My transformation into a beautiful girl started with a hemorrhage.

Suddenly, Kouta seemed to realize something and asked, looking down, "Hui, does that mean you already know the memories of my 'past life' in my mind?"

Upon hearing this, Hui, still holding me in her arms, raised her beautiful eyes, which were still streaked with tears, and asked in confusion, "Yes, when my soul ascended, I learned about this timeline in your mind. Besides this one, there are many, many other timelines."

"Then, aren't you angry? I used information from your 'past life' to cheat you?"

Hui pouted, puffing out her cheeks in dissatisfaction, and said feigned anger, "Hmph, now that you've tricked me into your hands and I belong to you, you still come to ask me this? What kind of answer do you want me to give?"

"I'm sorry, Hui, don't be angry. It's all my fault, my fault. Please forgive me," Kouta coaxed.

With the heavy weight lifted from Hui's heart, she felt a sense of relief and began to act coquettishly and playfully.

"Oh no! Speaking of which, did you sleep well with that woman with wavy hair last night?" Hui, who was in a good mood, immediately remembered this and her eyes turned dangerous.

Chapter 498 Divine Attire

Kouta noticed the increasingly ominous look in Kei's eyes and thought to himself, 'This is bad.'

Without hesitation, he picked up the bed, walked to the bedside, and pounced on Hui, placing his hands on either side of Hui's head and gazing down at her with tender affection.

"Hui, you are so beautiful!"

That ambiguous posture and that soft, drawn-out tone made it perfectly clear to Hui what this bastard was up to.

"You always do this!" Hui's cheeks were flushed, and she wanted to speak firmly, but when she spoke, her words came out as melodious as the chirping of birds in spring.

"What's it like every time?" Kouta seemed determined to embarrass the person beneath him, pressing for an answer.

Hui turned her head to the side, trying to appear less shy, and said in a voice so low that only she could hear, "It's daytime now, it's nighttime—"

Upon hearing the word "white," Kouta instantly understood what Hui meant and immediately interrupted, "It's better during the day so we can see more clearly."

Upon hearing this, Hui's mind immediately raced with thoughts, and she blushed with shame and indignation, her face turning red from her ears down her neck, down her back, and all the way to her fair, jade-like toes.

Hui simply closed her beautiful eyes, letting him take what he wanted.

As a result, after waiting for a long time, Kouta still did not take any substantial action.

Hui opened her beautiful, shy eyes and looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Kouta smiled helplessly and asked, "Hui, why doesn't your outfit have a zipper? No buttons? Not even a gap? How did you even get it on?"

Hui was both ashamed and angry. In a flash of inspiration, the divine armor she wore, which was impenetrable even by a nuclear bomb, was removed by Kouta's single sentence...

……

Meanwhile, several kilometers away.

The main palace in the very center of the royal city of Saint Valerius.

The palace is magnificent and resplendent, nearly ten meters high, with walls and four corners supported by a dozen or so white marble columns carved with exquisite patterns. The floor is paved with smooth stone slabs that can be used as mirrors. Upon closer inspection, the gaps between the slabs are invisible, making it appear as if the entire floor is paved with a single stone slab. In the center of the hall, there is a dark blue carpet more than three meters wide that extends from the palace entrance to the steps of the throne. Everything inside is so exquisite, clean, and flawless.

His Majesty King Middleton Hall Altona, with his white hair and slightly graying temples, sat on the throne on the steps with his young queen, who was dressed in a gorgeous classical dress. On either side of the throne sat some unmarried princes and princesses.

If Kouta were here, he would recognize the beautiful girl he once saved among them—the Sixth Princess: Christine Ais Altona.

At that moment, a guard at the palace gate announced loudly, "Now, the boy who rescued Princess Christine is about to enter the palace."

Upon hearing this voice, the many nobles inside the hall all turned towards the entrance, their expressions varied: some were curious, some were watching the spectacle, some were amused, some were displeased, and some were malicious...

With a crisp creak, the five-meter-high wooden gate slowly opened, and a thin figure appeared in the doorway.

The boy had an ordinary appearance, with wheat-colored skin, a high nose bridge, prominent cheekbones, and sunken eye sockets, but his brown eyes shone with a dazzling light. His hair was cut short to the length of a finger, and he wore a red-based, black-patterned, tight-fitting long-sleeved formal suit. A pure black belt cinched his waist, and he wore matching trousers and brown knee-high boots.

Although he doesn't have much of an air about him, he is full of energy and spirit.

This person was Hume.

While searching for a buyer for the necklace yesterday, he discovered that the royal family had posted a reward for a commoner who had saved the princess.

Recalling what Kouta had told him and the gold necklace without a pendant, he was now certain that Kouta was the person the royal family was looking for.

For an instant.

He was struck dumb, his whole body numb. How could he not know that this was a chance to completely turn his life around, a chance to escape the filthy slums and enter the upper echelons of society?

His first reaction was not to be happy for Geng Tai, but to feel intense jealousy.

Why was it Kouta who discovered the kidnapped princess instead of himself?

He was walking around the outer city, so why didn't he encounter anything?

why?

why? ? ?

Why is fate so unfair to me?

As for waiting until Geng becomes too successful, and then helping himself out?

He never thought of it that way in the first place.

