Chapter 17: Taming the assasin

Julius put his hands down as she walked away, and not just the instructor, but also most of the students were confused as to why the prince acted that way.

'Hm... I didn't get lucky. She knew that my shadow knight is watching. I need her off my back, seriously,' Julius thought with a frown, and then he nodded as he quickly made a plan.

"Ah, look. It's the third and fourth prince!"

"It's them? Oh my God, it's them!"

"The princes? Where?!"

The training grounds suddenly became a bit noisy as Cider and Rowan showed up out of nowhere, and the instructor went over to meet them.

'I wonder what they want,' Julius thought, and then he caught an evil smile from Cider and a cold glance from Rowan, and he knew now that they were here for revenge.

"Alright, everyone. The next round in the training will be combat with practice weapons," the instructor said out loud, and all the students got ready.

"The matchups will be random, so get ready."

Julius, who was sitting by the cover, only scoffed at what the instructor said. Clearly, he was going to match him up with one of the twins, and he'd have to fight hard.

The first two people weren't that good, with nothing really interesting about them. They both had explosive power, but Julius could still read them clearly.

And soon, just like he predicted, it happened.

"Next matchup: Julius and Cider," the man said with a smile, and the prince with spiky red hair and green eyes walked out with a smile on his face.

Julius wasted no time and moved to shorten the distance between them. Cider smiled as he swung his sword down as Julius approached him, and Julius only sidestepped and struck from the side.

Cider frowned as he dodged, and the two of them began to exchange blows back and forth.

They dueled, the sounds of their swords reaching everyone's ears, and even the coach couldn't help but frown as Julius kept up with his elder brother.

Julius had a deadly calm gaze as he blocked each and every strike sent his way, but he seemed shaken from each strike.

The instructor noticed this, and he frowned as Julius regained his footing in the next second for another attack.

Julius then began to be more ferocious with his strikes, hitting all the vital points: shoulder, thigh, stomach, chin...

Cider was having a hard time keeping up, and then he was confused as Julius came closer, striking horizontally.

Julius only rolled forward before kicking Cider's knee backward and making him kneel.

Julius then tapped his head with the wooden sword, and Cider's eyes widened as he tried to comprehend what just happened.

'He beat me. It's just sword skills, and he beat me...' Cider's lips twitched at this, and he stood up before stretching his hand toward Julius, who was walking away, and a large fireball shot out toward Julius.

"Watch out!" The instructor had already moved, and before he could even reach Julius, a wall of ice rose from the ground, blocking the flame.

Julius was shocked by what happened, and he saw the wall behind him immediately after he turned back.

The temperature in the surroundings drastically dropped, and a boy walked into the training grounds with a nonchalant face.

"Ah, it's Prince River."

"Why is he here?"

"He saved Prince Julius! Aren't they supposed to be enemies or something?"

The students chatted.

Cider gritted his teeth as he saw what blocked his attack, and he couldn't keep it all in.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He sent another fireball at River, and the prince stopped walking and frowned.

Cider's eyes widened as he saw River's frown, and the fire dissipated immediately.

"Control yourself, or Uncle Berlin will deal with you seriously like he did once," River said in a flat tone.

His face showed no emotion, which added to the cold aura surrounding him.

"Also, don't talk to me in that manner again. Else, I'll beat you," River said, walking out of the place.

Julius glanced at him, and as the wind blew his long red hair to the side, his eyes caught the symbol of a snowflake on his forehead, and he frowned.

'He already has a contract with a spirit at such a young age. Well, he has to be powerful for him to rival the main character,' Julius thought as he watched the main antagonist of the academy arc walk away.

'How the hell did I even get to this point? It's just crazy,' Julius couldn't help but think as he looked around.

Meanwhile, the girl he spoke to a while ago watched from a distance with a stern look and smiled as she left the scene.

...

After training that day, Julius left the grounds and went around the castle grounds, walking around.

He smiled as he walked into a dark corner with a smile on his face.

"Hey, we meet again," Julius said as he looked at the black-haired girl from earlier.

"You must have a death wish to confront me like this," she said in a cold tone as she glanced at Julius.

"Maybe I do. But I also know you're not the type to just attack without a reason. You've been observing me for a while, haven't you?" Julius asked as he gazed at her, and she seemed hesitant to speak.

"How did you find out about me?" she asked, pulling out a dagger, and Julius glanced at it.

"A special spell rune I awakened. I can see you clearly," Julius said, and she sighed and let out a breath.

"What do you want?" she asked.

She seemed curious.

Julius knew that she could kill him in the blink of an eye as she had special abilities, but he still confronted her.

"Sit, let's talk for a while," Julius said as he sat on the ground, and Sera frowned at him as he did this.

She was curious about the entire thing, and she sat down too.

"The point is that I need you off my back. If you give me some time, I can disable the slave rune on you, and you won't have to be under anyone's command."

Sera, or perhaps Ivana, seemed shocked as she heard Julius say this, and then she opened her mouth slightly to speak.

"You... You can see the rune?" she asked, and Julius nodded.

"I can't remove it completely, but I can tell you how you can dampen it so no one will be able to hurt you with it. What do you say?" Julius asked with a smile, and Ivana seemed to show no emotion except for a slight stern look she gave him.

"Fine, how long do you need?" she asked with a shrug, and Julius smiled.

'I guess reading about these characters made it easy to manipulate them. I kind of feel bad for her...'