Chapter 206: Their Side of Town

Julius, Marcellus, and Lillian’s part of the outer district was on the complete opposite side from our estate.

We were on the left; they were on the right. Evelina and I shared a mansion, but Marcellus lived separately from the other two. Over there, two mansions stood right next to each other, like they’d been copied and pasted into place.

Maybe it was a coincidence. Or maybe the imperial family had arranged it that way from the start, back when they shoved us into this special program.

If I had to bet, I’d say they didn’t want Marcellus living with his bastard brother. They wanted him isolated, ruling on his own, slowly forgetting the other even existed.

If that really was their plan, it was a stupid one. The novel never bothered to explain the specifics of it anyway; as far as I know, it was just a convenient excuse so things wouldn’t get too awkward in this arc.

“Definitely their territory,” Evelina murmured, glancing around.

Compared to ours, their side looked like a rebellion recruitment poster—graffiti everywhere, shady dealings in plain sight. Ours had been like this too once, but after Evelina’s reforms, the trouble faded into the background.

Here, it was front and center.

“Aren’t those the lords from the other side?” someone whispered.

“The one who’s working with the assholes in the center?” another added.

They weren’t exactly subtle. We could hear everything, and none of it was flattering. Rumors travel fast.

BANG!

A gunshot cracked through the air—sounded like a long-range rifle.

I spun around and caught sight of the bullet slicing toward Evelina’s head. She didn’t even flinch. She knew it was there, and still, she didn’t move.

She trusted me to handle it.

[Fire manipulation]

I raised a wall of fire between her and the bullet. The metal melted before it got anywhere near her. But that wasn’t enough for me; no one should even think about harming her while I’m here.

Actually, no one should harm an angel like her at all.

[Dark Bind]

I sent several chains flying toward the building. The instant I felt them clamp down on something, I pulled.

As hard as I could.

FWOOSH!

BOOM!

The body hit the ground like a meteor, throwing up a thick cloud of dust where he landed. But of course…

[Black Flame Manipulation]

I made sure not even a speck of dust touched Evelina’s skin.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Thanks to you.”

I smiled, then turned to the would-be assassin lying in a crater of broken bricks and cement, his body a mess of bruises.

“Speak—” I began.

“Don’t bother. I already read his mind; he has nothing useful to say,” Evelina cut in.

Nothing useful, huh? Well… in that case, there was no reason to keep him alive. If he wanted to take a life, I could oblige with my own.

FWOOSH!

The man twitched against the chains, blood pooling beneath him.

“…Lord Julius…”

“Stop!”

Before I could crush his skull under my boot, a familiar voice echoed from above. I looked up to see Julius on a nearby rooftop, dressed head-to-toe in black.

What was he doing, cosplaying a vigilante?

THUD!

He dropped down and walked toward us, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

“I’ll handle him. We’ll give him a proper trial,” Julius said.

His voice was steady, but his eyes weren’t. They lingered on the man just a second too long.

[Photographic Memory]

“The consequence for attempted assassination of a noble is the death penalty, y’know?”

I reminded him, my hand still tight on the chains as I tugged the one looped around the assassin’s neck.

“That might be the case, but I’m the baron here. I’ll decide his fate,” he answered.

Julius narrowed his eyes. He clearly recognized the man I was holding—his gaze kept darting back to the broken figure on the ground. Still, it didn’t seem like he’d ordered this. If anything, he looked like he regretted it.

What caught my attention more, though, was how confident he sounded.

Did he forget how badly I beat him before? Or did he really think he’d grown strong enough to win now?

Even without profaned magic, I refused to believe he’d surpassed me.

“We’re barons sharing the same territory. We have just as much power here as you do.”

Julius bit his lower lip. He knew I was right. But he also knew he had to say something, even if it wasn’t going to end well for him.

“I’ll give him the punishment he deserves. You don’t need to stain your clothes with his blood,” he tried again.

I glanced at Evelina to see what she wanted, but she only stood there with her arms crossed, calmly observing how the three of them were managing their side of the city.

She clearly expected me to decide this myself.

And my decision?

“No need. This is far more efficient.”

I didn’t hesitate.

I drove my foot into the assassin’s head.

And it burst like an overripe watermelon.

A perfectly legal kill, all things considered.

“Y-You!”

His voice cracked, and Julius’s hand tightened around his sword hilt, then froze halfway. He clearly remembered he didn’t have the authority here. Sure, he ruled this side of the city—but I was still right. The attempted assassination of a noble carried the death penalty.

He couldn’t do anything.

And he knew that attacking me would only make things worse for him.

We were no longer within academy grounds, which meant our political immunity as students was much weaker here.

“V-Very well.”

He reluctantly and bitterly barked, turning away and walking off, doing a terrible job of hiding his disappointment and anger.

“Why did you come here?” he asked, stopping mid-step. He didn’t look back, but his voice held genuine curiosity. “You’re far from your own side of town.”

