bill had a high reputation among the hunter community. His departure made many hunters feel complicated.

And just as the hunters were shocked and gossiping, the king's order to the hunters to pursue him was quickly delivered.

——Try to catch Bill back... If you can't catch him back, kill Bill on the spot!

Upon receiving this order, the imperial hunters exploded. They were emotionally agitated and planned to disobey the order for the first time.

Many imperial hunters rejected this order from the bottom of their hearts. Even if Master Bill had left, his contribution to the improvement of the xeno-blood potion was real.

From the hunter's point of view, they didn't think that Master Bill's unwillingness to serve the royal family was some heinous thing. It was just a choice.

The royal family failed to monopolize the new potion, became angry and wanted to kill such a master-level figure. In the eyes of the imperial hunters, this was simply a selfish and absurd act... As long as such a master lived for one day, there would be a chance to improve the xeno-blood potion again, which would benefit everyone.

Now, the royal family was putting dirty and boring political struggles above the interests of everyone, and the imperial hunters simply did not agree.

Even as imperial hunters, the word "hunter" was more important. How could they attack the potion master who gave them the power to protect the people!

Kleber came forward to appease them and persuaded the imperial hunters to decide to carry out half of the order, that is, to send out a team to track him down and try to bring Bill back. If that didn't work, they wouldn't kill him.

In this way, the imperial hunters reluctantly accepted, but their morale was low, and they all planned to slack off.

Before long, dozens of hunters gathered at the gate of the station to prepare to leave.

Kleber was not good at speed and had to stay at headquarters, so he didn't plan to go out with them.

The one who served as the commander of the tracking team was Jason.

Now, Jason had secured his position and could command most of the imperial hunters, completely securing his position as the second figure of the imperial hunters.

"Jason, if you can't catch up with Bill, that's fine, but if you do catch up with him, you have to act according to the circumstances."

Before leaving, Kleber patted Jason on the shoulder and earnestly told him.

Jason nodded, his tone without any fluctuation:

"Don't worry, I will definitely not catch up with him."

Kleber: "..."

I'm glad you can understand, but you don't have to be so direct...