Chapter 57: Chapter: 55

"I'm sorry..."

Rex said with a remorseful expression right after they arrived at the rest parlor exclusively for the Imperial family members.

Grizel furrowed her eyebrows hearing the sudden apology as she is still in his arms carried like a Princess even after he dismissed all of the servants, they don't need to act anymore yet Rex seems like having no intention to let her go from his tight hold as if afraid of losing her.

"What are you sorry for?"

She stretches out her right hand to touch Rex's apologetic face.

"I..."

Rex bits his lower lip hesitates to confess his sin, but he wishes nothing but to be a faithful and helpful partner for his loved one, and he doesn't want to live in guilt.

"I can't get rid of that Goldway daughter out of my mind"

Unaware of his situation for being charmed by Lily and temporarily purified by Grizel, he has a mixed feeling between disgust and interest towards Lily, it's complicated, but regardless of what he thought of her, one thing for sure, he couldn't erase her presence in his head entirely.

"Aaahh! That's normal"

Grizel replied nonchalantly as she jumped out of the confused Prince's arms walking towards the spacious couch, then continues to speak while sitting on it leisurely.

"Rather, it will be more suspicious if you didn't fall for her"

Rex's body stiffened hearing Grizel's casual answer as if it only natural for him to be a two-timer, he approached Grizel and stands in front of her with a frowning face.

"Did you expect me to be an unfaithful partner?"

"No, I know you are smarter than that"

Grizel said firmly as if not a single bit doubting Rex's devotion, seeing the serious face stating her trust toward him, his expression softened as he asked her reason for being so confident of his disloyalty.

"Then why?"

"I never question your loyalty to me, the problem is your opponent..."

Grizel sighed helplessly before revealing the reason why he was suddenly attracted to Lily.

"...She possessed a love charm and the strongest one at that"

"WHAT??!!"

Rex shouted in surprise, having a love charm is already a punishable deed yet Lily was bold enough to use it to the Crown Prince at the Imperial Palace in the presence of all nobles, he couldn't distinguish the difference between her courage and stupidity.

"But, Imperial family members have magic item to prevent those kinds of tricks"

Since love charms are perfect tools to gain what was desired, it's only natural for people in power to take the precautions like preparing amulets against those types of magic.

"Stone of Aphrodite"

Rex startled by the unexpected fact in shock, blessing gained from the Stone of God is on another level compared to mere magic, amulet won't stand a chance against it, it's not because blessings are invincible, but the use of its didn't require mana means it can not be detected or be dispelled, moreover, it left no evidence, meaning that they can't carelessly accuse Lily.

But the most terrifying fact is that blessing can be possessed by anyone regardless of their strength, age, talent, awakener or not, there is no specific qualification to own such a dangerous skill, anyone can be the unexpected enemy, and this time, it's a weak little girl.

"...And the blessing of Aphrodite is love charms"

Hearing Grizel, everything finally makes sense to him, the sudden attractions in Goldway daughter, an unknown thing that forcefully tried to replace his beloved Grizel with that wench.

Rex's face darkened in cold yet the temperature of the parlor is significantly raising, the heat of his mana caused by the boiling rage can be seen as the floor where he is standing is started to turn black burnt, the hot air around him floats upward and moving in wild.

Swoosh...

A fearsome long sword suddenly appears in his grip, it was one of his Yin Yang ancient dual swords, the one that loves the smell of blood, has a good affinity with the dark attribute and negative emotions, the Yin sword, as if having the feeling of excitement, this black sword is leaking a raging dark aura.

Now, the Prince looks like a black flame demon that comes to slaughter every piece of the Goldways.

"I will kill her myself"

Rex said coldly as he walked towards the door with abnormal killing intent that shouldn't be owned by 12 years old boy, this is the first time Grizel sees his violent nature, the dark side of a twisted Prince.

"Rex"

Grizel called, but Rex didn't stop, not showing his princely smile or smirking like usual, as if possessed by a devil, his mind filled with the murderous thoughts of slaughtering the so-called Goldway Princess, he needs to get rid of that thing who threatens his future with Grizel whatever it costs, even if he was seen as a murderer and his gentle Prince's image falling apart, he couldn't care less about such a trivial thing.

"Don't try to stop me"

Rex replied shortly as he walks further, but when he was about to reach the door something is approaching behind his back.

"Rex, it's alright"

His body stiffened as Grizel speaks with a soothing voice hugging the back of the furious Rex, a sense of calming aura spread through his trembling body.

Anger is not the only emotion that filled in his mind, he couldn't think properly as he was also scared, he scared of the future holds for him, what if he betrays Grizel because of the charm, what if she leaves him, what if he loses his only love, what if he forgets her existence, the thought of living without Grizel is driving him crazy.

He is a mess.

"Rex, I am here..."

"I am right here with you"

Grizel said once again to quell his anxiety still hugging his trembling broad back.

Swoosh...

As the Yin sword disappeared back into the tattoo on his wrist that is covering his eyes, warm tears flowing through his cheeks along with the bursts of emotions, the two-faced Crown Prince is crying in silence...

Rex touched the soft beautiful hands which are warping around his body, his love is here, with a desperate begging tone he finally opened his mouth.

"Please... stay with me"

Grizel nodded her head which leaning on his back saying nothing.

Minutes passed with silence creeps between the two, as Rex's body stopped shaking, Grizel start over the conversation and unwrapped her hand around his body.

"Has the storm died down?"

"Ah, yeah. Sorry for my impulsive behavior"

Rex said sheepishly wiping his tears and gained back his composure, the rational prince has never acted this impulsively before, his emotions were indeed unstable due to his unconscious strong counteract of the charm.

