She's Not Our Daughter! Ch 114

How to Deal with a Villain (4)

Sierra gasped as Amille's fingers twitched. Thanks to the healing potion given earlier, she was moving. Her bruised neck and shallow breathing made it clear she could not aid Cassius in battle, but.......

Still, my sister is alive.

If only Amille would open her eyes and stand upright.

Defeating the Crown Prince together would fulfill Sierra's greatest wish. Reunited after so long, she clung to that hope.

But there was no time for sentiment. The Crown Prince stepped directly toward Hanael. Sierra suppressed a scream, staring at their confrontation. Cassius still held his sword. He could turn the tide at any moment.

But the Crown Prince didn't think so. Turning his feverish gaze away from Hanael, he looked up at Cassius and mocked him once more.

[Prince] "This place is my empire."

Normally,he watched the Sword Master grip a sword with a mix of admiration and defeat. Today was different. Cleansed of all inferiority, the Crown Prince straightened his body with a calm expression. He turned his stiff neck, placing his throat right against Cassius' blade.

[Prince] "Go ahead, cut me."

His mocking voice made it clear he believed Cassius would never strike.

[Cassius] "If you wish."

Cassius silently drew his blade. A faint aura erupted from the sword cutting through the air, painting a beautiful picture that sparkled like stars in the night sky.

But just as the blade neared the Crown Prince's neck, the sword in his hand crumbled into dust and scattered. Only the sapphire embedded in the hilt rolled across the floor. It was total destruction.

Watching the sword vanish from Cassius grip, the Crown Prince clutched his stomach and cackled.

[Prince] "Now you are completely powerless."

He looked Cassius up and down. Though the sword had vanished, Cassius' clothes remained neat. The Crown Prince smirked.

[Prince] "A swordsman without a sword is nothing."

[Cassius] "Is that so?"

Cassius tone remained indifferent, enraging the Crown Prince. He shouted in frustration.

[Prince] "Well? How is it? Do you like it? This perfect domain I created."

This space existed entirely within the Crown Prince's mind. Amille lay unconscious, and Sierra remained pinned to the wall, unable to speak. Cassius, the only one capable of defying his will, no longer held a weapon.

However.......

[Cassius] "Hanael."

Hanael opened her bright eyes and looked at Cassius, her expression full of complete trust.

[Hanael] "Yes....... Daddy!"

[Cassius] "Did you just call me Daddy?"

His gaze shifted past Hanael to the Crown Prince. Hanael looked in the same direction. Feeling the faint mana entering his hand, the Crown Prince stared greedily at Hanael again. Yet their words were meant only for each other. Ignoring the Crown Prince completely, Cassius asked his question, and Hanael bravely opened her swollen, bluish lips to answer.

[Hanael] "Yes, I called you...... Daddy!"

The situation was dangerous. Hanael stood closer to the Crown Prince than to Cassius.

The brief surprise vanished from the Crown Prince's face, replaced by an arrogant smirk. Light poured into the cave-like secret room as the space slowly shrank, leaving no room for four people. The room altered its shape, and the Crown Prince took a step toward Hanael once more.

[Prince] "Yes, my little girl."

Stealing Hanael's mana was only a matter of time for the Crown Prince. At that moment, Cassius spoke in a low voice.

[Cassius] "Daddy will protect you. Both your mother and my daughter."

Finishing his sentence, he stared at the Crown Prince with an indifferent face.

[Prince] "You have no weapon. How do you plan to defy an absolute being like me?"

Mocking his words, the Crown Prince grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up effortlessly.

Within this domain, everything followed the Crown Prince's command. Cassius was no exception. No matter how powerful a swordsman he was, it made no difference. This realm existed solely for the Crown Prince. Monsters spawned from this very place.

Watching Cassius fall into his grasp at last, he shrieked in pure ecstasy.

[Prince] "Kneel on the floor."

Cassius knelt as though controlled. Sierra bit her lip tightly, unable to stomach the scene unfolding before her.

The Crown Prince showed no mercy. He slammed his booted foot onto the back of Cassius neck.

[Prince] "At last, I get to see you trampled before me."

Finally, Cassius knelt beneath his boots. Caught in a trap he walked into willingly. Powerless, without even a sword.

[Prince] "Finally, trash like you......!"

Cassius endured his kicks in silence.

Sensations wildened across the Crown Prince's entire body. He grew nearly mad with thrill, forgetting even Hanael, who was supposed to grant him total power. His boots struck frantically, almost beyond his own control.

---

Amille gritted her teeth. The weak brainwashing magic tormented her, but she had to endure. The Crown Prince gave no thought to her presence. Therefore, she had to attack him.

You are my dog.

That is.......

Get down and bark.

She had barked helplessly like a dog. Yet she felt no self-loathing, because she believed she belonged to him. A dog never bites its master. Never. But...... through eyes throbbing from the beatings, she saw Hanael.

