The Wastrel Prince Becomes Ruthless Chapter 97
Inside the reception room of the Third Prince’s Palace.
In one corner, Third Prince Bernid and Marcellus sat facing each other.
Bernid’s gaze toward Marcellus was razor-sharp.
“Marcellus… You came looking for me on your own two feet. Are you not afraid of me?”
“Afraid of Your Highness? Why would you think so?”
That he said such a thing after all he had done left Bernid so dumbfounded he almost could not even get angry.
“…Your shamelessness remained unchanged. A sly snake like you wouldn’t have come here without any information. You must already know everything. What did you come for.”
Bernid’s glare and tone looked as though he would devour Marcellus on the spot.
But Marcellus burst into hearty laughter to smooth things over.
“Haha, as expected of Your Highness. You know perfectly well. Just as you predicted. I came knowing everything. I looked into which side the winds of the next imperial throne were leaning toward, how the atmosphere inside and outside the Imperial Palace was shifting, and what each of the princes were doing.”
“You still haven’t answered. What thought brought you here.”
“I came to help Your Highness. To make up for my past mistake.”
“Mistake, mistake… Ha, what nonsense. Someone like you dares to help me? The result of your ‘help’ is exactly what I am now.”
Faced with Bernid’s murderous force, Marcellus backed down a step and took a low posture.
“Your Highness’ resentment toward me… I fully understand it. I did commit a terrible act against Your Highness. That wasn’t my intention, but… things twisted and twisted until it ended up like this. Whatever the intention, only the result remains.”
Of course, Bernid had no intention of being swayed by such honey-coated words.
“Enough of the wordplay. I don’t know what scheme made you come here, but you will gain nothing from me. I will give you a chance. Leave while I am speaking nicely.”
“Please reconsider. Your Highness must be in dire need of my help right now. Are you not being held by the Fifth Prince with your life as collateral.”
“…How did you know that?”
Bernid could not hide his discomfort as he glared sharply.
Most people suspected that something was going on between Tang Yuwon and Bernid, but no one knew the exact reason so precisely.
Marcellus distorted his dull face and drew a smile.
“Though I fled as if running away, I still have many friends in the Imperial Palace. And to tell the truth, I was also held by the Fifth Prince in the same predicament. But look—I am walking around completely fine, am I not? The very fact that I am alive and well proves that I can help Your Highness.”
“…Right, that was true. You were like that too.”
Marcellus answered with a triumphant face.
“In all matters, once you know the cause, the solution naturally follows. Since we know the cause, half the work is done. Please trust me just once. I will help Your Highness.”
“You think I would trust you again? Do I look that easy to you?”
Even at Bernid’s hostility, Marcellus maintained the same attitude.
“Whether you trust me or not is Your Highness’ choice. But you already know. I may not be as skilled with poison as Yurion Aphahiel, but I am still quite capable.”
“You yourself say you’re not as capable as Yurion. Do you really think you can manage this with your ability?”
Marcellus wore a gloomy, unpleasant smile.
“Your Highness, destroying is always easier than building.”
Bernid burst into laughter, as if finding Marcellus’ shameless reply amusing.
“Kuk, that’s something that would make the natural spirits spread across the continent laugh. Those were your own words. Can you prove them?”
“Of course. Anytime. But before that, I need Your Highness’ help. The antidote Your Highness has been taking recently—please bring it to me. Just one sip to analyze is enough.”
Marcellus smiled.
Bernid answered with a cold smile that looked sharp enough to cut just by sight alone.
His lips smiled, but his eyes did not change.
After a short silence, Bernid finally spoke in a heavy voice.
“As expected… I must do it.”
“Ah, you made the right decision. Then by when can you—”
Marcellus could not finish the sentence.
Bernid cut him off.
“No, I did not mean I would accept your proposal.”
“…Yes?”
Bernid’s reply was chilling.
“It means that today, I decided I must kill you… and that I will carry out that thought.”
“…!”
In an instant, Bernid drew forth his mana.
His mana-laden heart pounded violently, sending power coursing through his whole body.
“W-wait! Your Highness…! Please hear me out a bit mo—!”
Marcellus sprang up in a panic, stumbling with a loud clatter.
“I have had enough of being dragged around by you. Whatever you schemed, it ends here. Let’s finish this. Marcellus.”
Bernid calmly pronounced Marcellus’ end.
Blue lightning surged between his hands, sending off sparks.
Crackle—crackle―!
In Bernid’s eyes, intent to kill and mana swirled together as he stared at Marcellus.
Around the same time, at dawn, in the Fourth Prince’s Palace.
Fourth Prince Mariel was deep in thought.
Shut away in his room, he anxiously bit at his thumbnail.
‘To think the Holy Kingdom would show signs of heading toward disaster… Rather than helping, they’re about to drag me down with them. The timing is far too terrible….’
The Pope’s Faction and the Saintess’ Faction.
The reason for his headache was that these two powers, who had long kept each other in check, had secretly contacted Mariel over the past several days.
After the death of First Sword Saint Karniel, the balance between the two forces had shattered.
‘I knew the Pope viewed the Saintess as a thorn in the eye, but to think he would move this quickly the moment the Sword Saint died…’
“Damn it… This is all because of Yurion, that bastard….”
