Breaking point.

Lenneza walked back to her room and gave herself a quick shower to refresh her tired body. She couldn't help but remember the look on Leonard.

He was smiling, but his eyes weren't. He was filled with this uncertain emotion that made him enigmatic. She couldn't help but assume that her brother's eyes were filled with conceit.

Yula, Her involvement with Leonard was only for one sole purpose. To act as a damsel, burdened by a villain she cannot go against.

And the Knight that was supposed to save her was Walter. The Knight in shining armour, didn't save the damsel, the heroine which was engaged to this villain, no.

Walter didn't necessarily come to her rescue and beat this villain, instead, the damsel and the Knight both made fun of this villain.

Both mocked and ridiculed this villain, they gave a punishment far inhumane. But… they at least kept this punishment to themselves as they didn't ruin Leonard's reputation.

No, his reputation was already messy when he was 12, what else could this ridicule and mocking add to a world full of spite against this young man?

It was roughly a drop to an ocean. And Leonard could do nothing but focus on his role. Because this world was solely for entertainment, a novel, a way for people to judge openly without repercussions.

Solely because of the one in control, that overlord. But that's for another matter, Lenneza decided that whatever Yula was breeding it wouldn't come close to harming Leonard. Because she would be there to stop it.

***

"Hmm…"

Leonard was a bit suspicious, so he asked Lenneza to confirm it. 'What do you think of my soon-to-be fiance?'. But her reaction… he didn't know, it quite infuriated Leonard, he wanted Lenneza to have a look of understanding or whatever. He was just riled up for some reason.

Shaking his head he knew that thinking it over was not a good idea, so he went to his room and decided to wash up. After doing so he called a maid and asked where the twins were supposed to serve Lorraine.

"I think the Head Butler was teaching them himself."

"Oh, where are they?"

"The Knights training grounds."

"What the— the twins are mages, what is the Head Butler thinking?"

Leonard couldn't help furrow his brow, after he had just battled with Lenneza he then went to the Knights' training grounds as the maid had told him.

What he saw was quite surprising, The head Butler was directly 'teaching' the twin boys. As in, he was being involved, right now the head Butler is being attacked by two boys in hand-to-hand combat.

"Boys…" The head Butler spoke in a deep tone of voice. "if you think you could stand beside the young lady whilst being like this then you should just straight up give up."

The boys, the twins whose receiving this tone was not pleased, have their brows furrowed as they keep attacking the head Butler in a synchronous manner.

One on the left and one on the right, the boy on the left kicked on the head Butler's knee while the boy on the right was going for a punch in the liver.

However, the head Butler predicted all their moves as he blocked with his forearm and raised his leg to block and avoid being kicked in the knee.

"What did I tell you, boys?"

The head Butler wasn't moving, he was still like a boulder, and the two boys clearly had a look of helplessness. They have been fighting this old geezer for hours and they still couldn't land a proper hit.

"Woah, that's a solid hit if it wasn't an old adventurer blocking."

Their attention was removed from the fight and was instead placed on Leonard, If it was just some Knight showing their opinion they would have ignored it. But since it was the young master they stopped what they were doing and bowed toward Leonard.

"No, go on I'm quite interested in why two mages needed to actually train on harsh combat techniques instead of just submission arts."

"Oh—"

The head Butler's brows twitched, He looked at Leonard just to be met with an enigmatic smile, the head Butler couldn't help but compare the young Leonard to Richard.

Despite Richard's imposing aura, he never had this malevolent look in his eyes, like Leonard right now. He was imposing like his father but that gaze, some people would wish not to be subjected to that.

"Young master, This training would only make them more hits. It's not necessarily useless."

"Yes, yes but submission would do the trick right? They're young like me so they wouldn't be met with an intense fight any second now would they?"

"..."

"Did father tell you to train them like this or did he just give you the responsibility to train them?"

"... Yes"

"When is their magic training?"

"A few hours from now."

"I see~ I expect them to be able to conjure intermediate magic by next year!"

Next year is just two and a half weeks from now on, this was clearly an unreasonable request. But considering the twin boys' talents, it might be possible, however…

"Don't worry, I'll teach them cultivation techniques."

"So make them study the spells."

Leonard gave a smile before leaving, he was quite satisfied with the outcome of his visit, at first he was annoyed but then he saw the practical use of the methods the Butler was conducting.

"Although I hope it won't be worse where they have to fight in close combat."

Leonard just sighed, he still had one last mission left. And by then, he hoped he could freely do things the way he wanted without obstruction.

***

December 22, 1732

It was time for the trial, Leonard gave Lorraine the bloodline suppression pill bought from the system store. There's a reason for this, and it's to make sure when Lorraine sees Elizabeth and in case of a seizure, her tears won't turn to gems.

With formal clothing, Lenneza, Leonard, Lorraine, and Richard walked together towards the court. As the entire victim and witnesses to Elizabeth's actions, they were all in the same long seat.

There is still a few minutes before the court proceedings so Lenneza proceeded to ask a few things.

"Father."

"Yes?" Richard replied

"Our statements were gathered beforehand but are we sure that the prosecutors would do their job?"

"Don't say that, the evidence Leonard and you have gathered is very much enough."

In any case, Richard was confident that the evidence of domestic abuse on Lorraine would put Elizabeth in jail.

However, he was worried about one thing. If ever, Elizabeth mentions Lorraine's fairy blood. Then things would go down. It is widely known that an Emperor of the past made a protection edict for ethereal beings.

Fairies are ethereal beings solely because their anatomical structures differ from what's known by science. That's why they were classified by Ethereal, as their anatomy isn't set biologically.

Don't ask Richard how he managed to get a fairy pregnant.

"Anywho, Don't worry," Leonard interjected.

The two looked at Leonard.

"I made preparations beforehand," Leonard reassured, then suddenly smiled with his eyes narrowed. "So they could do their worst."

Lenneza is still entirely new to Leonard, he was… a bit dedicated to his villain play. Lenneza couldn't pinpoint if he is only acting at this point.

Lenneza just laughed a bit till Lorraine suddenly leaned on Lenneza, she was quietly snoring.

"She must've been bored."

Both the father and son looked at Lorraine fondly. She was really cute.

"The sisters look pretty don't they father?"

"They do. It's really adorable seeing them like this."

"I agree. Lenneza was the perfect sister to Lorraine as well."

Lenneza was used to flattery, why? In the first iteration, she had to deal with business partners flattering her all the time. But now with genuine compliments from her family, she couldn't help but feel shy and her cheeks were tinted crimson.

'You used to hear better compliments, c'mon Lenneza!' Lenneza spoke in her mind.

After a few more minutes, The defendant, the one in prosecution— Elizabeth appeared. She stared at Leonard and Lenneza.

Elizabeth gave a gaze of disdain and hatred. Lenneza shot back with contempt and Leonard just smiled, however, his eyes weren't smiling at all.

"The court proceedings will start, Please start with the introductions."

Until finally, the court trial began.