CHAPTER 41: CROWN PRINCE ALEXANDER

In the Steelheart Manor’s dining hall, a young man in his early 20s with long blonde hair sat at the end of the long table. Beside him, a middle-aged man with short gray hair and a neatly kept beard enjoyed the dishes before him at an unhurried pace.

The young man clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Tch, how long do they plan to keep me, the crown prince, waiting?!"

Gareth smiled bitterly and replied. "Please be patient, Your Highness... They should be here any moment—"

Bam!

The crown prince slammed the table in anger as he cut Gareth off. "Any moment? I’ve been waiting for almost an hour!"

At this time, the middle-aged man suddenly stopped eating as he tilted his head and frowned deeply.

Naturally the crown prince noticed this and looked at him. "What is it?

A moment later, he grinned widely. "The Steelhearts’ water is quite deep. To actually hide the fact that Cassian has already stepped into the Legendary Rank..."

He paused and looked at Gareth and Halden, who showed no emotion even after the middle-aged man revealed one of the Steelhearts’ secrets. "Interesting."

"What! The Steelhearts’ family head is a Legendary Knight now?" The Crown Prince was in disbelief.

"In fact, he might even be stronger than me—no! He’s definitely stronger than me." The middle-aged man looked at the crown prince with a meaningful look, as if telling him to change the plan because of this unexpected situation.

The crown prince frowned deeply as he was suddenly lost in his thoughts, changing the plan entirely.

Their initial intention had been simple: use the incident where James killed the Wolfsblade Family’s Old Duke as leverage to intimidate the Steelhearts into political submission.

But now that Cassian had become an extremely strong individual in the Legendary Rank, he decided to change the plan a little bit from the original plan.

As the crown prince was still lost in his thoughts, laughter could be heard as three men stepped inside the dining room with delightful expressions.

The crown prince instantly came back to his senses and looked over at the three people, who walked over casually and sat on their respective seats.

Cassian naturally sat on the main seat, facing the crown prince face-to-face with a smile. James and Nyxrael sat on Cassian’s right side leisurely and poured wine into their own cups.

After sipping the wine happily, James took out two stalks of Azuredew Berries from his inventory and handed them to Gareth and Halden with a smile. "Here, I took some of these when I heard that you two enjoyed this delicacy."

"..."

The crown prince was speechless when he saw this, as he had never expected that he would be disrespected by the infamous trash from the Steelhearts.

He had been waiting for almost an entire fucking hour, yet they acted as if he wasn’t there and just conversed on their own without even greeting him or apologizing for making him, the crown prince, wait for this long.

"Enough!" The crown prince slammed the table once again, but just lightly this time. "Is this how you treat me, the crown prince of this kingdom, as your guest?"

James raised an eyebrow and looked over at the crown prince with a bright smile. "Oh? Long time no see, Crown Prince Alexander... Grand Duke Rowan." He greeted them and ignored the previous remark.

Rowan merely gave James a faint smile and resumed his meal as if the unfolding tension didn’t concern him, while Alexander was furious when James greeted him instead of responding to what he had just said. "Did you not understand what I just said?"

"I heard." James nodded leisurely. "Why?"

"James... Are you treating me like a fool?" Alexander gritted his teeth, veins could be seen across his face, as he was truly furious this time.

"Of course not." James shook his head, then asked with a curious expression. "I’m simply confused why you’re so angry over something so trivial."

BAM!

Alexander snapped and slammed the table in anger, creating a fist-sized hole on the table.

"I dare you to say that again! I’ve been waiting nearly an hour! You ignored us, didn’t greet us, didn’t apologize, and now you’re acting clueless?!" Alexander shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Aren’t you here for a friendly visit?" James still maintained his composure as he asked.

Alexander answered while gritting his teeth. "What does it even matter?"

"It matters a lot," James replied with an easy chuckle. "Since it’s a friendly visit, we acted casually. We’ve known each other for years, after all."

"Who said that I came here for a friendly visit?" Alexander frowned deeply.

’Finally, the bait has been taken.’ James smiled faintly for a split second before asking with a curious expression. ""Oh? Then, what brings you here?"

"Are you seriously taking me as a fool, James?!" Alexander slammed the table and stood up. "Didn’t I already inform you that I would come within a few days? You caused a mess in the Wolfsblade Territory two days ago, and my father sent me here to deal with it."

Before James could respond, Cassian, who had been silent the whole time, finally spoke with a calm expression as he tapped his fingers on the table in rhythm. "So, you’re saying that you came here under the order of the majesty to settle that matter?"

Rowan felt something was amiss, but before he could interfere, Alexander had already responded.

"Of course, what else—"

A terrifying power suddenly erupted out of Cassian the moment Alexander confirmed that he was sent here by the majesty himself.

"Alexander Grimveil..." Cassian said with a chilly voice. "You better explain yourself right here, right now. I advise you to choose your next words very carefully."

Rowan frowned deeply as he looked at the furious Cassian before looking at Alexander and cursed in his heart. ’This idiot.’

"D-Duke Cassian..." Alexander stammered, trembling as the Legendary Knight’s killing intent wrapped around his neck as if he would immediately die at any second. "W-what do you mean?"

Even though he had already reached the Peak Platinum Knight, the difference between Platinum Rank and Legendary Rank was really big, to the point that killing someone like him was extremely easy for Cassian.

...

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