Luke, having witnessed the whole scene of straight-up bullying with his own eyes, obviously couldn't just stand by.
He stepped in quietly, picked up the iron helmet off the ground, and stopped behind Maylee and Korsen—so close that neither of them even noticed him.
Navis looked up and saw him. She startled slightly.
Luke raised a finger to his lips, signaling her not to speak.
Navis, well-behaved, lowered her head again.
By now Maylee had run out of patience. Her expression turned cold as she shooed Navis away. "Pack up and get ready to leave. We're using this workbench in a minute."
The words fell, and when Navis still didn't move—
Maylee, just about to explode, suddenly felt someone tap her left shoulder.
She turned on instinct—and a horrifying iron helmet was suddenly right in front of her face.
"AHH!!"
She jolted so hard she fell flat on the floor, nearly fainting.
"Holy—who the hell is this damn playful—" Korsen was about to start cussing too, but when he turned his head and saw the handsome face behind the helmet, his whole body seized up, his expression like he'd seen a ghost.
"Idiot. You can't even trash-talk properly?" Maylee snapped, already furious on the floor—and even more furious that her brother couldn't even insult someone right.
She pushed herself up, lifted her head, and started to say, "Don't let me find out which idiot—"
Then her brain caught up with what she was seeing.
Maylee blinked, rubbed her eyes, and after confirming she wasn't hallucinating, she hurriedly put on a bright smile. "Y-Your Highness… hello."
What stunned her wasn't the helmet.
It was why Luke was here.
Why was the prince here?!
Luke smiled and asked, "And what would you do if you did find out?"
"If I found out… I'd give it a big thumbs-up," Maylee said, still grinning as she scrambled to smooth things over. "Your Highness, you obviously didn't mean to."
Luke shook his head. "No. I absolutely meant to."
Maylee's smile twitched. You can't follow that up, okay?!
Seeing her freeze, Korsen stepped forward. "Your Highness, it's an honor to see you."
Luke looked at him. "How honored?"
"Huh?"
Korsen went blank on the spot.
How am I supposed to answer that? What does that even mean?!
Maylee and Korsen just stood there, stiff as mannequins.
Luke said calmly, "Ten words. Describe what you were doing just now. Ten-second countdown. Start."
The two of them panicked instantly.
And they finally understood why, the very first time they met the prince, he already sounded like he was loaded for bear.
They glanced at each other, neither knowing how to respond.
Luke continued, unhurried. "Five seconds left."
He didn't even say what would happen if they failed.
Which only made the siblings' hearts pound harder.
What if the consequences were brutal?
With time running out, Maylee squeezed her eyes shut and blurted, "We were bullying Navis!"
That answer actually surprised Luke a little.
He hadn't expected her to say it out loud.
"I like that answer."
Luke narrowed his eyes, smiling. "Me? I hate bullies more than anything."
The two kept their heads down, listening.
Then Luke suddenly barked, "At ease!"
Already on edge, Maylee and Korsen instinctively shifted into an at-ease stance.
"Attention!"
They snapped straight.
"Double-time—move!"
Luke stepped aside.
The siblings immediately and obediently jogged out.
Luke called after them, "Five laps around the Grand Plaza. Not one step less. Understood?"
"Yes, Your Highness!" they replied, faces twisted with misery.
Only after they ran off did Luke turn to Navis. "Do they bully you a lot?"
Navis shook her head. "Not really. I don't go out most of the time."
If they never got the chance to catch her, they couldn't pick on her.
Reasonable risk management.
Luke smiled. "From now on, nobody's going to dare bully you."
Navis kept her head lowered, and for reasons she couldn't quite name, she suddenly felt… safer.
"Go back to work."
"Mm."
Navis returned to setting the lead type.
Luke, meanwhile, pushed the massage chair out under the eaves by the doorway and sat down—perfectly in the shade, sunlight blocked.
He'd been bored earlier.
Now the entertainment had arrived.
Out by the Grand Plaza, the siblings had been about to slack off—until they realized the prince had literally dragged out a chair to watch them. They hurriedly picked up the pace again.
After three or four laps…
Lux and the others came back.
She saw Luke lounging at the entrance, and two people running in the plaza, and couldn't help frowning in confusion. "What's going on?"
So Luke told her what had happened.
After listening, Lux nodded. "Well… looks like they finally met their match."
Luke made a face. "?" He frowned. "Who are you calling 'their match'?"
"You, obviously!" Lux huffed, staring at him. "You say you hate bullying, but what you're doing now—doesn't that just count as a new kind of bullying?"
She wasn't opposing him. If anything, she supported the "fight fire with fire" approach.
She was just curious how he'd answer.
Luke put on a deep, weathered expression and sighed. "That's people for you. In the end, we all become what we used to hate."
"Tch." Lux rolled her eyes and decided not to entertain him.
"Become what you used to hate," my ass. She couldn't see even a hint of discomfort on Luke's face when he messed with people—if anything, he looked like he was enjoying it.
The way he was smiling made it obvious he was up to no good.
Still… it did look kind of fun.
So Lady Crownguard dragged over a small chair and sat beside him, watching the two runners.
Then Kahina and Fiora did the same.
After all, they couldn't interrupt Navis while she was working seriously.
Maylee and Korsen suddenly realized more spectators had joined in, and their faces burned with embarrassment. They felt painfully self-conscious.
What is this, am I a zoo animal?!
And on top of that, the heat was miserable—leaving them exhausted and miserable.
Finally, they completed five laps.
Panting, they staggered over to Luke. Maylee, drenched in sweat, gasped, "Your Highness… we finished."
Luke was half-reclined, relaxed as if nothing mattered. "Then do five more."
Maylee and Korsen froze.
Five more?!
Are you kidding?!
Who can take that?!
