Prince Roger and Edgar glared at each other fiercely. The prince's breath quickened because Edgar had no manners, entering the palace grounds without permission. The royal soldiers immediately gathered behind Edgar. Violet held Queen Kinda's arm and urged her to leave.
"You claim Violet is yours, but you yourself cannot treat her kindly. Let me tell you, Cousin, your fiancée and I have already spent a beautiful night together." Prince Roger spoke with sparkling eyes. It was clear he meant every word.
Edgar's emotions, which had already been burning, were now blazing high into the sky. He added energy to his wind and attacked the prince with it. If an ordinary person had been hit by Edgar's wind, they would have been torn to shreds. However, the wind was like a mosquito to the prince and disappeared with a single swat.
Seeing this, the palace guards immediately attacked Edgar without regard for who he was. Even though he was the king's nephew, his presence at that moment was highly unsettling. The guards in the front row created magical shields, while the second row swung their swords with magic to attack Edgar. The third row launched arrows, intensifying the attack on Edgar.
Edgar pulled two swords out of thin air and immediately spun around to ward off all the sharp objects aimed at his body. Unfortunately, two arrows managed to graze his arm, drawing blood.
Feeling that this battle was a waste of time, Prince Roger, who had been watching all along, began to grow impatient. He raised one hand to chest level, and from there emerged a rapidly spinning black energy ball. The prince immediately hurled the ball toward Edgar, striking him in the back.
Edgar's body fell to the ground, and the prince immediately activated a barrier to protect Edgar from the arrows and swords still in flight. Seeing this, the soldiers stopped showering Edgar with weapons, and the prince quickly removed the barrier.
"Lock him up in the special prison!" commanded Prince Roger.
One of the Nych who witnessed the incident from a distance immediately turned around and returned to Dark Mountain. He had to inform his leader about what happened to Edgar so they could take the next steps, as this was outside the plan.
The special prison was a rather terrifying palace prison. It was located far from the main palace and underground. It was guarded by a two-headed lizard with fire on its back. The lizard's color was bright, like the orange glow of the setting sun. The creature was highly aggressive and difficult to control, except by King Raiden.
Prince Roger followed the four guards who were taking Edgar to prison. He turned his head to the side, signaling for all the guards to leave. The smile on the heir to King Raiden's throne was so mysterious that Edgar felt a chill down his spine.
"I'm truly curious about you, Ed. Didn't you used to hate Violet so much? Then why are you now so obsessed with her?" said Prince Roger.
"I realized too late that I actually liked her. Longing and hatred are very similar, Roger."
Prince Roger sighed inwardly. It turned out Edgar was still acting and hadn't revealed his true motives yet. So, the prince immediately produced his prideful whip from nowhere. Without mercy, he lashed Edgar's body until his clothes and pants were torn. There was no sound of pain from Edgar's mouth. The man endured everything inside and even wore a wide smile.
When the whip marks began to bleed, Prince Roger stopped his actions. He returned Edgar's smile and used his magic to restore his cousin's clothes to their original form. Prince Roger also healed Edgar's wounds, but not to eliminate the pain from them.
"You're crazy, Roger. You don't deserve to be happy with Violet!" Edgar shouted.
Prince Roger quickly grabbed Edgar by the neck. "Do you think you're better than me?"
Meanwhile, Aron Novtiglass was very surprised when a royal guard came to his residence and told him that Edgar was causing trouble at the palace. The black-haired man immediately went to the palace with the guard without telling his wife. Throughout the journey in the carriage, Aron couldn't stop wondering what could have driven Edgar to act without his consent first.
When Aron arrived, the man did not immediately go to see his son, but went to see King Raiden first. The king was in another area of the palace supervising the soldiers' training.
Aron saluted, and that made the king turn his head. The king patted his brother on the shoulder, chuckled, and said, "As usual, because of women."
While the king could laugh and seemed amused by the incident, Aron had to think about the phrase "because of a woman."
"Roger hasn't explained anything to me. I heard the explanation from the soldiers. You should go see Edgar and ask him," the king continued.
Aron didn't answer. He nodded slowly and left immediately.
At the prison door, the lizard was lying down and watching Aron warily. However, since the king had asked him to be kind, the lizard named Allezov immediately moved aside.
The guard accompanying Aron pulled open the iron prison door. The door was located above ground level, with a spiral staircase leading down. As soon as Aron and the guard reached the bottom, cries for help from the prison inmates echoed through the air.
Their condition was truly chaotic. Some had lost an eye, or had hands and feet that were no longer intact. The pungent smell of blood and rusty iron was overwhelming. In this prison, criminals who could not be punished by the kingdom's laws or ministers would receive their retribution.
Aron looked at Edgar, who was bound in the center of the room. His son's body was clean of bloodstains, meaning the prince or king had not tortured Edgar as he had feared.
"Prince Roger asked the healer to treat Mr. Edgar's wounds. Earlier, the young master was hit by an arrow, Mr. Aron," explained the guard. He then took a step back and waited in the corner of the room.
Edgar raised his head, his face showing a mixture of anxiety and anger. "Father," he said softly.
"You're too hasty. Has Father ever ignored your problems, Ed?" Aron sighed, feeling it was pointless to scold his stubborn son. Aron didn't want to linger in that smelly place either. He looked around and quickly slipped something into Edgar's pants pocket. "Get out as soon as possible," Aron said.