‘I must never let my guard down,’ he realized with a sense of urgency.

Trust was a rare commodity among the royal family.

The imperial social scene was rife with conspiracies and schemes, with the royals being the most cunning and ruthless players.

To have fooled and lulled such royals into complacency, even momentarily, was no mean feat. Bogajun's wariness towards Gainando heightened drastically.

‘Evading suspicion with an act of foolishness…’ he mused. It was not something just anyone could do. One needed the resilience of steel to endure the barrage of infamy and harsh criticism directed at them. This realization sent shivers down Bogajun's spine.

It was disconcerting to think that for a long time, Gainando had been dodging the suspicions of other royals, while gathering powerful nobles to support his own cause. Perhaps this young sibling was the most dangerous competitor among the royals.

"Finally, after much deliberation, I've created a new deck... Huh?"

Upon entering the room and seeing Bogajun, Gainando was taken aback.

"Who are you?"

"..."

Yi-Han was at a loss for words.

"How quickly you forget..."

Though it was customary for royals to insult each other, it was usually done within the bounds of decorum. Asking "Who are you?" was far beyond the pale.

Yi-Han was thankful that no other nobles were present.

‘Lucky it's just the three of us.’

Bogajun burst out laughing at the sight of Gainando revealing his true colors. He thought his sinister and scheming sibling had finally dropped the façade.

Naturally, Gainando was bewildered by this laughter.

"Is he mad?"

"Professor, is that you?"

"...It's Prince Gainando, isn't it? Stop joking around."

Yi-Han placed a hand on Gainando's shoulder. Gainando winced in pain, his brain firing on all cylinders.

"Ah! Ahh! I remember now! The Prince! His Highness!"

"Yes, my apologies, Your Highness. Gainando has a penchant for jokes."

"There's no need to cover for him anymore, Mr. Wardanaz."

Bogajun stood up, his gaze not betraying a hint of disregard for Gainando. Instead, his eyes blazed with the fervor of facing a formidable rival.

‘This can't be good,’ Yi-Han thought, sensing trouble.

Leaving Bogajun alone with his thoughts in Gainando's room seemed unwise. The more Gainando spoke, the lower his reputation sank.

Gainando. Do as you did before.

Yi-Han held up three fingers, signaling for Gainando to respond only with 'yes', 'no', or 'hehe'. Gainando nodded, rubbing his shoulder.

"Prince Gainando harbors great ambitions, I've realized."

"No..."

Yi-Han sent him an urgent look, signaling him to deny it.

"Deny it quickly!"

"Hehe."

"..."

Gainando misinterpreted Yi-Han's look.

Bogajun nodded as if he had expected this reaction.

"Mr. Wardanaz. It's natural for a fellow Einroguard to support a friend."

"I'm not supporting anyone."

"But I know better. A person of your discerning eye, Mr. Wardanaz, will support a more deserving royal when they emerge."

"I have no interest in supporting or anything..."

"Please wait. I will soon prove my worth."

Bogajun declared solemnly.

However, since Gainando couldn't understand the declaration and Yi-Han found it absurd, the statement had little effect.

"Then, let's meet at the gathering, Prince Gainando."

"Yes."

"..."

Yi-Han sighed deeply within himself.

Narrowing the responses to just three had backfired.

'Should I just sew his mouth shut?'

"Young... Master. Another guest has arrived," announced a servant.

Yi-Han considered hanging a 'No Visitors' sign at the mansion's main gate.

"Who is it this time?"

"Princess Judrantas..."

"Hmph. A step too late," scoffed Bogajun, mocking Judrantas.

She would probably be just as surprised as Bogajun had anticipated.

She probably thought her rival was Bogajun…

But little did she know, the real threat lay among the young royals.

As expected, Judrantas was just as surprised and behaved similarly to Bogajun.

Even her words echoed his.

"If someone with your discernment, Mr. Wardanaz..."

"Are you saying you'll support another royal if they prove more worthy?"

"Exactly!"

"I'm not saying I agree..."

"Please wait. I will soon prove my worth."

'Are those two secretly friends?'

Yi-Han grew tired of their identical responses.

"Understood."

"Then, at the gathering..."

After the royals had left, Gainando cheerfully took out his deck.

"I made a new deck, want to try... Ouch! Why are you hitting me!"

Yi-Han started hitting Gainando's back with a staff, and Gainando ran around the room screaming.

An hour later.

Yi-Han sighed and held a mage card.

He thought about fulfilling the wish of a friend who had endured dozens of blows.

"Hehe. This time will be different."

"Shut up and be quiet."

"Okay..."

Gainando quietly drew a card.

The game, known as Mage Cards, involved summoning minions and casting spells each turn to reduce the opponent mage's life to zero to win. In the early game, players could only use weak minions and spells due to limited mana, but in the late game, they could use stronger ones as their mana overflowed. A good deck needed a balance of both weak and strong minions and spells for early and late game.