Traditionally, among the five Sword Saints the Holy Kingdom prided itself on, three Sword Saints and their knightly orders followed the Pope, while the other two Sword Saints and their forces followed the Saintess.
3:2 balance had been maintained entirely thanks to the weight carried by the name of the First Sword Saint, Karniel.
But with Yuwon’s intervention, Karniel died and that balance collapsed.
In response, the Pope rose with the resolve to swallow the Holy Kingdom whole.
The reason the two factions had recently approached Mariel also lay there.
It was a time when both sides desperately needed to cultivate even one more supporter.
Even the Fourth Prince Mariel, who had drifted far from the imperial throne, was not someone they could afford to ignore.
‘He could barely manage his own situation right now, so what was all this… huh….’
As he sank deep into thought, a stratagem suddenly flashed through his mind.
Tak—!
“Ah! Right!”
As if something had struck him, Mariel slapped his own knee with a 'tak' and rose to his feet.
His eyes sharpened as though he had formed a firm resolve.
‘All my other brothers must also be playing their own hands. They all say they have allied with one another, yet none disclose their cards. There would be no harm in preparing a move of my own at a time like this. If things went well, even drawing in the Holy Kingdom would not be impossible… So I still had a chance.’
Mariel’s lips curled with a bleak smile.
‘There was no such thing as a death sentence. Lehl was watching over him.’
An untimely internal conflict within the Holy Kingdom.
Fourth Prince Mariel decided to take advantage of it.
Dirty flies gathered one by one around the seat that would determine the next imperial throne.
The Princes turned this political struggle into a mud pit.
The next day.
Yuwon moved about following his usual routine as if nothing at all had happened the previous night.
Despite the previous night’s drinking, Yuwon again woke at dawn as always, carried out his energy circulation and meditation, then stepped into Terrien’s sword training after finishing his meal.
“Phew… Your Highness, how was it?”
“Excellent. At your age, there would be none who could compare to you.”
“Setting Your Highness aside… did you mean including the Second Prince?”
“Terrien. You look at me as your standard, so you truly have no idea where your own level stands. Even if Arencar’s arm had been perfectly fine, he would not last five minutes against you. And if it were not a spar but a fight to kill, it would end even faster.”
“Five minutes… you say? If it were Your Highness, you would finish it in three minutes… no, within two minutes, correct?”
“Well. I cannot say, since I have never fought him at full strength.”
Yuwon smiled softly and feigned ignorance.
Of course, he already knew the answer.
‘The Second Prince’s realm amounted to merely the threshold of first-class. One minute would be generous. Within what I knew, the only people who could face my current full strength were the Empire’s Sword, Marquis Bradman, or that enigmatic guardian knight who protected the Emperor’s side.He only refrained from speaking so Terrien would not lose spirit.’
Yuwon rose from his seat with an evasive answer.
“Then, train a little more. I shall be stepping out earlier today.”
“Yes, understood, Your Highness. Is something the matter?”
“I intend to go see Bernid.”
“Ah… now that you mention it, it has been a few days since the two of you met alone. Good thinking, Your Highness. Then, while you are at it, would you please convey my regards to the Third Prince?”
Terrien had spent time together with Bernid a few times lately and now acted as though they were quite close.
That sight was pleasing to Yuwon as well.
He answered with a broad grin.
“I shall. Bernid will be pleased.”
Leaving that smile behind, Yuwon departed the training grounds.
Step, step—
By noon, when the sun had risen to its peak, Yuwon quietly walked toward the Third Prince’s Palace, his gaze sinking deep.
‘In this world where growth diverged into magic and sword, the understanding of the sword was far lower than in the world I lived in before.’
Yuwon had already surpassed the realm in his previous life.
Had he achieved such a realm in the Central Martial World he once lived in, Yuwon would have been counted among the strongest of his generation.
But the story changed once one moved to the upper generations.
‘If I were to face Elder Tang Gye-ung with my current level… even if I gave everything, seven minutes would be the limit.’
Even now, when Yuwon thought of Elder Tang Gye-ung, he felt the chill of the blade that had pierced his chest in his past life.
His blood ran cold along with that memory.
Though he had gained a new body, grown from the ground up, and had already surpassed the peak realm in the blink of an eye, Yuwon—who had glimpsed the heavens above the heavens—still felt inadequate.
‘…I was still far from enough. After stepping into the peak, I had made no further progress. I needed to raise this realm quickly.’
Overwhelming force that could crush all schemes and plots prepared by his enemies—this was the power Yuwon desired.
Though he had already far surpassed common sense, Yuwon still aimed for a higher realm.
‘But forcing myself with impatience would not make it happen overnight. Since I had already reached the enlightenment achieved in my past life, from now on I needed entirely new study.’
Tak—
He had not hurried his steps, yet perhaps because his thoughts ran deep, he soon found himself standing before the main gate of the Third Prince’s Palace.
Even before he approached, the palace guards had already opened the gate and were waiting for him.
“Ah, the Fifth Prince has arrived. Please come inside. I shall inform the Third Prince at once.”
“Very well. Thank you.”
Yuwon lifted his head and looked up at the grand Third Prince’s Palace.
‘Tell me. Bernid.’
Yuwon had come to see Bernid—to hear what had happened last night.