[Hanael] "Waaah. Stupid mister, no, Daddy!"

[Cassius] "......."

[Hanael] "Get up! It hurts, right? You bad guy! Hit him instead of Hanael!"

Her piercing screams echoed alongside the Crown Prince's violent blows. Watching this, Amille rallied her weak mind. Cassius was helpless, her niece—unseen for years—was crying, and Sierra stood frozen, unable to utter a sound. Therefore, Amille had to act. She had to accomplish this.

Please.......

Amille opened her mouth as if vomiting words. Fireball, basic magic—anything, as long as it attacked the Crown Prince. But her mouth refused to move.

[Prince] "Now then, shall I finish this?"

Lifting his foot off Cassius, he chuckled.

Cassius spat bloody saliva onto the floor, preparing to take action. Yet injured as he was, what could a swordsman do?

Amille anxiously muttered incantations through her teeth, but no words escaped her mouth.

[Prince] "Come here."

[Hanael] "Go away!"

Hanael bit down hard on the Crown Prince's hand. Because her baby teeth possessed little strength, he maintained his ecstatic expression.

[Prince] "Such power......."

He made a gesture as if roughly grabbing her hand to threaten her.

[Prince] "I can't treat you gently."

He placed his hand solemnly over her head.

[Hanael] "Bad mister! You were like this in the past too! Bring my Mommy back to life! Don't kill my Daddy!"

Hanael tried to move, but in vain. Absorbing the power surging from her, the Crown Prince looked intoxicated.

Tears welled up in Hanael's eyes and dripped onto the floor. Amille bit the inside of her cheek, barely forcing her lips apart.

Please, please......!

Did her desperate wish work?A tiny spark of offensive magic slipped past her lips.

[Amille] "Blas......."

Until now, she had never succeeded in casting offensive magic at the Crown Prince. The brainwashing magic prevented its victim from attacking the master.

However.......

Had the Crown Prince's mind fractured, breaking the spell?

Or had this all been Cassius' plan?

Amille quietly chanted the incantation through her teeth. For a brief moment, Cassius' gaze passed over her. And finally, the Crown Prince flinched as he touched Hanael.

Though it was only a minor attack spell, it marked her first success. Amille opened her eyes wide at her initial strike, clenching and opening her fist. She had struck the Crown Prince.

[Prince] "What is this......."

Gazing at Hanael with reverence moments ago, he staggered and turned around.

Amille gasped. Unlike when he threatened her earlier, the Crown Prince appeared hideous. Ever since he trampled Cassius, his face had contorted grotesquely; one eye glowed blood-red, while the other remained pitch-black.

As she gasped in shock, the Crown Prince approached her.

[Prince] "Amille, was it? I was careless. I should kill you right now......."

But his remaining words never left his mouth. There was something he didn't know.

Bang—!

With an explosive burst, he froze mid-motion. He stumbled and fell to the floor.

A faint smile appeared on Cassius lips, and the magic restraining Sierra's body dissolved. Hanael stopped crying abruptly, her tear-stained face shifting into a mischievous grin.

---

The Crown Prince's soul fell asleep, torn to shreds, and a lower demon was summoned into his body. A fact he failed to realize put his soul to sleep.

Cassius Ideos had summoned a lower demon he once controlled directly into the Crown Prince's body. A demon slumbers inside a human host and awakens when cracks appear in the soul.

His ultimate weakness was Cassius Ideos—the very man who fueled his deep sense of inferiority. Believing he had subjugated Cassius, the Crown Prince entered a state of wild, overwhelming excitement.

His unstable soul suffered further damage from Amille's attack. Though her magic lacked massive destructive power, it proved sufficient to shatter the mind of a man already driven half-mad with ecstasy. The lower demon summoned by Cassius seized that exact opening to invade.

Within seconds, the Crown Prince—or rather, the demon wearing his skin—staggered back to his feet with a cringing expression.

Cassius rose gracefully as if he had never knelt, lightly wiping his lips with the back of his hand.

[Cassius] "This empire was built by his soul. Perhaps that is why it collapses without him."

[Demon] "......."

The demon remained motionless. Not expecting an answer, Cassius continued cynically.

[Cassius] "With the so-called absolute ruler foolishly gone, I can move freely now."

As if proving his words, Sierra walked over and stood beside Cassius.

Looking at her, he raised the corner of his lips into a light smile. Yet he didn't stop speaking.

[Cassius] "I expected the trapped demon soul to resurface once the Crown Prince weakened, but......."

Looking at the Crown Prince once more, a picture-perfect smile formed on his face. But this smile differed completely from the warmth he reserved for Sierra. It was chilly to the core.

[Cassius] "Isn't that right, demon?"

In that instant, the demon's gaze twisted.

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