True Culprit

Riezel's impression of Carrera was neither particularly good nor particularly bad.

In the original Riezel's small group, Carrera had always been around, but she maintained a somewhat distant relationship with everyone, spending most of her time with her little follower, Sylvanie.

Aside from that, she didn't show any special closeness or detachment toward anyone else.

Regarding this, the original Riezel's fondness for her was also quite apparent, at least to Riezel, who believed that she couldn't have missed it.

Nevertheless, Carrera did not treat the original Riezel any differently.

She did not deliberately distance herself from him or warm up to him and remained as distant as ever, treating him like he was just another person, no different from anyone else.

For this reason, Riezel's impression of Carrera was not entirely negative and he merely found her presence to be occasionally strong and sometimes weak.

As Riezel recalled the original Riezel's memories, it now seemed that this daughter of the Elliott family was indeed not as simple as Yuri had said.

In this situation, Yuri revealed something surprising to Riezel.

"Actually, the assassination attempts you encountered before might not be related to the Heretic Assassin, but to Carrera Elliott."

Yuri's sudden revelation made Riezel narrow his eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Riezel looked at Yuri, his expression now much more serious than before.

Seeing this, Yuri hesitated for a moment before finally deciding to tell him something she had previously kept hidden.

"When you went out with Ain and Ian, you were attacked, right? We investigated, and it turns out the attackers were the Shadow Knights directly under the royal family."

From Yuri's explanation, Riezel learned that the so-called 'Shadow Knights' were members of the 'Shadow', a secret assassination unit directly affiliated with the royal family of Jinas and were responsible for handling the royal family's dirty work.

From this, it was clear that the attackers who ambushed Riezel, Ian, and Ain and were ultimately killed by him were actually the Shadow Knights and not people from the Heretic Assassin.

"So, you're saying someone in the royal family is targeting me? Why though?" Riezel asked with a puzzled tone.

At that time, the original Riezel was seen as just a magic student and novice magician from the countryside. Although talented, he was still a nobody and unremarkable. Given that he had only been hanging out with Archie and the others, it seemed unlikely that he would provoke the royal family out of nowhere to the extent that they would send someone specifically to deal with him.

"Wait, you mean my encounter with those attackers is related to Carrera Elliott? Does that mean the royal family is upset about how close I am to the Duke Faction?"

Riezel pieced the facts together.

"Exactly."

Yuri calmly nodded.

"I've investigated this and found the reason."

According to her, a large-scale conflict had recently occurred between the Royal Faction and the Duke Faction.

It turned out that the origin of this conflict was the infamous third prince—Sorren Jinas.

"Prince Sorren believes that no one among the current royal family members can rival him and that there will be no other candidate for the next king besides himself." Yuri explained. "However, a significant portion of the kingdom's nobility has chosen to support the Duke Faction, believing that the next king should be Sergius Cordelion."

In fact, the Cordelion siblings were even more famous in Jinas than their father.

Many supporters of the Duke Faction chose to back not Duke Cordelion himself, but his son, Sergius Cordelion.

Especially since Sergius had also recruited a Sword Saint to join their family, this development had become a major turning point, leading many to believe he would make a great king.

As a result, during that time, Sergius had become a prominent figure, admired and highly regarded by both commoners and nobles.

Thanks to this, the Duke Faction went to great lengths to promote Sergius, leading a large portion of the nobles to believe he would be the best choice for the next king.

However, how could the third prince, who viewed the throne as his personal possession, ignore this?

"Ever since then, Prince Sorren saw Sergius as a thorn in his side. And thanks to his violent temperament, he frequently targeted Sergius, even publicly insulting him in front of the nobles to humiliate him."

As Yuri said this, her lips curled into a sarcastic smile.

"Unfortunately, he underestimated Sergius. In the end, not only did he fail to insult him, but Sergius even taught him a lesson in front of all the nobles. I heard he even lost a front tooth."

Obviously, this was a classic case of a young master getting a taste of his own medicine, as seen in typical Chinese novels.

To Riezel, he could only say that the so-called third prince truly deserved it.

Even so, because of this incident, Sorren harbored a deep hatred for Sergius.

