CH 234

One thing she had learned about her husband during their marriage was that he kept almost all the promises he made. If Estian said he would pull out a man’s tongue, then he would do just that. No, actually, that likely wouldn’t be the only thing to be pulled out. He would surely pluck out everything that could be plucked.

‘The crown prince certainly went about this poorly, but still…’ Despite Ruin’s actions, Cecile didn’t want to see a person’s tongue pulled out before her eyes. While she pondered over what to do, the blue phoenix, who had been circling above the couple all this time, once again shot out a beam of light from its eyes.

“Huh?” A projection of what transpired moments earlier—the scene of Cecile crying and Ruin reaching out to grab her—began to replay above their heads. Except… ‘Doesn’t that angle make it look super dodgy?’ Cecile wondered.

In truth, it had been an insignificant interaction, but due to the blue phoenix replaying the scene at a suggestive angle, it depicted the crown prince as a foul misbegotten son of a rotten biscuit that appeared to be attempting to molest Cecile.

“This is…” The bloodthirst in Estian’s voice thickened at the sight of this visual playback.

“No! This is false incrimination! That blue chicken! Why is it framing me! I was only asking why she was crying!” Ruin jumped up and down in outrage.

The blue phoenix, ignoring the crown prince’s protests, squawked piteously to Estian, as if to say, “Your Majesty, it was him. He did it!”

Even though Estian seemed like he was raring to tear Ruin to pieces, he didn’t move. ‘It’s because of me,’ Cecile quickly deduced, noticing that Estian’s arms were still securely wrapped around her. It hadn’t been that long ago that she’d been kidnapped while Estian was fending off the magical attack. That experience must’ve impacted him deeply, since even now he was clearly hesitant to fight Ruin because he was worried that something might happen to Cecile if he left her side.

It was at that moment that a strange humming could be heard from up above. Soon, the space above their heads began to warp. Quickly recognizing the phenomenon, Cecile shouted, “A gate!” It was clearly a portal gate, just like the one Richard had opened during the Etia incident. As expected…

“Hey, Emperor! Why’re you going off your rockers again!” A silver-haired, handsome boy called out familiarly as he dropped through the opened dimensional tunnel—it was Richard.

The corners of Estian’s lips lifted into a smile at the sight of the archmage. Had Kane been present, he would’ve immediately recognized that this was the same smile the emperor wore when he was about to dice up a thousand people, give or take.

Glancing around to quickly take stock of his surroundings, Richard reacted with surprise. “What’s this? You’re fine? But I made sure the spell would only react when Eugen— Uh, when something big happened.” His eyes landed on Ruin and he remarked, “Someone from the Hyun continent?”

Cecile replied, “He claims to be Crown Prince Ruin.”

“What? The Ruin?” The archmage excitedly appealed, “Pardon for making this request on our first meeting, but would you give me a drop of your blood?”

Ruin perplexedly stared at the archmage, who held out a container the size of a human’s head that had seemingly been conjured out of thin air before anyone had noticed. However, before Richard could go on, Estian grabbed Richard by the scruff of his neck and plopped him at Cecile’s side.

“Make sure not a single hair of Cecile’s is harmed while I deal with that knave,” the emperor ordered.

Clasping his hands together, the archmage asked with gleaming eyes, “Will you give me his blood then?”

“Take whatever you want.”

“Then, from here to here is all mine!” Richard announced, pointing at a humanoid figure he drew on the floor with a happy face.

Their interaction made it sound like the archmage had just asked for ice cream, while the emperor had allowed him to pick whatever flavor he desired. Cecile glanced down at the picture Richard was pointing to and asked, “You mean you’ll take everything except for one pinky toe?”

“Why? Is that too modest of me? Should I ask for everything after all?”

“Don’t go trading off someone else’s body without permission!” Ruin interrupted with a yell.

Without bothering to lend an ear to the crown prince’s cries, Estian unsheathed his sword, while Richard, veritably dying of joy, reached out a hand to cast a spell. A second later, white light appeared and surrounded the area where Cecile stood. It looked similar to the dome the blue phoenix had summoned when Cecile had gone apple picking with Estian. As the empress poked at the light curiously, Richard waved his hand again and a very comfy-looking sofa appeared behind the two of them.

“Why did you conjure this?” Cecile asked.

“What do you mean why? If that man really is Crown Prince Ruin, then this fight won’t end that easily. Let’s sit back and relax while we watch.” Settling onto the sofa, a set of snacks and drinks appeared in the archmage’s hands.

It wasn’t long before the sounds of destruction began to echo all over the mountain, heralding the beginning of the battle between the strongest men of their respective continents.