Though he said that, Lady Ravyn’s deanor disturbed him.
She wasn’t acting like normal.
For whatever reason, the gaze she gave him earlier before she turned away, there was sadness in them.
And perhaps even pity.
’No, I must’ve seen it wrong,’ Lucen shook his head as he kept his pace level with Lady Ravyn. ’I will offer Princess Davina a treasure I found that could enhance the durability of the Soul Artifact. I’m sure she’ll not bla my family too much.’
Rex and Princess Davina hadn’t even been engaged for a month.
Far less than that.
Lucen refused to believe that Princess Davina would give too much trouble to the House of Dara.
At least as long as they looked remorseful and sympathetic, she wouldn’t make it difficult for them.
Soon, Lady Ravyn pushed the door open.
Lucen stepped inside and saw that everyone was already gathered.
Princess Davina, along with his parents, was sitting on the sofa, his siblings were standing around there too, and also all the important guards. But what struck him as odd the most was that the guards were looking at him with an unfriendly gaze.
And the others? None of them said anything when he entered.
But all of them raised their gazes to look at him when he entered; all had the sa peculiar gaze.
Now that everyone has arrived, it’s ti to address the matters.
"Before we start, does anyone want to say sothing?" Princess Davina’s ice-cold voice—cuts through the silence. She didn’t even bother to hide her anger, letting everyone feel it—as she scanned the room sharply. "No...? Nobody?"
Everyone averted their gaze.
None of them has anything to say; not when the situation was this bad.
Lucen found it weird that his father and mother didn’t say anything, but maybe they were in shock, too.
"What about you, Lord Lucen?" Princess Davina turned to Lucen. "Do you have anything to say?"
It would be a lie if Lucen said that this didn’t catch him off guard.
He wasn’t expecting to be singled out by the princess like this.
"I don’t know the situation clearly—but if what I heard was correct, I’m going to promise the princess that the person who did this would be held accountable and punished severely," Lucen answered with certainty, like he had the situation under control, aiming to score points on the princess and also his own family. "I’ll no doubt help as much as I can."
"Hmm, in that case, what kind of punishnt are you prepared to take?" Princess Davina asked.
"I-I must’ve heard wrong," Lucen laughed awkwardly. "I’m not the culprit..."
But even as the words escaped his mouth, the room was extrely silent.
One could hear a pin drop from how silent it was.
Lucen noticed that Count Dara and Countess Dara were shaking in anger, but restrained themselves.
Finding the situation more and more odd, Lucen laughed to break the ice.
But there was no reaction; both his parents stayed quiet.
It was supposed to be a brazen thing to laugh in this situation, but none of them comnted.
’Odd... Sothing is really wrong here,’ Lucen looked around warily, feeling a weight pressing against his chest. He doesn’t know what, but it felt like the others knew sothing he didn’t. ’What’s going on? Did they know it’s ? No, that can’t be right.’
"An actor, even until the end..."
Deg!
A low, domineering voice reverberated through the air, causing Lucen’s heart to skip a beat.
It ca from the other room.
He slowly turned his head towards that room and found the assassin, Adam, sitting on a chair with shattered legs, propped like a doll. And from the side—Rex poked his head out and smiled deviously, a smile that petrified Lucen’s entire body.
"What’s wrong?" Rex entered the room. "Why are you looking at like you’re looking at a ghost?"
At that mont, Lucen realized that this was all a setup.
Rex was never dead; his condition didn’t even worsen.
All of them were gathered here in this room to adjudge him.
Realizing how dire his situation was, Lucen took out sothing from his pocket, but his hand froze in place—with a simple look from Princess Davina. Her eyes glowed erald, and under her gaze, Lucen couldn’t move his hand.
He needed to only crush the crystal to teleport away, but he couldn’t.
Gritting his teeth in a panic, he turned around to leave, but the guards moved even faster.
Both of them stood before the door, blocking Lucen’s way.
Rex watched in amusent as Lucen’s mind began to grasp that this was going to be his final mont.
No way out from this other than death.
Even so, Lucen didn’t give up as he turned around and ran to Count Dara, dropping to his knees to beg for rcy. "Father," He called, tears drizzling down his face. "I made a mistake. Please save , I don’t want to die! I promise... I promise I’ll change!"
"..."
Silence.
Count Dara only turned his face away, unwilling to look at his pitiful son’s face.
A disappointnt of the family/
Angered, Lucen’s eyes turned red and bulged. "I’m your son! Flesh and blood! You have to save m—"
Pah!
Count Dara slapped Lucen hard; the crisp sound echoed across the entire room.
"I don’t have a son—as disgraceful as you!" He roared, eyes blazing with anger. "It’s not you should be begging to."
Hearing this, Lucen snapped his head towards Princess Davina and crawled towards her.
"Princess, princess, princess..." He knelt before her and clasped his hands together, fully ignoring how pathetic he looked right now. "I have made a mistake—and I want to learn from this, not die from this. Give one more chance. One more chance! I’ll show you I can change!"
"Are you enjoying this, dear fiancée?" Princess Davina raised a brow.
She rarely saw Rex smiling, but right now, there was a small smile on his face.
It started to make her wonder whether her fiancée was a villain.
