"...what exactly are you scheming here?"
"Scheming?" Leon said, raising his brows, "That hurts my feelings, princess, what makes you think, I of all people can scheme."
Eula narrowed her gaze further.
"Only a fool can believe you’re harmless, and tell you what... I’m not one of them."
’Shit, why isn’t she going.’
Leon didn’t want to drag this conversation further.
But, it seems like Eula would not leave without a satisfying answer.
’Very well then...’
If that’s how she wants to play, then Leon would take double in return.
Tugging both his hands in his coat’s pocket, Leon chuckled.
"So you’ve made it personal?"
"I haven’t." She closed the distance between them, "so this time, I’ll ask it directly, Leon Valentine...."
Both were only a finger distance away from each other.
Out of nowhere, she grabbed Leon by his collar, meeting his gaze, she asked.
"Why did you approach me on that evening?"
Leon saw her lips murmuring something, before her eyes started to glow.
It was more bluish than before.
Mana.
She was pulsing mana through her eyes, indicating that she had just activated one of her skills on Leon.
A skill that could charm even someone a rank above her to do whatever she desired. No matter what. They had to obey her, for as long as the spell remained in effect.
It was a unique skill passed down through the bloodline of the Lunovar.
[Command of Grace] allowed the user to bend others with words alone, forcing obedience without them ever realizing they were being controlled.
Once activated, the user’s voice gained a weight no one could bear.
Laced with mana, it slipped past the target’s defenses, coiled around their brain like invisible chains, and whispered submission straight into their thoughts.
There was no resisting it.
No one ever had.
But...
It had one flaw.
It didn’t work on anyone else who possessed the same skill. Likely to avoid chaos within the user’s own bloodline.
’Got you.’ Leon grinned, before activating his own unique skill.
[Skill Deconstruction]
Leon’s eyes were covered in streams of 0s and 1s. His vision turned bright gold, and lines of binary scrolled at lightning speed.
「Fate Point: 0」
One Fate Point was consumed.
His thinking and understanding amplified, and time itself slowed down.
Leon recalled the entire code of Eula’s special skill, and in a mere instant an entire formula imprinted in his brain.
「Skill Deconstruction (Activate) : ’Command of Grace’ <B-Rank> (Replicated)」
’SHIT! THIS THING STILL HURTS!’
A sharp sting ripped through his skull. But biting down on his tongue, he forced himself to endure.
Seconds passed.
And just like that, everything returned to normal.
"Speak." Eula said, "where did you get the intel about Lucian, and how did you find out about Twilight Order?"
Leon didn’t feel anything. Her words sounded normal to his ears.
He parted his lips to speak.
"Your..."
"Loudly." She commanded.
Just then, Eula saw his golden eyes glinted with a mocking edge. And the corners of his lips curled into a slow, dangerous grin.
"Your bean buns are getting cold, princess."
"?!"
A gust of wind blew between them.
Eula froze.
Her grip around his collar loosened slightly, but her gaze remained sharpened.
’He resisted it?’
She stared into his golden eyes.
The [Command of Grace] had activated.
She was sure of it.
Then...
’Impossible,’ she thought.
But Leon just chuckled under his breath.
"It failed..."
Many things raced through her mind.
There could be two possibilities for the skill to fail.
Either Leon had royal blood, which Eula rejected outright.
Or...
He was not one, but two ranks above hers.
Eula was a ’Spellweaver’, fourth-star of the ’Orange Core’.
If Leon was two ranks above her, that meant he had already reached the ’White Core’, likely a first-star ’Breaker’.
’Impossible.’
She let go of Leon’s collar.
Eula was having a hard time believing it.
In Eclipse, only the headmaster and a few professors had reached White Core.
For him to be a White Core... that would instantly earn him the title ’The Strongest Student’ in the whole Eclipse.
Leon noticed the surprise in her eyes. Grinning, he just laughed it off.
"Haha, don’t think too much princess, I am just a Crimson Core."
"Wha–"
That alerted her. He somehow read her again.
’Am I that easy?’ she thought.
But she didn’t believe him.
’Crimson Core, yeah sure.’
Leon adjusted his creased collar and said,
"Stop worrying about trivial matters. Don’t you have something important you wanted to ask?"
He had deliberately kept a major piece of information about Lucian to himself, so that Eula would have a hard time figuring it out.
By doing so, she would have no other option but to consult Leon again.
Eula responded.
"You are right again. I do have something important to ask of you."
’She would definitely ask me about Lucian.’ Leon was sure of it.
His plan was flawless. There was no way she could ignore a Primordial-ranked demon hiding within her own kingdom.
And Leon had already prepared his answer in advance.
But something unexpected happened.
"Tell me," she asked, in a serious tone, "do you know anything about those sucked out dead bodies, which were found in the fourth block in Shinra?"
She didn’t ask about Lucian. Instead, she wanted information about those dead bodies.
His eyes twitched.
’She’s testing me.’
What she truly wanted to know was...
Does Lucian have any connection with those dead bodies?
Leon knew the answer, and truth be told, Lucian was not the real perpetrator.
Both events were different, and they had no connection between them.
But Leon didn’t want to reveal that yet.
So, he just lied.
"Are you thinking that Lucian was behind all this?"
"Precisely."
"Well, you might be right."
"..."
Eula didn’t respond.
She watched his face with careful silence.
Right now, he wanted Eula to be fully invested in this Lucian guy.
’It needed to be done sooner.’ He recalled the game’s story.
Because if Lucian didn’t get killed, then it would be game over for Leon.
Leon had always been overshadowed by his siblings, because of which he always got mocked.
These life-long failures shaped his resentment and inferiority complex.
Because of all this, he got fed up with ’someone’, which ignited Leon’s anger and made him easy to manipulate.
And that ’someone’... was none other than Lucian Thorne.
Leon’s desire for revenge made him vulnerable, so Lucian twisted that to his advantage, which would ultimately contribute to Leon’s downfall at the hands of the protagonist in the beginning of the game.
This part was later revealed in the game’s arc, when Lucian got captured.
Surely, the current Leon was actually Haru, so mocking and jealousy-bait wouldn’t work on him.
As such, he would not fall for Lucian’s tricks this time.
But it didn’t guarantee that Lucian would leave him alone.
There was still a chance that Lucian would approach him.
’I don’t want that.’
If that chance could be avoided, then what’s the harm in choosing that path?
Crossing his arms and faking a thinking posture, Leon asked,
"Do you know how to kill a Primordial-ranked demon?"
Eula responded.
"How can I know?"
Only a Light Affinity could kill a Primordial-ranked demon with ease.
That’s a common knowledge.
And right now, only two people can use it.
Leon smiled.
He made his decision.
Lifting his gaze, he asked her...
"Do you want to know?"