CHAPTER 54: CONDITION

After Mirelle expressed her comprehension of Leonard’s meaning, she was promptly granted permission to enter the room to heal the assassin.

"Thank you, Crown Prince."

She no longer appeared haughty or even someone detached from Leonard’s side.

Without needing to be painted a clear picture, she was certain the moment she discovered the assassin’s identity, the tables had turned on her. It was no longer Leonard who needed to beg her to stay, but the other way around.

Given the assassin’s crime, the usual protocol was immediate interrogation followed by a painful execution in public to warn and deter others from attempting to commit similar actions.

However, Leonard hadn’t done any of that and even forcefully suppressed the situation.

Even a slow thinker would come to realize that it was intentional and manipulative to control her.

By the time Mirelle witnessed the damages in the room, she saw the assassin lying in a half-dead state beneath the cinders.

The assassin’s breathing was relatively weak and very fragile. Moreover, their luscious appearance was completely omitted, and replaced with charcoal-like color everywhere.

She hurriedly approached closer to inspect the damage with a few magic spells.

A few seconds later, Mirelle’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

’The Crown Prince really didn’t lie about it.’ She realized the strands of mana that contained Leonard’s were indeed saving the assassin from dying on the spot.

The strands of mana were safeguarding the assassin’s vital part and ensuring a constant oxygen airflow current with purification. After all, the air in the room could be said to be polluted and hazardous to breathe in.

Supporting those strands of mana, Mirelle began to inject hers and cast her unique healing spells to help recover the assassin’s injuries.

A few moments later, the assassin groaned in agony upon recovering her five senses.

"Ungh," their brows were tightly knitted, clearly trying their best to endure the excruciating pain.

"Relax your nerves. My healing magic is removing the foreign substances and burned skins away." Mirelle softly explained.

"I will also be increasing healing cells in your body to quickly recover, so bear with me for a while." She continued, clearly in the mix of sadness and helplessness to see her current condition.

"I-I don’t need your hypocrite’s help." Although the assassin couldn’t open her eyes yet, she was very familiar with this particular tone. It was the same tone that had told her she couldn’t do anything in the past.

She will never forget those words and how Mirelle stood still while her tribe got razed to the ground.

"You despised me, right? How are you going to continue such an emotion if your life ends here?" Mirelle remained calm and provoked the latter to allow her to continue the healing.

"You also despised the Crown Prince, right? The Crown Prince is currently allowing me to heal you under the condition that I must stay loyal to him. Now, I’m no different than a slave in exchange for your recovery."

"Hah, am I supposed to say thanks and kneel on all four?" The assassin sneered coldly.

"I don’t need anything from you. I only wish that you can recover and give the Crown Prince an explanation of your mission. He promises to let you go if you reveal the mastermind to him." Mirelle shook her head and responded.

Upon hearing that, the assassin stayed silent and refused to converse further. Even though she didn’t want to receive the healing, there was nothing else she could do to stop Mirelle.

Sometime later, the assassin’s facial complexion returned some color. She endured the pain and attempted to open her eyelid.

"You can stop the healing." She said weakly. "Your healing is just delaying the inevitable. I know my condition well."

"No, I can still save you!" Mirelle said adamantly. "I have a friend in Velastra. As long as we make it through the Virellian Sea and arrive there, she could save you."

"Then have you asked the person behind you for permission?"

As soon as the assassin raised such a question, Mirelle was dazed. She turned around and spotted Leonard standing behind her, menacingly.

"Crown Prince, please—" Before Mirelle could finish her plea, she was interrupted.

"I don’t save people who are not on my side or useful to me." Leonard flatly said. To be a saint or some hero type of character was always in fictional stories, meant to deceive and manipulate others into believing self-sacrifice was the way.

How many wealthy people were actually saints?

And don’t even mention the fake philanthropy efforts which were laced with hidden intentions to boost their popularity. Leonard had personally seen and done those things before.

Hence, he strived for practical outcomes and not superficial ones.

"Then what do you want?" Mirelle pursed her lips and questioned.

"Are you trying to put a slave collar on me to control me?" She continued, clearly speaking sarcastically.

But to her astonishment, Leonard actually responded with a smirk. "You’re only half correct, Mirelle."

"What?" Mirelle’s face twitched uncontrollably and she nearly had the impulse of striking him on the spot. However, she knew such an action would result in a catastrophic outcome, so she refrained and suppressed her emotions.

"I have no intention of enslaving a sixth circle mage. The Mage Association would be knocking on my doorstep if they were to learn I have coerced and blackmailed one of their mages." Leonard explained himself, his eyes trailing to the charcoal-like body.

Following his line of sight, Mirelle’s facial complexion turned ugly.

"You want to enslave her?" She asked rhetorically. It was a question, but one that she already knew the answer to it.

The assassin was still a threat and if they wanted to survive, a concession must be made. The crime that she held was multiple people’s deaths, with the most significant one being the attempted assassination of the Crown Prince of Aldros.

"Not a bad deal, right?" Leonard mused. "You wanted to save her and even went against me. I’m already being lenient by not pursuing the matter. But if you can’t even agree to this condition of mine, then she cannot live any longer."