Of course, Gainando had always stuffed his deck with strong cards he liked, ignoring any rules.

"Hehe. But this time, it's different."

Gainando laid down a card confidently.

Yi-Han looked at it, puzzled.

'Wait. Could this be...'

There was another way to win besides reducing the opponent mage's life to zero: if the opponent's deck ran out of cards.

And the dark magic spell card Gainando played discarded three cards from the opponent's deck.

"Gainando. Did you create a deck destroyer?"

"Oh, no?"

Caught off guard, Gainando avoided eye contact and denied it.

"This is better than that weird deck you had before... But don't people dislike this kind of play?"

There are always unspoken rules in the world.

The same applied to the game of Mage Cards.

Winning with deck destruction felt like cheating in a cultured and enjoyable gathering.

To Yi-Han, it seemed like a trivial concern...

"Who cares! I'm going to win!"

"Sure, go ahead."

Yi-Han prepared his cards as he spoke.

He planned to barrage the mage with direct damage spells as soon as Gainando finished his turn, ending the game.

Unaware that he was seconds away from defeat, Gainando pondered his move with great seriousness.

"Were you two playing?"

Yonaire and Nillia entered the room, pausing as they observed the Mage Card game.

"Is this a Dark Magic Curse deck?"

"So what if it is?"

"Wow. Gainando. This isn't right. Really not right."

Yonaire looked at Gainando with a mix of shock and dismay.

She had always sided with Gainando as a relative, but this was a bit much.

"No, it's not...! Winning is all that matters! Why!!"

"Winning is one thing, but a Dark Magic Curse deck is a bit of an exception..."

When Yonaire didn't take his side, Gainando turned to Nillia.

"Is it really such a big mistake?"

"Dark Magic Curse decks are a bit..."

"..."

Gainando felt incredibly wronged.

"In a hunters' circle, using such a deck would get you shot in the back."

"It's not that bad!"

"It's true."

"Seems so."

Yi-Han, taking his turn, unleashed a barrage of spells, knocking Gainando out. Gainando's mouth hung open, his eyes blinking in disbelief.

"So, Yonaire. What brings you here?"

"Oh. There's a social gathering in Granden City, isn't there?"

Organizing a social gathering wasn't difficult. Yi-Han could call a few friends over for food, drinks, and fun, and it would qualify as a social event.

As such, a city the size of Granden would have dozens of such gatherings daily.

But the gathering Yonaire referred to was of a different caliber. It was essentially a city-wide event in Granden, attended not just by influential families but also imperial bureaucrats.

And the main attendees of this event were first-year students from the magic academy.

'So this is the gathering the royals were talking about earlier.'

Yi-Han understood why the royals had visited earlier.

It made sense they'd want to enter such an event with a promising magic academy student, essentially declaring 'we're friends'.

"I thought it best not to enter with Gainando."

"Ah. I was thinking the same."

Given the attitudes of the other royals, entering with Gainando seemed likely to cause unnecessary complications.

"Why!? Because I brought a Dark Magic Curse deck?!"

Gainando asked, looking shocked.

"No. If we go together, it might lead to misunderstandings about factions..."

"Just think of it as because of the cards."

Yonaire's blunt words left Gainando grumbling.

"Everyone's just jealous because my deck is strong."

"But you lost..."

"Quiet!"

"In light of this, there's no helping it."

Yi-Han spoke to Professor Verduus with a tinge of regret.

He didn't enjoy attending social gatherings, but if it served as an excuse to avoid the professor, it was worth it.

As expected, Professor Verduus asked, perplexed.

"Why on earth would you attend such a pointless gathering?"

"All first-year students are invited. It seems they want to see how magic academy students socialize."

"Hmm. There was no point in explaining."

Professor Verduus continued to grumble, regardless of whether Yi-Han explained or not.

"I don't understand why there's a class on dancing in magic academy. They should be teaching more about enchantment magic theory instead."

"I agree but... wait. Is there dancing at this social gathering?"

"With an event of that size, it's inevitable," Professor Verduus replied as if it were the most obvious thing.

At small social gatherings, perhaps not, but at an event of this scale, a ball was almost a certainty.

Yi-Han frowned.

'I never thought I'd need to dance in my life.'

While other students of the Blue Dragon Tower had attended social dance classes, Yi-Han had taken an extra magic course instead. It couldn't be helped.

Even when he was with the Wardanaz family, he had never really practiced dancing...

'I need to quickly learn the basics as efficiently as possible.'

His goal was merely to avoid embarrassment.

Yi-Han looked at Professor Verduus with resolve.

"Professor, are you good at dancing?"

"No?"

"I thought so. Then, I'll go find someone to teach me."

"???"

Left alone, Professor Verduus tilted his head, feeling somewhat offended.