Flop!

Grizel sighed and once again throws her body to relax on the comfortable couch as she beckons to Rex to take a seat as well, shamelessly acting as the owner of the place.

Seeing Grizel behaves as nothing happened, Rex just smiled and sit right next to her despite having a spacious couch.

"Grizel, we need to kill her. What if I couldn't resist the charm next time I met that girl?"

Rex seems couldn't fully get rid of his anxiety, but compared to the furious him before, the scheme against the Goldways can finally be discussed, which is not something that should be done by the normal 10 and 12 years old youths.

"No! We can't"

"Why? Is there something more important than getting rid of her dangerous blessing?"

Rex asked in confusion, she's been stopping him to kill those damn Goldways from the beginning, what's the use of letting such a big threat living longer, if he can't kill in public, he can do it in discreet as Lily is nothing but a hindrance between him and his fiancee, what is it that holds more importance than their engagement.

"Their money"

"Their mon- HUH?!!"

Rex broadened his eyes in disbelief, his dropping-jaw open wide couldn't believe in his ears while looking at the determined Grizel as if saying the most crucial thing of all these matters.

"If we kill the Goldway family right away, their wealth will be inherited by their relatives by the law, ugh! I can't bear to let go such a fat golden goose"

Grizel said with passionate eyes imagining the total assets owned by the Goldways in her hands, if she killed them right now, the fat golden goose will be blown away, killing those bastards can be done later after squeezing them dry, nothing more important than money.

"Ha!"

Rex scoffs as he lightly pinched Grizel's lovely cheek, feeling annoyed.

"Is that your concern all along? you couldn't bear to let go of their wealth but totally fine seeing me suffer, huh?!"

Smack!

Grizel softly smacked his hand that pinching her cheek as she replied nonchalantly.

"What? Isn't it worth suffering a little to gain more?"

"Ahem, but why do I feel like I'm the only one who suffered here, or is it only my imagination?"

He said in an annoyed sarcastic tone, feeling like his presence in her life was less important than wealth.

"Your suffering isn't fruitless"

Grizel strokes the hair of the sulking Prince while continuing to speak.

"I have cast my purification magic in secret but big enough to covered the whole hall"

"..."

There's a hint of gloom on Rex's face, without saying anything, he knows that if purification magic has been cast but he still couldn't get rid of that wench entirely only means that Grizel...

"I didn't fail"

She added abruptly glancing at the Prince who made a face as if losing his hope.

"What do you mean?"

"There are 2 results found in my purification attempt, some people get completely purified while the rest only been temporarily purified like you"

"Hhmmm, do you know the cause of the difference in results?

"I have a hunch but I need to confirm it first by casting purification magic on you once again"

Rex nodded as Grizel stretches her hand to Rex while casting purification magic, this time she didn't conceal her beautiful white bright shining mana.

Rex's anxiety vanished along with the interest in Goldway's daughter that keeps bothering him since earlier, Grizel purified him completely from the grasp of the love charm.

"Great, now I'm sure the reason behind the different results"

Grizel smirked while using her appraisal skill to see Rex's condition, he's back to normal means she successfully uncovered the secret to purify the blessing.

"I can use it to loot that Goldways, it all thanks to those guinea pig nobles and the pri- never mind"

Rex narrowed his eyes in suspicion at Grizel's last word, obvious enough that he is one of those useful guinea pigs for her experiment in uncovering the way to purify the love charm.

"It's good to be such a great help to you, my beloved future wife"

Putting aside Rex's sarcastic remarks, Grizel nodded in agreement before answering back.

"I wish to share this happy moment with you, but unfortunately, this result will be classified as a paid information, if you wish to hear it..."

She tapped his shoulder and shows her most innocent smile.

"...you know what I mean, right? My wealthy Prince~"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA"

Rex bursts into loud laughter like never been able to laugh for ages washing away his tears before, he was used as an experiment subject and suffered, now he needs to pay the bills for the information gained from his big help.

What a demon.

'Why do I feel like being cheated while I was the one who almost cheats on this heartless fiancee of mine'

He doesn't know anymore if Grizel is a curse or a blessing in his life, fortune or misfortune, but he loves her the way she is.

"Name the price, I'll pay in cash"

Rex said confidently while smirking, after all, he is the only prince of this nation, money is not a problem.

"I'll tell you next time, for now, let me share this pricey information with my favorite customer here"

With a wide smile, she began to explain her experiment result.

To be continued...

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Author's Corner:

One of the readers asked me, did I have a picture of Rex? I said, no.

Yes, I don't have his picture, this author sucks at drawing.

But...

There's an art illustrated by an artist named GOM (y_dalgom) all the credit belongs to her/him.

This pic has the vibe of Rex, it's not him, but it resembles him a lot, the medieval theme, the gentle princely yet kinda twisted expression.

Unfortunately, the original art has different hair and eye colors from Rex, thus, I tried to recolor it with Rex's citrine eyes and blond hair with a glimpse of red.

It turns out awesome that I think his resemblance to Rex in my mind almost reaches 80%, lmao check it out.

Abigor Áedán Rex Von Royale Azure

If Abigor is the Great Duke of Hell, then you know who is the Lord of hell, right?

ƪ(•̃͡ε•̃͡)∫ʃ

Rex is a warrior-mage, and his dominant attribute besides his Swordsmanship is Fire, such as his Flame Ancient armor and lightning magic.

So, I give Áedán which has the meaning of Fire as his middle name.

And Rex means King, well, he's the future Emperor after all.

And Von Royal Azure is the evidence of his status means he's a Royal Family member in Azure Empire.