"Afterward, Prince Sorren lost control like a mad dog, relentlessly targeting Sergius and the Cordelion family, sparing no one, not even their vassals or anyone related to the Duke Faction."

Until this point, Yuri's expression had turned serious as she gazed at Riezel.

"I believe the reason you were targeted and attacked by the Shadow Knights might be because of this."

In other words, that mad-dog-like third prince, in his obsession with targeting Sergius and the Cordelion family, was willing to destroy anything beneficial to them.

Unfortunately for Riezel, being a rare talent who might become a Tactical-Class Magician and being close to the daughter of the Elliott family, a vassal of the Cordelion family, made him a target.

"During that time, it wasn't just you. Many people directly related to the Cordelion family were targeted, and even those with indirect connections weren't spared, turning the entire royal capital into total chaos."

Yuri shook her head helplessly.

"However, when you were first attacked and nearly killed, which was the time I saved you, I'm still not sure if it was Prince Sorren behind it."

And so, from that point on, the truth became clearer.

Initially, Yuri hadn't suspected the Shadow or the third prince, believing it was the Heretic Assassin who had targeted Riezel. After all, the Frenzel family was among the few noble families without a clear stance, so their information was relatively outdated, preventing them from learning about the conflict between the two major factions in time.

Needless to say, it wasn't her fault.

Moreover, she wasn't a fan of the royal family or nobles in general, so even if she noticed some signs, she might have ignored them. Since the conflict didn't directly affect her, she adopted an indifferent attitude, remaining a cold observer.

It wasn't until Riezel was attacked a second time and Ain and Ian noticed the involvement of the Shadow that Yuri realized the culprit was likely not the Heretic Assassin but the third prince.

Riezel had been caught in the crossfire, angered by the crazy prince's violent personality.

Clearly, the third prince might not have even known Riezel personally; he was merely targeting everything related to the Cordelion family.

It was precisely because of this that, after learning of it, Yuri quickly went straight to the royal palace to report the matter to the king directly.

As a result, the king flew into a rage, not only grounding all the princes and princesses but also stripping the third prince of his authority over the Shadow.

With that, the situation was somewhat resolved.

"..."

With the whole story clear, Riezel closed his eyes and began pondering.

'Third Prince Sorren Jinas, huh...? So, this guy is the true culprit?'

He finally knew who he should hold accountable.

Yuri then offered a bit of advice.

"After returning to the royal capital, people from both factions might try to make contact with you."

"Some will try to win you over, some will want to build a good relationship with you, but others might have ill intentions."

"You'd better not get too close to either of these factions, or you might get caught up in their struggles again."

Yuri's advice was clear, but Riezel made no response.

At this moment, he was aware of what needed to be done.

===

Recalling the conversation he had with Yuri in the carriage at that time, Riezel looked at the letter in his hand again.

After a moment of contemplation, he set it aside on the magic lamp, lit it, and burned it.

"No matter what you're scheming, this time…"

Riezel smirked, his gaze unusually cold and indifferent.

Afterward, he treated the matter as if it had never happened and handed all the remaining letters to the servant. Although many of the letters were simply greetings from those wanting to make a good impression on him, he had no intention of responding.

If they knew he had no plans to become a noble, they likely wouldn't want to associate with him afterward.

Of course, this was uncertain since his refusal to become a noble didn't mean he would fade away among the crowd.

"Sword Saint…"

A faint whisper echoed in the room, quickly fading away.

===

Quickly, two days passed.

During these two days, everything in the Frenzel residence was arranged, from the stationing of the knightly order to the modifications of the magic defense, all completed through the efforts of Yuri, Marilyn, and others.

Eventually, the number of visitors to the Frenzel residence decreased, no longer as numerous as before.

On this day, Riezel and Yuri finally received the royal palace's summons.

"Let's go."

Inside the top-floor office of the mansion, Yuri approached Riezel and presented an invitation letter.

"We're heading to the palace together. Are you ready?"

Yuri asked calmly, looking straight at Riezel's eyes.

In response, Riezel gave a faint smile.

"Yeah, let's go."

With that, Riezel led the way out of the office, while Yuri, accompanied by Marilyn, followed him silently.

Before long, a carriage departed from the Frenzel residence, heading to the royal palace.