Chapter 104: Chapter 104: Royal Rumble – Part 1

Adonis was not taken to the Royal Palace by force, nor did he show any resistance when they informed him that Princess Mariana was there, and that the King wished to meet him.

Yes, meet him.

It came as a shock to him. He had thought that after learning about their relationship, the King would erupt in anger in the name of preserving the bloodline or something of that nature. But surprisingly, King Magnus had not.

Whether Mariana had convinced her father or not, he did not know.

But he felt the need to go, if only because his Maria was there.

When he arrived at the Royal Palace, its grand ambiance impressed him deeply. It stood approximately five hundred meters tall and stretched across several dozen kilometres in width. Simply moving from one hall to another took minutes, even at a walking pace, unless one was burning Ether to hasten their steps.

He did not get to meet the King immediately.

He was taken to a separate guest room, while the maids and eunuchs glanced at him with curious eyes.

“Please stay here until someone presents themselves to guide you,” one of the tall, broad golden knights said before leaving.

Adonis settled onto the bed, waiting.

No sooner had the guards left than two figures hurriedly entered the room.

Mariana and Claudia.

“Hubby, are you okay?” Princess Mariana asked, her pink hair falling across her shoulders.

She immediately rushed into his protective embrace.

The feminine scent of her hair made his breathing ease.

While holding her to his chest, he looked down at her worried face and offered a calm smile.

“I’m alright, Maria. What could possibly happen to me?”

She sniffled and pulled back slightly, her eyes catching the dark stains on his black robe.

“Blood? Whom did you kill, hubby?” she asked sweetly.

He smiled and ruffled her hair. “You know me better than most people. You could already tell it is not my blood.”

“Then whose blood is this, Adonis?” Knight Claudia asked, her striking red hair catching the fluorescent light.

“Claudia. Are you well?” he asked trying meet her gaze. He still remembered this woman was still steps away from being claimed.

Because of his increased charm and aura, Claudia shyly met his gaze, despite being hardcore swordmaster herself.

“I’m fine. Currently busy saving your ass.” she replied with fake annoyance.

“Then I am honored.”

Adonis greeted Claudia with the easy warmth of someone who had long since moved past formality with her.

There was no stiffness in his smile, no performative courtesy. They knew each other well enough for that to be unnecessary.

Mariana pulled back slightly in his arms, her eyes moving between the two of them before settling back on the bloodstained robe with renewed concern.

“So?” Claudia pressed, folding her arms across her chest plate, her red hair catching the light as she tilted her head. “Whose blood is it?”

Adonis glanced down at the dark stains on his robe as if only just remembering they were there. He was quiet for a moment, not from hesitation, but from the calm, unhurried manner of a man who had already made peace with what he had done long before being asked to explain it.

“Logan’s,” he said simply.

The name settled into the room like a stone dropped into still water.

Mariana’s eyes widened. “Your half brother?”

“Yes. My very own half brother,” he confirmed, his voice carrying no particular emotion on the words, no grief, no guilt. Just fact.

“He came for me with shadow guards with the intention to put me in the ground quietly.”

A faint, humorless curve touched the corner of his mouth.

“Alas, It did not go the way he planned.”

Claudia understood the underlying meaning. “You killed him.”

“He tried to kill me first. So yes. I killed him instead. I burned him to ashes, along with every guard he brought with him.”

He said it the way one might report the weather. Calm. Certain. Entirely without apology.

Mariana was quiet against his chest, her fingers curling slowly into the fabric of his robe just above the bloodstain.

Adonis rested his chin lightly on top of her head before continuing, “Which means the Kingsbane family will know by now, if they do not already. Logan was the Duchess’s precious son. Her pride.”

He exhaled slowly through his nose.

“She will not let this go quietly. The whole family will likely come for me, and they will not send lousy guards the second time.”

Claudia was already thinking, “You came here directly after that?”

“More or less,” he said.

She looked at the blood on his robe again, then back at his face, and shook her head slowly with the exasperated composure of someone who had long since accepted that chaos followed this particular person like a loyal hound.

“Phew, you are really something else, Adonis. You just escaped the hungry cats and walked straight into a lion’s den. Do you not fear death?” Claudia asked incredulously.

“Of course not,” Princess Mariana replied instead. “My husband told me he will become the strongest. And that kind of person cannot fear death. They learn to control it.”

She seemed very proud and thoroughly infatuated as she said this.

Claudia could only shake her head at the Princess’s fierce infatuation, or should she call it mad love.

“So, what is my father-in-law going to do with me now? Care to tell me, Princess?” Adonis asked, playfully pulling at Mariana’s soft cheeks.

She replied with a smile like a crescent moon, “We do not know ourselves, hubby. But at least you will not be executed. We made sure of that.”

She said it jokingly.

“You just need to impress him with your magnificence and everything will be fine.”

Adonis smiled wryly, shaking his head.

Just then, the door opened with measured grace and a maid stepped inside.

She was young, neatly dressed in the palace uniform of deep navy and gold, her posture impeccably straight in the way that palace staff trained for years to achieve.

She immediately noticed the intimacy between their precious Princess and the guest.

But she did not comment on it. Palace maids were trained for discretion above all else.

She lowered herself into a precise, elegant bow.

“My deepest apologies for the disturbance, Your highness. But his Majesty, King Magnus, is ready to receive him now. I have been sent to escort him to the Royal Court.”

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