Go back? There's no going back.

After a moment of silence, Su Wei took a deep breath, looked at the princess in front of him, gritted his teeth, and whispered: "That mountain... is very dangerous."

"…Yeah."

Although he was considerate enough not to ask any further questions, Su Wei could still clearly sense that the mood of the adult in front of him... seemed to have become even worse.

As the princess stopped talking, the whole room fell into a brief silence and the atmosphere began to become a little depressing.

In fact, to be honest, when Su Wei was kept in the palace in the past, because the princess was reserved and aloof by nature, he often encountered similar awkward silences when chatting with her.

At that time, he would probably have started trying to liven up the atmosphere again.

Even when he occasionally encountered the princess in a bad mood, he would dare to observe clearly how bad her mood was, and then he would courageously take the initiative to provoke her and divert her attention.

But now, these are no longer things he can do.

He was just a little Karami who was dismissed by the other party himself.

The so-called "dismissal" actually meant that the princess no longer needed a fake like him, let alone his poor performance.

In this situation, if he still tries to liven up the atmosphere without knowing his own limitations, it will probably only backfire.

"…Forget it, let's not talk about this."

An unknown amount of time had passed, but under Su Wei's cautious gaze, it was the princess beside him who took the initiative to break the silence.

"Do you know that you look terrible right now? You look like a puppy that has been abandoned."

Picking up the physical data record left by the nurse, she flipped through it while asking, "Are you really not feeling uncomfortable anywhere?"

“…No, thank you for your concern, really.”

Su Wei shook his head and forced a smile.

Of course he knew why he looked so bad.

Not the body, but the mindset.

After all, eight years of fantasy and self-righteousness were shattered last night.

Everything he has done so far has been meaningless.

The other party is the genuine Pluto body.

But I was just an unknown person who spent sixteen years to barely get a fake body after running out of ammunition and food.

Su Wei has realized that even if he works hard for the rest of his life, he probably won't be needed by a big shot like his mother.

"..."

Looking quietly at the stupid kid who seemed to have lost his soul, Celsia's eyebrows gradually frowned.

At first, when she noticed the other person's ugly expression, she thought he had that expression because he was fired by her.

But now, she vaguely realized that it was not herself who made him distracted.

Rather, in the past eight years, this little brat seemed... never to behave like this because of her.

For some unknown reason, I felt a little irritated.

"Since you are not feeling unwell, then hold your head up."

Taking a deep breath, Celsia looked at him and said calmly, "When you lived in the palace before, didn't you like to get stuck in strange places? Sometimes you didn't even listen to me."

"How come you've become so useless in less than two days since you left?"

"..."

On the side, Su Wei quickly realized that the princess might be referring to the fact that he waited at the main gate every day to greet her. He was stunned for a moment and carefully looked away: "That's because I feel that although you refused, you don't really hate being greeted...so I..."

"Who said I'm not annoying anymore?" Celsia was stunned and subconsciously showed a look of disgust.

"Ah? Is it really, really, really disgusting?" Su Wei looked up in surprise, horrified.

"..."

Seeing the young man in front of her suddenly become more depressed and pale, Celsia also reacted and her expression froze.

Finally, she silently raised her hand and rubbed her forehead, her tone slightly slowed down: "For the time being, it's not to the point of being annoying."

How could she have never realized before that this seemingly stubborn kid...had an unexpectedly fragile psychological defense that would break at the slightest touch.

"So...what are your plans next?"

After letting out a long sigh, Celsia asked this question.

However, the only response she got was Su Wei's confused and empty gaze.

"…When you left, didn't you swear to Elsie that you would go back to the slums to find your adoptive mother?"

The pair of beautiful eyebrows were furrowed deeper and deeper. Looking at the young man in front of her, whose eyes had almost lost all their spirit after only two days of absence and looked as if someone had broken him, the first princess of the empire became more and more annoyed: "Now, you're giving up even this?"

"...Well, I give up."

Su Wei was silent for a while, forced a smile, and nodded slowly: "Maybe she doesn't want me to go find her either."

"…No, go find her."

The First Princess's suddenly low voice made Su Wei, who was originally weak, tremble all over: "Huh?"

He looked at the other party blankly, but was met with the increasingly cold eyes of the princess.

...To be honest, for Celsia, it doesn’t matter what the adoptive mother of this stupid child is like.

Her nature is probably not as good as the other party imagines.

But now, she always felt that if she didn't say something here and didn't find something for someone to do, then maybe in a few days she would see a little ghost with lifeless eyes in a river or in a gathering place of poisonous insects.

"I didn't know you were such an ungrateful little bastard that you would forget about your mother who raised you for eight years when you encountered a little setback."

The expression on her face gradually became stern. Celsia looked down at the young man sitting on the bed and said, "Don't let me down too much, okay?"

"But, but..."

Hearing this, Su Wei opened his mouth, but in the cold eyes of the princess, he couldn't say anything in the end. He just nodded silently: "I understand."

"Why do you seem so reluctant?"

