Chapter 30: The King II

To say Alexander was proud of Xiao was an understatement. He was squealing in joy internally when she won.

The match started off pretty grim at first, with Harvey pulling his usual mana restriction spell and wage war on the young witch, but Xiao somehow found a "loop hole" as the Abbot put it, and she managed to toss the fucker in the air and give him the Blake treatment.

There's one tiny little problem that bugged the once-king.

In his previous life, Xiao didn't pull the mana-grab-and-throw stunt until half way through her third year. Alexander remembered that Xiao didn't get first place, so Harvey graduated with a first rank to his name. In his previous life, Alexander didn't surrender to Xiao, he wasn't in the top ten until he reached his fifth year where he got a solid grasp on his shadow magic.

But now... Since the shit Xiao pulled on poor Blake Quinton, the prince would rather surrender and sit back on his seat sipping lemonade than get his mana fucked with and break some bones. In his previous life, Xiao managed to follow her uncle's footsteps and became secretary to the Monastery's Abbot while his dear Raxithak worked all the way to the top. Sometimes, things didn't go as planned, and Raxith's greatest weapon which secured his place as the Abbot wasn't Prince Alexander's support, it was Xiao, the little lady who can defeat an army in a minute if she desired. Alexander saw first hand of the things she was capable of, and what happened today with Blake in three seconds had happened a million times to thousands of people from the once-king's past life.

To get to the point, the thing that sent chills down Alexander's spine is Xiao unlocked her deadliest skill earlier than expected.

Xan doesn't want to overthink things, after all getting a second chance is already a blessing. He could understand his power better and earlier, giving him the confidence to rise up the ranks in the Monastery and hopefully get his father's attention. If the prince can somehow fix his relationship with his father without bloodshed, he would. Besides, he doesn't want to be king anymore, one of his younger brother shall be one.

However, there's another power at play here. As soon as the demon's name crossed his him, Alexander let out a sigh, barely containing his anger.

His hand gripped the intricate marble railing as he looked at Xiao behind healed by a pair of professors.

Xiao unlocked her deadliest skill in second year, which was much earlier than last time. Alexander also joined the top ten rank much earlier than last time. Either she has already met the demon who taught her the skill, or the universe is just trying to catch up with the prince's fast pace.

The once-king took another look at the young witch spacing out as the professor escorted her back to the door. With the few conversations they had, Xiao seemed pretty okay. She's not horribly depressed and cynical yet, which happened somewhere in her third year last time. When the graduated, Alexander thought she was over her gloomy phase, and she grew up to be a fine woman.

Who has a dark secret that would soon become the beginning of the end for Alexander and Raxith.

Whatever was plaguing her never left, she just never showed it to anyone anymore until one day Xith urged Xan to follow her. It was an already stressful time, with war and all that shit, so no one believed Princess Aurelia when she came to them shouting about Xiao using the help of a demon to save her. But Princess Aurelia made some good points, so when Xiao taught her students how to function without her, Raxith immediately became worried.

His mind was brought to the present when the door behind him opened, and the Devinsky cousins crowded the doorway to greet their victor.

Xiao looked a little overwhelmed by the attention, as usual. Alexander stared at her longer than he should.

There's gotta be some indication that she's met the demon somehow, but she doesn't look gloomy and doesn't make any cynical jokes. She did mentioned "Alexander's eight times great uncle" once or twice since her little assignment on Silverin Temple, and the once-king wanted nothing more than to not associate with that specific ancestor of his.

Maybe he should check on the Silverin Temple to see if the demon is there. Of course, he'll be there, he's trapped until Xiao figured out how to break him out. Maybe Alexander should end his existence before he could influence Xiao.

When the once-king reaches has a hold of his shadow power, he will kill that fucking demon before that fucker could do anything.

Killing the demon will save Xiao, and Xiao being alive will keep Raxithak from going off into the deep end.

After their little celebration on the balcony, Alexander casually rested his arm around Raxithak's shoulder as they walked down the hall of the colosseum. The other teen only side-eyed him once, but he didn't say anything. No sassy remarks, no snarling or eye rolling.

The prince's smile widened at that. Maybe Raxith is already warming up to him. For the past month, Alexander tried his best to not be his former self. Sure, he kept up his egoistic act so that the others wouldn't think he's possessed or something, but he made it clear that he has a soft spot for one person in particular.

At the end of the hallway, his green eyes landed on the one and only Royal Advisor Isaac Devinsky. Xiao promptly stopped in her tracks next to Raxithak, and the prince could feel her shaking.

Ever since he realized that his shadow power was awakening, he made good use of his senses. His perception doubled, his physical strength more than doubled, his general senses sharpened by a huge margin.

The only downside to that is he could literally feel the vibration of the young witch's anxiety when she's faced with her family.

If only Alexander noticed this in his previous life.

"Your highness." The Royal Advisor lowered his head in greeting as he addressed the prince, as if his own daughter isn't there and she didn't just win first place.

Shits like this is why Xiao turned to the demon for comfort in the first place.