McClady, who had been about to keep shouting, froze. He truly hadn't expected Ye Chuqi to speak up for Gaines. After all, they had only met her after boarding the ship. They had no friendship to speak of.
Even as the eldest daughter of the Ye Family, she didn't deserve the same treatment as a member of the Imperial Royal Family in their eyes. Things were different on the Thirteen Misty Islands. Everyone in the Barton Empire regarded the Imperial Royal Family as their gods, their faith. To them, the royal family stood above everyone else.
As McClady saw it, Gaines was the Little Princess's Steward. Even though she had tragically died, he still shouldn't look at another young woman that way.
But Ye Chuqi wasn't finished. "So the Retainers and Stewards who hold such exalted positions in the Barton Empire are actually groveling servants in your eyes?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" McClady's face darkened.
The Barton Empire had no nobility. Its Retainers kept the entire nation running smoothly, while its Stewards cared for the royal family and saw to their every comfort. The Empire's Retainers and Stewards did hold exalted positions. Perhaps people had once questioned what sort of future they would bring the Empire, but thousands of years had passed, and the Barton Empire still stood. The Retainers and Stewards had proven their worth through their abilities.
To hot-blooded young people like McClady, there was nothing wrong with an outstanding Steward like Gaines caring for a princess of his own Empire. But seeing him show the same expression and behave the same way toward someone outside the Empire was more than McClady could accept. That was groveling.
"Couldn't Gaines simply be acting like a gentleman?" Ye Chuqi couldn't agree with these young people's outdated thinking. "Or