Chapter 263: Resurfacing Madness

Chapter 263: Resurfacing Madness

"Come to my side."

Sorren bluntly threw this offer at Riezel.

"Serve me, and you'll be the greatest figure in this kingdom, second only to me."

"..."

As soon as Sorren finished speaking, the audience room suddenly fell silent.

One by one, the nobles turned to look at Sorren—some held their breath, while others wore expressions of utter discomfort.

Sorren had just made such a bold and arrogant statement right in front of everyone, especially the nobles from the Duke Faction.

Needless to say, his attitude, treating the throne as if it were already his and viewing himself as the inevitable next king, made many nobles from the Duke Faction visibly angry.

Even Yuri's face turned cold as she stared at Sorren.

Riezel, on the other hand, calmly smiled after hearing Sorren's statement.

"Hey, Your Highness, did you forget something?" Riezel said with a half-smile. "Not too long ago, I almost lost my life because of the Shadow Knights you sent."

Upon hearing this, Sorren showed nothing but disdain.

"Are you seriously saying that?"

Sorren didn't believe for a second that Riezel had almost died from that, nor did he think much of the incident at all.

He was convinced there was something fishy about it.

It was important to know that Riezel's first assassination attempt by the Shadow Knights, where he was severely injured and almost died, had only happened in the past two months in this world.

Considering this, who would believe that two months ago, Riezel was just a helpless magic student who could be seriously injured by the Shadow Knights?

Let alone seriously injuring Riezel, it would be amazing if they could even touch his clothes.

It wasn't just Sorren who didn't buy it, as no one who knew the details clearly believed it either.

In their minds, considering Riezel's strength, the only possible outcome of that assassination attempt would have been the immediate annihilation of the Shadow Knights.

Yet, he was said to be seriously injured by a group of Shadow Knights far weaker than him?

No one believed there wasn't something more going on.

Many thought his so-called 'injury' was just a pretext for some ulterior motives.

For example, he might have used his 'injury' as a pretext to infiltrate the Frenzel family and get close to Yuri. Although not everyone thought this way, the fact remained that he only got involved with the Frenzel family after this so-called 'injury'.

It was unavoidable.

With many unsolved mysteries surrounding Riezel, some couldn't help but think along those lines.

Sorren was obviously one of these people.

Even Hendrick and Rohm suspected Riezel had ulterior motives, which was why they never thought that incident would make him hold a grudge against the royal family or Sorren.

If anything, Riezel should be thanking the royal family and Sorren for giving him a chance to achieve his unknown goal.

In everyone's minds, it was Riezel who had taken advantage of the Shadow Knights, not the royal family.

Evidently, this was the perspective shared by Sorren and everyone in the royal family.

Because of this, when Riezel claimed he was going to hold Rohm accountable for being an accomplice in this incident, Rohm didn't pay it any mind.

It couldn't be helped.

Rohm thought Riezel was just using it as an excuse to show off his strength in front of him, trying to force the royal family into a compromise, not because Riezel genuinely wanted to settle a score with him.

Even the eldest son of the Cordelion family, Sergius, had treated the whole thing as a joke when he heard it.

All of this demonstrated how much the perception of Riezel's incident with the Shadow had shifted in the eyes of those who were informed.

"You know, that guy can be really scary when he goes crazy. If he doesn't care about the consequences and comes after you, things could get really serious."

Upon hearing this, Riezel didn't look at Yuri, nor did he glance at Sorren, who had just left, but simply stared at the empty throne in the audience room.

"And if I go crazy, how serious do you think things will get?"

Riezel asked calmly, his eyes narrowing.

"Let's hope he's brave enough to try..."

===

At this moment, Sorren wasn't far from the audience room.

After stepping through the doors of the audience room, he turned into a nearby empty corner and came to a stop.

*BANG!*

Sorren slammed his fist hard against the wall, causing cracks to spread across its surface.

"Riezel... Brynhart..."

Sorren's eyes were bloodshot, his face twisted with hatred.

Naturally hot-tempered and resentful, being humiliated so openly by Riezel triggered a rage he couldn't suppress.

Initially, he had no intention of provoking Riezel again.

Knowing that Riezel was now a Sword Saint—offending him could backfire and push him into the arms of that despicable Sergius, which would be disastrous.

If he didn't need the support of a Sword Saint so badly, he wouldn't have bothered approaching Riezel again, hoping he would forget the warnings he had given him before.

As for why he wanted a Sword Saint so badly?

It was simply because Sergius had a Sword Saint under his command.

Just thinking about it made him desperate to have someone of equal power under his command—someone who could counterbalance Sergius.

Who would have thought that not only would he fail to achieve his goal this time, but Riezel would also humiliate him in the process?

As a result, Sorren lost control of his temper and immediately left the audience room.

'I'm the most brilliant member of the royal family! I have the purest royal blood!'

'What gives you the right to look down on me?!'

'What gives you the right to despise me?!'

'You two damn bastards!'

Fury flashed in Sorren's bloodshot eyes.

He had always believed that he was the most dazzling prince of his generation, with the most talent and his father's greatest attention.

His father's favor and the fact that he was the most outstanding member of the royal family filled him with pride and arrogance, fostering his reckless behavior.

Back then, no one dared oppose him, and no one, not even his father, the king, stopped him. In fact, his father had even turned a blind eye to many of his actions and had given him partial control over the Shadow.

Since none of the other royal children enjoyed such privileges, it only fueled his arrogance, making him more unrestrained—until Sergius, the eldest son of the Cordelion family, appeared.

Everything changed after that.

People who had once believed he would be the next king began to see a better option and started distancing themselves from him. Even his father felt threatened and became dissatisfied with his achievements.

He gradually lost everything that should have been his, and that was when his inner madness began to grow. Naturally, the chaos he unleashed last time was the result of this madness.

Now, the same madness was surfacing once again, causing Sorren to decide to stop holding back.

"You all brought this on yourselves..."

In the empty corner, a gloomy whisper echoed, like a storm looming on the horizon.