Chapter 240: I Am Going to Kill You (7)

The effect of the artifact Orphe’s Mask was that it Charmed the other person and was volatilely activated when the mask came off. Its power grew stronger the longer it had been worn.

Keter wore the mask starting a week before attending the party, and as a result, he could directly face Princess Iris’s Charm for a brief moment. However, the Charm Orphe’s Mask released was instantly activated. It was strongest the moment the mask came off. From then on its power gradually decreased.

If things continued this way, Keter would be swallowed by Princess Iris’s Charm. Of course, he had already suffered enough from the Nine-tailed Fox Tribe’s Charm that he had some resistance, but he couldn’t guarantee he would be completely fine. Setting safety aside, Keter didn’t want to lose in any circumstance. Thus, he tore off his top.

Charm is ultimately attractiveness!

No matter how stylish he dressed, it couldn’t beat a bare body. Of course, attractiveness was relative, so there was a chance it might not work. However, doing at least something rather than blankly standing there matched Keter’s nature.

As a result, it worked. Iris turned her head away at Keter’s unexpected stripping. Though she wasn’t struck by his Charm. If she had been, she would have kept staring, unable to regain her senses. She simply felt embarrassed. It was the first time she ever saw a man’s bare torso.

Paradoxically, it was also the first time she ever saw a man openly take off his top like that, and with good reason. She was a princess, the only one in this country. It wasn’t that the men who had fallen for her Charm in the past never tried a stripping show. Their necks and bodies had simply separated before they could try.

However, now she stood entirely alone. Strictly speaking, Krona was watching as well, but she only stared at Keter’s stripping with a look that said he was insane. Thus, there was no winner in the Charm contest. Princess Iris could have Charmed Keter if she wished, yet she couldn’t look at his bare body, so it was useless. Besides, Keter had already used up Orphe’s Mask. It was an obvious draw.

However, Keter raised his clenched fist and said, “I won.”

At his shameless declaration of victory, even Princess Iris thought this was absurd.

***

Iris lost her fighting spirit. Although Keter had used an artifact, he still faced her Charm head-on. A high noble and a knight who represented the south had stripped his top before a woman as he pleased. The whole thing felt embarrassing, absurd, and dejecting.

I’ve never seen anyone like this.

That didn’t mean she felt affection, yet she also didn’t feel disgust.

Above all... even though we aren’t meeting eyes, he seems unaffected by my Charm.

She still Charmed the other person even without eye contact when she removed her mask. Yet, Keter was fine. She needed to check what would happen if he faced her directly, but he indirectly resisted the Charm at the very least. That alone made Iris feel emotional.

Someone who can endure my Charm has finally appeared. So, such a person does exist after all.

Iris had been waiting for her prince who would come and rescue her from her ‘dragon.’ She believed that one day, a man who wouldn’t be influenced by her Charm would appear and purely love her.

Keter isn’t the prince I imagined and he’s not a normal person either... but can’t he be a friend?

A princess had no friends. There was Lexus, her guard knight, but because of the difference in status, a superior-subordinate relationship formed. Keter was also essentially a noble, but he was different.

He does lack manners a bit, but he’s not rude... or maybe he is a bit. Still, I think it’s tolerable.

Click.

The princess put the mask back on and took a deep breath. The banquet hall had turned into chaos, and was filled with people who had collapsed.

In the silence that did not match the scene, the princess regained her senses. She had only tried to Charm Keter to tease Krona and had no other intent.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized first to Keter, feeling ashamed of that plan.

Seeing this, Krona approached and said, “I wondered how long you would live like a child, yet it seems you’ve grown up a bit.”

“...Krona, you stay out of this.”

“That I cannot do. Who knows what you might do to our little cutie?”

“Are you saying I’m dangerous? That’s not something someone who lined up handsome men to play with should say.”

“So you’re bringing up the past, huh? I wonder where the cute young lady who once called me big sister and followed me around has gone.”

Sparks seemed to fly between the two women glaring at each other.

Usually, one would squirm in discomfort at such a sight, but Keter put on the shirt he took from a fainted noble and casually asked, “Do you have any more business with me? If not, I would like to end the party soon.”

All the nobles and the Sefiras at the party had been knocked out. The only ones standing were Lexus, the princess’s guard knight, and Hissop, who endured with tremendous willpower.

“I’m going to leave when Iris leaves.”

“I was planning to go even without you saying that, Lexus!”

At the princess’s call, Lexus nodded and whistled. It was the whistle that summoned a drake.

“Give me that too.”

“Pardon? Princess, surely not?”

“Hurry.”

“

Hmm...

