[GORFARD MANSION]

"Who are you?"

Leonard had never felt so humiliated in life. The moment heard this question, he felt like he was seeing red. The fact that despite all his machinations, the prince didn’t even know about his existence made him feel like his existence was worthless and he hated this feeling.

Sneering inside, he spoke while giving a fake smile,

"Seems like your highness didn't do his homework before visiting. My name is Leonard...Leonard Gorfard. The heir of the Gorfard family, at your service."

Not only were his words arrogant, but he did not even bow as he spoke,

“Sir Leonard! Show more respect to his highness!”

Ares stood up in fury. Even though his family did test Sol on their first meeting, it was the Duke's personal action, who, in terms of status, wasn't inferior to the crown prince.

But, what about him, Athena, or Leonard? At the end of the day, they only had the courtesy noble rank of Viscount, just one rank higher than a Baron.

They didn’t even have territory nor official power, so in a sense, they were even lower than Baron.

Seeing Leonard sneering without having any intention to correct his mistake, Ares was about to continue berating him, but a hand from Sol stopped him.

“Haha! I was wondering what gives you the guts to speak to me like this, but it seems like you are just someone else's dog.”

Ares’s face immediately flushed in humiliation.

*Sigh*

This sigh made Leonard look away from Ares but just as he turned toward Sol, he was startled to see the young prince facing him, just a few meters away from him.

His eyes constricted at this display of speed, “You…” “Silence”, his mouth immediately closed at those cold words.

‘Was he always this tall?’

Standing in front of Sol, his breath became hurried and his face pale, it felt like each second suddenly began to crawl and as if Sol was becoming taller in front of his eyes.

But more than anything, what made Leonard’s legs tremble the most was the cold indifference he could see in Sol's eyes – as if he was nothing more than a pitiful worm.

This realization made him so ashamed that his fear vanished and was replaced by fury. He was about to arouse his energy when,

*Slap!*

‘Huh?’

Leonard's mind blanked out for a short while before the burning pain on his cheek registered in his mind.

“You!”

“I said. Shut. Up.”

*Slap!*

This was followed by another slap on the other cheek.

This was even heavier than the previous. So much that his brain felt a little dizzy.

Touching his bruised cheek, Leonard's eyes burned fiercely, but he did not dare to utter a word.

If the first slap could be said to be because of his carelessness, the second one perfectly showed that he wasn’t even able to react to Sol's simple move.

Looking at Leonard cowering in silence, Sol gave a small smile as he looked at him, “See? It wasn’t so hard right? Who is the good dog now? Now, you are going to properly apologize, like the good little dog you are...Understood?”

Those words infuriated Leonard so much that he screamed, “Bastard! Who do you think you are!?”

*Slap!*

His bravado was rewarded by another heavy slap.

“I am the prince and, more than anything, I am stronger than you. Now, forget about apologies, such things are unnecessary. Out of my sight. I do not wish to see your face before the start of the banquet.”

Saying so, he turned around and completely disregarded Leonard.

Facing this back, Leonard's face fluctuated between red and white before he finally lowered his head in shame and left the room.

Sol, once he sat back, looked at the stunned expression of Ares but did not care. Still, he inwardly, he sighed,

‘This wasn’t like me to act like this.’

Currently, Sol was in a weird state where his emotions stood at a boiling point.

The fact that Gerald was not only a traitor but also might have tried to kill him was simply too much to learn in one go.

In such a situation, Leonard's appearance served as the perfect outlet to this frustration.

But this wasn’t all, this world wasn’t one where humble people were respected. If he had let that guy go away without setting things straight, Leonard would have taken him for a pushover.

Of course, this wasn’t all. Sol might have a hard time putting a lid on his wrath and his pride, but he wasn’t totally irrational.

For one, he did not go too far when humiliating Leonard. A few slaps and some bad words weren’t particularly grave in the grand scheme of things, even more so since Leonard gave him the perfect excuse by not paying respect to him.

What’s more, the eradication of the Gorfard family was already more or less decided. So tearing all cordial relationships now wasn’t a problem.

‘Well, all that would be worked out later. Now though, I need to discuss with this guy here.’

‘Bastard! Bastard! Bastard! I am going to kill him. I am going to fucking kill him.’

Leonard had never been so humiliated in his life. If before he had simply acted against the prince out of dislike, now he was doing so out of pure hatred.