Korsen, a little defiant, blurted, "I'd rather die than be humiliated!"
"Die?" Luke opened one eye to a slit, then sat up with interest and looked him over. "You good in a fight? Want to spar?"
Seeing Luke's build—clearly better than his—Korsen flushed red, his confidence collapsing. "I'm a scholar. I don't do that brute stuff."
"Hah." Luke waved him off in disdain. "If you're not fighting, then move your feet. Go."
Korsen couldn't say a word. He looked to Maylee.
Maylee straightened her back, her tone turning tougher. "Your Highness, this is House Menck."
So Korsen straightened too.
"And?" Luke nodded, asking blandly.
That single question completely short-circuited Maylee.
And?
This is my house!
You're in my house, bullying me?!
But staring at Luke's arrogant expression, it was like a sentence drifted into their ears anyway:
My father is the king.
Luke didn't say a single word—yet somehow, he'd said everything.
Maylee and Korsen's stiffened spines immediately went limp again.
At this point, even if their parents showed up, they'd probably be forcing a smile while watching their kids run laps.
"So… we go run?" the two asked miserably, like they needed his permission just to breathe.
Luke reclined again and flicked his hand.
They went back to circling the plaza.
"Beautiful!" Lux applauded from the side, marveling. "You've explained the word 'bullying' so perfectly I'm honestly impressed!"
First time she'd ever seen someone show up at somebody else's place and bully the homeowners.
Luke's lips curled into that smug "Dragon King" grin.
The heavens had handed him a ridiculously powerful identity—what, if not for him to use it?
He wouldn't claim it everywhere.
But in Demacia, on this little patch of land, aside from a handful of exceptions—if Luke pointed east, who would dare go west?
Bullying?
I'm the final boss of bullying.
After another five laps…
Maylee and Korsen were so exhausted their scalps felt numb. They shuffled back to Luke, drained dry.
"Your Highness… we finished," they said, soaked through, sweating everywhere, throats burning with thirst.
Luke glanced at them, then turned over in the chair like he couldn't care less. "Do five more."
The two of them practically cracked in half on the spot.
Five more?!
Five here, five there, five again—Your Highness, that's fifteen laps!
In this heat, with this pace—
You're trying to kill us!
Luke lazily added, "Of course, you can choose not to run."
They froze, and a cold shiver crawled up their spines.
A threat.
They heard the threat loud and clear.
If they didn't run, the consequences would be serious.
They exchanged a look. Maylee rubbed her aching legs and tried to play the pity card. "Your Highness… I'm a girl…"
Luke sat up, looked her over, and nodded thoughtfully. "True. You're a girl, so you're not as strong as a man. In that case, add five more. Build your endurance."
Maylee: "???"
She'd barely relaxed for half a second and now her brain blue-screened.
What the hell?!
Being a girl adds five more?!
Korsen, on the other hand, somehow felt relieved.
For reasons he couldn't explain, he suddenly felt better. Five more laps didn't sound so impossible anymore.
But Maylee saw him relax and instantly couldn't stand it. She pointed at her own brother. "Your Highness, actually Korsen has a secret… he's a girl too!"
Luke looked at Korsen, nodded, and said, "Then you add five too."
Korsen: "???"
What?!
He stared at Maylee in disbelief, then stared at Luke in even deeper disbelief.
His eyes screamed:
Your Highness! Can't you tell whether I'm a man or a woman?!
Luke didn't even look again. After saying it, he reclined back.
"Let's run together, little brother," Maylee said, grinning.
Korsen's face cycled from red to white to green, and in the end he could only swallow it and run again.
Lux couldn't help but admit, "It has to be you. If it were me, I'd stop at ten laps, tops."
At this point even a demon would bow to you, Luke.
After today, these two probably wouldn't be able to look at running laps without trauma.
Luke said, "Honestly, I was thinking ten too."
Lux, Kahina, and Fiora all looked at him, surprised.
Luke shrugged. "Didn't you hear me? They can choose not to run. I just figured they must really like running, so I added five."
The three of them went silent.
Who likes running in this blazing weather?!
They couldn't help looking back at the siblings, who were still grinding through their laps. This time, their eyes held a bit more sympathy.
These two really were honest types.
Told to run, and they ran like their lives depended on it.
After seven or eight more laps, they collapsed onto the ground, one face-down, one sprawled on his back, minds going fuzzy. They truly couldn't take another step.
After a moment, they started sobbing their complaints.
"We… we didn't even want to bully Navis…"
"It was our older brother who said she's an outsider in the family, not on our side…"
"If we didn't mess with her, we'd get isolated too…"
"Your Highness… we really know we were wrong…"
Maylee and Korsen spoke in turns. It didn't sound like acting—it sounded like the truth.
And you could tell they genuinely regretted what they'd done.
Luke sat up and looked at them. "You two aren't bad people. You're just… kind of dumb."
Honestly, even earlier, it was obvious they were pretty straightforward.
He asked, "That 'older brother' you're talking about—who is he?"
Before they could answer, Lux supplied the name. "Jared?"
The two immediately nodded.
Luke searched his memory and still didn't really have much of an impression.
But Lux and the others knew who he was.
House Menck was a prominent Demacian family, so their children naturally had some reputation. And Jared, in particular, had made a name for himself.
He was the eldest of House Menck's younger generation, now twenty-seven. He'd become famous for inventing a triangular lock when he was young.
After that, he'd come up with a few other useful inventions.
Now he served at the palace as an official, working at the academy, and was praised as House Menck's rising star.
Beyond that, there wasn't much else to say.
Lux and the others had only heard of him—they didn't actually know him well.
Luke wasn't especially invested in Jared, though. What he cared about was whether his excellent employee would ever have to deal with this kind of thing again.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.