Many passersby were startled by what happened and backed away, though quite a few lingered to watch out of curiosity.
Luke hadn't actually chased for long. Now he strolled back over at an unhurried pace.
The white-clad guard said, "Your Highness, there is indeed something off about this man."
Luke glanced at him and said, "No mistake. Take him in and interrogate him."
"Yes."
The white-clad guard immediately stepped forward and hoisted the thief up like a chicken. The thief didn't dare resist at all.
There was a kind of fear called an obvious gap in strength.
After searching him, they didn't find any gold coins, but they did find two other items. When questioned, he admitted they'd been stolen not long ago.
Not far away, Lux and Kahina saw what was happening and jogged over.
Staring at the thief being held, their big eyes showed some surprise, but even more confusion and disbelief.
Why did he just… act?
In the end, Lux couldn't hold back her curiosity. Her bright eyes fixed on Luke. "Your Highness—how did you know he was the thief?"
At that question, even the white-clad guard and the thief looked over.
Even if he died, the thief wanted to die understanding why.
"I didn't," Luke said, still in a thoughtful daze. "I just turned around and yelled once, took a few steps forward… there were tons of people behind me, but he's the only one who spun around and ran. If you're going to grab someone, who else would you grab?"
After that answer, all four of them fell silent.
Lux and Kahina needed a couple seconds to process it.
You could do that?
The thief stared blankly for a few seconds, then snapped back—and he absolutely refused to believe that ridiculous reason.
In that brief moment of eye contact earlier, the pressure in Luke's eyes… the thief had been stealing for years. He could tell.
That was a dangerous look.
Like a cat spotting a mouse.
If it hadn't been, he wouldn't have chosen to run the moment Luke charged at him.
"You know how to interrogate people. Take him," Luke said, ignoring the thief's furious glare and gesturing for the guard to leave. "Try to get a few more names out of him."
If they could follow the thread and uncover a whole crew, that would be even better.
And if he didn't have a crew, then at least they had someone to hand over.
They might not have caught the one who stole Mrs. Yuna's purse, but they still needed to catch someone.
"Yes, Your Highness."
The guard obeyed and took the thief away.
Luke replayed that earlier sensation and became even more certain: his sixth sense really was something.
Truthfully, he couldn't be 100% sure the man was a thief—but in that instant their gazes met, Luke felt something off, and he trusted that feeling.
He might've said it was just luck, but in reality, he'd only locked onto one person.
Then he'd put on a show and tried to spook him. If the guy didn't run, Luke couldn't label him a thief without evidence.
But if he did run, then there was definitely something shady going on.
Whatever the truth was, once the guard dragged him off and interrogated him, it would come out.
And if Luke grabbed the wrong person?
Not a big deal. He was a prince—someone would clean up after him.
But now it looked like he'd absolutely grabbed the right one, which meant his sixth sense had been validated.
"So that's it?" Lux watched the white-clad guard disappear. "We really just… caught a thief?"
Luke nodded. "That's it."
Lux blinked dumbly. "But I didn't do anything."
Luke understood—she meant she hadn't felt involved. So he pulled out the coin pouch and explained thoughtfully, "Of course you did. If you hadn't provided money, the thief wouldn't have taken the bait so easily."
If the amount was too small, a thief might not even bother.
But this was clearly a tempting sum. And Luke had looked like a clueless country kid seeing the capital for the first time—what thief wouldn't get greedy?
If that guy hadn't followed from the start, Luke wouldn't have been able to confirm him.
With her own money returned, Lux felt like she actually had been useful. Fired up, she suggested excitedly, "Then should we use this chance to catch a few more? This time I'll do it!"
Sure, there was a bit of justice in it—but mostly it was her playful side.
She'd realized this was kind of fun, and she wanted to copy Luke and randomly scare a few thieves.
"One is enough. What kind of idiot thief shows up every day just to let you catch them?" Luke rejected the idea, looking at her sparkling eyes.
There'd already been a commotion. If there were accomplices in that crowd, the news was probably already spreading.
The same trick wouldn't hook anyone now.
Besides… this only worked because it was Luke.
Forget his accurate sixth sense for locking onto a target—Lux was famous. Miss Crownguard could walk down the street carrying ten thousand gold coins and no thief would have the nerves to mess with her.
"Alright…" Lux pouted, but catching one was still satisfying. Then she said, "Let's go find Mrs. Yuna."
"Yeah," Luke replied, returning Kahina's share of the money too.
He'd give the rest back to the guard tonight.
Kahina took the money, secretly studying Luke. She could tell it wasn't as simple as he'd made it sound.
Lux was straightforward—people said something and she believed it.
But if you actually thought about it, a thief's nerves wouldn't be that bad. No way he'd panic and bolt just from being "scared."
This prince definitely used some other method—they just couldn't perceive it.
It seemed Demacia's new prince wasn't simple at all.
The three went back and found Mrs. Yuna, telling her what happened.
They had caught a thief, but they couldn't confirm whether he was the one who stole her purse.
Mrs. Yuna thanked them over and over. She knew they'd done everything they could. Truthfully, once she'd realized the money was stolen, she hadn't dared hope she'd get it back.
Because her daughter Lola's medicine couldn't wait, Kahina paid out of her own pocket to cover it first.
Mrs. Yuna cried and kept promising she would find a way to repay her someday.
That was the old woman's last bit of stubborn pride, and Kahina didn't say anything more.
Kahina remembered visiting Lola a few days ago with the Illuminators. They'd offered to bring Lola to the church to be cared for—there were free rooms and food there.
But Mrs. Yuna had refused.
She'd said that as long as she still had hands and feet—still had the ability to raise her daughter—she couldn't take a chance to be helped away from someone else who needed it more.
Worried, Kahina declined Lux's suggestion to go together and decided to accompany Mrs. Yuna to buy the medicine.
"Your Highness, I'm very happy to have met you today. Goodbye," Kahina said politely to Luke before leaving.
Luke said, "Me too. Goodbye."
//To thank everyone for the Power Stones this week, I'll be uploading a bunch of chapters today. Thank you so much!
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.