Chapter 15

“Shut up. You don’t know anything, Greg.”

Lexion murmured in a sullen tone with a disheveled appearance.

The neat appearance was gone, and only an exhausted friend remained.

It was the first time he looked that devastated.

Gregory laughed when he realized that it was all because of a woman named Tiarozetti Isol.

‘The world’s best man, Lexion, is acting like this just because of a woman?’

What confused Gregory the most was their relationship.

Tiarozetti Isol said that their first meeting was in the South.

However, looking at Lexion’s behavior, it seemed that the two had already had a relationship.

“Is that her? Is she the one you were looking for?”

“..”

“You have to tell me, if not, I won’t be able to help you. If you, who should have already returned to the North, are still here, it’s only good for the Imperial Family.”

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t understand.”

Lexion pushed Gregory away and tried to leave the room.

He seemed to be going to look for Tiarozetti again.

“Where are you going?! You don’t even know where she is!”

Angry, Gregory grabbed Lexion and stopped him.

Then Lexion growled wildly.

“Move.”

Gregory had said it was nonsense when Lexion came and told him that he had to go south immediately.

Nevertheless, it was because of his trust that he readily followed his words.

And when he saw a pile of Isol’s corpses in the South, Gregory wondered if his friend had any foresight.

After that, Lexion’s bizarre behavior continued.

“Report that there are no survivors to the imperial family?”

“Yes. It’s safer for her.”

“Lexion, if you get caught you’d be in trouble. And I’ll be in trouble too, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. If you get caught, say you didn’t know. It’ll be fine if you tell them it was my plan.”

He even tried to cover the eyes of the imperial family.

All of this was because of Tiarozetti Isol.

Was that all?

Gregory was so surprised when Lexion turned down Seirin’s request and made Tiarozetti his partner.

In Gregory’s eyes, Tiarozetti was a pretty woman, but because of her timid personality, he wasn’t attracted to her.

The empire was overflowing with more beautiful women, and among them, Seirin was by far the best.

Of course, it was easy for Gregory to hide Tiarozetti’s existence.

Because the Black Knights are under Lexion’s command, and the Knights under his direct control were highly loyal, they were able to completely hide Tiarozetti’s existence.

As a result, the Isol tribe died.

This was the conclusion reached after 10 days of arguing.

When the Emperor acted so delighted after hearing that there was no Isol tribe left, Gregory could finally understand why Lexion was so eager to hide her existence.

If a race lived in groups, the Empire couldn’t treat them recklessly, but when there was only one tribe left, it was easy to suppress.

“Is there really no one left?”

The Emperor must have aimed for that to happen and asked again.

Gregory knew that case would be over and Lexion would return to the North.

But in the midst of this, that woman suddenly disappeared.

Lexion remained silent, even though the Imperial Family told him to stop and return to the North.

Even now, the Imperial Family was constantly warning him to return.

This was because Sparrow, who had as much support as the imperial family, kept dawdling around the capital.

The Emperor had a particular hatred for Lexion.

Where the reason came from, Gregory did not know.

Gregory sighed and was about to quietly appease Lexion.

“I’ll look for her, so first go back to the north..”

Flap— Tok. Tok.

Before Gregory could finish speaking, a bird pecked at the window with its beak.

The two naturally shifted their gaze to the direction of the sound.

A bluebird was knocking on the window.

A note hung from the bird’s leg.

It was a carrier bird.

Lexion quickly approached and opened the note and read it.

As he read, his face turned pale.

Moments later, he stormed out of the room without Gregory being able to stop him.

After that, the whereabouts of Lexion became unknown.

With no other choice, Gregory began to track Tiarozetti’s whereabouts by himself.

He thought that if he tracked her down, he would be able to find Lexion.

Fortunately, she was in the capital.

That smart guy lost his mind, so he must have been looking somewhere else.

He even felt a little bad knowing his friend was rambling somewhere as if her existence had disappeared.

He wasn’t like the old Lexion, and Gregory guessed the reason he changed.

Her whereabouts were relatively close.

Gregory, who often interacted with women, frequently heard rumors and information among court ladies.

Hearing an interesting story from a maid staying at Kronos’ palace, he thought it was an unexpected clue.

Rumor has it that Crown Prince Kronos went out every night and returned very late.

Gregory intuitively thought it was something that smelled fishy.

Especially because of the attitude he had towards Tiarozetti in Seirin’s debutant ball.

And when he realized what the madman had done, he immediately tracked down the place.

Tiarozetti was in a dungeon inside the Imperial Palace.

To put a slender woman in a place where only heinous criminals were imprisoned.

