CHAPTER 40: MASTERMIND ARRESTED

"Attack him!" Julius yelled, finally gathering his nerve as he pointed at Ard. Instantly, the Dark Elf troops raised their hands and fired a variety of fire, water, and wind elemental magic spells at Ard, who was standing in the middle of them. Eva covered her face. She looked worried, watching Ard being hit by dozens of elemental spells. Alicia, Milia, Beatrice, Pyria, and all the other students also felt fear and anxiety, watching Ard being bombarded with magic of all elements.

But suddenly, "Swoooosh," Ard raised both of his hands. A black sun appeared above him and looked enormous. A massive black tornado spun right next to him, and huge stalactites of black ice, called Dark Glacial—one of Ard’s magic counters—pointed in every direction.

"Well, well, looks like you Dark Elf troops are really challenging me, huh? How about you all experience the Dark Sun, Dark Typhoon, and Dark Glacial that I’m about to throw at every single one of you," Ard muttered in a heavy voice, looking around him and finally fixing his serious gaze on Julius.

Seeing the terrifying magic ready to be launched above Ard’s hands, all aimed directly at them, the Dark Elf troops’ faces immediately turned pale. Without another thought, they immediately turned tail and ran, leaving Julius all alone.

"Hey, where are you going... hey!" Julius screamed when he saw his troops fleeing.

Since not a single Dark Elf was guarding him, Julius slowly turned to look at Ard, his face pale. Sweat immediately poured down his face, and his body began to tremble as he stared at the immensely powerful magic hovering above Ard’s hands. But then he tried to rally his courage and pointed a trembling hand at Ard.

"You think I’m scared of you, commoner?" Julius said in a very unconvincing voice.

Ignoring Julius, Ard kept moving closer to him, step by step, with a smile on his face that showed intense anger and a clear desire to kill Julius.

"Was it you who called the demon forces to attack the camp next door?" Ard asked.

Julius didn’t answer. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Of course, that was an answer for Ard. He took a step closer to Julius, carrying all his magic with him, causing Julius to lower his pointing finger again. Seeing Ard approach, Alicia, Beatrice, Pyria, Brylee, the entire A-Class, Nathan, and the entire B-Class immediately backed away. Milia summoned her water magic, creating a wall of ice to shield everyone, then retreated as well. Meanwhile, Eva covered herself with a white barrier right behind Ard.

"Blugh," Julius, unable to keep himself standing because his legs were trembling, fell to a seated position on the ground. His face grew even paler.

"I... I don’t know what you’re talking about," Julius stammered.

"Hoo... you don’t know? Fine, I’ll ask one more time: was it you who attacked the camp next door using demon forces?" Ard asked, smiling, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile—it was terrifying.

Julius remained silent again and looked away instead. Ard’s smile immediately grew wider than before. He instantly aimed his arm toward Julius. Of course, Julius, seeing Ard move, immediately covered his face out of fear.

"Yes... yes, I was the one who attacked the camp over there... I didn’t want you disturbing me while I talked to my fiancée," Julius screamed.

"Hmm... alright. You know what? There were casualties over there, five people. Two A-Class students and three B-Class students. Your little game caused five people to lose their lives. So, if you think I’m going to let you go, I’m sorry, I don’t care if you’re a prince or not," Ard said, preparing to throw all his magic at Julius.

"D-don’t!" Julius cried out in terror.

"Ard... don’t... if you throw your magic at Julius, we could all be in serious trouble," Eva shouted, warning Ard and looking worried.

Suddenly, three shadows darted out from behind the bushes. "Tap," three people immediately grabbed Ard’s shoulders from behind. Ard instantly turned to look back. It turned out to be Abel, Nikolai, and Mirea, who had arrived to stop Ard from throwing his magic at Julius.

"Don’t, Ard. He’s not worth it. Calm yourself down," Abel said, holding Ard’s shoulder from one side.

"Leave him to me, Ard. I’ll handle my little brother," Nikolai added, holding Ard’s other shoulder from the opposite side.

"Throw all your magic straight up, Ard, quick, before your spells hurt all of us," Mirea added from behind Ard with a serious expression.

Ard turned to look at Eva, and Eva nodded. Without further hesitation, he immediately threw all his magic straight up. "Blaaam," all his spells exploded in the air, briefly making the sky as bright as day, although it soon returned to night. After that, Abel focused his attention on Julius.

"Second Prince of the Durnhill Kingdom, Julius, you are under arrest for causing major trouble during this training exercise. At the neighboring group’s camp, there are five casualties. You also killed several Raven Corps men, who are the Fredonia Kingdom’s special forces. Everything will be decided by the academy and the kingdoms. You have no right to speak anymore," Abel stated.

Julius couldn’t say anything. He just remained silent and glanced at Nikolai, who was staring at him with a face so full of rage it looked like he wanted to immediately order his younger brother’s execution. Then Nikolai turned to look at Abel.

"As the First Prince and Crown Prince, I sincerely apologize to the Fredonia Kingdom. Please hand this matter over to us, and please don’t let this be prolonged," Nikolai said, bowing with a trembling voice.

"Understood, Prince Nikolai, but we still need to discuss everything later, and for now, let us, the Fredonia Kingdom, detain Prince Julius," Abel replied.

"Very well, Prince Abel, I understand. We will send an envoy to King Fredonia to formally clarify this matter," Nikolai responded.

"We will await the envoy from your kingdom," Abel replied.

Then Abel turned to look toward the forest and whistled. Immediately, ten people dressed all in black appeared. They instantly arrested Julius and carried away the bodies of the fallen Raven Corps men. After Julius was taken away, Ard turned to look at Abel.

"Don’t tell me you already knew about Prince Julius’s plan, so you sent the Raven Corps to watch me," Ard said.

"Please don’t talk about confidential things so bluntly, you stupid little brother," Abel said, ruffling Ard’s hair.

"Ow... don’t mess up my hair, big brother," Ard replied, ducking and raising his hands.

"A stupid little brother like you needs to be watched before you cause more trouble," Abel replied, smiling.

Seeing Ard and Abel acting as close as typical older and younger brothers, the faces of Beatrice, Milia, Brylee, the entire A-Class, Nathan, and the entire B-Class were immediately stunned and shocked. Meanwhile, Alicia and Pyria, who already knew Ard’s true identity, just smiled, while Eva struggled hard to hide her own smile and shook her head.

"Ard... you... are the Prince of the Fredonia Kingdom?" Beatrice asked, stammering.

"It turns out you’re... the Prince of Fredonia? This is truly shocking," Milia added.

Then Milia turned to look at Alicia beside her, who appeared completely calm and was smiling cheerfully.

"You already knew, didn’t you?" Milia asked.

"Of course. Since the entrance exam, he’s been my fiancée and my Prince," Alicia answered.

"Huh?!" Everyone instantly shouted, except for Abel, who already knew, and Eva, who already knew from previous lives that Ard was engaged to Alicia. They all immediately turned to look at Ard with faces full of questions.

"Okay, everything’s out in the open now... seriously, this whole act was pointless... but at least Eva won’t become the sadistic Ice Queen in the future," Ard muttered to himself, rubbing the back of his head and giving a wry smile.