Far away from the Aidiac Kingdom, where the night would soon be painted with blood, existed the Selvius Kingdom’s Royal Palace, as lively as ever.
Just a mile away from the main palace, Elysium was as bustling as always.
tap tap
Inside the long hallway, a maid traversed towards the room which was the center of all joy inside the mansion while holding a tray filled with tea and candies.
‘She seems so stupid,’ the maid thought as she moved with the tray, pondering Adanyl’s consistent consumption of whatever she was given.
‘How naive. Her Majesty is playing with her yet,’ a grin formed on her face as she thought about the promotion she would receive for administering the substance Alisia had provided.
It had been six years since she had regularly fed Adanyl this mixture.
The reason for choosing candies instead of cakes or other items was Adanyl’s rejection of eating anything before sleeping, but she preferred candies.
“May I enter?” The maid stood before the closed door, knowing it was time for Adanyl to sleep but also aware of her instructions to administer the substance every night before sleep.
Krieeek
The door opened, revealing a small girl innocently looking towards the maid, who felt pity for the girl caught in the royal games.
“Feed me yourself, I am feeling lazy,” Adanyl said, rubbing her sleepy eyes and opening her mouth without hesitation.
“Fufu, Miss Adanyl is very cute.” Taking out the candy, the maid guided it to the little girl, who chewed it, and the maid didn’t move until she heard the sound.
GULP
“Can I sleep now?”
Seeing Adanyl’s lazy appearance, the maid smiled, feeling her goal for the day completed. She turned and left the room after bowing and adding pleasantries, “Thank you so much, My Lady.”
Adanyl observed the disappearing back of the maid, slowly closing the door with her back turned.
“AcKk!” Suddenly, she inserted her tiny hand into her mouth, causing the candy she had just swallowed to come out.
“Cough… cough… It’s still hard, even after all these years,” Adanyl leaned forward, lifting the candy, and moved towards a plant inside the room before burying it in the soil.
‘Phew~, dealt with another assassination attempt,’ Adanyl thought with relief as she fell onto the bed, postponing yet another attempt on her life.
Since the first time she was given a cake that tasted slightly different, she understood: her becoming a Crown Princess made everyone take actions against her.
To ensure her safety, she chose candies instead, since they were easy to hide inside her neck.
A master plan indeed.
So, in conclusion, Adanyl had never ingested any of the bloodline suppressants Alisia had given her, instead regarding them as attempts at poisoning and discarding them.
‘Let’s sleep, tomorrow I have to meet Her Highness.’ Not thinking much, Adanyl lied down and fell asleep.
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Slowly, the morning rays bathed the whole Heindal Continent with warmth, falling upon the Selvius Kingdom.
Gaia’s rays found their way into one of the rooms inside the Prince’s Palace before illuminating a bed where a boy lay.
After leaving the room yesterday, Ryuk went directly to the dungeon to fulfill his kill points, which were unnecessary but needed to maintain balance to avoid errors with the System.
Night had fallen, prompting him to take a nap before interacting with others; not even the maids had seen him yesterday.
‘System, what was Mother’s peak strength?’ Slowly, Ryuk’s eyelids slid open, revealing his amber eyes gazing at the ceiling, his mind filled with curiosity about his mother’s previous level of strength, though he didn’t need to hear the reason for her fall from that level.
It was obvious to him that if a family’s traditions permitted them to kill each other in an heir battle, then the consequences for retaliating against them could be severe.
Right now, he knew that Alisia’s Energy Core was destroyed as a consequence of her leaving Ardoros, and he even reached the conclusion that he was a major reason for her fall; he wanted revenge.
[Host, it was Peak of Zenith at Perfect Level.]
‘What is the level of the Head of the Devereaux Family?’ Ryuk needed to know the level of the person in the Head position of the Devereaux family.
[It is Peak of 〖ASCENDANCY〗, Perfect.]
Slowly, Ryuk rose from his bed and moved to take a bath. As usual, he didn’t allow any maids to help since the bath was prepared beforehand while he was half-asleep.