“We wanted to talk. With all three of you,” I said.

“Then follow me. My brother’s buried in paperwork right now.”

He started walking again.

“You killed him, huh?” Evelina asked quietly.

“I wanted to make a point. Instill some fear.”

“Then you did well. I’m proud of you.”

Praise after a killing—only she could say something like that and make it sound so natural.

There really is no one else like her.

***

We entered the mansion on the left, and Julius led us to the study just off the first-floor hall.

“I’ll go get Lillian. For now, you can talk with Marcellus. I hope this will be productive.”

“Don’t worry, this benefits all of us,” Evelina replied.

“I hope you’re right about that.”

We opened the door, and there was Marcellus, surrounded by piles of books, his face buried in one of them. It was obvious he was out of his depth.

Normally, I would have said something cutting or mocked him, but I held back. I knew I wouldn’t do any better in his position.

That didn’t stop me from mentally comparing him to Evelina, though—she was far more efficient.

“Huh…?”

Marcellus looked up from his book and adjusted his reading glasses. The moment he recognized us, he slumped back in his chair.

“You two…? Really? As if I didn’t already have my hands full…”

He sighed.

“What do you want?”

Straight to the point. No greetings, no fake politeness. Honestly, I preferred it this way.

“To clean up your mess,” I replied without missing a beat.

Marcellus’s eye twitched.

“I don’t recall asking for your help.”

“That’s the problem,” Evelina cut in smoothly, stepping forward. “You should have.”

She walked past me and stopped right in front of his desk, looking down at the scattered documents like a bored noble inspecting something mildly disappointing.

“Poor organization. Redundant reports. And… is that a tax projection based on outdated census data?”

Marcellus stiffened. “I—That’s not—”

“It is,” she said, completely flat. “You’re bleeding money and you don’t even realize it.”

The room went quiet.

I leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, and just watched the massacre unfold. Not the bloody kind this time—but honestly, for him, this might’ve been worse.

Marcellus clicked his tongue. “Tch… And you came all this way just to insult me?”

“No,” Evelina said. “We came because your little alliance is about to destroy all of our districts.”

That got his attention. He slowly straightened in his chair.

“…What are you talking about?”

I pushed myself off the wall. “Julius is backing a rebellion group.”

Marcellus froze. For a second, I expected him to laugh it off, make some smug comment—but he didn’t. Instead, his expression darkened.

“…That idiot.”

“So you really didn’t know?” I asked.

“Of course I didn’t know!” he snapped, slamming his hand on the desk. “Do you think I’d let him pull something like that if I did?”

Honestly? Yeah. I kind of did.

Judging by Evelina’s face, she was thinking the same thing.

“Whether you knew or not doesn’t matter,” she said. “What matters is what happens next.”

Marcellus let out a slow breath and ran a hand through his hair. “…Explain.”

Right on cue, the door swung open.

Julius walked in, followed by Lillian.

“We’re all here now,” Julius said, closing the door behind him. “So talk.”

Evelina didn’t waste time. “You’re funding an uprising group in your district.”

No buildup. No warmup. Just straight for the throat.

Julius frowned. “I’m supporting citizens who’ve been oppressed by the inner district.”

“You’re arming them,” Marcellus shot back.

Honestly, at this point, we could probably just leave and let Marcellus handle everything. He was being a lot more reasonable than I remembered.

“I’m giving them a chance to fight.”

“That’s all fine and dandy, but do you really expect all of them to follow you?” Marcellus finally stood up.

“That’s not the point. The inner district—”

BANG!

“Enough, Julius.” Marcellus slammed his hand on the desk. “Look, I know we’re all doing our own thing, but at least don’t do something that puts all of us at risk.”

“And what do you want us to do, then?”

Lillian finally joined the conversation.

“She’s right, Marcellus. I know you’re pragmatic and realistic, or whatever you want to call it. But even you should see that things are getting bad.”

Lillian folded her arms lightly, her expression calm but firm. “We can’t be sure they won’t retaliate. If we just sit here and wait, they’ll eventually surround us. It’s better to strike first and take them out now.”

Evelina stepped away from the desk just as Julius moved in to take her place, meeting Marcellus eye to eye.

As Evelina stepped aside, Lillian’s eyes briefly met hers.

Neither of them really spoke to the other.

Evelina’s gaze was sharp and calculating. Their rivalry was still there—neither of them had forgotten it. Lillian knew it just as well as Evelina did, but they both chose to keep it to themselves.

They had bigger problems to deal with.

Back to Julius and Marcellus…

One stared with a fiery sense of justice; the other, with a cold, exhausted gaze.

“You two, leave. I need to talk to them alone,” Marcellus asked us.

“Not happening,”

I replied.

“Relax. I’m not as stupid as my brother here.”

“M-Marcellus!”

“Calm down, Julius.” Marcellus turned back to us. “Just give us a minute.”

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