People said, ‘Bad news travels fast’. News about what Davey had done quickly spread throughout the palace. This was inevitable, especially since Amy had requested help from the guards. It was as if she wanted the news to get out.

Slap!! Davey’s head turned from the powerful slap. He silently looked up at the menacing woman standing in front of him. It was Queen Lynesse, the woman in charge of the low-ranking priest that Davey had killed. She also happened to have the most power in this palace.

“You’ve gone mad!”

“Mad, you say…”

“How dare you kill a priest from the holy empire!”

Davey smirked at Queen Lynesse’s screaming. “Priest Borte threatened my life for his greed. Therefore, I punished him according to the law. Is there a problem with that?

“Still, you!” Throwing away her usual act of elegance, Queen Lynesse raised her hand again. But before she could act…

Davey said, “Isn’t it funny?”

“What?”

“The rules and laws of this palace weren’t this messed up before I slipped into unconsciousness.” Since Queen Lynesse kept silent, Davey continued, “Such an incident has happened, but His Majesty the King is keeping silent. And I’m the one who killed a traitor that defiled the royal family, but I’m the one being scolded. It’s quite amusing, how the status of a royal family is less than that of a low-ranking priest…”

Davey looked Queen Lynesse right in the eyes with a smile. He was not the old Davey who used to avoid her gaze because of the pressure anymore. Usually, Davey would have laid low, but he didn’t recover his body and train for three months out of everyone’s sight just to be shit on. He did it because he needed the strength to protect himself, at least.

“How dare you speak of His Majesty and the authority of the royal family… You’ve gone insane, haven’t you?”

“Well, I don’t know if I’m the crazy one, or if the crown is.” Keeping a smile, Davey stared at Queen Lynesse.

“There is no evidence. For whatever reason you slashed him, this is not some minor thing for you to think and decide with your shallow, stupid head. The holy empire will protest at any minute!

“....”

“Well… I knew that you were stupid, like your mother, but I didn’t expect you to be this thoughtless.”

Davey put on a bigger smile after listening to Queen Lynesse’s words. “Of course, I take after my mother.”

“You vulgar thing. Both you and your mother are nothing but vulgar.”

“It’s not good to speak ill of a parent in front of their child, Your Majesty.” In a moment, Davey’s killing aura erupted. It was a shapeless killing aura that couldn’t be controlled. If a small amount of mana was mixed into it, life aura and killing aura could both become sufficient weapons.

“Hup!” Staring at Davey with a pale face, Queen Lynesse backed away from him. At the same time, the ladies-in-waiting flinched, feeling that something was wrong from how Queen Lynesse was acting. With how they all hid their hands, they had seemingly noticed the killing aura and were about to pull out their swords. It definitely wasn’t something regular ladies-in-waiting would do. Among them, one lady-in-waiting gave off a distinctive dark aura.

‘Huh…’

“It’s nice to see their loyalty. It would’ve been fun if they pulled it out just a little bit more…” Davey retracted his killing aura as if it was never there, and smiled brightly. “Going too far could cost you your life. Not just yours, Your Majesty, but anyone else’s as well. No one will be able to get away with murdering the same royal family member twice.”

“You little…”

“I do hope the right choice is made, since I would no longer just take it lying.” Without hesitation, Davey stood up and grabbed his cane, then limped past Queen Lynesse. “I am tired, so would you please go? As you can see, the palace is not managed well. For a precious person to visit this shabby place…”

“You!!!”

“And, please be quiet in my palace. As you can see, the palace isn’t in a good condition because of someone.” Davey turned his back on Queen Lynesse, as if he had nothing more to say.

At that moment, Davey could feel Queen Lynesse staring at him in confusion. Davey’s intentions were definitely well conveyed. Concealing his threats and playing nice wasn’t a good fit for Davey, since he had a very reckless and action-first personality. If he had his original powers, he would’ve torn everything apart the day he woke up.

Queen Lynesse was a woman smart enough to understand the meaning of Davey’s words, so she turned away after shooting him with a final spiteful glare.

Davey’s trump card had an expiration date; if he didn’t use it when he had the chance, it would become useless garbage. And because of that, Davey hinted explicitly that he had seen that goddamn Second Prince Carlus shoot the arrow at him during the hunting competition six years ago. Queen Lynesse, who was unsure whether Davey knew or not, should now clearly know that Davey knew the whole story. Soon, she would try to shut Davey’s mouth.

“Ah, right. All the helping hands of my palace have disappeared. Don’t play useless games.”

“....”

“Your Majesty, you are responsible for taking care of the royal palace. I hope you will find them and bring them here as fast as possible. If this keeps going on, a strange rumor may spread.”

Davey’s words incited a vicious look in Queen Lynesse’s eyes. As mentioned, Davey did not like to hide his threats and play nice.

“Since they dared to embezzle the funds of the royal palace, their crimes are not light. To my knowledge…” After slurring the end of his sentence and mumbling as if he was in thought, Davey smiled. “It warrants a beheading. Haha, you wouldn’t be stupid enough to not know that, right?”