Though the level was just three levels ahead of him, Ryuk knew the difference. After jumping one level with the help of the System, he couldn’t even sense his own movement, confusing yet true.
Ryuk was now at the peak of 〖EPIC〗, something not achieved in his previous life where he was only at an early stage.
Yet, he could feel the tremendous difference between Early and Peak, but after boosting his strength to the next level, 〖LEGENDARY〗, his perception changed.
He couldn’t reach other levels without battle experience, and it was only possible outside this place.
Even with his System and all the resources present in the Heindal Continent, he couldn’t grow at all.
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“Oh my, what is the Crown Princess doing here?” One of the maids leaving the prince’s palace looked towards Adanyl, who was on her way to meet Ryuk.
“Show me the way; I want to meet His Highness,” Adanyl tried to maintain her status while speaking, but seeing the maid’s melted-down face, she twitched her mouth.
She was the Crown Princess, and such behavior would be blasphemy, which was the only thing restraining the maids. Adanyl’s lovely presence, however, lightened their mood.
“I said, show me the way,” Adanyl firmly stated. She was not in the mood, since her goal for coming here was very urgent.
Yes, she was here in the early morning to ask for forgiveness for feeding Ryuk Mana Repellent medicine.
“You can leave,” Adanyl ordered the others to leave. Seeing everyone exit, her eyes were fixed on the door before she knocked on it.
“Come in.” From within the room, a soft yet boyish voice called her, completely familiar yet feeling softer.
Krieek
The door slowly opened, revealing a figure standing while wearing a towel, another one drying the hair with another towel.
badump
‘Huh, what was that?’ Adanyl suddenly felt a sensation in her heart looking at the boy standing in front of her.
While observing the figure of the boy, the light rays enhancing those amber eyes, with the face seeming to become more attractive, even the smoothness of his skin was visible from afar. ‘Is he some angel?’
“What happened? Why are you here?” Ryuk inquired, looking towards Adanyl, who kept blankly looking at him.
“Oh, pardon my intrusion, Your Highness. I was here to ask for forgiveness.” Adanyl, pulling herself out of her thoughts, bowed while feeling confused about the sudden thump she felt in her chest looking at Ryuk.
“Heh, isn’t it funny that you are here to ask for forgiveness after poisoning me?” Ryuk slowly moved towards her, a teasing smile adorning his face, noticing subtle movement in her eyes.
‘!?’
“No, Your Highness, please, I didn’t do it willingly. Instead, it was…” Adanyl interrupted in the middle, realizing the consequences of revealing the name of Her Majesty in front of Ryuk.
She turned her gaze downward, feeling overwhelmed with the situation. She couldn’t reveal anything to Ryuk since there was a huge chance of him not believing her, which somehow didn’t feel correct.
“Tell me, what was it?” Ryuk pressured her, lightly turning his gaze down, observing the little girl clenching her hands, looking downward.
“I-I can’t tell you.” Adanyl finally decided to take all the blame. After all, she couldn’t blame his mother nor Bella.
“Then, I can’t forgive you either.” Ryuk turned and moved towards his drawer to take out some clothes to wear. Making Adanyl bewildered, she blankly observed him.
“I understand.” Adanyl turned to leave without delaying, since Ryuk was not paying attention to her right now, mostly immersed in his dressing.
“Wait, you can get forgiveness if you do one of my tasks.” Ryuk buttoned his shirt, turning towards the confused girl.
“R-really?!” Adanyl saw a glimmer of hope, while thinking about how she misjudged Ryuk a moment ago.
“Yes, you just need to sell perfumes today at the inauguration of the Teleportation Gates.” A smile formed on Ryuk’s face. Seeing his smile, Adanyl’s face twitched.
Right now, he appeared very attractive due to the Body Reconstruction, and at the same time, Adanyl could clearly see a devil inside him.
Her first impression upon seeing him was appreciation for his charms, but now, he felt like a devil planning something evil.
“I will do it,” Adanyl bowed and decided to go through with Ryuk’s plan. If she could get forgiveness by just selling some perfumes, it was worth it.
Ryuk passed beside the little girl who was already planning how to sell all the perfumes.
