‘Should I stop him?’ Kyle had such thoughts as he saw the prince leapt towards Alex. Seeing that he had no weapons, nothing would happen for a while.

“So…you people won’t stop your foolish prince?”

The comment earned a few glares from the dozen soldiers. Seeing that they didn’t retort, it was likely that they also agreed on Kyle’s viewpoint.

*Haaaa…*

Kyle sighed a tired breath. ‘I might as well just go live with the elves. They’re all much kinder than these stupid noble humans. Alex will just have to part with Amelia.’

Alex parried and dodged the prince’s blows. Quin’s mana-infused fists were heavy but his posture full of holes, a result of his hotheadedness.

After a full five minutes of punching and kicking without any results, the prince was exhausted enough to calm himself.

He stared at Alex with clear hostility. Alex had managed to hit back his fair share thanks to the prince forgetting to use proper techniques.

“Crown prince, is this really necessary? Do you really think Amelia will like you and marry you if you actually managed to kill me?”

Quin Strand was rather stumped. He knew that he’d just bring further hatred onto himself if he killed Alex. He most likely would be removed from the position of crown prince as well. It wasn’t as if he could silence Amelia and her guards.

“Ok, so you two kids done now?” Kyle’s lazy voice cut in between the two. Alex stared at Kyle with surprise, who had unknowingly come between the two boys.

“Who are you? Get out of my sight if you don’t want to get hurt!” Quin burst out at the seemingly ordinary man without a hint of mana.

“Oh? If it was the old me…I would have done…nothing actually. It’s much too troublesome to kill an ant just because it insulted me.”

Kyle’s mutter was quiet yet it was clearly heard by the two boys. Alex was flabbergasted and forgot to say anything. He only dumbly stared at his brother in law. He only ever knew Kyle as a polite and mild-mannered person. This new personality was too surprising! Even the Duke’s guards, now standing near the carriage were surprised.

Quin, on the other hand, was fuming! “Did you just call me an ant?!!”

His outburst was splendidly ignored by Kyle. Quin decided to let out his anger on this insignificant citizen without any background.

“Aaaahhhhh!!!” Accompanied by a yell, Quin accelerated towards Kyle and threw a full powered punch to Kyle’s head.

“If it attempted to itch me, though, hehe.” Kyle turned around the easily caught Quin’s fist.

Silence ruled the area for a few seconds. However, the royal guards quickly got into action as they unsheathed their swords and surrounded the three.

“Prince! Back away from that man!” One of the guards yelled out as he approached Kyle slowly. Quin felt like his hand was stuck in concrete. He could not budge it from Kyle’s grip.

“I-I’m trying...”

True to his word, the prince struggled to release his fist from Kyle’s grip. He brought up his other hand and tried to strike Kyle. The blow was easily brushed off by Kyle.

“Brother in law! Don’t harm him! We can’t take the consequences!” Alex was still puzzled as to why Kyle was so strong. But he did not think that Kyle would be able to take on all the royal guards. Kyle was unarmed while the opponents were fully armoured and had mana weapons!

Kyle chuckled at Alex’s remark. “Sorry Alex. It seems that’d you’d have to leave the academy earlier than expected. Pity about that little girl though. She seems to like you rather a lot.”

“Well now, little prince. I think I’ll have to punish you a little. Take it as a lesson, it’ll teach you to be humble to others in the future.”

Under the watch of all the guards, Kyle smiled and squeezed the prince’s fist.

A loud crack could be heard as all the bones shattered. Bone fragments dug into the flesh, turning the whole hand bloody.

Quin let out a blood curdling wail as he felt pain like never before. Kyle let go of the mangled fist and shook his hands to get rid of the blood.

Kyle looked at the now clearly hostile guards, lunging towards him while letting out killing intent.

“As for you lot, seeing that you were only under orders to look after an idiot, I’ll let you off lightly.”

As soon as Kyle said that, a heavy pressure blanketed the area. It was only aimed at the twelve guards and Quin who was still screaming noiselessly while holding his hand.

The approaching guards paused in their tracks. Some of the weaker ones fell on one knee, struggling to stand back up.

“B-brother in law…”

Alex trembled in place. Even if Kyle controlled his pressure, some of it could still be felt. Quin had long gone limp, unable to keep his consciousness.

The Duke’s guards looked in with astonishment. They were too far away to feel the residual pressure but they could still perceive an aura of danger from Kyle.

“Alex.”

“Brother in law!”

Kyle took his attention away from the now unmoving guards, half of them passed out.

“I’m thinking of moving to live with the elves. Originally, we were going to wait till you graduate. It might happen earlier now. What will you do?”

Alex went silent, switching between the carriage that his sister sat in and the miserable crown prince, laying on the ground. He knew it would be difficult to avoid consequences for having harmed the crown prince. It would be best to leave the human kingdom altogether.

“I’ll talk to Vanessa. We’ll most likely go back to the capital to take care of moving.”

“So, decide if you want to remain with that little girl, or if you want to come with us.”

“Oh, don’t worry. If you stay, the king won’t dare to move you. I’ll guarantee it!” Kyle laughed, seeing the dilemma on Alex’s face. ‘It seems that he really likes that Amelia girl.’

***

The inside of the coach was silent. They had a very fast lunch and was now on the way back to the capital. Amelia was no longer riding in the carriage with them.

The red-haired guard leader had taken the still unconscious Amelia and carried her as they trailed some distance back from the carriage.

“Sister.”

Vanessa looked up from stroking the hair of the sleeping Kaylee. “What is it Alex?”

“I need an explanation from you. Why’d you keep me in the dark for so long?”

Seeing that Vanessa was not surprised from the way things had turned out, Alex had determined that he was the only one kept out of the loop from the secrets of the family!

Liz listened to the two siblings but didn’t say anything. Sometimes, the less one knew, the better off one would be! She was a little curious as to why the crown prince’s group had not come back with them, however.

Kyle had left the royal guards knocked out along with Quin in that clearing. As to what would befall them, it would be none of his business.

Vanessa looked at her little brother, who was no longer so little, with a loving gaze.

“If you had known, what would have changed?”

“Kyle wanted to live a quiet life and I’m a mere commoner. You knowing that your brother in law was a powerful individual would change nothing. Since it made no difference, it doesn’t really matter, right?”

Vanessa found that Kyle’s past was rather hard to explain. It was not something believable unless one was to experience it personally. Therefore, she made up some sophistry to avoid telling Alex the entire truth for the time being.

Alex sunk into thought. What would change if Kyle was strong. He’d still attend the academy. Probably go into military service after graduation. Other than knowing that there won’t be much to worry about since his family could protect themselves, his life would continue on.

Alex sighed. For the rest of the trip, he thought about Kyle’s two choice. He asked himself if he could bear leaving Amelia.