"I am..." Rex shrugged nonchalantly. "But I’m not the one who was unreasonable here."
"Sigh..." She flicked her hand, not wanting to discuss this anymore. "Do whatever you want."
Almost instantly, Lucen’s body went limp.
Now that his last hope turned its back toward him, there’s nothing he could do anymore.
If he could rewind ti for an hour, he would’ve steered clear of Rex’s path.
But regret only cos when it is already too late.
Lucen stood up weakly, turned around, and walked towards Rex.
For a second, Rex thought that he was going to surrender.
It was the only thing he could do—but it seed his will to live was really strong as Lucen dropped to his knees again and prostrated himself before Rex. "Please, Lord Rex, this lowly person has wronged you. Spare this once, and I’ll work hard to repay you for what I’ve done in full!"
"Oh... This was rather a familiar scene," Rex teased.
Just a mont ago, he was looking down at Lucen, and now, it happened again.
"Barely an hour ago, I pardoned you and gave you a chance to reflect. I let you go in hope you’re going to realize your wrong and change," Rex shook his head in pity and crouched down, leaning closer to the supposed arrogant noble. "But that’s a lie..."
Rex’s whisper into Lucen’s ear could only be heard by the two of them.
He used the Law of Misdirection to mute his voice.
Even Lucen sensed the Law power, but what caught him off guard the most was what Rex said.
"A-A lie...?"
"From the very start, when you bared your fangs to , I already decided to kill you. But killing you without a strong reason will only give trouble. So... Thank you for sending the assassins. Thank you for giving a reason, Lord Lucen. It really helped a lot."
Lucen raised his head to look at Rex.
And what greeted him was Rex’s smiling face, one that scared him to the core.
"Count Dara, I suppose Lord Lucen’s reaction towards being alive is more than enough to convince you that he’s the culprit. Do you have any qualms if I exact the punishnt?" Rex turned to Count Dara and asked. "Or are you still trying to deny it?"
Hearing this, Count Dara shifted on the sofa.
He looked at Princess Davina, checking to see whether she was on board with this.
And she was.
Count Dara then turned to his wife, and knowing what was best, Countess Dara gave him a subtle nod.
She was urging him to cut their losses right here.
"Yes, Lord Rex..." Count Dara finally answered. "It’s Lucen’s fault, so he’ll take responsibility."
Lucen was about to open his mouth to protest, but Rex quickly knocked him unconscious with a hit.
He did it so effortlessly, like knocking out a toddler.
"In that case, I’ll not bother you again."
Rex nodded politely at the people inside the room and dragged Lucen by his nape to leave.
Even though Lucen’s fate was already decided, Rex wasn’t cruel enough to execute him in front of his family. He held no grudge against the House of Dara—only against its foolish son, who was stupid enough to attack him.
As Rex walked along the corridor under the guards’ gazes, he looked down and rubbed his nose.
Beating Lucen is making excited... Odd.
Rex was confused as to the reason why he felt pumped in doing this.
Initially, he thought that maybe for once, he wasn’t fighting an enemy that he couldn’t defeat easily.
Normally, whenever he achieved a breakthrough, the world never allowed him even a mont to savor it. One way or another, he’d suddenly encountered an enemy that could make his recent breakthrough feel almost insignificant.
And all he could do was either run or fight to a standstill.
It felt good for once in a while to et opponents he could suppress with his newfound power like this.
But this excitent didn’t co from that alone.
It’s the side effect from the Lv. 2 All-Seeing Orb of Intent... It’s elevating my emotions.
Rex shook his head as that explained why he was feeling this excited to crush Lady Ravyn and her little group, and also Lucen, along with his assassins. Had it not been for that, he would have been able to control his own emotions better.
All he hoped right now was that Princess Davina wouldn’t look at him weirdly.
Later, when he was back in his residence, he killed Lucen and completed the killing intent quest.
Since Lucen was barely eligible to threaten him, the rewards Rex gained weren’t much.
He was already happy enough that he got 2 Red Nightfall Stars, especially after exhausting all of the Nightfall Stars he had in the battle against the Immortal Slugs. His life energy was bleeding away with every breath, and if there was ever a ti to nd the holes in his Imbalanced Spiritual Veins, it was now.
As for the Telepathic Crystal, it was quite a useful one.
...
Rank: Legendary (Tenth-rank)
Description: A crystal that was carved out from an ancient underground canyon—containing the ability to link two minds into one, allowing the connected minds to engage in telepathy. Press it against the forehead and picture the targeted person in the mind to establish the link.
...
Rex read the description and contemplated.
"I don’t know whether I can use this crystal to strengthen my connection with the others to talk with them, but I can try. If I couldn’t contact the others because our realm is different, I can still use this to check on that girl..."
In his mind, Linthia’s face appeared.
He didn’t know what happened to her, but since he was almost finished with his matters in the Spirit Realm, there was no wrong in checking on her to see whether she could go back with him on ti. But then again, she should be alive.
"She’s a vassal of mine, so if she dies, there will be a notification," Rex muttered as he looked out of the window, wondering where that girl was. "It’s surprising that she survived all this ti alone, but I assud she must’ve encountered an opportunity, or else it’s impossible for her to survive this long."
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