Moving out of the room, a small smile was visible on Ryuk’s face. ‘Now, let’s make things difficult for you, Miss Slave.’
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SWISH
A cloaked figure moved swiftly, tearing through the calmness of the night, avoiding the soldiers and guards surrounding the Royal Palace of Aidiac Kingdom.
“Hey, have you heard about the Northern borders of Selvius Kingdom?” One of the soldiers guarding the outside part of the main palace inquired to another.
“Oh, you mean that cursed land? I heard its condition started to heal.” The climate inside the Northern Borders had become bearable since yesterday, which seemed like some miracle.
Unbeknownst to others, the reason for all the problems in that place was due to the rituals the Silvester Family performed, sensing the increased density of mana in that area, which was favorable for summoning a demon.
Naturally, to summon a demonic entity, the ritual needed souls for summoning, bodies for physical appearance, and finally, enormous mana.
But in the North, an artifact that was placed there only sucked in all the mana, creating a facade of dense mana presence in that particular area.
This indirectly caused the summoning to consume mana from the surrounding areas, leading to disasters due to rapid mana depletion in the atmosphere.
A misjudgment led to the birth of a cursed land.
SWOOSH
“Hey, did you hear something—Aggghhh!” Before the soldier could point out the sound, his body was shrouded in amethyst smoke, and not even his screams could escape due to the melting of his face.
‘!?’
Another soldier, seeing his comrade’s body melting down, felt his eyes widening.
“Who!—”
He was also met with the same fate, as a figure walked out of the smoke, a short figure showing the cloaked figure’s identity as a child. The figure moved inside the main palace.
….
“Haha, it was fun today. Send me another one,” Leud moved inside his room, while a maid covered in tear stains and small blood marks were visible on the white bedsheet, she held to cover herself.
“I-I will,” bowed the maid with only helplessness evident.
Her own friend, after being defiled, had told her name to Leud, since he only preferred virgins.
Seeing the maid leaving, Leud helped himself wear a bathrobe, while a web-like ruby ring was present on his fingers.
From the moment he became king, he never once removed the ring.
It was, after all, a leash on his wolves, the ones who must be kept in check—a small ring controlling the whole Reinguards.
“Why do you want to kill Ryuk?”
‘!?’
Suddenly, a voice reverberated inside the room, causing Leud to swiftly turn towards the direction where a small cloaked figure stared back at him.
“Who are you?” It didn’t take Leud long to understand the situation—he was facing an unknown person who had infiltrated in the middle of the night.
Yui blankly looked at him, her expression cold yet her exhausted eyes held anger surging within. But not losing her patience, she again asked, “Why do you want to harm him?”
“…” Leud slowly fiddled with his fingers, trying to activate the ring which would call one of his dogs, Reinguards, but to stretch time. He replied, “That bastard humiliated me and even tried—”
“It was not him.” Yui was already aware of another person impersonating Ryuk and using it to trigger a chain reaction.
“What do you mean?” Finally, Leud’s finger tapped on the ring, sending a signal swiftly to the nearby Reinguard.
“Don’t test your luck—SWISH!” Suddenly, a sound caused her to kneel, turning her gaze to meet with a woman who had just swung a sword aimed at Yui’s head.
Without delay, Yui flipped back to create some distance.
thud
“…” Landing on the floor, Yui looked towards the figure standing at the window, holding a shiny blade with a green hilt.
Moonlight fell on the figure’s blade, giving it an ethereal glow. Crystal white eyes with pinkish hair, evident of eyesight disability, still the preciseness with which the blade was swung caused Yui to turn towards the direction where the blade was aimed.
What greeted Yui was a sharp blade cut on the mana-enhanced wall, tearing it in half so precisely that a hair-thin line was visible on it.
Turning towards the figure who was itself like a blade, sharp sword intent was clearly visible. Looking at everything, Yui understood—the woman in front of her was the Sword Maiden.
isn’t this Yui Sister of Adanyl, what she wants from Ryuk?, Who is she exactly?, How she knows about other heroines?, and why Ryuk is unaware of her presence?, Not even in previous life he gets a chance to meet this girl, Why???
