Chapter 99: Troubles After the End

The twin torments of pain and pleasure kept on. In the delicate hourglass on the table, fine sand continuously trickled down until the final grain, under gravity’s pull, gracefully fell. The fire in the boy’s heart burst open, and all his energy poured out and flew away.

When his consciousness became clear again, the sun had just begun to show a small half of its face from the morning clouds. The golden-red light cast a somewhat fantastical color cast over the luxurious living room, and the cheerful chirping of birds sounded like music commemorating some special event. In that faint sunlight, only hazy images could be seen. Low-hanging bed curtains covered two figures tightly entwined together. The floor of the room was chaotically piled with things; blankets, pillows, ropes, and fragments of clothing were scattered everywhere.

Was this a silent night until dawn?

A helpless expression, akin to crying, twisted onto the boy’s face… Just by slightly recalling memories, every toss and turn, every delicate cry and moan, and the limpness and exhaustion after the calm could clearly surface. As a novice with only theoretical experience, Constantine could obviously feel satisfied with his first performance. His partner’s physical stamina couldn’t even begin to resist such brilliance… In fact, it was quite admirable that she lasted until the end. That was because she was a Rogue who moved around a lot, not a delicate Noble lady. Otherwise, these overly intense entanglement methods might have led to a very unpleasant outcome.

The Elf’s breathing was now soft, deep, and long. The once infinitely enchanting bud rose and fell gently and rhythmically, with an unusual quiet obedience. It was less like sleeping and more like a Mage entering a meditative state. If not for the red marks covering the fair, delicate body, this scene could be called beautiful… or perhaps, a rare masterpiece in the mortal world. But that still couldn’t offer any compensation for those shocking blue and red marks. The welts from the whip rope looked especially bright red and glaring in the sunlight. The boy’s gaze swept over the marks from which traces of blood still seeped, and he felt his heartbeat become somewhat irregular.

Constantine reached out a finger and gently traced one of the scars. That strange, smooth softness made the boy raise an eyebrow… Even though the Elf remained deeply unconscious, her flower-like delicate body still trembled with a wave of pain.

The feeling that had seemed to reside in his mind before was gone now. The world was no longer clear and cold, and his thoughts were no longer so single-minded. In an instant, the boy was able to think of many things.

First, was about that grand and somewhat brutal assassination attempt.

If Prince Oriel hadn’t developed senile dementia, then the security for this hunt shouldn’t have been too simple. By convention, preparations for this hunting ground probably started half a month ago. Every area should have been carefully searched to ensure no unauthorized people could enter or exit, and no escaped magical beasts were lurking in the forest. Even though years of peace had made this routine action somewhat relaxed, the presence of dozens of people still couldn’t possibly escape notice. Even if invisibility-type spells were used, they might fool ordinary people, but not the eyes of a Mage…

Yet clearly, even with all precautions, a flaw remained.

All signs indicated that the person who planned and executed this assassination plot was not only insane but also possessed a genius or idiot-like flight of fancy. The appearance of this group of assassins undoubtedly targeted the soft spot in the Oriel family’s usual countermeasures. The most crucial points were the timing and the location of their appearance.

They struck during the adventurous picnic at noon. They used suicide squads and large summoned magical creatures to tie up all the Prince’s guards. Then, disguised assassins mixed within the crowd struck with a thunderous blow. In that chaotic situation, this half-cunning, half-forceful plan’s chance of success was probably over eighty percent — they seemed to have completely predicted all possible activities of the Prince’s party, except for his own actions and those of the Mage named Purness.

So, the Elf’s act of betrayal didn’t seem all that serious…

A plan to assassinate a nation’s Crown Prince might be crazy, but it definitely shouldn’t be sloppy or improvised. At the very least, those assassins disguised as low-ranking Nobles couldn’t have been prepared in a moment. And those Barbarian warriors, along with a Spellcaster capable of manipulating plants, wouldn’t just be on standby all the time, ready to go. Following this logic, this plan also clearly couldn’t have been based on information about the hunting party that the Blood Elf only learned about the day before yesterday. If all these actions could be planned and prepared within such a short time, then the opponent’s foundation and capabilities seemed far too formidable, and they probably wouldn’t need to go through so much trouble just to kill a single Crown Prince.

The most likely possibility was just as the cat-woman said in the forest; they merely provided information to confirm the situation. The rest was just a coincidental part of the chain.

“That damn bastard!”

