At night, Prince sat quietly on his bed, as if waiting for someone.
It had been a full day since he’d cornered Lumina in the ruins of that dungeon, and he still wasn’t entirely sure she’d actually show.
The windows of his room were open.
Then, from the very window he continued staring at, a slender female figure slipped in.
She was concealed in a dark robe, with only her striking gray eyes visible.
Some strands of her long black hair, streaked with blue, fell at her collarbones, and the rest was completely covered by her robe.
As she stepped inside, she quietly closed the window behind her and removed her robe.
"So you came." He said.
"Forcing me to sneak into your room is not the right thing to do, Lord Prince," she replied.
"Let’s talk about the punishment for putting your dear students into a C-rank dungeon that somehow had an S+ rank monster waiting inside."
"I-I told you, Prince, I checked the entire dungeon with my own two eyes; there was not a single threat that could harm the students."
Prince knew it; the only person who planted the core of infinite illusion on the Crimson Monster’s body was her.
He also knew she would eventually become Kale’s subordinate, and also that she was already the assassin known as the 4th Pillar of the Gray Mist.
"Should I ask my father to punish you personally, Miss Lumina, or should I say... the 4th Pillar of the Gray Mist?"
Upon hearing his words, a dangerous gleam appeared in her squinted eyes.
She pulled out the daggers she was hiding and charged at him with full speed.
As she got close to him, he grabbed her by the wrist, right before her daggers touched him.
It was a close call for him, but he managed to stop her, right before her daggers touched him.
"You just committed a crime, you know?" he taunted, clearly enjoying himself. "What shall we do now?"
He pinned her onto the bed. Both her wrists locked against the soft surface of the bed.
"W-what do you want?" She stuttered in a low voice.
"And I also know why you joined the academy."
"I said, what do you want?"
"Hmm, what do I want? Remove your top right now."
For a moment, she just stared at him, waiting for the punchline.
Whatever she’d braced herself for walking into a prince’s room at midnight, this apparently wasn’t it.
And the confusion flickering on her face was almost enough to make him laugh.
"Huh? You are still a kid; what do you think you are doing?"
He slid her top up a little with his other hand to see her belly clearly.
"Hey! Stop it, you bastard!"
"Sheesh, quiet for a while."
He made a small cut on his finger from the edge of her dagger and placed some of his blood drops on her belly.
Then he used his skill, Shadow Seal, on her belly.
Shadow seal: Used to create a seal on the subject’s body. Once the seal is complete, the enslaved person can no longer defy the master’s orders.
It can only be created with soul stars. 1 soul star = 1 shadow seal.
Soul star: A soul star is a power that grants the user new abilities, such as granting an unbreakable shield or reviving the user 24 hours after death.
The process of collecting the soul star involves extracting living/dead human souls and converting them into the soul star.
"What are you doing to me— ahh!"
"Idiot, don’t make noise! You are in the boys’ dormitory."
He released her as the seal was engraved.
She stood up, her hands stroking her belly, where the mark was engraved.
The mark beneath her palm pulsed faintly with a cold pressure, like something had rooted itself under her skin.
She’d heard rumors about this kind of magic once.
Something old, forbidden things that had supposedly died out generations ago, along with the last person cruel enough to use them.
She hadn’t believed those rumors were true.
Standing here now, feeling that pulse settle into her bones, she was starting to.
"What did you do to me?" she said, snatching up her dagger and lunging at him again.
Before her daggers touched his skin, she felt a strong electric shock run through her body.
Her daggers slipped away from her grasp.
Not knowing what he did to her, she fell to her knees, quivering with indignation.
"Haha, this seal is like a contract between us. Wait, let me correct something. This is a contract between an enslaved person and an enslaver. As long as you obey my orders, nothing will happen to you, but if you deny them, you will be witnessing your own death."
[Soul stars: 0]
"Release me from this f**king nonsense, or I will or I’ll make you regret this!"
Prince almost admired the bravado, empty as it was.
Most people, once they realized exactly what kind of leash they’d just been fitted with, spent the next few minutes in stunned silence.
"Go ahead, let’s see what you can do against me~."
She remembered he was not just any noble or commoner. He was the prince of the Fyugel Empire; she had no authority to oppose a royal figure.
"Ah, this is a pain in the ass.There’s no way you’d engrave a seal on just anyone, so tell me, what do you want from me?"