Queen Lynesse scoffed at Davey and quickly left. This was enough for Davey, who threw himself on his bed. Feeling satisfied, he moved his mana and saw four circles rotating inside his body. They weren’t moving along with the heart but the meridians. ‘Search-eye.’

The devil mana symbolized secrecy. Unnoticeably, a black current of air spread and attached itself to Queen Lynesse. It wouldn’t last for long, but Davey getting some eyes on her was quite a good exchange for a slap in the face.

* * *

“....” Queen Lynesse, who returned to her room without speaking a word, kept her silence with a vicious expression.

“Your Majesty.”

Slap! The lady-in-waiting, who opened her mouth at the sight of the queen, was slapped on the face.

“How dare you move too quickly. Do you bitches truly wish to die!”

“I apologize, Your Majesty.” The lady-in-waiting was almost inhumanly emotionless.

Even more enraged by that sight, Queen Lynesse hysterically threw everything that she could grab as she let out a scream. Everyone at the queen’s palace knew that she did not have a nice personality. Even when glass products broke and wooden tables cracked, there was no one stopping her; they were just waiting for her hysteria to stop.

Pant… Pant… After acting violently for a long period of time, Queen Lynesse placed her hand on the broken wooden table with a menacing expression. She growled, while tightening her fist so much that her palm could bleed. “That vulgar thing that doesn’t know its place!”

Davey wasn’t like that in the past. Like his vulgar mother, he was a fool; it meant that Queen Lynesse could’ve gotten rid of him when she wanted. However, Davey, who had come out of his coma, was now like a completely different person.

“Okay. If you want to die that badly, there’s nothing I can do.” Breathing roughly, Queen Lynesse mumbled, “Keep it up. Your reckless and senseless actions will slowly come to kill you.”

Queen Lynesse didn’t know that Davey was humming while listening to her hysterical cries.

* * *

Everything went along as expected. The rumor had spread throughout the palace.

‘The First Prince Davey O'Rowane has gone mad.’

‘Swept up in insanity, he killed everyone near him without blinking an eye, and he has lost his dignity as royalty.’

Since a majority of the people in the palace were a part of Queen Lynesse’s camp, it didn’t take long for Davey’s image to progressively worsen as the rumor spread. He previously had a reputation of being a friendly and kind prince, despite being weak and unfit to be king. But now, he was seen as a madman.

While Davey was silently reading, Amy cautiously entered and fussed about it. “Your Highness! Medicinal herbs have arrived today as well!”

Amy was shocked from seeing Davey swing his sword, but she knew that he did it to save her. Davey was usually a normal–no, warm-hearted–person, so she often smiled at Davey now too.

Just like seeing a cute younger sibling, Amy’s smile put Davey in a good mood. Since there was no one younger than Davey at the Hall, he often had to treat people as older sisters, brothers, old men, or grandpas, but never as a younger sibling. But here, Davey was 16, and Amy was slightly younger than him. Although there was a huge difference in their status, wasn’t it right for one to take care of their own?

“Who keeps leaving it there?” Davey asked, pretending not to know that someone came by at night.

It initially started with food, but medicinal herbs had been added to the mix after the slashing incident with Priest Borte. The delivery was always done secretly, so nobody else knew about it. The resources really helped Davey, though he simply stored the medicinal herbs. He did not need them.

To be clear, Davey was fully recovered now. Him focusing solely on his recovery and training for five months really began to show its effects. His recovery speed also started to get faster, so it didn’t take long for Davey to become healthy.

Amy smiled brightly, “I don’t know. Maybe someone who knows of your character is secretly helping you.”

“Do I look like I have a good character?”

“Yes!”

Davey chuckled when he saw Amy smile and nod without hesitation. Seeing that she still thought that way, even after he had slashed someone in front of her eyes, Davey found Amy surprising in many different ways. He then said, “Take care of those medicinal herbs and store them well.”

“Would you like me to make some medici…”

“I know my body best. I’m fine with the medicine I have now.”

Amy had a long face as Davey firmly declined, but soon nodded. Davey was someone who kept his word.

“His Highness, are you there?”

While chatting with Amy and occasionally teasing Amy, Davey heard someone call him. He slowly stood up before going outside, where he saw an old servant in uniform bow at him.

“I am in the presence of the little Sun of the kingdom.”

“Enough with the formalities. What’s the matter?”

Davey knew who this old man was: the royal attendant, Bespard. He was the king’s servant and the head of all the servants in the palace. Since he was an old man who had worked here ever since Davey was born, he was an experienced servant.

“As ordered by Queen Lynesse, here are the people, who neglected their duties and embezzled the funds of the first prince’s palace, and ran away.”

At his resolute attitude, Davey slightly opened his eyes and let out a sigh; he could see around ten people tied up and kneeling on the floor with frightened faces.