Ray simply replied, "I'm only six years old. I can't go. You can take the credit—I don't need it."
Norris's mind clicked, and he nodded in understanding. They returned to the kingdom hall palace but remained outside, waiting, while Norris went in to relay two things he had discussed with Ray earlier.
Inside the hall, Norris entered and greeted the king with a salute. The king then asked, "Why are you back, Norris? And what happened to Alice?"
Norris replied, "I overheard the conversation between the princess and young Ray. Then some ideas came to my mind, so I returned with Princess Alice and the others. They are currently waiting outside the gate."
He then asked, "May I have permission to speak about the assassin-related topic here? I have two points to discuss."
The queen and all the king's concubines had always participated in his political discussions. So, if one of his concubines was beside him, there was no problem. The king granted him permission to speak.
Norris continued, "While speaking with Ray on the carriage, I was thinking about finding the assassins, and an idea struck me: what if the assassins want to create internal chaos among us?
Since we know how loyal the nobles—from barons to dukes—are to Your Highness, and since you handpicked them all, what if the assassins who come from different families or clans are actually exiled? They could be using the exile assassins to assassinate Princess Alice.
But little do we know, the enemy we face is trying to sow discord among our people, using exiled assassins and planting blame on each other."
Up to this point, the king understood and then asked, "What about your second point?"
Norris said, "While listening to the talk between young Ray and the princess, another thought struck me. What if the enemy we face is not actually the opposing kingdom but the inventors exiled from these families?
What if the invention techniques and products we have taken from the families—under their permission to increase Your Highness's production by granting exclusive rights to produce and sell—are the source of the problem? These inventors, wanting to reclaim those rights but unable to, might seek revenge against their own family members and the royals by joining our opponent's kingdom.
If we investigate, we might find that the exiles who died were all men linked to the inventors. We need to immediately call a meeting and investigate all family members."
Hearing this, the king's eyes grew wide as he said, "Call all the nobles—from barons to dukes—and find out if the deceased are indeed linked to the inventors."
Norris nodded, planning to call for emergency meetings. He instructed the caretaker to take Ray and Alice to the princess's courtyard. The reward Ray was supposed to receive was postponed to another time.
Alice was happy because she could spend more time with Ray. She took his hand and led him toward her courtyard. Rena, who wanted to stop her, couldn't say anything since Alice was just a child. But that didn't mean she wouldn't give her a lesson later about holding hands.
Ray suddenly wanted to leave the place—he could easily get what he wanted from the things that he could get from the Qi stage vault, from his family. He sighed. They finally reached the courtyard, which was quite large for a little princess. Alice had been learning formations here.
Ray followed her since she was holding his hand, and they went inside to see a beautiful lady waiting.
The beautiful lady didn't notice who had come but knew who would rush in like that, so she teased, "Little Alice, you're back? Did you meet your little lover?"
Alice's face flushed bright red when she heard this—especially with Ray right there. She quickly said, "Master, you should stop teasing me."
It turned out that the beautiful lady was Alice's formation master. She lived with Alice and taught her formations every day.
The lady hadn't seen them yet and was drinking tea while reading a book. She added, "What? You haven't seen your lover, or he hasn't come yet? Should I punish him for not coming?"
Alice's face grew so red it seemed smoke was coming out of her head and ears. She was too embarrassed to respond, and only Ray could help by saying, "Ahem! Good evening, beautiful lady. I did come, but I am not her lover."
The beautiful lady turned and looked at Alice—whose face was a pouty red tomato—and then at Ray beside her. She gave an awkward smile at the situation.
To save Alice's face, Rena, who had witnessed the entire scene, said, "Madam Aries, you should stop joking. You're making it awkward for these two kids."
After hearing so many scoldings from Rena, Aries looked at Alice and said, "I'm sorry, little Alice. I was just teasing you."
To which Alice replied, "Bleh! You always tease me!"
Aries then looked at Ray and asked Alice, "Why don't you introduce your little friend to me, little Alice?"
Alice replied, "This is my first friend, Ray, Ray Walker. He is the new Duke Robert Walker's son. He said he has read some books about formations from his mother."
Alice then looked at Ray and said, "This is my master, Aries Ravenscroft. She is also the daughter of a duke. Master is only 12 years old and is a great formation master. She became an iron-level formation master by the age of 12. She is the youngest formation master to reach iron level."
Alice praised her master with starry eyes. When she talked about her master, she kept bragging about her. Aries also felt pleased hearing such praise from her student.
Ray smiled and said, "Nice to meet you, big sister Aries. You're very beautiful."
Aries enjoyed being praised by a little kid and said, "You're also a handsome little man. I will be calling you little Ray from now on."
Alice then said, "Ray, why don't you teach Master all the games we played together that day?"