”

Lexus shot Keter a look, then took a gold-foiled envelope from her pocket and handed it to the princess. The envelope went straight to Keter.

“No pressure... Actually, maybe I should’ve said to feel at least some pressure.”

When Keter checked the contents of the envelope, Iris let out a hollow laugh.

Lexus’ eyes widened in fury. “Y-You insane man! How dare you look at that here! Do you not know what manners are?!”

Keter simply ignored Lexus and skimmed the contents. It was an invitation to a birthday banquet in a month.

Keter’s face was so expressionless as he looked at the invitation that the princess found it hard to read his feelings.

“No need to feel pressured. I’m only inviting you to build friendship. It’s not a trap.”

Iris had said that because she worried Keter might refuse, thinking it was a trap.

However, Keter answered with an action beyond words. The birthday party invitation the princess had handed him was shredded without mercy. As Iris stared blankly at the papers drifting down, Keter hit the nail on the head.

“I’m going to kill you.”

***

Krona, Iris, and Lexus saw Keter for the first time that day. However, they all felt from the first impression that Keter was insane. He had even introduced himself as the crazy one of his family, so the three had already known he was thoroughly mad.

Even so, his remark just now exceeded expectations.

I’m going to kill you.

At Keter’s sudden death threat, Iris seriously wondered if she was drunk.

Shing!

Lexus drew her sword and moved toward Keter. “How dare you threaten to kill our noble princess? That is summary execution.”

“Lexus, wait.”

When the princess stopped her, Lexus said with a frustrated face, “Your Highness, please do not stop me. This madman insulted the entire royal family.”

“I also have no intention of forgiving Keter’s words or deeds, but I must hear the reason. Keter, what in the world made you say you’re going to kill me? If you planned to kill me, wouldn’t it have been better to do it without warning? It would have been the perfect chance.”

Krona, who was also watching all of this unfold, was so baffled by Keter’s words that she awaited what he would say next.

At that, Keter answered, “I don’t plan to kill you now but later.”

“Why? Because I ruined your party?”

“No.”

“Because I tried to Charm you?”

“No.”

“Then why?”

“I have my circumstances. One where I need to kill you.”

Iris felt unbearably frustrated. She had never in her life felt so angry and so dumbfounded.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

“Right, so why would you tell me that in advance then? It would be easier to kill me if you hadn’t told me.”

“So you wouldn’t get attached to me.”

Iris stayed silent.

“I don’t want to kill a friend.”

“So... you’re saying you warned me because you plan to kill me later and you didn’t want me to grow close?”

Keter calmly nodded.

“You do know I am a princess, right?”

“Yes, I know.”

“Did you not think that insulting royalty alone could bring the death penalty?”

“Just treat it as if I were drunk and joking and let it go, please.”

“You mean you saying you’re going to kill me was a joke?”

“No. That is true, but I don’t want to be executed. So, I’m asking you to just pretend you didn’t hear anything.”

Iris had never spoken this long with one person in her life. That alone felt unfamiliar and made her dizzy, but at the same time, she wasn’t entirely sure if they were communicating so well. It made her mind go blank.

“So, I’m getting asked to just forget about the assassin who tried to kill me? Did I hear that right, Lexus?”

“Princess, you do not need to hear more.”

Vrrrr!

Blue aura covered Lexus’s sword. If the princess ordered, she would tear Keter apart at once.

Krona, who watched this, also fell into thought.

Shall I protect her?

No matter how much she liked Keter, threatening the royal family crossed the line. She was also one of the Four Lords. She had a duty to protect the royal family. By not attacking Keter in that moment, she already risked charges of dereliction of duty.

Ugh, I don’t know. What on earth is he thinking? I can’t believe he declared he would kill Iris, whom he met today.

Keter was clearly crazy, but his madness wasn’t without direction. That made it stranger. What would Keter possibly gain from killing Iris?

“Alright, try to kill me then.”

“Princess, what are you saying?” Lexus asked in dismay.

“I was bored anyway. I think it would be fun... if at least one person tried to take my life.”

“No. As a knight, I cannot put you in danger. I need to kill Keter here and now, even if that means I get dismissed.”

“Not as my guard knight but as a friend, please pretend you didn’t hear this, Lexus.”

The tip of Lexus’ sword trembled at the princess’ words that wasn’t a command but a request. Lexus stayed silent, then sheathed his sword and examined Keter’s face,

Then Lexus said, “I will stand down for now since the princess has asked, but you will never get to kill the princess, not until you kill me first.”

“That’s too easy of a condition.”

“

Tsk!

”

At that moment, the drake Lexus had called came down from the sky.

