Chapter 30

Anyway, back to what I was doing before, what was I doing before?

Uhhh, oh yeah, I was trying to get out of this room.

"-ghness! Your highness!" Victoria called out from in front of me.

"Ah? Oh, sorry, I got lost in thought on… business matters. Haha, you know how it is, starting a whole business from the ground up is tough and all." I replied while rubbing the back of my head with one hand.

"T-that's alright, I know how it is, I get you. Ar-artemis."

She said my name without honorifics again, well, I guess I'll return the favour.

"Aha. Thanks for understanding, Victoria. I actually just remembered that I need to get back to the capital and finish up some of that business quickly. I really would love to stay and chat over dinner, but I must be going."

She just nodded, so I decided to take my leave. As I was exiting the room I could still overhear the two people I left talking.

"Hehehe, M-my name…" Victoria muttered something but her father cut her off.

"Victoria, you should get close to the first prince. We will be joining prince Julian's faction, but make sure you are on good terms with prince Artemis. Also, you cost me a lot of money today with your disrespectful attitude towards his highness earlier today, you will be grounded until the big banquet in the capital at the end of the month."

"E-eh?! B-but! Why are we joining prince Julian when A-artemis is so capable! He could even become the h-h-head of the house Sergio, with his skills. He would just have to m-m-m-m-m-m-marry into our family."

She overheard our conversation earlier so she should already understand, well, whatever, I'm just gonna take my leave.

I exited the building and gave the guard a pat on the back as I left the front gate.

"Keep up the good work!"

I didn't wait around to hear his response, but I'm sure he was quite startled.

I made my way over to the teleportation circle I made in the alleyway and made my way home.

I appeared back in my room in an instant and was greeted by an unfamiliar man in my room looking around.

"Hello?" I asked from behind him.

He jumped up and spun around, revealing that he was wearing a mask over his face as well as a hood over his head.

"W-where?!"

I pointed to the still glowing magic circle in response to his question.

Suddenly he seemed to have realized the situation as he threw a dagger with a purple liquid on its edge at my face.

I started to glow a faint white-blue colour before I caught the dagger between my two fingers. I quickly stored it away so that the poison on it wouldn't stain my carpet if it dripped off and dashed forward.

I grabbed his face with my right hand and jabbed my left hand at his chest, when I penetrated straight through him I grabbed something and ripped it out.

I held his heart in my slightly fluorescent hand and chuckled.

"You know, my step mother could use one of these, the heartless bitch just won't stop trying to kill me." I told the man who I was holding off the ground.

I could only see one of his eye through my index and middle finger as I was holding him up by his face, but I could see the horror in his eyes as he saw me holding his heart. I literally had his life in my hands.

"H-howw…." He trailed off as I saw the life leave his eye.

I quickly put him in the dimensional storage and went to the bathroom to clean the blood off of myself, the blood on the carpets was fine as it was already a red carpet, and the bloodstains accumulated over the years had added a certain… flavour… to my room's decor that I quite liked.

After I finished washing up I decided to make my way through the castle in search of something to do.

I ended up wandering aimlessly through the lavish halls which were illuminated by the rays of light piercing through the large windows embedded in the wall. The carpet beneath my feet was bright red with a crimson border on each side. It was laced with gold and purple threads, creating a beautiful pattern when the three colours intertwined.

I tilted my head away from the blinding light coming through the windows on my right and caught a glimpse of the opposing wall. Decoratioted grandly with large paintings of present and past members of the royal family. Under each painting was a podium which held a gold sculpture of either the person themselves or an object precious to them.

I bet each of these small hand sized statues costs hundreds of gold coins, a complete waste of valuable money.

Just walking through this needlessly expensive castle left a sour taste in my mouth, do they not understand what a waste of money this is? They have lived so plentifully and wastefully their entire lives they don't even understand the value of a gold, sliver, or copper coin. It's infuriating how clueless they are. Back during those 7 years when I was in that forest, I had to…

ARhh! FUCK, MY HEAD!

I collapsed to the floor and grabbed my head in response to the agony I was feeling. My head felt like it was splitting open. I felt a constant barrage of pain coming from within.

Why is the happening, just because of the fores-

GAHHH FUCK SHIT FUCK!

It hurts!

Stop it! Stop thinking about it!

I started rolling around in the middle of the room, amidst my suffering I couldn't make out the voice I heard calling out from what seemed like miles away. I felt like I was drowning underwater and all noises were mere vibrations rippling towards me. I felt blind, like I was in the depths of the sea, I could still see, but everything was blurry as if I was underwater and anything in my sight was surrounded by a ring of pure darkness. At some point I became unable to roll around any further and I faintly felt something lightly tap ribs.

Then, I was suddenly enveloped in a bright golden light. I felt warm. It was a complete contrast to the sheer pain and heavy darkness I was surrounded by earlier. It was as if I was being lifted out of the depths of the ocean on the verge of drowning in the sea. I was finally out of that deep, murky, scary place. My lethargic movements suddenly returned to what they used to be, my body finally listened to me again.

After a while, the pain finally stopped, completely. I was back.

I rubbed my eyes and opened them to see a… for lack of better words, unique, sight before me. I was lying on the ground of the hallway with three golden statues at my hands and feet. The carpet was torn and messy in a certain area, with me at the epicenter.

Kneeling before me was a young looking, maybe in her mid 20's and voluptuous woman with a staff in her hands that had a golden ring on the end of it. She was wearing a white dress with a golden belt and a white veil highlighted with a blue outline. Her dress looked innocent at a glance, but due to her body shape, it only accentuated her chest and hips more, giving off an innocent, yet somehow lewd look.

Her golden blonde hair was flowing out the back of her veil as well as two large strands which fell over her shoulders and down to below her chest. She was slightly panting and I could see sweat starting to form above her furrowed brows. Her golden eyes shined along with everything else about her.

Who is this?