He will be okay, right?
Concubine Ava watched her son leave with black lines on her forehead and teary eyes.
"Alas…"
Ava shook her head wryly, secretly deciding to find ways to help her son, though she admitted that it would be tough with all the watchful eyes his way.
Dammit! Blame those villains in the dark who set up her son, who was obviously good at heart.
Hmph!
It must be because they are jealous that they made such despicable moves against her child, only showing just how good he is. If Julius heard what she was thinking, he would definitely be dumbfounded by how thick his mother's filter was for her son.
It's true that he is good at heart, but how come she didn't see the other mischievous things he has been doing all this time?
Queen Ava gave one deep look at her son's disappearing silhouette, 'Son, I just hope you can hold on until your Father's anger fades.'
Julius, who didn't know what absurd thoughts his mother was thinking, had a true smile on lips when leaving the palace.
In fact even the maids, stewards, servants and passersby close to the palace who saw his expression when exiting, were also perplexed by his current state.
"Has the sixth prince finally lost it, or else why would he be smiling so much after becoming a commoner like one of us?"
"Son, don't look at him anymore. Who knows if his gaze can send bad luck your way?"
"Pretend! Pretend! I don't believe he can truly be happy after being proclaimed as a commoner. Who would like to leave the life of luxury to come out and struggle with us coming folk?"
"Bah! I can tell he is happy, but not for the right reasons. Tsk. At least now that he is a commoner like one of us, if he dared touch our girls we could beat him to death with our own fists!"
"Yeah! I've heard he can't keep his fingers to himself in the presence of a good looking woman."
"Sure enough, he is happy to be out, away from his Majesty's watchful eyes so he can continue doing evil."
"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."
"—"
Julius was speechless. Can't he be genuinely happy for other reasons?
Hearing the rude remarks from the passersby outside his carriage, he rolled his eyes knowing it must have been his brothers who made his leaving public, inviting the world to watch.
There must be some in the crowd who are controlling the topic, leading the masses like sheep. His brother's wanted him to leave in utter shame, but who was he?
Heh.
Julius had just one word for them—Cowards.
"Don't mind them, your Highness. What do they know?"
"Hmph! How despicable of them to talk about someone they don't even know… Hateful!"
Zeenie and Daisy sat in the carriage with angry faces, gritting their teeth and balling their hands so tight he had the illusion their nails might burst through their skin at any moment now.
He was touched by their anger but felt it was unnecessary. It won't be long before his inventions make waves across the city. So why bother?
Soon, the group reached the moderately sized estate uneventfully. As expected, there were no maids or servants here.
Julius even had the illusion of seeing a tumbleweed roll over just now.
—…—
Well, it made sense that with the word out, those here knew they would never get paid if they were working under a commoner, especially when his majesty said their salaries and feeding will get taken care of by Julius if they choose to stay.
So what do they do? Of course, they express their wishes to Concubine Ava who either takes them back to the palace or sends them to the many businesses and establishments she has around.
It was amazing that almost all the servants, guards and slaves who took care of Julius in the palace, chose to follow him despite his current state of poverty.
Reaching the gates, they found a guard who had been waiting for them. His only task was to hand over the estate to Julius before heading back to the palace.
The moment he saw Julius's entourage, he was so happy that he almost shed tears while running away like crazy.
Was he, Julius, a plague God?
Julius and his group were dumbfounded but said nothing, swearing to again show the world what they were truly made of.
Hmph! Just you wait!
"Ahhh! Roaches! Kill them, kill them!"
Zeenie and Daisy who had acted like fierce warriors just now, suddenly turned to 9-year-old children when seeing these roaches.
[Julius]: Where did your brave auras go?
…
Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to hours, until several days flashed by in a blink of an eye with Julius never stepping out. To be precise, it was nearing two weeks since he left the palace.
Many people who were tasked with watching his activities didn't think too much after learning this. After all, what waves can a dandy ex-prince cause that could harm their factions?
To them he was no longer in the running for the throne and will now have to live his life as a peasant, forgotten in the sands of time. So why become overly focused on him?
Many people had already pulled back their forces from observing, especially after seeing him spend his days lazily around in his estate…. But little did they know that all of this was his plan.