The prince, blaming himself for the irreversible mistake and the fact that his mother could no longer achieve victory in the arena, trembled with self-reproach. As his trembling hands were filled with a soft and cold sensation, his mind was suddenly cleared.

"Mother?"

The violet eyes of the Silent Swordmaster locked with his, giving him a look that seemed almost like a reprimand, as though asking if he would truly falter at such a small crisis.
The prince, noticing her unshaken demeanor, felt an unexpected sense of relief.

"Now, hurry up and hand over the sword as a sign of surrender!"

At the bee girl's urging, Maganom panicked and shouted,
"It’s too late! If we don’t surrender here, we will turn all the spectators in the arena and all the youkai in the realm against us!"

"Don’t panic, Maganom. It seems my mother has a different plan."

"Are you saying if we don’t surrender now, we might as well all die?!"

Maganom was shaken.
The bee girl, seemingly enjoying his turmoil, stirred the internal conflict.
Though the Silent Swordmaster had given the bee girl a single chance,
she was certain that no matter what opportunity was given, the Silent Swordmaster would not take it.
The game was set, and her belief in the inevitable victory remained firm.
In response, Ha Eun-eung didn’t try to convince the audience. Instead, she inscribed something into the ground.

[甘言利說]

If the prince were to see this, he would surely understand the meaning.
Ha Eun-eung’s faith,

"Sweet words and deceptive talks!"

It was fulfilled.
The absolute trust the prince had in her was not without merit.
The peace the late Youkai King had sought,
and perhaps the only chance for its restoration—
the unified realm of youkai and the revenge on the Great Youkai,
even if the prince himself were not the one to lead,
he believed that the Youkai Realm could still find peace.

‘Even though this belief is grand, they are still the very youkai who once denied my existence.’

For the prince,
the Silent Swordmaster's one sentence held far more weight than the bee girl's many speeches.
Thus, the prince was the first to understand Ha Eun-eung's true meaning.

"Don’t be swayed, Maganom! Are you really going to fall for such empty words? Surely you can understand the meaning of 'sweet words and deceit'?"
"Even if it’s a sweet lie to please the ears, if all the youkai of the realm believe it, then the lie becomes truth, for that’s how the world works!"
"Even so, there are truths that cannot be avoided. The passage to the Inheritance is not sturdy enough for all the youkai to cross."

The small cave passage connecting the Youkai Realm to the Inheritance had been left with only a trace after the natural guardians of the Great Forest were sacrificed.
That single passage was so unstable that even Ha Eun-eung’s crossing had caused it to collapse.
Even if the Youkai Queen held a passage to the Inheritance, it had its limits.
Ha Eun-eung had discerned this fact, and with the prince's trust,
Maganom felt the shock like a thunderbolt striking his mind.

"Remarkable. I had already given up, thinking the game was over, but you’ve found such a deadly weakness."
"Enough, make your decision! What are you hesitating for? Are you going to become a traitor to the Youkai Realm?"

The atmosphere turned tense as the bee girl pressed urgently, but Maganom threw his head back and laughed.

"You, the Queen’s servant, even with your sharp tongue, you could never deceive the prince and the noblewoman. It’s hard not to laugh at your antics!"

While the bee girl had turned the spectators and all the youkai of the realm to her side with a single chance,
Ha Eun-eung had, with her one opportunity, corrected the wavering hearts of the prince and Maganom.
Though the bee girl had the larger number of supporters,
her relations with the spectators and other youkai were based solely on the blind goal of revenge against the Great Youkai.
It was a shallow connection.

"You’ve gathered the entire Youkai Realm to attack the Inheritance, but the passage that leads there can only hold a hundred at most!"
"That’s... that’s not true!"

Boom!

A hole pierced through the bee girl's long hair.

[Geopolitical law]
[Tanzi Gong]

The stone thrown by the Silent Swordmaster with Tanzi Gong pierced her head and continued to lodge in the wall of the arena.
The finger she pointed at indicated the bee girl's head.
If Maganom interfered, the next stone would land right on her head, a clear warning.

"Even if you gather the last resources of the dying Youkai Realm and head to the Inheritance, if the capacity is only a hundred, the ones leaving will be only the Queen’s faction!"

The youkai who had waited for death in the dying Youkai Realm, unable to join the Great Youkai and his followers,
had been stirred by the bee girl’s call to action with the promise of 'revenge.'
But Maganom’s counterpoint, ‘unity,’ rang truer.

"Both the wise prince and noblewoman have already seen the truth. The Youkai Queen’s plan is nothing more than repeating what the Great Youkai did!"

The passage to the Inheritance—
how many it could carry, how long it could last,
no one but the Youkai Queen herself could answer.
But Ha Eun-eung, who saw the truth, and the prince who trusted her,
created an insurmountable distrust of the Queen’s claims in the hearts of the spectators.

