With a snap, Leonhardt sharply gnashed his teeth at Ashillya’s words to the point of savagery.  His dim blue eyes were subtly tinged with anger, but she didn’t even blink.

“Shut your mouth…you filthy whore.”

“Hehe, your words are still rough as always.”

Even at Leonhardt’s crude insult, she didn’t bat an eye. Rather, her unperturbed attitude only served to sour his mood further.

He glared at Ashillya with bloodshot eyes. She calmly accepted that gaze with composure and opened her mouth.

“Until now, I didn’t care what you did.”

“……”

Leonhardt and Sylvia tightly shut their mouths at her words and looked at her. She simply continued speaking with a lofty demeanor.

“Because you held no value whatsoever to me.”

“…Bitch.”

“Having you didn’t benefit me, but there was also no need to deal with you. You were going to self-destruct with that personality of yours anyway.”

The reason Leonhardt could still hold the position of prince. At the same time, Ashillya was personally shattering everything Leonhardt had believed in without a doubt.

When he heard it, he could tell that Ashillya’s words were not just her thoughts.

Her words reflected the thoughts of the Second Prince, Leonhardt’s older brother, the nobles, and the consensus of everyone in the Imperial palace.

“However.”

Ashillya’s bright red eyes grew cold. Those eyes contained only Leonhardt, and right now, she was…

“That’s no longer the case.”

Warning him.

“You chasing after the skirts of that commoner girl, insulting all the nobles and even the commoners,”

Your transgressions.

“You calling yourself the crown prince,”

Will strangle you.

“The Imperial family’s honor being disgraced because of those things.”

To death.

“I will no longer overlook them.”

Even for the position of the head of a mere noble family, one cannot avoid a bloody fight to claim it.

The Imperial Palace was no different. No, it was even more so.

The legitimate bloodline of the Imperial family always becomes a blade threatening the Emperor’s neck. The enemies one inevitably makes in politics may stab you with that blade at any moment.

Therefore, those of Imperial blood who do not become Emperor mostly lose their lives or have no choice but to bow their heads to the Emperor.

However, Leonhardt had been calling himself the ‘Crown Prince.’ It was a clear declaration of his ambition for the throne.

The foolish, dull-witted, and ignorant Leonhardt,

Would undoubtedly become a blade, all too welcome and beautiful to Ashillya’s enemies.

“Bow your head. Lower yourself. Avert your eyes. Be careful of even your breathing in front of me.”

Once again, she was warning Leonhardt.

“If you wish to keep your pathetic life.”

How many things had happened for Ashillya to rise to the position of Crown Princess?

Even the nobles and the Empire’s commoners inauspiciously regarded her as the descendant of a vampire.

From the moment the First Prince lost his life in an unexpected accident, despite Ashillya being the most likely candidate for ascension, the nobles ignored and looked down on her.

They even went so far as to openly say in front of her that the Second Prince should be appointed as the Crown Prince.

But what about now?

Ashillya was on the verge of being appointed, and the faith of the nobles following her was firm. Those who had ignored, mocked, and ultimately refused to follow her were now prostrating themselves flat, not even daring to breathe.

Ashillya clearly remembered all of those things and had no intention of easily letting her position crumble.

“The only reason I’m not taking your lowly life is simply because you are His Majesty the Emperor’s blood.”

Even if their mother is different, the father is the same. Even if the womb that bore you is different, the seed is the same.

That was the only reason for mercy.

At the same time, it was also confidence that Leonhardt would never become a worthy opponent to threaten her, even if he were to die and be reborn.

“So lower yourself any further. Don’t do anything more to stand out. That is your only path to survival.”

No talent, no solid backers, not even an amicable personality.

Ashillya, who had shown mercy to Leonhardt, who had nothing good going for him, exhaled evenly and continued gazing at him.

In fact, she was not in a particularly good mood at the moment. It was because she had seen her younger brother still engaging in nonsense.

At the same time, the fact that she had to be involved in this bothersome matter—when there were still mountains of headache-inducing issues—made Ashillya slightly irritated.

Of course, she didn’t show it outwardly. Easily revealing one’s emotions was the same as showing weakness to enemies.

“…Crazy bitch.”

Calmly settling her mind, Ashillya could only let out a deep sigh when she heard Leonhardt’s voice while observing his reaction.

“In the end, you choose the worst.”

The best option would have been to lower his head and leave simply. He could also have either wailed hideously and clung to her pants leg or acknowledged everything and left.

But Leonhardt’s eyes blazed with rage, and his voice was filled with hatred. At the same time, the lingering mana rising around him indicated that he had chosen the worst course of action.