Gregory hastily rescued her.

He didn’t know she’d end like that. As soon as he found her, Gregory was struck with embarrassment.

“What is this..”

He thought he just needed to hear a word of thanks from Lexion after he returned, that’s why he tried his best to find the woman.

And he was to safely return her to the Sparrow mansion and leave it at that..

But in the meantime, Lexion had already caused a very huge accident.

Gregory, who had stood in shock, suddenly came to his senses.

“Lexion Sparrow! Stop it!”

Then, he stopped Lexion, who mercilessly hit the already blood-stained Kronos.

His eyes were bloodshot.

He looked as if he was going to kill Kronos right away.

The sight sent chills down Gregory’s spine.

He didn’t seem like the Lexion he knew.

Lexion’s appearance was very strange.

If the blood on his clothes was Lexion’s blood, he would’ve already died from excessive bleeding.

Seeing the blood dripping through his sleeve, it looked like he had some of his blood mixed with it.

“Shut up, Gregory. That bastard, I’m going to kill him right now.”

Lexion glared at him with sharp eyes.

Kronos had already fainted.

At this rate, he looked like he would kill Kronos and start a rebellion.

Gregory shouted, pulling Kronos away from him.

“Are you crazy? No matter how hard it is to look at him, he’s a royal. He’s the Crown Prince! Get a hold of yourself, dude!”

“You want me to calm down!? I did everything this bastard asked me to, just to keep Titi safe.”

“What does that..”

“I knew he was sending me to the brim of death, but I begged with all my might ..I did!”

Lexion screamed wildly and kicked something that was lying on the floor.

A clear sound echoed through the hall, unsuitable for the bloody atmosphere.

Only then did the stones noticeably roll on the floor.

‘Why is Knox in this place..?’

Gregory looked at Lexion with a bemused face.

Lexion was crying.

Clear tears flowed down his blood-stained face.

He didn’t know what the hell this idiot was talking about, causing Lexion to lose his mind and run wild.

His shoulders were trembling so much that it felt very miserable.

Gregory looked down at the floor again.

The countless stones rolling on the floor were ‘Knox.’

It was a mana stone called “the heart of monsters”, its abilities vary greatly depending on the level of the monster.

It was a rare material mainly used for weapons.

It was a rare stone that only came out about one in ten, so it was very difficult to find.

And now there were so many precious stones scattered on the floor.

By estimating the amount, it was possible to know how many monsters he had killed during the time he disappeared.

He, the greatest, was shaking his arms, and by the looks of it, he seemed to have entered the monster’s cave of his own volition.

“Why did I come back?”

Lexion talked in an unfamiliar, sorrowful voice and covered his eyes with his hand.

A suffocating sob sounded quiet.

The gloomy voice seemed to have fallen into despair.

Around the time the cries subsided, Lexion pulled out the sword from his waist and spoke fiercely.

“So get out of the way. I’m gonna kill that bastard and I’m gonna die after that.”

Gregory quickly shouted out knowing Lexion was really going to kill Kronos.

“Calm down! Tiarozetti isn’t even dead, so why are you doing this!?”

“..What?”

At Gregory’s words, Lexion came to halt and froze.

The face that seemed to not listen for any reason no matter how hard he tried to stop him, broke down immediately.

There was a small light shining in the deep, dark eyes that had been in despair.

Seeing his reaction, Gregory looked at him in surprise and asked, guessing what Kronos had said to him.

“..Did this bastard say that the woman was dead?”

“..”

“She’s not! She’s not dead! I just left her in your mansion, you damn idiot!”

“In the video she obviously..”

Lexion replied, staggering.

Gregory let out a deep sigh as he leaned restlessly on the pillar.

It was crystal clear what kind of prank the Crown Prince played with the video stone.

“That bastard, his specialty is magic. Those kinds of deceptions are a piece of cake for him.”

“Ha, haha..”

Lexion laughed like a madman.

That was unpredictable.

As Gregory approached him concerned, he muttered low.

“Thank God. I’m so glad.”

“Ha, you crazy bastard..”

Gregory cursed under his breath at Lexion’s absurd words.

It was ridiculous that the first word of relief was said in this situation.

‘How could you say that when you turned the Crown Prince of an Empire into such a mess’

Gregory stared at Kronos lying on the floor.

“No matter how angry you are, how could you hit someone whose title is Crown Prince like that?”

“I think I’m crazy too. No, I think I’m going crazy.”

Lexion clasped his head and groaned.

It seemed that he had finally understood the situation.

Gregory looked dumbfounded at his friend and said the words he was keeping inside.

“You’ve become really weird.”