Chapter 27
The Crown Prince, Yulia Aphahiel, hated the youngest.
The reason was that he had dared to deceive him, play the wastrel, and secretly build his strength in hiding.
The Second Prince, Arencar Aphahiel, also hated the youngest.
He had always despised that brother more than any other, but after the youngest left a scar on his face, the rift between them could only deepen.
The Third Prince, Bernid Aphahiel, likewise hated the youngest.
Among the well-bred royal offspring, he was the only one who lacked good looks. Though he never showed it outwardly, his inferiority complex made him loathe the handso youngest even more.
And now, the Third Prince had one more reason to despise Yuwon.
“Renania ca? To see the youngest?”
“Yes, it is said she visited the Fifth Prince yesterday. She is now staying in the main palace as a guest of honor, recovering from the fatigue of her long journey.”
A corner of the Third Prince’s palace.
The expression on the Third Prince’s face, after hearing the report from his close aide, was far from pleasant.
“…I see. But why are you only reporting this today? Was there so unavoidable circumstance that prevented you from telling yesterday?”
“Ah… it’s just that, aside from the Count’s Young Lady visiting, there wasn’t much difference in His Highness’s routine, so I…”
“You fool! And you call that an excuse? Did I not tell you to report imdiately if even the slightest change occurred?”
The Third Prince’s temper flared like fire.
The attendant standing before him flinched and begged for forgiveness.
“My deepest apologies, Your Highness. It is my own foolish judgnt that caused this error. Please, punish as you see fit.”
It was a heartfelt plea for rcy. Yet that alone could not quell the Third Prince’s anger.
“Fine. I shall punish you. I’ll make sure you rember this lesson well enough to never repeat such a mistake.”
The Third Prince stirred his mana. A surge of blue lightning flashed around his right hand.
Bzzzt— Crackle—
Even if it wouldn’t kill him, the pain awaiting his servant would be enough to wish for death. The attendant shut his eyes tightly as the prince’s shadow lood over his head.
Bang!
The sound didn’t co from the Third Prince’s hand.
Startled, he dispelled his magic. His brows twisted in irritation.
“What now?”
A loud commotion broke out beyond the door, starting with the sound of soone kicking it open.
“Oh, Your Highness! You mustn’t enter like this! Please, if you wait a mont, I’ll announce your visit to the Third Prince—”
“What’s the big deal? I just ca to see my brother.”
“Please, Your Highness! Spare us just this once. If you do this, we’ll all be executed—”
“Executed? Don’t be dramatic. People don’t die that easily. Hey, you bastard, are you seriously trying to lay hands on ? Go ahead—if you so much as touch , you’ll be known as a one-ard man before the day’s over.”
It wasn’t an empty threat.
The Second Prince was the type of man who would make good on every word. No one outside could stop him once he decided to act.
BANG—!
The Second Prince kicked open a perfectly unlocked door and stepped in.
“Hey. Been well?”
The Second Prince’s mocking grin was the sa as ever.
After being beaten soundly by Yuwon, he’d been quiet for a few days, but it seed the man hadn’t changed one bit.
Rage bubbled up within the Third Prince at the uninvited guest’s intrusion. He pressed his temple with his fingers, suppressing his irritation.
“Hah… What brings you all the way here, Brother? If you’d sent word beforehand, I would’ve sent a palanquin covered in flowers to escort you.”
The Third Prince was no pushover. Though his words sounded polite, his cold tone and expression made it clear it was sarcasm.
“Save it. I don’t need that sort of thing.”
Of course, the Second Prince ignored the sarcasm entirely.
If he were the type to care about such subtleties, he wouldn’t have barged in uninvited.
“Next ti, though—please, let know in advance. Even if I can’t prepare a flower palanquin, I’ll at least have a good bottle of wine waiting.”
“Well, I don’t care for the trouble, but good wine is worth the effort. Fine, I’ll do that next ti.”
The Third Prince gestured for his attendant to leave, then offered the Second Prince a seat.
“Please, have a seat.”
“Ah, thanks. I was wondering how long you planned to make stand.”
“But Brother, is your forehead injury healing well?”
“Oh… that?”
The Second Prince brushed aside his fringe, revealing the scar Yuwon had left just above his right eyebrow.
The sight made the Third Prince’s face harden.
“Brother, why is it…?”
The wound had changed.
It had been a straight cut before—but now, the scar ford a cross.
“You know . I can’t just let things go. I paid it back double.”
“Excuse ? What do you an…?”
“I did sothing stupid, lost that precious Egg of the Snow Serpent, and even got this scar for free. So I returned the favor. Gave that idiot Arencar a cut of his own. A nice deep one. So he’ll rember it and never make the sa mistake again.”
That ant he’d carved his own wound deliberately.
The Second Prince laughed chillingly, as if wounding himself were a joke.
‘He’s insane.’
The Third Prince had known he was mad—but not this far gone.
He now realized how reckless he’d been earlier when he’d dared to mock the man about flower palanquins.
“So then… what brings you here?”
The Third Prince asked, his tone now far more cautious.
“I heard the Valaris girl ca.”
To call the Border Count Valaris’s only daughter that woman—
Ordinarily, the Third Prince would have rebuked him for his rudeness, but today, he held his tongue.
“…So, Brother has heard as well.”
“Pfft, you think I wouldn’t know sothing you do?”
“That’s true enough… but why bring it up?”
The Second Prince’s lips curled into a sly smile.
“What else? You like that woman. Or… was it liked?”
The Second Prince never beat around the bush. It was true that during their younger days at the Royal Academy, the Third Prince had harbored feelings for Renania.
“…How did you know that?”
“Heh, that’s not the only thing I know.”
The Third Prince’s gaze turned serious.
