Strongest Minor Villain: The Exiled Prince Is Actually A Genius!? Chapter 5: Grinning Idiot

Lucien was soone who wanted freedom above all else.

He craved for it, dread of it, and aid for it for as long as he could rember—and for as far back as he could rember, he was a servant to the royal family.

And Lucien always thought that it was because of his ambition—his desire to be free—that he was given the duty to serve Prince Arthur at his exile.

It was the only chance he would ever get to leave the boundaries of the Central Monarchy, so he took it.

’What do you think?’

Lucien asked.

{What do you an?}

’About Art.’

The reply ca imdiately.

{Kill him.}

’What do you think about what he said? I doubt an impostor would have that kind of emotion.’

{I never said there was an impostor. The soul is just ruptured.... with another soul used to patch it, though roughly.}

’This is why I don’t rely on you, sick old bastard.’

Lucien had been born with a demon inside him, one that claid that it could give him freedom, though, he wasn’t a fan of the freedom the demon offered.

Akuro-ou, That Which Waits at Hell’s Gates.

It was either he referred himself as that, or he called himself the Tyrant of the Hollow Fortress.

’And now, I’ll have to go et him.’

Arthur.

....

"Look up."

Arthur called out, causing Lucien to instantly turn his head towards the direction of the noise.

There, Arthur was, sitting on the branch of a tree like it belonged to him.

"If you want to sit down, pick a branch."

Lucien took a single look at all the other branches available.

"I’d rather stand."

"Suit yourself."

The prince sat on a branch, eyes closed as he leaned onto the trunk of the tree.

There was an awkward silence between them, Lucien found it hard to initiate the conversation, and Arthur quietly ignored his presence.

"I thought you were going to say sothing, not stare at my body."

Arthur opened his eyes, a frown on his face.

’I don’t rember Lucien being this dependent on the demon in him.’

For him to stare in one spot without even rembering to blink, he had to be communicating with the demon.

That was what Arthur thought.

Lucien wasn’t actually talking to the demon, he just found it hard to bring up the conversation.

"I didn’t co here to do that, besides, if I wanted to stare at you I could always do it when you’re sleeping."

Lucien quickly countered.

"Co again."

Lucien ignored.

If he repeated his words, there was no doubt Arthur would begin to suspect that he did that.

The old Arthur would never, Lucien knew him as the kind of person who was depressed, yet trying to fix his life—though, failing.

This one, the one he had known for half an hour now, made him think this was how Arthur would have behaved if he fixed his life.

"I want to know sothing."

He said.

"And what is that?"

Lucien took a deep breath, as if summoning the courage for his next words.

"Are you willing to give freedom?"

He asked, carefully studying Arthur as the words left his mouth.

The forr prince’s eye’s opened a bit, and he smirked a little.

"Of course."

"And if I were to ask you if you would be willing to give it to ?"

Lucien pressed.

"I’d reply with the words ’I do not know of any way to dissolve a pact before the period of service elapses’ or ’even if I did know, what makes you think I would hand it over to you.’"

Arthur replied smoothly.

Lucien weighed his words for a mont.

"Then, I suppose I’m leav—"

"But I suppose in this case, I’d answer with the second one."

The forr prince grinned slightly.

’So he does know.’

If what Arthur was saying held a hint of truth, Lucien realized that he would have to be bonded with a particularly strong soone, and that person might know how to break a pact through.... non-official ways.

"If you want to break a pact, the ideal thod would be to make a third party kill the one who forged the pact."

Art explained.

In that mont, Lucien scowled with full force.

’This guy, he’s beco an entirely different person since the surgery.’

That was the most common thods to break pacts, and over ti, a way to deal with those who broke pacts like that was made:

If either party died, the other party would die as well or sustain serious permanent damage to the body.

Of course, this decreased the rate at which pacts were made, but it got the job done.

But, this was all common knowledge.

"I thought you would know about it too."

He teased.

His words only brought Lucien to the edge. Oh, how the boy wanted to curse.

"If I kill you, I’ll die as well. That is, unless you have a way to die without affecting ."

Sohow, Art’s smile got even wider.

"I can’t bla you for not rembering, most likely your mory was wiped clean of that night."

"What?"

"The pact binding you to , I wasn’t the one that made it.... it was a third party."

"What!?"

"And would you like to know the na of the third party?"

Lucien’s silence was the go-ahead Arthur needed.

Thankfully, the young man’s grin did not get any wider.

It couldn’t.

"Elijah Kurobane, the ruler of the Central Monarchy, and the man you need to kill if you want to be free from ."

Then, it happened.

His smile expanded even more.

And despite the fact that Lucien had finally gained very important information, basically the thing he wanted the most; at this mont, he had sothing more pressing.

"....Stop."

"Huh?"

"Just stop, grinning idiot."