Constantine gritted his teeth and issued a low curse. Actually, although these matters were troublesome, as long as one calmed down and thought carefully, they didn’t seem hard to guess. But why yesterday did he seem to have swallowed gunpowder, charging headlong into a dead end like a tiger? Was it just the tension after a violent fight, anger over something like betrayal, or the long-accumulated desire affecting the pace of normal thinking?

Who would believe that!

Then, who could possess such power to influence, even toy with, his mind, making him act in ways that didn’t match his usual rational thinking? Aside from that being who acted like a Deity, there was hardly any other candidate! This thought made Constantine feel increasingly resentful. Even though no one was around, he was almost certain that the unscrupulous Demon was watching his every move and secretly snickering!

Uttering a string of low curses, the boy seemed to be using anger to escape reality. But obviously, no one around was cooperating to offer him an escape… The Blood Elf remained asleep, or unconscious. The Gemstone sealing the Lich was placed to the side. The boy wasn’t in the mood to discuss all this with that unscrupulous fellow — even using his toenails, he could imagine that no good words would come from that unscrupulous mouth.

Actually, this was also a pretty good opportunity to further solidify his relationship with her… And that so-called organization or whatever could also be used… After venting his resentment with curses for a while, the boy’s gaze fell again on that wonderful body. He muttered to himself — these seemingly somewhat reasonable statements also seemed somewhat unreasonable, or perhaps they were all just excuses Constantine unconsciously manufactured?

Guilt? It didn’t really seem like that either… Towards the Blood Elf, he seemed to have always been quite tolerant. If it were anyone else in this world, they probably wouldn’t, after establishing a master-servant relationship, tolerate the other party repeatedly holding a knife to their neck, would they?

The boy gritted his teeth and pulled the Crystal bottle from his belt at the head of the bed.

Pouring the last of the liquid from the bottle into his mouth, Constantine leaned down, kissed those soft but somewhat dry and cracked lips, and passed the precious, potent potion into the other’s body.

This magical potion obtained from Archmage Nikolai had extraordinary effects. In just over ten breaths, the crisscrossing marks on the Elf’s body began to gradually fade. Her fair skin once again reflected an intoxicating luster in the morning light, causing the Sorcerer watching all this to swallow hard… He felt a certain part of him seemed to stir restlessly again. He almost started another storm!

“Viscount, if you are able to move, Prince Oriel wishes to have breakfast with you.”

A light knock sounded, and an Attendant’s voice came through. Constantine frowned. He gently raised his hand and uttered a short incantation. Instantly, the scraps scattered on the floor were gathered together in one pile. The ropes were all drawn back into that belt. The small bloodstains on the bedding gradually faded, eventually returning to a clean state as if washed. The boy covered the Elf’s flower-like delicate body with a blanket. He glanced around, found no issues, and then opened the door with a Mage Hand.

Regarding the person lying unconscious on the bed, the Attendants didn’t dare even take a proper look. But judging from their expressions, clearly everyone knew quite well what had happened last night. Without a word, Constantine, with the help of several maids, put on his Hunting Attire. Then he followed the Attendant towards the door. After he left the room, a group of maids filed in. Constantine’s hearing allowed him to easily catch their whispers and those hidden low laughs.

He smiled. Some of the hidden admiration within them seemed to satisfy a tiny bit of his vanity.

…

In the spacious, splendid dining room, at the far end of the long table, His Highness the Prince was already seated. But to Constantine’s surprise, seated in the host’s position at the table was the current Crown Prince, Geraldine Ursula Revell. The young man in magnificent attire wore a smile and nodded towards Constantine.

After Constantine finished bowing to the two Highnesses and took his seat, the Prince waved his hand. Then, except for the Prince’s steward and one or two people standing behind the Prince, all other Attendants and maids left the hall.

Then, His Highness the Crown Prince spoke: “Viscount Connalyvis, I must express my gratitude to you. Without you, I’m afraid I would have fallen under the blades of those villains. For this, I wish to express my sincere thanks. Is there anything you need, sir?”

Constantine was taken aback. He hadn’t expected the other to be so polite, but of course he wasn’t foolish enough to take these words at face value: “Your Highness, serving you is originally the honor of us subjects. How could I dare covet additional rewards? In fact, in this matter, more than half the credit should go to Mage Purness. Without his power, given the situation at the time, relying on me alone, I probably couldn’t have accomplished anything. If time permits, I think I also need to thank Mage Purness in person, for giving me this opportunity to serve the nation and protect Your Highness the Prince.”

