Episode 334

‘I must never let my guard down!’

Royalty never trusted each other.

The imperial social scene was rife with intrigue and schemes.

And among them, the royals were the ones with the fiercest and most relentless hearts.

Yet to have fooled and relaxed such royals, even for a moment…

That was no easy feat. Bogajun swiftly heightened his wariness of Gainando.

‘Evading suspicion by playing the fool…’

They called it an act, but not just anyone could do it.

You needed the steel-like tenacity to withstand all manner of notoriety and bad reputations thrown your way.

Realizing that, Bogajun felt a chill down his spine.

To have avoided other royals’ suspicion for so long by pretending to be a fool, and meanwhile gathering powerful nobles behind him…

This little brother might be the most dangerous competitor among the royals.

“After long consideration, I’ve made a new deck… huh?”

Gainando, entering the room, looked surprised to see Bogajun.

“Who are you?”

“……”

Lee Han was at a loss for words for a moment.

‘You idiot, how long has it even been since you two met…’

Royals liked to insult each other, but it was supposed to be with a semblance of etiquette.

You were supposed to say something like, ‘It’s unfortunate your recent endeavors failed,’ not ‘Who are you?’ That was way out of line.

Lee Han was grateful no other nobles were present.

‘Good thing it’s just us three.’

“Kuh… kukuku!”

Seeing Gainando’s true colors, Bogajun burst into laughter.

He thought his wicked, insidious younger brother had finally thrown off his mask.

Of course, Gainando was confused by the laughter.

‘Is he crazy?’

“Is that the professor?”

“…He’s a prince, isn’t he, Gainando? Don’t joke around.”

Lee Han put a hand on Gainando’s shoulder. The pain in his collarbone activated Gainando’s brain cells.

“Ah! Aagh! I remember! Prince! He’s the prince!!”

“Right. Sorry about that, Your Highness. Gainando likes to joke around.”

“There’s no need to hide it anymore, Lord Wardanaz.”

Bogajun rose from his seat.

There wasn’t the slightest hint of disregard for Gainando in his eyes.

Rather, his gaze was burning with ambition, recognizing a powerful rival.

‘Whatever this is, it’s not good.’

Lee Han felt uneasy.

Prince Bogajun seemed to be misinterpreting Gainando’s visit, and nothing good would come from it.

The more chances Gainando had to speak, the worse his reputation got.

-Gainando. Do it like you did before.

Lee Han held up three fingers.

It meant only answer with ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘huhu’. Gainando, massaging his shoulder, nodded.

“I’ve already seen what great ambition Prince Gainando holds.”

“No…”

Lee Han quickly shot him a look.

It meant to deny it quickly.

‘Say no, quickly!’

“Huhu.”

“……”

Gainando took Lee Han’s look to mean something else.

Bogajun nodded as if it was just as he expected.

“Lord Wardanaz. Of course, as a fellow Einrogard alumnus, it’s natural to support your friend.”

“I don’t support him.”

“But I know this. Someone as insightful as you, Lord Wardanaz, would surely shift to the worthier royal should such a candidate appear.”

“No, I really don’t care to support anyo—”

“Please wait. I’ll soon prove my worth to you.”

Bogajun declared pompously.

Of course, Gainando didn’t understand what he meant, and Lee Han was dumbfounded, so it had little effect.

“Then, see you at the gathering, Prince Gainando.”

“Yes.”

“……”

Lee Han let out a deep sigh.

Even after narrowing things down to three options, it backfired.

‘Should I just sew his mouth shut?’

“Um… Young master. Another guest has arrived.”

At the servant’s call, Lee Han considered putting a ‘No Visitors’ sign on the mansion gates.

“Who is it?”

“Princess Judrantas…”

“Hmph. One step too late.”

Bogajun scoffed at Judrantas.

He figured Judrantas would be shocked when she arrived.

She probably only thought about Bogajun, but…

She would come to learn the real dangerous rival was among these younger royals!

• * *

“!!!”

Just as expected, Judrantas was just as surprised and behaved identically to Bogajun.

Even her words were identical.

“If someone as discerning as Lord Wardanaz—”

“…Means you’d support the worthier royal if one appears?”

“Exactly!”

“I’m not saying I agree to that—”

“Please wait. I’ll soon prove my worth to you.”

‘Are those two actually close?’

Lee Han was too tired to even respond to the two royals echoing each other.

“Alright.”

“Then, see you at the gathering…”

Once the royals had all left, Gainando brightly took out his deck.

“I brought a new deck, want to play… Ack! Why are you hitting me!”

Lee Han began whacking Gainando’s back with his staff. Gainando ran screaming in circles around the room.

An hour later.

Lee Han sighed, holding a wizard’s card in his hand.

They said you’d even grant a dead man’s wish, so surely you could grant a wish for a friend who’d just suffered a few staff blows.

“Huhu. This time, things will be different.”

“Shut your mouth and keep quiet.”