"…No, not unwillingly. I…will look for it again."

After a long silence, Su Wei gritted his teeth, and his originally lifeless eyes... gradually became firm again.

…Yes.

The princess is right.

To a certain extent, his so-called stubbornness, and the motivation it gave him... were already one of his few advantages.

As of now, there is really no way that I can catch the eye of this witch who is bringing disaster to the country.

Even if you are disliked or ignored, it is only natural.

…But is it really okay to just walk away as a loser with your tail between your legs?

Unlike the princess, my mother is now the most wanted person with the highest bounty on the entire continent and is in danger at all times. Even if I never see her again, at least I have to settle this favor.

Eight years of raising.

A refuge that has not been attacked by any refugees for eight years.

At least these are real.

Even if we take a step back and say that it's not for his mother, just not wanting to disappoint the princess in front of him is enough for Su Wei to regain his motivation.

Moreover, it now seems that Su Wei’s initial speculation...seems to be somewhat inconsistent with the facts.

He began to waver. That person who was as warm as the morning sun and had a favorability rating of nearly 100,000 towards him... was she really his mother?

But if it wasn’t my mom, who could it be?

Sure enough, I want to confirm this.

Even if the final result is not satisfactory, at least he should not lack the courage to face it all.

"Thank you, I...know what I should do."

After figuring this out, Su Wei took a deep breath and looked at the First Princess in front of him again, with gratitude in his eyes: "I will never give up so easily in the future."

"…Yeah."

Seeing this, Celsia fell silent.

For some reason, even though she had used a slightly tougher attitude to cheer up the stupid kid in front of her, the irritation that lingered in her mind became even worse when she saw his eyes full of longing and yearning again.

However, Celsia eventually suppressed her irritation little by little.

As a princess of a country, she certainly knows this kind of encouragement method of beating and then giving a sweet date.

Now, the little ghost in front of her has recovered some of his strength, so she doesn't need to have a stern face anymore.

“…That’s good.”

Shaking away the distracting thoughts in her mind, Celsia forced a smile on her face. She raised her hand and wanted to touch the young man's head for the first time in a long time: "This is the Su I know..."

But the next second, her voice stopped abruptly.

Seeing the young man in front of her suddenly reacting and tilting his head back as if frightened by something, Celsia even froze her outstretched hand in mid-air.

……Eh?

Chapter 23: I Want to See

The air in the ward froze briefly.

At this moment, not only Celsia but also Su Wei himself had a stunned expression on his face.

"..."

Staring at the princess's hand that was frozen in mid-air and seemed a little at a loss, and feeling his heart suddenly beating wildly when he saw her reaching out her hand to him, Su Wei also looked confused.

No, no, why am I panicking?

Is your brain going crazy?

Even though the other party was no longer his employer, and Su Wei felt guilty about refusing to tell the other party about his mother, but no matter how he thought about it, this gentle and cold princess would not twist her head off in such a place.

What's more, the princess just now was obviously just trying to praise me for cheering myself up again.

To be able to be killed by a touch on the head by the empire's most popular princess... Such an honor is something that others cannot even hope for.

If I pull out a few strands of hair that I have been touched by and give them to some fanatical worship groups in the future, they might treat me to a feast with fish and meat...

Soon, after realizing how offensive his reaction was, Su Wei shuddered and looked at the latter cautiously.

However, what made him feel relieved was that, apart from the fact that her facial expression looked a little paler, he did not catch any angry or depressed emotions on the face of the princess in front of him.

She seemed to be just frightened by her slightly exaggerated reaction just now.

"Ah... yes, by the way, Princess, I'm awake now, so I should be able to be discharged from the hospital, right?"

This time the problem was entirely his own fault. Realizing that the atmosphere should not be allowed to remain so awkward, Su Wei quickly thought of something and went to press the bedside bell.

"Discharged?"

However, before he could finish his words, a chill suddenly ran down his back.

The princess came back to her senses and stared at him again.

She wordlessly withdrew her raised hand, and pressed her wrist with her other hand... Her gaze was as calm and cold as always, but at this moment, Su Wei felt as if a needle was pricking her face, and the hand that was about to reach for the bed instinctively retracted.

"...Ordinary people will have many complications after suffering a mental shock. Some symptoms cannot even be detected by current instruments. You...will stay here for two weeks for observation. Elsie has already taken care of the expenses."

For some reason, she took a deep breath and the princess in front of her instructed Su Wei word by word.

"Two, two weeks?"

Although he didn't know what the princess was going to do next, Su Wei was stunned when he heard that he would have to stay in the hospital for two full weeks, and he suddenly felt unwell.

"Any questions?"

The First Princess did not show any displeasure at Su Wei's somewhat tactless reaction, but just looked at him quietly with an inquiring look.

"...Um, I...don't want to stay in the hospital for so long."

He spoke in a low voice. As far as Su Wei could remember, this seemed to be the first time he violated the arrangement of the princess.

Even though he had been fired, he still felt a little scared at this moment.