He had never believed the Second Prince had co rely to share a cup of tea, but now he could sense sothing deeper and more dangerous at play.
“What is it you wish to say?”
“So touchy. What’s eating you? You’ve been waiting for that youngest brat and that woman to break off their engagent. Word is, her visit this ti is because of that very matter….”
That was information the Third Prince had not yet heard. His stiff expression changed at once.
“Is that true?”
“Would I lie to you?”
“Then why tell sothing like this?”
“What’s the use of brotherhood if not this? Sure, the throne puts us at odds, but we’re still brothers by blood. I can’t yield the throne, but I can lend a hand. Don’t you think?”
“…Then, what is it that you want?”
At that, the Second Prince burst out laughing.
“Hahaha! No wonder they call you the genius of magic — you catch on quick. Good. I’ve never been one for roundabout talk, so I’ll say it plainly. Here’s what I want.”
The Second Prince, who had been smirking all along, suddenly grew serious.
“Hand over the information on the spies you’ve planted near the youngest. And withdraw your people. I’ll be the one to handle that bastard.”
“What… spies? I don’t have the ti or reason for such things.”
“Don’t play dumb while I’m being nice. We both know that ca out of the Magic Tower. Don’t make resort to threats.”
The Second Prince took a small glass vial from his robe. Inside sloshed an unknown liquid — the very sa drug Yuwon had once seized from two assassins.
“Hah, so you even know about that?”
“I hear just one sip of this stuff makes you feel amazing. The rumors spread like wildfire. Makes the Snow Serpent seem ta in comparison. Impressive work, really — to create sothing like this….”
“Is there anything you don’t know?”
“What don’t I know? How long you’ll keep chasing the throne when you know it’s out of reach.”
That was not a remark to overlook. The Third Prince’s face hardened.
“You say that knowing I share the sa mother as the First Prince? If I were to cast aside everything and side with him, I doubt that news would please you.”
The Second Prince smirked faintly.
“Oh, I know sothing for certain — even if you talk big, you’d never walk away from this ga on your own.”
It wasn’t wrong.
The Third Prince let out a short laugh, struck right at his core.
“Ha, hahaha. You know better than I thought, Brother.”
The Second Prince was no mindless warmonger who only swung his sword.
If he were, he wouldn’t have made it this far.
The Third Prince realized he had underestimated him, simply because he’d been beaten once by that wastrel youngest.
“That’s why I’m here. So, what’s your answer?”
Their gazes locked in midair.
The Third Prince quietly nodded.
“Very well. Let’s do that. But make sure you handle it cleanly.”
The Second Prince brushed back his hair, deliberately revealing the scar on his forehead.
“Don’t worry. In a battle where it’s kill or be killed, it’s not so bad that the youngest is the first target.”
At the sa ti, in the Fifth Prince’s Palace.
Having returned from the library, Yuwon was taking his evening al.
For the past few days, he had been dining in the main hall, but tonight, for the first ti in a while, he had his al brought to his chamber.
In one corner of the spacious bedroom, a neat table was set, and Yuwon sat before it.
‘Phew… it begins.’
Though the al lay untouched before him, Yuwon sat still, deep in thought. Then, after a mont—
Clang—!
It happened in the blink of an eye.
Dishes shattered, and the once-appetizing food spilled ssily across the floor.
All because Yuwon had thrown the tableware himself.
Without taking a single bite, he had overturned the entire al.
“Attend ! Is no one there!”
At the sound of shattering glass from the prince’s chamber, the maid waiting outside rushed in and bowed low.
“Yes, I am here, Your Highness. Did the al not suit your taste? Shall I prepare sothing else?”
“There’s no need.”
Yuwon’s voice was cold and firm.
“Then…?”
“The food was poisoned.”
“P-poisoned, Your Highness?”
The maid’s eyes widened in shock, unable to et Yuwon’s gaze.
“Yes. My dinner was laced with poison.”
“H-how could such a thing…! Are you unhard, Your Highness?”
“Do not worry. I didn’t touch a bite.”
“Thank the heavens… what a dreadful—”
Before she could finish, Yuwon spoke the words he had been waiting to say since the first day he took over Yurion’s body.
“Summon every servant within this palace. Not a single one is to be left out.”
A sharp, icy command cut through the air.
“Y-yes, understood, Your Highness.”
The maid hurriedly ran out to carry out his order.
Left alone in the chamber, Yuwon took a glass vial from his robe.
‘It took longer than I thought.’
It had taken him quite so ti to identify the exact nature of the poison Yurion had been ingesting for years.
If not for Tang Seogyeom’s secret manual and the venom samples from the underground chamber, it might have taken far longer.
‘And the Black Serpent and the Dragon-Scaled Serpent helped too… I’d been looking for a single toxin, but it was a blend….’
It wasn’t that Yuwon hadn’t considered the possibility of a mixed poison — but this case was unusual.
‘Two deadly toxins of opposite natures mixed together — each potent enough to kill with a drop the size of a mouse’s tear — diluted just enough to suppress their lethality. Whoever planned this… was clever.’
Such a thing was impossible without deep knowledge of poisons.
Perhaps in the Central Plains soone could manage it, but in this world, those targeting Yurion’s body knew far more than Yuwon did.
‘Well, for now, that’s true.’
That might have been the case until now — but no longer.
Even at this mont, Yuwon was growing rapidly, using the secret manual left by Tang Seogyeom.
As the Second Prince plotted to strike Yuwon, Yuwon was preparing his own move — waiting, but not idle.
‘First, I’ll deal with the rats inside.’
After a long silence since the last feast, Yuwon finally drew his blade.
A storm of blood was about to sweep through the Fifth Prince’s Palace.
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