The Crown Prince was stunned for a moment, then elegantly picked up his wine glass. However, in that instant, Constantine still caught the unnatural look on His Highness’s face — Constantine’s words clearly carried a thick tone of resentment and bitterness.

But this wasn’t strange either. To put it bluntly, Mage Purness’s actions this time were using public duty for private revenge. Although he did save the Prince’s life, it was undeniable that towards Constantine, it was essentially attempted murder. The Crown Prince of the Empire deeply furrowed his brows. If the other party were an ordinary nobody, or even just a Noble with some status, he might have considered using pressure to resolve this grudge when favor couldn’t dissolve it. But now, that string of illustrious titles over the young man’s head clearly made anyone hesitant to entertain such an idea.

The Crown Prince sighed inwardly — the Magic Tower was a system somewhat independent of the Empire’s structure. Gaining the allegiance of a Formal Mage wasn’t easy, because they were often indifferent to worldly power. Therefore, winning them over meant significant investment of money and effort. Now, having to easily let go of this weapon already within grasp did pain him a bit.

But tearing relations with Constantine over such a person also seemed quite unworthy.

“Constantine… I did not experience that dangerous scene yesterday, but I also wish to thank you… However, I heard that Barbarian warriors actually appeared among the assassination team. I wonder if this is true?” The old Prince coughed lightly, raising a somewhat sharp question. But clearly, most of his intention was to change the subject and rescue the entangled Crown Prince.

“Although it’s unknown how these fellows broke through the Human Empire’s layered defenses and appeared in the outskirts of Hayton, I can assure you, these Barbarians don’t have strong ties to the Western Frontier. Although their weapons and the shape of their gear somewhat resemble those of the Western Frontier Barbarians, as far as I know, the Western Frontier Barbarians don’t use these greatswords with specially elongated handles. Moreover, they lack the intelligence to participate in an assassination.” This question made Constantine hesitate for a moment before he spoke.

The boy felt somewhat displeased. There was a saying that the simpler the conspiracy, the easier it succeeded, because clever people tended to infinitely complicate matters, deduce, analyze, deconstruct, and then verify, and so on. Now, these scattered clues in some people’s minds could easily be linked together to point to a conclusion. Whether this conclusion would lead to something eventually was unknown. The only certainty was that it would definitely be a very troublesome matter.

Of course, for a Prince maintaining a neutral political stance, this was likely just a reminder.

Regarding the Barbarian question, Constantine, as the son of the Western Frontier Governor, naturally needed to be clear — the Connallyvis Family’s development of the Western Frontier involved seizing land from tribes living alongside Orcs. In years of conflict, the Griffon Knights held the Barbarians in high regard… If not for their poor breeding capacity due to harsh environment and low numbers, they would have long dominated the wild lands. Then, Humans might have become their targets of conquest. It was just that the Connallyvis Family had always firmly held back the Barbarians’ advance, restricting them to the northwestern wild lands.

Now, Barbarians appeared in the capital of Phoenix. The implications here were worthy of much contemplation by many.

Fortunately, at this moment, Attendants brought in breakfast. Soft bread, creamy pastries, accompanied by a plate of vegetable and fruit salad — the variety of breakfast wasn’t as rich as the boy imagined. But the process of serving was enough to ease the atmosphere.

But just then, the dining hall doors were pushed open again. Princess Reya swept in like a whirlwind!

“Viscount Connalyvis, I heard your performance yesterday was extraordinary, so I specifically came to express my thanks…” After bowing to her two elders, Her Highness the Princess spoke to Constantine with a cold laugh.

Today, the Princess wore a luxurious, court-style white silk gown, possessing unparalleled noble grace. The expression on her face was as pure as a little Angel’s. But her tone, mixed with a cold laugh, was clearly not so lovely. In fact, this combination made that anger even more strongly apparent.

The Prince and the Crown Prince exchanged glances. They naturally knew what this little Princess was here for.

Since Constantine’s midnight actions couldn’t be hidden from the servants’ gossip, everyone present could completely know what this youth, already confirmed as the Princess’s future husband, did last night. At least they could guess part of the truth.

But even the Crown Prince himself didn’t show the slightest sign of abnormality over this. Political marriages were commonplace for every Noble. In fact, their own marriages, nine times out of ten, similarly could be, or already were, products of political necessity.

In such marriages, the appearance of one or two lovers or similar figures was extremely normal. Precisely because of this, everyone chose to remain indifferent to everything at this moment.

But clearly, they overlooked that the Empire’s Princess, Miyari Galanord Ralphe… she possessed unconventional values…