“Bow down? Not even breathe…? Don’t make me laugh. I…I am…!”

“…Ha.”

“Leonhardt Philippe Hamel Urlas!! Who dares to order me to bow my head?!”

Leonhardt’s voice cracked as he spewed his resentment. Even that was just ridiculous to Ashillya.

“What are you so indignant about?”

“…Shut up!”

“Without putting in any effort or action, what are you so indignant about to make that expression?”

“I said shut up!”

Seeing Leonhardt shouting with veins bulging in his neck, Ashillya frowned and shook her head.

“The only thing you’ve done well so far…”

“…”

“Is simply being born as His Majesty’s son.”

“Ahhhhh!”

Being born as a male son of royalty by complete chance.

Without that one thing, Leonhardt’s existence could not be in front of Ashillya.

Since childhood, Leonhardt had consumed and applied hundreds of thousands to millions of gold worth of magic potions for the sake of magic. He learned magic from the most renowned grand magician on the continent.

Yet despite receiving benefits others couldn’t even dream of, Leonhardt barely entered the magic department as ‘second place.’

When the First Prince lost his life, many nobles supported Leonhardt no less than the Second Prince.

However, his arrogant personality made him lose the trust and faith of those nobles.

Ultimately, he threw away everything he had with his hands. At the same time, Ashillya absorbed all those things and made them her own.

It wasn’t his will, but that was also partly why she had shown mercy. However, Leonhardt had just thrown away even that mercy.

From his hand, bright red yet deep black flames rose up. No matter how stupid and dull-witted he was, the magic of someone who had consumed millions of gold worth of magic potions and received near-brainwashing education from the grand magician blazed threateningly.

But Ashillya still didn’t even blink. It was an attitude that showed it posed no threat to her, and Leonhardt could no longer hold onto his sanity.

“Dieeee!”

Fwoosh-!

The black fire formed a spherical shape and cut through the air.

As if it would burn everything it touched…Ashillya quietly watched that explosively blazing sphere of flames.

“…You have to avoid it!”

Only Sylvia, who was by her side, screamed in horror and tried to pull Ashillya away. Still, Ashillya didn’t budge from the spot.

“Yes, if you’re going to throw away even my mercy…”

Disappear.

Ashillya muttered those words and slowly raised her hand.

No, to be precise, she tried to raise it.

“…This crazy bastard!”

She would have fully raised her hand if not for the boy who leaped before her.

If Leonhardt’s magic was a burning black flame, the hair fluttering before their eyes was truly bright red. That blazing red color naturally captivated their gaze.

Between that magic sphere that would be difficult to block without the aid of a large artifact or magician and the two of them, Felix, who had jumped in, bit his lower lip and glared at the flaming sphere.

It was a reckless act.

Cutting magic with a sword was not an easy task. At the same time, it was not something an ordinary academy student could accomplish.

Nevertheless, Ashillya could not raise her hand. The boy’s eyes briefly caught her eye—those deep and dark eyes of Felix,

They were shining with a dazzling golden light.

The determination contained within them was conveyed even to her.

“Hoo…”

With a short exhale, the sword is raised. It was a motion he had done tens, hundreds, thousands of times. Felix grasped the sword’s hilt and gazed at the flaming sphere until the end.

Cut it.

The sword falls from above to below. The flaming sphere had already approached within reach, and it was impossible to dodge…or run away.

“No…!”

Sylvia tightly closed her eyes as if unable to bear watching and let out a shrill scream.

But his sword did not waver.

Slash.

His sword vertically bisects the flaming sphere. Magic does not disappear simply by cutting it with a sword. One must completely sever the core of mana connected to the magic.

It was not something that could be cut by chance. You had to cut through the existence of the spell itself.

In other words, Felix’s sword strike was a futile action. Knowing that fact, Leonhardt raised the corner of his mouth in a nasty grin.

He was a bit disappointed that Ashillya, that bug-like slut, couldn’t be burned to death, but directly witnessing that annoying Felix being burned to death seemed not too bad either.

‘Die, you insect.’

That insect-like fellow who coveted what was his…and at the same time, took what was his.

Leonhardt inwardly spat curses at that insect, but…

………

Eventually, the explosion that should have been heard did not come, and he could not help but frown.

‘…Did he cut the magic?’

Only then did Leonhardt grasp the situation. The sphere of flames had been ‘bisected.’

Felix lowered his sword with an upright posture and quietly caught his breath. He stood there nonchalantly as if not even a spark had affected him.