He asked himself if he suddenly became successful one day, the first thing he would do would be to sever ties with his lowly past. Not eliminating his former "companions" would already be a great act of mercy, let alone offering any help.

Don't be ridiculous. Although he's only sixteen or seventeen, he's already seen through human nature.

His heart was twisted by this enormous temptation. He suddenly realized that the two of them getting lost was all Kouta's doing, and that he wanted to claim all the credit. Otherwise, the royal family would be looking for the two of them now.

Thinking like this, thinking like this... he suddenly remembered that Kouta had told him that when he was rescuing the princess, he covered his face the whole time because he was afraid of Gray and the others' revenge, so he didn't let anyone see his true face.

Moreover... his build is similar to Kouta's.

As Hume thought about this, an idea suddenly popped into his mind, and once it appeared, it grew uncontrollably!

He couldn't be sure if Kouta's words were true, nor could he be sure if the princess would recognize Kouta...

But fortune favors the bold!

He decided to take a gamble, so on that day he took out a sharp stone that he had prepared beforehand and secretly attacked Kouta's head from behind.

He used all his strength to try to kill Kouta, and he felt he had succeeded. Judging from the amount of bleeding and the extent of the injury, he guessed that Kouta must be dead.

He was terrified of being seen committing murder for the first time, so he didn't examine the body and hurriedly took the gold chain and ran away.

He then went to the inner city gate, raised the gold chain and told the guard that he was the person His Majesty was looking for.

He entered the palace smoothly, a place he had only ever seen from afar before. He was shocked by its extravagance. He then entered the palace and found the king and the beautiful princess beside him, whom he had never seen before in his entire life, in a side hall!

That woman was a hundred times more beautiful than any woman he had ever imagined; he couldn't believe that such a beautiful person existed in the world.

Beautiful! Noble! No words of praise are too many to describe her.

In that instant, he was captivated; he fell in love; he was deeply in love with this princess.

He had a new goal in mind, which sounded even more unrealistic and fantastical than "a toad eating swan meat," but he was absolutely determined to achieve it.

He...is going to marry this princess!

Later he learned that the princess had a beautiful name: Christine Ais Altona.

In the ensuing question-and-answer session, he successfully passed His Majesty's test using the information he obtained from Kouta. Princess Christine did not recognize him as an imposter; instead, she looked at him with enthusiasm and a special gaze, leading him to believe that the princess had feelings for him. Although the trope of a hero rescuing a damsel in distress is old-fashioned, it never goes out of style.

This directly intensified his passion and determination for his dream!

Yesterday's meeting was a private one, but today's meeting is a formal one, a formal audience to be seen by the nobles and citizens of the whole country.

Hume had stayed up all night learning the etiquette of audience. He walked on the dark blue carpet with composure, which drew the attention of many people in the hall.

He stopped about four or five meters from the throne, then stepped forward with his left leg, knelt on his right knee, and lowered his hips naturally into a standard single-knee kneeling posture.

At the same time, bend your left hand and gently place it on your left knee, gently clench your right fist perpendicular to the ground, tilt your head forward and look at the ground. Do not look around or at the king. Quietly wait for the king's command.

"I thank you for rescuing my daughter," the king's aged yet majestic voice rang out.

Hume replied respectfully, "Your Majesty is too kind. I was unwittingly humbled."

The king glanced indifferently at the commoners on the ground, his eyes unreadable, and continued:

"In gratitude, I hereby confer upon you the title of Baron and grant you special admission to the primary school of the Royal Knights Academy."

“Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty,” Hume replied, his excitement evident in his voice.

This was decided last night when His Majesty asked him what reward he wanted.

Without a second thought, he immediately replied, "My childhood dream has been to become a brave knight!"

Hume knew very well that although "the king asked him what he wanted?", what he could ask for could not be too high or too low.

That's too high; it shows a lack of self-awareness and will only displease the king.

Too low, and it would make the king seem stingy.

He couldn't accept the money either, because he would die a violent death within days of receiving it.

If he were to seek a noble title, he would at most be a baron, and without the strength of a knight, his baronship would be no different from that of an ordinary citizen in the inner city.

If it were a princess, she would be dragged away and beheaded on the spot.

So, he had already decided on his way here: he wanted to become a knight!

This requirement is just right, neither too high nor too low, and it has huge potential!

"Yes, go down," the king said.

Hume got up to leave, and in that instant he exchanged a glance with Princess Christine. In that moment, his heart surged with emotion, as if he were one step closer to his dream...

Chapter 499 Brave

After the audience at the palace ended.

Princess Christine returned to her magnificent bedchamber, accompanied by her maids.

Not long after she returned, a court maid came in and whispered in her ear, "Your Highness, Sir Holmes Moses requests an audience."

Upon hearing the name, a faint look of disgust appeared on Christine's pretty face.

Holmes Moses is the heir to the Moses family, one of the four great ducal families of the Kingdom of Altona. Dukes are the pinnacle of nobility, above which lies the royal family.

He was a true top-tier nobleman, whose status was no less than that of the fifth princess, and he was also the one who had been pursuing her all along.

The Kingdom of Altona was defeated in its war with the neighboring Kingdom of Lambasa, and it was only through the mediation of Duke Moses' family that a peace agreement was barely signed.

However, this caused the authority of the royal family to plummet.

The Duke of Eugenio, one of the four great ducal families, became a scapegoat and was wiped out overnight.