Thinking about making this bastard pay for this humiliation, Leonard took large strides in the direction of his father's office.

Thankfully, even though the estate was extremely large, the waiting room was close to the banquet room, as such, it didn’t take long for him to reach his destination.

Once in front of the door of the private room, he took a deep breath and just as he was about to knock,

“No need to knock. Enter.”

He stopped his hand just a few centimeters away from the door and gritted his teeth before finally opening it.

The moment he entered, he calmly looked at his father who was standing with his back facing him.

Even though his father couldn’t see him, he bowed in respect, “Father, I….”

“Spare me the useless genuflexion and tell me why you came here?”

His father's voice and actions were as cold as always, lowering his head to hide his cold eyes, he began to explain.

Of course, he didn’t tell the whole truth. By his words, it was simply the prince acting arrogantly and not respecting him, once he finished his words he waited patiently for his father words,

“And?”

“Huh?”

Turning around, Loki looked at his son with eyes so cold they could have frozen the body of a fire elemental.

“Let me reiterate my question, you dumb idiot. You went and picked a fight even though I ordered you to play well and after getting humiliated by a kid many years younger than you, not only did you not retaliate, but you came here to complain like a little kid!?”

Loki almost roared at the last sentence. Followed by his cold voice, the room seemed to fall in the coldest temperature while frost and snow swirled in the room.

Looking at his son who couldn’t even raise his head under his outburst, Loki suddenly felt so tired.

Covering his face with his hand, he asked, “Let’s not talk about you giving the prince the initiative in this situation. What did you expect me to do? To tear all relationships with the prince even though it isn’t time yet? To beat him? Kill him?”

“N-No…”

“Then what!?”

He screamed once again before catching his breath, letting out his sigh, he turned back, “Begone. Out of my sight. You are confined in your room until the end of the day.”

“Father!?”

“Do not contradict me! I gave you a chance to perform well and you wasted it. Now go away. Do not make me repeat myself.”

Seeing the cold back of his father, Leonard understood that nothing he said would change anything.

Standing up, he furiously left the room and closed the door with a bang.

The Duke meanwhile was already searching if in his list of children he had someone who could temporarily replace Leonard.

“Damn! Damn! Damn!”

Leonard cursed again and again after he went back to his room.

After he entered, he didn’t even wait to disrobe completely before he pushed his slave on the ground and began to vent all his frustration on her.

Each time he moved in her, his shattered pride would reform a little. He could only comfort himself by trampling on the pride of someone weaker than him.

After he finally released himself in her, he took himself out and laid down next to her; his breath hurried because of the anger and the release.

“Your highness, what is happening?”

Leonard looked at her in disdain and did not respond, all his slaves were ordered to call him highness. It gave him the feeling that he was a true king.

“Your highness, you were rougher than usual, is something frustrating you?”

Leonard snickered as he caught her hand, “You became more talkative lately.”

The girl blushed as she said, “Your highness has completely conquered me. What can I do if I wish to get your approval?”

Her words stroked his ego and made him chuckle. In the end, he simply recounted everything that happened. This time though, for some weird reasons, he was unable to lie and gave the entire truth,

“Those bastards!”

He was surprised at her reactions, even more so when she began to gently caress his cheek.

“It must have been hard, right?”

Saying so, she took his head and placed it between her naked and plump breasts.

“Your highness, if you would listen to me, I think I have a way.”

“What do you mean?” Leonard, who felt his mind becoming a little sluggish, asked with suspicion. It had been a long time since he received any display of affection.

“Your highness, what about entering the vault?”

“Are you crazy!?”

He wanted to raise himself, but her hand kept him.

‘Had she always been this strong?’

“Your highness, listen to me, I am just saying this for your own good?”

As she said this, a weird alluring scent filled the room. Leonard, who didn’t know this, felt his doubts slowly fade aways,

‘I must be just tired.’

“How can the vault help me?” He asked with an absent-minded expression.

“You want to become stronger, right? You want your father to look at you with new eyes, right? You want… to become king, right?”

Her words seemed like the devil's whisper. How so tempting, how so sweet, that he couldn’t help but agree.

After all, it couldn’t hurt, right?

At the end of the day, she was nothing more than a slave who fell for pleasure. Even now she was trying to please him and help him

What he couldn’t see though, was her emotionless face and her eyes filled with madness and determination.

The night promised to become even more tumultuous.

(AN: The helpless woman doesn’t seem so helpless anymore.)