Barbara sat across from Keryu in the grand hall of the castle, her emerald eyes locked onto his with an intensity that made the air feel thick. The only thing between them was the lie detector Alex had given her, its faint glow pulsing steadily, waiting.

It had been a while since Alex had gone, and after confirming that he had left the vicinity, Keryu was called here. Since then, they had been sitting in this suffocating silence.

The stillness, however, was soon broken by Barbara as she finally spoke. “Is what Alex said true?” Her voice was cold and controlled, but there was an undercurrent of restrained fury beneath it.

She thought that their circumstances seemed similar when she heard that he had suffered under Alex just like her, but now she wasn’t even sure if that was true.

‘When did I turn into a fool?’ Barbara growled inwardly, unable to believe why she was feeling betrayed.

Keryu, dressed in his usual dark attire, leaned back slightly, his fingers laced together. His violet eyes, sharp and unreadable, flicked to the lie detector before returning to Barbara. “Which part exactly?”

Keryu knew how the Garothey family, the family of Cecilia, the heroine he was supposed to meet here, came to an end.

It was because of one of his brothers.

Before, he wasn’t sure if Barbara was the only survivor of the Garothey family instead of Cecilia, but seeing her reaction, he knew that was so.

That was why Keryu knew he needed to be careful with Barbara, especially when, unlike Cecilia, he had no information on Barbara.

Barbara’s jaw tightened. “All of it. That you faked your incompetence, that you have hidden powers, that you are an imperial prince, and especially that you came here with ulterior motives.”

The device remained active, blinking green, waiting for deception.

Keryu, glancing at the device, exhaled slowly. “I did hide my abilities, yes,” he admitted. “But not for the reasons you think.”

Barbara’s fingers twitched. “Then tell me what the real reasons were.”

She hadn’t noticed how she was asking questions that were irrelevant to the situation, unaware that she was already under Keryu’s influence.

His bloodline, a mix of incubus and something else, was working at full throttle to influence Barbara’s mind.

Unfortunately for Keryu, she was too strong for him to do anything major; all he could do was improve his image in her mind.

It was because of him that Barbara felt betrayed. He was the reason why she was asking questions related to his personal life.

Keryu, seeing his ability affecting Barbara, albeit very little, chose his words carefully. “The imperial family is ruthless. You know that better than anyone. If I had shown my true potential, I would have been either used as a pawn or eliminated as a threat. I needed time—time to grow, time to choose my own path.”

The lie detector continued to blink green, confirming his honesty as Barbara studied him. Her fingers gripped the table’s edge before she asked, “And your path led you here? To my city?”

Keryu’s lips curled into something between a smirk and a grimace. “I had no intention of revealing myself, but fate, as always, has other plans.”

Barbara scoffed. “Fate?” Her voice carried the weight of disbelief. “Do not pretend you are a victim of circumstance. The imperials are the reason my family fell. Why should I not see you as one of them?”

Hearing her words, Keryu’s expression hardened. “Because I am not them. Because you do not kill every ant you come across just because one of them once bit you.”

Barbara’s eyes darkened, but she did not interrupt, so he continued.

“You have lived long enough to know that not all bloodlines define a person. Just as your hatred for the empire does not mean you are unjust, my birth in the imperial family does not mean I follow their ways.”

He leaned forward slightly, his voice lowering. “If you let hatred blind you, then you are no different from them.”

The lie detector still showed no signs of deception.

Barbara’s fists clenched, her nails digging into her palm. She wanted to refute his words, to cast him out, but a part of her, a small but undeniable part, recognized the truth in his statement.

The air was thick with tension when suddenly…

“Damn, don’t tell me you bought it.” A voice filled with disbelief echoed through the room.

Barbara and Keryu froze, along with the other people in the room.

Slowly, their heads turned toward the sound, and their eyes widened in disbelief.

There, perched on the table between them, was Alex.

He lounged comfortably, one leg crossed over the other, his elbow resting on his knee as he smirked at the stunned pair.

Alex had never left, or more like, he did leave but came back with the guy who was supposed to inform Barbara about his departure.

The only problem was that no one could see him when he came back, and they went on with their tasks.

Now everyone was staring at Alex in shock, unable to understand how he came here.

‘When did he come here?!’

‘How?!’

‘Should I attack?!’

‘Fuck, why does he look so cool while doing it?’

‘What should I do?’

Such thoughts passed through the heads of Barbara’s subordinates, and Alex, at the center of it all, just kept smirking.

“What’s this?” He asked, his voice dripping with amusement as he turned to Barbara. “Why did you stop? You don’t need to stop on my account. I was just curious as to how you bought his words.”

Alex really couldn’t believe how the power of the protagonists worked.

While it was true that Keryu’s ability was great, Barbara being affected by it was still a stretch.

If that wasn’t enough, just now, when Barbara mentioned her family and Keryu as if knowing which family she belonged to just went on, she didn’t find it strange.

Barbara was a woman who would understand the meaning behind most indirect words, yet now, she failed to see such a simple thing. How stupid was that?

Barbara and Keryu, on the other hand, remained still, their bodies tense. Neither of them had sensed him. Not his arrival, not his presence—nothing.

The tension in the room shifted from heated debate to something else entirely.

Something dangerous.

But it was only for a while before Barbara calmed down, and so did Keryu.

The cat was out of the bag, so it was no use trying to cover for that. They needed to do something about this situation now. Especially Keryu, as he felt a strange sense of crisis rising within him.

“What do you mean?” Barbara was the one to speak first as she questioned Alex, her brows frowning.

She was behaving as if she didn’t care about Alex being here, but in reality, her palm, which was under the table, out of Alex’s sight, was already gesturing for her subordinates to get ready.

‘Heh,’ Alex chuckled inwardly as he noticed the shift in Barbara’s subordinates’ bodies.

He wasn’t dumb enough not to notice it, but other than moving Verathian, which was in its formless form, to cover his vital parts, he did nothing; even his posture remained relaxed.

Normal attacks from anyone other than Barbara wouldn’t be able to do him much harm; he was confident about it.

Ignoring all that, he turned back to Barbara, tilting his head as he stared into her eyes, and replied to her question. “You failed to notice how instead of answering in yes or no, that guy kept playing with words, and finally, when you mentioned your family being destroyed by the imperials, he accepted it without inquiring about it.”

Glancing at Keryu, who now had his head lowered and jaws clenched, Alex added, “It was as if he knew who you are without you telling him.”

As Alex’s words fell, Barbara’s eyes sharpened, and her body tensed to the extreme. The way she looked at Keryu had now changed. There was hostility clear in her eyes now.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep