"Come to my side."
Sorren bluntly threw this offer at Riezel.
"Serve me, and you'll be the greatest figure in this kingdom, second only to me."
"..."
As soon as Sorren finished speaking, the audience room suddenly fell silent.
One by one, the nobles turned to look at Sorren—some held their breath, while others wore expressions of utter discomfort.
Sorren had just made such a bold and arrogant statement right in front of everyone, especially the nobles from the Duke Faction.
Needless to say, his attitude, treating the throne as if it were already his and viewing himself as the inevitable next king, made many nobles from the Duke Faction visibly angry.
Even Yuri's face turned cold as she stared at Sorren.
Riezel, on the other hand, calmly smiled after hearing Sorren's statement.
"Hey, Your Highness, did you forget something?" Riezel said with a half-smile. "Not too long ago, I almost lost my life because of the Shadow Knights you sent."
Upon hearing this, Sorren showed nothing but disdain.
"Are you seriously saying that?"
Sorren didn't believe for a second that Riezel had almost died from that, nor did he think much of the incident at all.
He was convinced there was something fishy about it.
It was important to know that Riezel's first assassination attempt by the Shadow Knights, where he was severely injured and almost died, had only happened in the past two months in this world.
Considering this, who would believe that two months ago, Riezel was just a helpless magic student who could be seriously injured by the Shadow Knights?
Let alone seriously injuring Riezel, it would be amazing if they could even touch his clothes.
It wasn't just Sorren who didn't buy it, as no one who knew the details clearly believed it either.
In their minds, considering Riezel's strength, the only possible outcome of that assassination attempt would have been the immediate annihilation of the Shadow Knights.
Yet, he was said to be seriously injured by a group of Shadow Knights far weaker than him?
No one believed there wasn't something more going on.
Many thought his so-called 'injury' was just a pretext for some ulterior motives.
For example, he might have used his 'injury' as a pretext to infiltrate the Frenzel family and get close to Yuri. Although not everyone thought this way, the fact remained that he only got involved with the Frenzel family after this so-called 'injury'.
It was unavoidable.
With many unsolved mysteries surrounding Riezel, some couldn't help but think along those lines.
Sorren was obviously one of these people.
Even Hendrick and Rohm suspected Riezel had ulterior motives, which was why they never thought that incident would make him hold a grudge against the royal family or Sorren.
If anything, Riezel should be thanking the royal family and Sorren for giving him a chance to achieve his unknown goal.
In everyone's minds, it was Riezel who had taken advantage of the Shadow Knights, not the royal family.
Evidently, this was the perspective shared by Sorren and everyone in the royal family.
Because of this, when Riezel claimed he was going to hold Rohm accountable for being an accomplice in this incident, Rohm didn't pay it any mind.
It couldn't be helped.
Rohm thought Riezel was just using it as an excuse to show off his strength in front of him, trying to force the royal family into a compromise, not because Riezel genuinely wanted to settle a score with him.
Even the eldest son of the Cordelion family, Sergius, had treated the whole thing as a joke when he heard it.
All of this demonstrated how much the perception of Riezel's incident with the Shadow had shifted in the eyes of those who were informed.
However, they had no idea that two months ago, Riezel had indeed been just a mere magic student and had been on the brink of death because of the Shadow Knights, facing a true life-and-death situation.
As for his current strength, it was simply due to his hard work and relentless effort to gain power during these two months—or rather, if adding the time he had spent in other worlds, he had spent almost a year to achieve his current strength.
As a result, while Riezel smiled, his eyes showed no trace of amusement.
"I have no idea where you got the confidence to think that saying something like that would impress me."
Saying this, Riezel stepped forward lightly and moved to stand beside Sorren.
"However, I can tell you one thing... You'll never be the greatest figure in this kingdom, and I have absolutely no interest in serving under someone like you."
Riezel didn't say this out loud for everyone to hear but whispered it quietly in Sorren's ear, making sure only he could hear.
Meanwhile, upon hearing Riezel's words, the mocking smile plastered on Sorren's face vanished, and veins popped on his forehead.
Although Riezel's tone was terrifyingly calm and indifferent, without a hint of emotion, it was precisely because of this that Sorren could clearly sense the sheer contempt laced in his words.
It reminded Sorren of one thing.
Before this, he had never paid Riezel any mind, yet now it was Riezel who no longer saw him as worth noticing. In fact, in Riezel's eyes, he wasn't even as valuable as the swordsmen who challenged him daily.
Sorren picked up on this from Riezel's tone and attitude, which deeply stung him.
As a result, he found himself recalling a moment of unforgettable humiliation—the memory of the man he regarded as his greatest enemy, Sergius Cordelion.
