Chapter 55 Playing With Fire

Being the centre of everyone's attention, Leonardo finally turned his head and swept his lifeless eyes over everyone present. Shaking his head at their immature and angry eyes, he decided not to entertain their unreasonable pride and shouted in the direction of the Imperial Palace.

"I've had enough breakfast, for now, Adeline. I don't have the time to waste on children." Leonardo knew that Queen Adeline must be watching him in one way or another, but he wasn't here to perform or entertain anyone, not even her.

"Impudence!" The royal children shouted in anger, their expressions twisted beyond their calm facade. One of the tall women tightened her fists as she made her way over, but Leonardo wholeheartedly ignored her actions.

He decided to not entertain their little episode, but he was curious as to how they would act. Although the Queen might be a pacifist, that didn't mean her temperament was commonplace in the royal ranks.

The woman, like her hal-siblings, had a head of pale golden hair, emerald green eyes, and soft white skin. She approached without emitting a hint of energy fluctuations, she obviously didn't feel like bullying a non-cultivator young man. However, for all of her imposing air, Leonardo gave her a dismissive look while stroking Aria's fur.

When the tall woman stood face to face with Leonardo, her right hand blurred, and swung, and a crisp noise echoed through the courtyard as Leonardo's head swayed to the side, a red handprint clear on his handsome face.

The royal guards were shocked because they knew, thanks to insider information, that the little fox in Leonardo's arms was a saint-rank magical beast. They thought that Leonardo would expose hints of his pet's prowess if he were to be entrapped by a crowd of arrogant and angry royal children.

These saint royal guards were stationed in order to mitigate any and all possible dangers to the royal children's lives. However, they never expected Leonardo to simply hold down his pet and receive a slap to his face.

Leonardo's lip busted open and he could feel a sweet taste in his mouth. However, his expression remained as dull and lifeless as usual, as though nothing of significance happened. He lifted a white napkin from the table and spat his blood directly into its folds, not wanting to dirty the floor, contaminate the food, or leave his blood behind for these people.

The tall woman was shocked that Leonardo simply revived her slap to the face without an ounce of resistance or fluctuations in his expression, as though he was looking at a stray dog lashing out randomly. It was an expression that said, it couldn't be helped, some animals are just that wild.

Leonardo levelled the haughty princess with his calm eyes as he asked in a soft whisper, but he knew that everyone within the vicinity was strong enough to hear him.

"Is this a declaration of war?"

That single sentence shocked not only the royal children, but even the stationed guards and Queen Adeline who was secretly probing Leonardo's temperament felt her heart jolt. She immediately recalled the scene in that ravine, and she felt chilled.

The situation spiralled out of control before it even had the chance to get on the planned track. She immediately sent urgent orders to separate Leonardo from the royal children before things got out of hand. She cursed her stupid and playful curiosity, she should have taken Jeffery's advice and not tested this man's patience.

Leonardo was truly impatient to make it back to Grace Imperial City, as he didn't have the time to play these childish games.

"War? Do you have the qualifications to talk war with us?!" A young man pointed his finger angrily at Leonardo, feeling incensed at such a bold statement.

They were one of the three ruling powers, who would dare declare war on them?

"Guards, fly that stupid animal alive for this Prince! Let me show him an example of what would be his fate if he kept being so arrogant!"

The prince turned his head to shout commands at a few guards who were busy reviving their orders while gaping in horror at the prince. Not only them, everyone else was the same, some of the females covered their lips in shock and disgust.

Seeing those unresponsive guards, the prince took a step forward while swinging his hand at the guards to scold them. However, he felt his foot sink into something moist and thick, confusing him as the ground was dry a moment ago.

The next moment, he noticed that he wasn't pointing fingers at the guards. Actually, he wasn't pointing at anything at all, the space before him was empty. Shocked, he glanced down, only to see his arm severed cleanly by the biceps, blood flowing down like a river.

There was no pain at all.

The cut was so clean that his own body hadn't registered the fact yet. However, seeing his arm in a puddle of his own blood, he directly fainted and dropped back on the tables behind him, losing almost half his blood while everyone was reeling from the shock.

"You… You… You…" The royal guards were at a loss for what to do. They could only stare at Aria resting on Leonardo's shoulder while licking away at the clots of blood on her right little paw, quickly getting it back into its sparkling white sheen.

She could have done it without spilling a drop of blood on her paw, but it would have a greater impact when done this way as the culprit would be easier to deduce.

When was the last time someone dared point a finger at her and call her an animal? Aria felt disgusted with these children. The kid was lucky she didn't rip his body into a million pieces.

Finally, the docile women lost their cool and began to shriek as they fled the courtyard with pale, horrified faces. The morning breakfast descended into pandemonium, and everyone ran off, everyone except for the tall princess who stood petrified under the blood-red eyes of Aria, and the few guards who didn't dare make a move due to the close proximity between the princess and Leonardo.

"Princess Veronica… Slowly retreat…" A guard mustered up his courage to speak, but he didn't dare make any sudden movements. No kidding, they couldn't even protect someone across the courtyard from that magical beast, let alone someone directly in front of it.

Veronica dearly wanted to retreat, but all she could see was a world of bloodshed and corpses within the depths of Aria's eyes. She knew if she was to move now, her fate would be uncertain.

"Prince Leonardo, allow Princess Veronica to leave! The High Queen wishes to meet with you!" A guard suddenly spoke up, having received new orders to lead Leonardo directly into the Imperial Palace to meet the High Queen.

Leonardo ignored him completely, simply staring directly into Veronica's eyes. The princess couldn't handle the mental pressure and her will collapsed, directly falling to her knees in a puddle of urine in front of Leonardo. However, the young man didn't move, and Aria didn't budge a muscle either.

Veronica's eyes began to shed tears uncontrollably as she began to speak incoherently, "A-auntie t-told me to! I'm sorry! D-don't kill me!"

"Your Highness!" The guards jumped in fright, not knowing why the princess would suddenly break down and spill out everything voluntarily. How would they know the amount of pressure her psyche was enduring at this moment?

She was practically on the verge of going insane, hot tears streaming down her face. Leonardo didn't need her to explain why or who, he wasn't an idiot.

"Leave your hand behind."

Leonardo spoke a moment later, shocking the guards silly with fright as their communication bracelets went crazy. How would they know that this sentence was like heaven's salvation to Veronica who was on the verge of mental collapse? She didn't hesitate at all before drawing a long, sharp dagger and hacking down at her own right wrist.

A silver light flashed, blood splattered, and a hand stumbled down by Leonardo's feet. Only when that was done, Aria lazily closed her eyes once more.

Only now did Veronica notice the state she was in. Her tear-stained face, urine-drenched lap, and severed right hand. She shrieked loudly, her voice echoing far and near before she mentally snapped and collapsed onto Leopard's feet.