’Is it because I ruined her plan? Is that why she is taking revenge on Snow?’
’Come to think of it, Snow is a fallen noble who barely managed to keep their family’s name with the help of the Dumien family.’
From behind Elisha, a guy came holding a metal rod. Its upper portion was totally colored red.
Not the actual color, but the metal rod was heated and turned red.
He handed that rod to Elisha.
Prince actually had a bad feeling about this.
Elisha started stretching her hands, holding the heated metal rod, towards Snow’s face.
Snow tried her best to move, but the spell was too strong to break.
She even tried to use magic, but that didn’t work either.
Snow’s face trembled with fear.
’Damn it!’
’That bitch went too far!’
The rod was just about to touch Snow’s soft skin; it was then that Prince, using his skill Night Predator.
The empty air behind Elisha’s shoulder filled in the very next.
Within a second, Prince was already there.
Quickly appeared in front of Elisha and grabbed her hands, his fingers wrapped so tightly around her wrists that the heated rod trembled in her grip.
Nobody in the group had seen him move.
A few of them hadn’t even seen him arrive, one moment there was nothing, and the next there was a prince standing in the middle of their gathering with murder written plainly on his face.
Night Predator: Movement speed and reaction speed massively increase in darkness.
"Hey, it’s Lord Prince! Run!"
As Prince appeared in everyone’s vision, some of them quietly backed off from his presence.
"Lord Prince?" Snow’s eyes widened in shock. It was as if she hadn’t expected him to appear.
"Elisha, what do you think you’re doing?"
Elisha cursed Snow under her breath with an angry expression. "P-P-Prince?"
"First of all, I’m not P-P-PRINCE. I’m Prince." He pushed her hands down.
"And second, since when did I give you permission to call me by my name?"
"Lord Prince, this is not your matter. Please leave quietly! I, Elisha Dumien, of the Dumien family, hold the second rank after the royal family, so I have full authority to take such action against family matters."
’Shit, I’m not even crown prince yet! If I were, I could easily interfere in anyone’s family matters.’
Amidst all this mess, there was one person whose expression gave nothing away.
Somewhere between a sadist enjoying the show and someone too numb or lazy to care.
It was Cerus, with a dead silent face.
"You have five seconds; back off now." Prince released an intense bloodlust that covered the entire academy.
All of them started vanishing into shadows, and the only one left was Elisha.
She mumbled something under her breath as she walked away slowly, trying to mock Prince.
Prince let her have the last word. There’d be plenty of time to make her regret later; right now, his attention needed to be somewhere else.
She also released Snow from her dark magic spell.
Prince turned his face towards Snow Quen, who was still trapped by Dark magic.
"You sure are quite a tough one, huh?" He chuckled.
She was embarrassed, the very person she hated had just saved her life, right in front of her.
"Tha-nks." She muttered.
"Eh. What did you say just now?"
"Thanks."
"I can’t hear properly; say it again."
"I said. Thank you, Lord, for saving my LIFE!"
She turned her face right away. "Why did you save me?"
Prince had a type of face she didn’t want to acknowledge.
With a grin spreading across his face, he said.
"Aren’t we partners? And besides, I’m just returning the favors you gave me a long time ago."
"Seriously, what are you, Lord Prince, and what type of favors—"
She couldn’t finish the words, and the next second, Snow felt her legs go numb, as if they were not part of her body.
Prince quickly grabbed her by the shoulders, preventing her from falling. "Hey, get a hold of yourself."
Her hands instinctively grabbed his arms. "I can’t feel my legs."
"I think it’s because of exhaustion from a dark magic spell. Why did she do such a thing to you? What happened between you two?"
"..." She didn’t reply to him and continued staring at the ground.
Prince didn’t force her. Whatever history sat between Snow and Elisha clearly wasn’t something she was ready to hand over just because he’d asked nicely.
And dragging it out of her by force felt like exactly the wrong way to earn the kind of trust he actually needed from her.
"You can’t walk to the dorm room, right?"
"Ugh-yes."
"Wanna sleep with me? I mean, sleep in my room?"
"Never! Just leave me alone; I’ll figure it out, Lord Prince."
"Are you planning on crawling to your room?"
"I will manage somehow."
"That little pride of yours." He grabbed her waist and pulled her towards him.
They were too close now. Her face flushed red.
...Maybe in embarrassment?
She couldn’t say a single word.
"I’ll help you to reach your dorm room, and I told you to drop that ’Lord’ thing. It feels kinda awkward coming from you."
She averted her eyes, refusing to meet his gaze.
He slid one hand around her waist, then bent and hooked the other beneath her thighs, lifting her into his arms.
While holding her in his arms, he started toward the girls’ dormitory.
Her face went red as they reached the girls’ dormitory.
"Hey, why is your face so red?" His fingers started tickling her waist.
"D-Don’t look at me, Lord Prince."
He stopped moving. "How many times do I need to tell you? Call me just Prince."
"Ugh, ok, just Prince." She fought to control herself, a soft laugh threatening to burst out at any moment.
His face was stunned. "Are you mocking me?"