‘What’s different about the Queen from the Great Youkai? Is she really worthy of speaking of revenge?’
‘She’s the one who killed the Youkai King. She’ll use us just like any other youkai.’

In the same way that the citizens who’d been exploited during a great financial crisis laughed at the elites,
the youkai were starting to suspect that they would be discarded once again.
The bee girl’s once sweet promises fell apart.

The public opinion turned against the Youkai Queen and the bee girl.
Once deceived by sweet lies,
the spectators now rejected the false promises and sided with the prince.

"The servant of the liar Queen, step aside!"
"Step aside!"
"We won’t be deceived by the likes of you again!"

Is the prince a god?
We are living in the era of the bastard prince.
The bee song, lol.
It’s over.
He’s earned the ‘acceptance necklace.’
As the cries of the crowd intensified,
the words "shameless woman," "throw her out," and "kill her" echoed through the arena.
The bee girl, who had sought to deceive and win the battle effortlessly,
was now defeated, her plans reversed by Ha Eun-eung and the prince’s trust.

"Host!"
"Y-yes, is there an order, Prince?"
"Has the victory declaration been made?"

The outcome of the final match was
without a doubt, a crushing victory for Ha Eun-eung and the prince’s team.

The Youkai Queen and the Youkai General,
both powerful beings who had divided the palace into the west and east quarters,
had realized their power and influence were evenly matched.
To increase their strength,
they had one common agreement.

"Only those who won the tournament and their fighters will be allowed into the palace."
"I allow it. Let the Youkai see that overwhelming force alone is not enough."

After their agreement,
only those who had sworn loyalty to one of them could win the tournament.
Direct recruitment offers,
secret coercion, and sabotage of opponents in the arena—
all the means of manipulation and pressure were used,
making it almost impossible for regular participants to win the tournament.

"The Queen calls for you. Follow her."
"The General has ordered that the winners be protected. Our elite soldiers will handle the escort."

Thus, in the long-standing tournament with only a few loyal to either of them,
those who dared to break the rules were not spared.

"You’re openly scheming. The Youkai Queen will kill us as soon as we meet in the palace, and the General will trap us and send us to our deaths."

Maganom immediately advised.
But the prince, instead of being fearful or hesitant, laughed loudly.

"With the spectators on our side, what could we possibly fear if the Youkai Queen and General have other plans?"

The prince’s overwhelming popularity,
having perfectly outsmarted the manipulative bee girl and his enemies,
was now unrivaled in the history of tournament winners.

"Ha ha ha! Bark and scream!"
"Let’s burn the palace!"
"Let the Youkai Queen sing the bee song!"

Though there was something devious in the prince’s intent,
he, like the youkai, was honest in his desires.
The Youkai General revered strength,
and the Queen honored cunning,
but the bastard prince remembered the purity of the youkai.

"How do you see the youkai gathered here?"
"I don’t know."
"Are you afraid?"
"No."
"Are you afraid of them betraying you?"
"I am."
"I’m neither afraid nor troubled."
"Because your father is stronger, right?"
"No. I see their purity."

When the Youkai King was alive,
the prince had learned one lesson from him.

"Youkai are honest about their desires. They worship strength and rely on cunning. But their essence is the same."

Purity.

"Remember this. The day you see their purity, they will follow you purely."

The bastard prince, born of lowly human blood,
was once looked down upon as the disgrace of the Youkai Realm,
but now, leading thousands of spectators and youkai,
he stood once again before the palace he had been cast out of.

"Thank you, mother."
"?"
"Without your faith, I would never have been able to return to this palace."

The people cheered as they called out the bastard prince’s name.
Maganom, overwhelmed with gratitude,
Wendigo, embarrassed by the attention from the female onlookers,
and the ever inscrutable wardrobe-bound Boogeyman.
Everyone in the team felt gratitude,
but none could compare it to their gratitude toward the Silent Swordmaster.

"Even though it wasn’t what my mother intended, thanks to her, I’ve regained my honor and returned to my home."

The Youkai General’s elite forces and the Queen’s followers, who had gathered to monitor him,
were now subdued, unable to commit any further offense,
as the crowd of thousands of youkai gathered before the palace.

"If we survive the encounter with the Queen and the General..."
The prince cautiously asked, his voice low,
"Will you stay by my side?"

With a serious expression,
unlike Maganom, who was filled with youthful innocence,
Ha Eun-eung quietly watched him.
After a moment, she raised her sword and pointed it toward the palace.

"Heh, I see. But the biggest challenge is still ahead. It’s too early to talk about the future."

The end of the Youkai Realm was near,
and with the prince’s team leading the charge,
they entered the palace, cheered by the crowd.