“Okay…”

Gainando quietly drew a card.

This game called Wizard’s Card had the goal each turn to summon minions and cast spells, reducing the opposing wizard’s life to zero.

Of course, early in the game, with little mana, you could only use weak minions and spells; later, when mana was plentiful, you could use strong ones.

So, a good deck had to balance weak early-game and strong late-game minions and spells!

Of course, Gainando always built his deck full of only his favorite strong cards.

‘Huhu. But it’s different this time.’

Gainando placed a card down with a confident look.

Lee Han found it suspicious.

‘Wait. Don’t tell me…’

Victory conditions were not limited to reducing the enemy wizard’s life to zero.

If the opponent’s deck ran out of cards, that was a win too.

And the black magic curse card Gainando just played eliminated three cards from the opponent’s deck.

“Gainando. Did you make a deck destruction deck?”

“N-no, I didn’t?”

Gainando averted his eyes, caught off guard.

“Well, it’s better than that weird deck from before… but don’t most people dislike this?”

There are always unspoken rules.

Wizard’s Card was no different.

Winning by deck destruction felt borderline cheating in what was supposed to be a fun and friendly game.

Not that Lee Han really cared…

“I don’t care! I’m going to win!”

“F-fine, whatever.”

Lee Han readied his cards.

As soon as Gainando’s turn ended, Lee Han planned to bombard him with direct damage spells to end the game.

Unaware he was seconds from defeat, Gainando pondered very seriously.

“You two playing?”

Yoner entered with Nillia.

They paused at the card game.

“Hey, is this a black magic curse deck?”

“So?”

“…Wow. Gainando, come on. Seriously, no.”

Yoner stared at Gainando in shock.

No matter what Gainando had done before, as a cousin Yoner had always backed him up, but this was too much.

“N-no…! Winning is all that matters! Why!!”

“Sure, winning is the point, but a black magic curse deck is another story…”

With Yoner refusing to back him up, Gainando turned to Nillia.

“Is it really that bad!?”

“A black magic curse deck is kinda…”

“……”

Gainando was completely disgruntled.

“If you play that in a hunter group, you’ll get an arrow in your back.”

“It’s not that bad!”

“It really is.”

“That’s right.”

On his turn, Lee Han bombarded Gainando with spells and defeated him. Gainando’s jaw dropped and he just blinked in disbelief.

“So, Yoner, what’s up?”

“Ah. There’s a social gathering in Granden City, right?”

Social gatherings weren’t hard to hold. Even Lee Han could invite a few friends to eat, drink, and play—this, too, was a social event.

Thus, in a city the size of Granden, dozens of such gatherings were held daily.

But the one Yoner referred to was different.

It would include not just leading families but also imperial officials—practically an event hosted in Granden’s name.

And the main featured guests this time were first-years from the magic academy.

‘So that’s what the royals were talking about earlier.’

Lee Han understood why all the royals had come by.

Naturally, everyone wanted to enter with a promising magic academy student at an event like that.

It was basically an opportunity to publicly declare, ‘We’re close friends.’

“It’d be better not to enter alongside Gainando.”

“Oh. I was already thinking that myself.”

Seeing the other royals’ reactions, going in with Gainando would just create unnecessary headaches.

“Why!? Because of my black magic curse deck?!”

Gainando asked, looking shocked.

“No, just that if we go together, it’ll look like we’re a faction…”

“Just blame the cards.”

At Yoner’s blunt words, Gainando grumbled.

“You’re all just jealous my deck is strong.”

“But you lost…”

“Shut up!”

• * *

“…At this rate, there’s nothing I can do.”

Lee Han looked to Professor Verdus, sounding sorry.

He didn’t like going to social gatherings, but if it was an excuse to evade Professor Verdus, he had no intention of missing it.

As expected, Professor Verdus asked, looking mystified.

“Why attend such a pointless event?”

“All the first-year students were invited. They want to hear about life at the magic academy, apparently.”

“Why attend such a pointless event?”

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have explained.’

Professor Verdus grumbled, regardless of what Lee Han said.

“I don’t get why the magic academy has dance classes. They should add another theory class on enchantment magic instead.”

“I agree, but… Wait. Is there dancing at this gathering?”

“With something that size? Of course there is.”

Professor Verdus answered as if it were obvious.

There’s no way a ball would be missing from such a large-scale gathering.

Lee Han frowned.

‘I thought I’d never need dancing in my life.’

While other Blue Dragon Tower students took social dance classes, Lee Han took another magic theory class instead, so it couldn’t be helped.

Even in the Wardanaz Family, he’d never really practiced dancing…

‘I’ll need to learn the basics as quickly as possible, just enough not to embarrass myself.’

Having made up his mind, Lee Han looked at Professor Verdus.

“Professor, can you dance well?”

“No?”

“I figured. I’ll go find someone to teach me.”

“…??”

Left alone, Professor Verdus tilted his head.

For some reason, he felt annoyed.