Krrk!

It was a sharp cracking sound, something that had echoed many times earlier in this room, but it was different this time around. A neck had just been snapped.

1 reply – 4 hours ago

“AH—!”

“In the name of great Sia, what are you doing?!”

Screams and horrified exclamations sounded in the air.

Everyone who was infuriated at Bron a moment ago was completely stunned. Prince Kane had a look of disbelief on his face. Carter hurriedly covered Alicia’s eyes. Nora had a rare frown on her face. Roel looked at the man who shared the same green eyes with Bron as he felt a chill running down his spine.

No one could have thought that Count Bryan had stepped forward, not to save his son, but to snap his neck with a single strike.

1 reply – 4 hours ago

This man is vicious.

Roel’s complexion slowly turned awful.

Under normal circumstances, shouldn’t the old one stand forward after the young one failed? That would have given Carter and Kane the justification to condemn the Elric House and make them suffer a heavy price for their actions. Yet, this fellow wasn’t going by the script!

Roel looked at the golden-haired count before him, and the latter also happened to turn his head over at the moment, resulting in their gazes meeting one another mid-air. Roel immediately felt his body turning cold, as if he was being stared down by a venomous snake.

“Bryan, what are you doing?”

Sensing that Count Bryan was assessing Roel, Carter stepped forward right away to shelter his child behind him, as he narrowed his eyes in hostility. On the other hand, Bryan was silent for a moment before he answered calmly.

“Nothing much. I’m just taking a look at the young man who stopped Bron’s foolishness.”

1 reply – 1 hour ago

Following that, he turned to face the surrounding crowd and spoke up loudly.

“I sincerely apologize on behalf of the Elric House for everything that has happened here. It’s my failure to discipline my children that led to this situation. I have punished Bron for his actions, and we’ll make sure to compensate Miss Alicia for the suffering she has been put through. I ask for your understanding.”

The entire room fell silent after Bryan’s declaration. The sight of him killing his own son left the nobles feeling disconcerted. The military officials, including Kane and Carter, looked at the dead Bron and found themselves unable to say anything either.

Noticing the lack of opposition, Bryan walked up to Nora to speak to her.

“Your Highness Nora, I am deeply apologetic to have caused such a scandal on your birthday. I humbly ask for your forgiveness.”

“Count Bryan, you need not act in such a manner. You have dealt with this matter well.”

Nora’s insincere compliment was dripping with sarcasm, but Bryan feigned ignorance to it.

“Your Highness Kane, I’m afraid that there are many matters I must attend to, so I’ll have to make a move in advance.”

Bryan bowed slightly before grabbing Bron’s corpse and making his exit. Spectating nobles scrambled to open up a path for Bryan, and it was only after this terrifying man had vanished from sight that they all heaved sighs of relief.

Watching as Count Bryan left, Roel felt that he had really underestimated the world of nobles. The old noble houses, having weathered hundreds of years of rise and fall, had matured from the crises they had faced. It was not that they wouldn’t err, but they learned how to deal with mistakes.

Bron was an immature fool. From the moment he whipped out his dagger, he was already a goner. Count Bryan, on the other hand, was a perfect product of the standard noble curriculum, valuing his house’s interest above all else. Not even the sentiments of a father got in the way of his judgment.

The Elrics might have left, but the matter surrounding the Elric Youth Faction hadn’t been settled yet. Prince Kane had no intention of letting these noble children off the hook easily just because they were young. With a wave of his hand, he had his men take them away.

They would be severely punished before being granted permission to leave the manor. Their names would be taken down, and royal edicts would be sent to their houses to inform their families that they had been blacklisted by the royal family. With this, their futures were most certainly ruined.

“How did you find me?”

4 replies – 1 hour ago

While Carter and Kane were dealing with the aftermath of the incident, Roel, who had just undergone emergency treatment, turned to Nora and asked.

Nora blinked her eyes before replying calmly.

“That’s because you never came back after being called away by a little girl. I was somewhat curious, so I came over to take a look. It was then that I happened to see that bunch of people barging into this room… Perhaps this is what you call fate?”

3 replies – 1 hour ago

Fate, my ass!

Roel snorted in response to Nora’s words as he slowly recalled everything that happened before he made his way here.

After parting from Alicia at the banquet, certified foodie Roel didn’t hold back before the enticement of the buffet table. Holding a plate in hand, he delightfully hopped from one dish to the other and gorged himself thoroughly. It was only due to his graceful eating etiquette that he barely managed to not look out of place.

But halfway through his feast, Roel noticed that the number of boys in the banquet hall had reduced considerably, which brought his train of thoughts to the Elric Youth Faction. Thinking of them left him feeling a little uneasy inside, so he headed over to the girls who were in his faction to check out the situation, only to bump into a girl who witnessed Bron’s group taking Alicia away.

When Roel learned that someone was bullying his little sister, he told the little girl to find Carter while he took out a tool he had bought on discount from the Affection Points Shop in the last few months and headed over to look for his little sister first.

【Shadow Lover

Love without roots, feelings abounded. The lover in the shadow bleeds dry, only to be thought of as a stream of warm tears.】

3 replies – 1 hour ago

It was yet another description that was useless except for its poetic value. Shadow Lover was a red cloth, made of a translucent material similar to bridal veils.

After several months of experimentation, Roel managed to uncover the ability of this red cloth. As long as he had it on in a dark environment, his presence would utterly vanish, reminiscent of the lover that no one knew of depicted in the description.

This was also why Roel was able to suddenly appear behind Bron earlier on. His initial plan was to take them out one by one discreetly, but when he saw Bron’s actions and heard Alicia’s crying, he couldn’t bring himself to bide his time anymore. This was what resulted in the eventual 1v12.

While many things had happened, in truth, only 5 minutes had elapsed between the moment Roel entered the room and when he pinned Bron to the table. Nora followed by Carter and the other adults barged into the room about 7 minutes after the start of the incident.

Roel could have waited it out until reinforcements arrived before making a move, but he didn’t want to do so, especially when he knew that Alicia could have been traumatized for good had he chosen to wait. He ended up sustaining severe injuries due to that, but he didn’t regret his decision. Those around him also expressed their approval toward his actions.

“Lad, you’ve done well!”

“It was a battle well fought!”

“As expected of an Ascart, you didn’t embarrass us!”

Prince Kane and the other members of the Holy Knight Order commended Roel for his actions and accomplishments. Carter couldn’t help but feel gleeful hearing the praises heaped on his son, but he still maintained a grave look on his face.

“You did well protecting Alicia this time, but you shouldn’t act recklessly the next time you encounter such a situation. Rely on me more!”

“I understand, father.”

2 replies – 1 hour ago

Roel humbly responded to the compliments of the men around him while shooting a glance at Alicia. As he watched her thank the circle of noblewomen around her for their concern with a smile, he couldn’t help but recall the scene of her picking up a knife and stabbing Bron.

He was indeed relieved to have been saved by her, but no matter how he looked at it, such an action was too extreme for someone of her age. He couldn’t think of it as a good thing. Would this matter leave some kind of trauma behind?

1 reply – 31 minutes ago

It looks like I’ll have to pay careful heed to this in the future.

7 replies – 1 hour ago

The doting black-haired boy thought to himself before everything suddenly faded to black.

3 replies – 57 minutes ago