“Keter, today was fun, in many ways.”

With those words, Iris climbed onto the drake, and Lexus took off and vanished.

***

“Drakes,

huh,

it would be nice to have a few of those...” Keter muttered as he saw the drake growing further away.

Krona approached him and asked, “You, what is your goal?”

It wasn’t a question asked for an answer, yet Keter readily answered again, “To live freely and with fun. That is the purpose of my life.”

“An unconvincing goal. Well, I guess everyone is like that since people would see right through you if you don’t hide it.”

Keter had spoken the truth without a trace of lie, but Krona thought even that truth was false.

“By the way, do you know why I stayed until the end?”

“I do not.”

“Soon, this country will greatly change. A transformation is coming.”

“You sure speak vaguely too, Big Sis.”

“It would be boring if I told you everything.”

Krona grinned, but Keter didn’t feel very disappointed because he already knew what she meant by transformation.

A civil war. Because of the queen’s long absence, the first prince tried to ascend the throne but failed due to the second prince’s interference. As a result, a factional conflict arose between the first prince and the second prince and that would grow into a civil war. Of course, it wouldn’t be a full-scale civil war. If it were, the whole nation would collapse. It would be a civil war where only the nobles would bleed, not the people. That was the coming transformation of this country.

And it would also become the reason Sefira would face annihilation.

It had originally been something that would happen at least a year later than now, but the timing was pulled earlier. There was only one reason.

The revival of Sefira has accelerated the transformation.

Someone who didn’t want to see Sefira rise must have pressured the princes, and it was obvious who that someone was. The six Masters of Swordsmanship. Their influence alone was more than enough to bring about the transformation. Yet, to Keter, it was laughable.

Their goal might have been to leave Sefira no room to grow, but the foundation has already been laid out.

Rather, now was the perfect time since growth bloomed more in war than in peace.

There’s no time to be bored, hehehe.

Keter had even worried that the Masters of Swordsmanship might get scared and prevent the civil war from happening. However, he felt relieved now.

Krona watched Keter smile at the mention of transformation and looked fed up.

“Both Eslow and I, I’m not sure if we’re doing the right thing.”

“I don’t know about anything else, but I can promise you one thing, Big Sis. It will be fun. Very fun.”

“You speak like the devil. Can’t you tremble with a little fear fitting for your age?” Krona grinned.

“That would be quite difficult.”

“

Hmm...

if you say that, that stirs my competitive spirit.”

Krona briefly considered whether she should throw Keter into eternity, then decided not to.

“I feel like I shouldn’t show you my cards.”

“But you’ve already shown so many,” Keter commented.

“That was just a drop in the ocean.”

Keter felt the urge to say that he had seen everything in his previous life, but held back, resulting in a faint laugh slipping out.

“Laughing again for no reason,

huh. Sigh.

Whatever, I’m gonna go too.”

After saying those words, Krona suddenly vanished before his eyes as if she had never been there.

***

Sefira’s party began calmly and ended like a storm. In only about six hours, the party carried Sefira’s full resolve. They showed all nobles their will to no longer endure silent contempt and disregard, but to overcome and grow.

In fact, they defeated Vector of the Browning family, the greatest Masters of Swordsmanship family in the kingdom, and openly made enemies with the Old Nobles' Circle. Through this, all nobles came to know painfully that Sefira held such strength. From then on, there was no family, at least in the south, that dismissed Sefira as unworthy of the name of a noble family.

As they cleaned up after the storm-like party, time passed in a blur for Sefira. Keter also locked himself away as he focused on refining Ein, what he had learned from Hyperion. Ein, which fused aura and mana, didn’t finish in a day or two. He had to train with patience like steeping tea leaves in cold water.

A week instantly passed, and many things happened in that time. First, Anis and Taragon left home. They headed to the border front with knights in place of the Seven Stars of the North who had returned home. The two showed no complaint at Hissop’s one-sided notice and accepted it.

“We’ll return more maturely.”

“We have to show that Sefira is not easy to go up against.”

Then it was one day when...

“Lord Keter! Strategist Daat!”

On the field where winter wind had begun to blow, Navakin came to the two who had been enjoying a nap under warm sunlight.

“It is an urgent matter. You must come to the meeting room right away!”

Keter yawned and answered, “It better be an urgent matter, or else.”

Grumbling as he got disturbed during his nap, he headed to the meeting room with Dork. There, all the key figures of the family had already gathered.

In the serious atmosphere, Hissop, who still served as the temporary head, got straight to the point.

“Keter, the royal family has sent word.”

At that, Keter showed a face that said what was to come had finally come.