He remembered clearly that Sergius had looked at him with the same contempt, as though gazing at a stray dog on the street.
Recalling this memory, along with Riezel's words earlier, hatred began to brew in Sorren's heart.
"You'll regret this..."
Sorren managed to squeeze these words from his throat—the same ones he had once spoken in front of Sergius.
At that time, after he spoke these words, he went mad, lashing out in revenge against the Cordelion family like a mad dog, destroying everything connected to them and plunging the royal capital into chaos.
Now, as he said the familiar words again, everyone around him felt a chill, sensing his growing madness.
Riezel, on the other hand, turned his head slightly to glance at Sorren—a glance that made Sorren's heart tighten.
"Regret? You can try."
Riezel's voice and expression were so calm, making Sorren suddenly feel as though an invisible murderous intent had locked onto him, causing him to instinctively take two steps back.
Realizing how he had reacted, Sorren's face twisted with anger and humiliation.
In the next second, Sorren turned and walked away.
Knowing that staying any longer would only bring him further humiliation, Sorren left without uttering a single word, his entire body radiating cold fury and madness.
As everyone in the audience room watched Sorren's retreating figure, they began whispering to one another.
"Great, just look at Prince Sorren's face. He is probably about to start causing trouble again."
"Yes, this is going to be a big problem. We need to warn our families to be careful and act cautiously for a while."
"Seriously, things just started calming down, and now we're facing another chaos?"
"I hope His Majesty keeps Prince Sorren under house arrest in the palace so he doesn't go out and make a mess."
Saying all this, many nobles looked worried.
While the nobles of the Duke Faction exchanged glances, silently making their own calculations, the nobles around Riezel were quick to make their excuses and leave.
It was clear that after Sorren stirred things up, no one was in the mood to cozy up to Riezel anymore.
However, thanks to this, Riezel and Yuri's side finally quieted down, no longer buzzing with noise.
"Is everything okay?"
Yuri leaned closer to Riezel, her voice full of concern.
"You know, that guy can be really scary when he goes crazy. If he doesn't care about the consequences and comes after you, things could get really serious."
Upon hearing this, Riezel didn't look at Yuri, nor did he glance at Sorren, who had just left, but simply stared at the empty throne in the audience room.
"And if I go crazy, how serious do you think things will get?"
Riezel asked calmly, his eyes narrowing.
"Let's hope he's brave enough to try..."
===
At this moment, Sorren wasn't far from the audience room.
After stepping through the doors of the audience room, he turned into a nearby empty corner and came to a stop.
*BANG!*
Sorren slammed his fist hard against the wall, causing cracks to spread across its surface.
"Riezel... Brynhart..."
Sorren's eyes were bloodshot, his face twisted with hatred.
Naturally hot-tempered and resentful, being humiliated so openly by Riezel triggered a rage he couldn't suppress.
Initially, he had no intention of provoking Riezel again.
Knowing that Riezel was now a Sword Saint—offending him could backfire and push him into the arms of that despicable Sergius, which would be disastrous.
If he didn't need the support of a Sword Saint so badly, he wouldn't have bothered approaching Riezel again, hoping he would forget the warnings he had given him before.
As for why he wanted a Sword Saint so badly?
It was simply because Sergius had a Sword Saint under his command.
Just thinking about it made him desperate to have someone of equal power under his command—someone who could counterbalance Sergius.
Who would have thought that not only would he fail to achieve his goal this time, but Riezel would also humiliate him in the process?
As a result, Sorren lost control of his temper and immediately left the audience room.
'I'm the most brilliant member of the royal family! I have the purest royal blood!'
'What gives you the right to look down on me?!'
'What gives you the right to despise me?!'
'You two damn bastards!'
Fury flashed in Sorren's bloodshot eyes.
He had always believed that he was the most dazzling prince of his generation, with the most talent and his father's greatest attention.
His father's favor and the fact that he was the most outstanding member of the royal family filled him with pride and arrogance, fostering his reckless behavior.
Back then, no one dared oppose him, and no one, not even his father, the king, stopped him. In fact, his father had even turned a blind eye to many of his actions and had given him partial control over the Shadow.
Since none of the other royal children enjoyed such privileges, it only fueled his arrogance, making him more unrestrained—until Sergius, the eldest son of the Cordelion family, appeared.
Everything changed after that.
People who had once believed he would be the next king began to see a better option and started distancing themselves from him. Even his father felt threatened and became dissatisfied with his achievements.
He gradually lost everything that should have been his, and that was when his inner madness began to grow. Naturally, the chaos he unleashed last time was the result of this madness.
Now, the same madness was surfacing once again, causing Sorren to decide to stop holding back.
"You all brought this on yourselves..."
In the empty corner, a gloomy whisper echoed, like a storm looming on the horizon.