Arthur tried to dodge.
However, Lucien's was too fast.
His hand was already at Arthur's throat, forcing him to hit the wall.
Arthur's body tensed up, his expression remained calm.
'Fuck.'
Arthur cursed internally.
If it were possible, Lucien would have already killed him, however he was unable to.
The binding vow that made Lucien his slave made it technically impossible—if Arthur died, Lucien would die as well.
That was the only reason he was not dead yet, and he knew that.
"Let go, Lucien."
Arthur ordered.
"I won't ask you again, who are you?"
Lucien had a demon spirit as old as time in him, there was a chance that it would intervene and save his life. And even if it chose not to intervene, Lucien also had plot armor as a spare buff; it could turn out that there were holes in the binding vow that would injure him gravely but not kill him.
"Arthur Kaiser Kurobane, disgraced heir to the Central Monarchy, falsely accused of attempted rape and talent so trash that even his servant's surpasses him."
Arthur raised his hands in mock surrender.
"Does this look like a joke to you?"
Lucien growled, the pressure on Arthur's throat increasing.
"You asked me for who I was.... so I gave you a full introduction.... So won't you be kind enough—to get your fucking hand off my fucking throat if you would be so kind!"
The boy stared at him in the eyes for a second.
Lucien released his grip on Arthur's neck, jumping back to keep some distance between them.
"Haa!"
Arthur quickly took in air.
"Is your hand made of metal or something?"
He asked, feeling his neck.
Lucien didn't reply him.
"What happened to the original Arthur?"
He asked.
Art didn't reply, instead looking deep into the boy's eyes.
There, he saw it.
That look.... Something he had only had the privilege to see in the game. That dangerous glint in his eyes that said 'I'm willing to die if you die with me.'
'Suicidal bastard.'
He wanted to curse it out loud, however he had to refrain from doing so.
"You're speaking to him."
Arthur replied calmly, his expression settling.
"Fucking—"
Lucien was interrupted mid-curse.
"You're aware that the doctor increased my potential.... do you know how he did it?"
Silence.
"He took a soul with Rank 6 potential and merged it with my own to boost my potential. And my potential did go up, by one rank."
Arthur was bullshitting. Mixing truths and lies to make it believable.
But no one would know. In order not to make the demon residing in Arthur too overpowered, it didn't have the ability to read minds.
So Arthur could twist the truth with lies as much as he wanted, as long as his story managed to stay consistent neither Lucien nor the demon would notice.
"And you expect me to believe that?"
"Please, you never believe a word I say.
"I didn't try to rape the princess, no, that was just a plan by my family to get rid of me while destroying my reputation at it.
Do you believe me? No. You know I didn't do it, but you refuse to listen to reason.
Would you even believe me now, even if I had proof, even if I had even had evidence to show it? No."
"Lucien, you're just clinging onto a reason to hate me—just grasping for a reason to hate me.... So fuck off."
Arthur made for the door, walking past Lucien with a brush of his shoulders.
He slammed the door behind him.
And almost immediately, he breathed a sigh of relief.
'Thank god.'
When he had seen that glint in Lucien's eyes, he was almost ready to die again.
And frankly, if Lucien hadn't triggered that outburst from him, Arthur would have been forced to fight Lucien to the death.
Thankfully, it didn't come to that.
'Lucien should be surprised by the sudden outburst.'
It would make the concept of Arthur not being Arthur seem impossible to him, after all, only Arthur would be able to manifest those emotions.
He went outside, the cool breeze rushing against his face.
Arthur finally realized he was still wearing the clothes he wore during the surgery.
A bland white patient gown.
He hadn't even had a bath since he had woken up.
'I'll take them later.'
Right now, they weren't important. He could skip a bath or two.
'I should be focused on Lucien right now.'
While the boy was a wildcard, Arthur knew that he wouldn't barge outside and try to take his life. Proper reasoning would soon come to him, though very slow at times.
'Since I lied that the doctor merged souls, Lucien should be thinking about a way to track the doctor down and get him to free him from the binding vow.'
Above anything else, Lucien was someone that valued freedom above all else.
Freedom he never had.
Freedom he so desperately clung to.
Freedom he wanted badly.
….Freedom he could also achieve if he knew he had plot armor.
But Arthur wasn't going to tell him that....
'He should be regretting letting the doctor go away on his milk mission now.'
The quack that had operated on him fled, not only using him as a guinea pig but also running away with his blood.
Lucien wouldn't be able to find him.
It was only a matter of time before Lucien came to find him to continue his questioning.
After all, the boy wasn't done with his questions.
And Arthur..... he had a pretty good idea on Lucien's next question.
[Author's Note: Support with your powerstones, it means a lot. ]