The villainous prince who bullied Feng Aotian was actually myself.

Page 49

"Okay, time is of the essence, I'll leave it to you, Miss Hayden."

Leon urged, his handsome face bearing a serious, businesslike expression.

Goose……

Why do I suddenly feel like punching this guy?

Hazel stared at Leon, frozen in place.

"Miss Hayden, is there anything else?"

Feeling Hazel's burning gaze, Leon was dumbfounded.

"It's alright, Your Highness, I'll take my leave."

Hazel lifted her skirt slightly, gave a symbolic bow, and then quickly left, her flowing sleeves billowing in the air.

Weird...

Something felt off, but Leon quickly gave up on thinking about it. What was there to guess about a woman's mind? Trying to guess that was like looking for a needle in a haystack, a complete waste of time.

He sat back down at his desk.

If I were to leave the palace, there are still many things I need to arrange before the letter of denunciation arrives.

P.S.: I think black hair and red eyes look really good, although white hair is still the most appealing. As usual, [Requesting...votes?]

Chapter Fifty-Five: The Library's Internal Volume

"Your Highness, you're not actually using prisoners in the jail for magical experiments, are you?"

Edwin looked at the gray sky over Guberlan, exhaled a smoke ring, and slowly spoke. His expression was very calm, as if he were talking about something very ordinary.

"Using this excuse to fob off the warden is probably the stupidest thing I've done this year."

Leon placed his hands on the stone wall of the watchtower, looked down at the barbed wire cage below, and then gave a self-deprecating laugh.

This is the Imperial Prison. Leon came here because he received news that the death row inmate affected by the Crimson Nail had died. As for the cause of death, well, he was probably just unlucky—he choked to death on his rice.

Therefore, Leon was thankful that he wasn't so saintly as to let himself suffer the negative effects of the Crimson Nail; otherwise, he might have been following the will of the world's rules and been given a bizarre death.

For example, you might slip while using the restroom, choke on water and die, or see a pretty girl and then see something you shouldn't, resulting in a nosebleed.

Of course, Leon's imagination was purely based on the image of the girl dying that way. After all, that wasn't bad luck; it was clearly a reward!

Getting back to the main point, once the death row inmate dies, the Scarlet Nail's interference effect on Dora will automatically dissipate, at which point the ritual needs to be performed again.

So Leon came to the prison to repeat the ritual.

"Actually, I was indeed fooled by you, but after you left last time, I still went to check on the prisoner out of curiosity and that's when I discovered something unusual."

Edwin quipped, "Honestly, Your Highness, you surprise me. I don't think you're as useless as people say. On the contrary, you're quite the fraudster."

"I'll take this as a compliment, sir."

Leon was momentarily speechless. But Edwin was right; he was a liar, lying and pretending from the very first day he came into this world.

But there was no other way; I didn't belong to this era. I was forced to integrate into it out of necessity.

To be honest, I feel like a stranger to myself right now... even to Leon himself.

Is this considered a mental illness?

Maybe one day—I'll go crazy?

Leon inwardly mocked himself.

"Of course I was praising Your Highness."

Edwin squinted and smiled.

"I lied to you, aren't you angry?"

"What's there to be angry about? There aren't many people in this world who are willing to tell the truth. I've lived for almost half my life, and you're acting like I've never been deceived before."

Edwin flicked his cigarette ash and chuckled.

"Yes, not many are true. Like Lord Edwin, although you seem unapproachable, you are actually a very nice person."

Leon smiled in a flattering manner.

"Is that so, Your Highness? If one day I put a knife to your throat, you might regret what you said today."

Edwin said it in a joking tone.

Leon understood what he meant: if he lost the power struggle between the Regent and Leon in the future, he would still meet him in prison.

However, now he is a high-ranking prince who oversees the country, but in the future he will be a pitiful creature with a short life, an eliminated one in the power struggle.

"Thank you for the reminder, Lord Edwin. That day should never come."

Leon gave a slight bow and said, "Lord Edwin, I must return to the palace. It was a very pleasant chat with you."

"Your Highness, please take care. I imagine you don't want to attract too much attention, so I won't see you off."

Edwin smiled.

"Okay, then I'll leave the prison to you, sir."

Leon quickly took his leave.

Edwin is a very easy person to get along with. When you interact with him, you always get the feeling that he is always thinking of you, that you have a very good relationship with him, and that he is very trustworthy.

But in reality, if you calm down and think about it, you'll find that you don't know him at all, and you don't even have any real relationship to speak of.

You can't be sure what his intentions are, or whether he will actually sell you out.

Therefore, this kind of person is truly terrifying.

Leon's conversation with Edwin seemed casual and harmonious, like that of old friends who had known each other for many years, but in reality, he was always on guard against Edwin, and his words did not reveal any information that was detrimental to him.

Edwin was similar; although he acted very friendly towards Leon throughout, he never indicated in his words that he was on Leon's side.

Neither Leon nor Edwin revealed the truth to the other; they each kept it to themselves.

Whether Edwin can be trusted remains to be seen.

Gambling requires luck, and in this world, the thing Leon can least afford to gamble on is luck. Therefore, he can only make the worst-case scenario plan. If Edwin betrays him and his use of the Crimson Nail in prison is exposed, he must prepare a backup plan in advance.

Second move...

Besides clinging to Helena's coattails, who else can I rely on?

However, Helena is currently in a period of cautious development, and she can hardly protect herself.

Besides, you can't hide fire with paper.

Leon had a feeling that Helena would find out sooner or later about him forging the diary and deceiving her.

At that time, I might have to face sanctions from Feng Aotian.

hiss,

So terrifying.

Leon shivered violently in the warm sunshine of the bright, sunny day.

Ugh, the more I think about it, the more my head aches and the more frightened I get.

This world is so cruel to me, hahaha! Mom, I want to go home!!!

Blue lean mushrooms.

After leaving the Imperial Prison, Leon did not return directly to the palace as he had said, but instead went to the library of Guberland University.

Leon believed he had to make time to improve his strength, since even a mithril-level mage couldn't defeat an ordinary servant in the palace.

The Guberland University Library is divided into a surface library and an underground library. The surface library contains normal books that anyone can borrow, while the underground library contains books on magic, sealed artifacts, spiritual cultivation, and other extraordinary powers, which can only be borrowed by those officially recognized as extraordinary individuals.

Leon's status as an Extraordinary being is naturally officially certified. Even without certification, it doesn't matter, since with Leon's current status and position, he can be considered the official figure himself!

Despite his privileges, Leon, wanting to keep a low profile, followed the proper procedures, queuing up with other extraordinary individuals for identity verification before entering the underground library.

During the identity verification process, the person verifying Leon's team was a pretty young woman who looked to be around twenty-five or twenty-six years old and whose profession was "Observer".

Because of the tedious work, she didn't pay attention to the people in line at first. When it was Leon's turn, she suddenly shuddered.

Good heavens! The regent prince!

The young woman was startled. As a civil servant of the Imperial Library, she could naturally recognize the Imperial leadership.

However, at Leon's prompting glance, she quickly understood, forced herself to regain her composure, pretended not to recognize Leon, gave him a perfunctory check, and then let him in.

"I just looked up and realized it was Prince Leon, the big boss! I was so scared, oh my god."

After Leon walked away, the young woman patted her colleague standing next to her and whispered something in a very low voice.

“I noticed him while he was in line, and I thought you noticed him too.”

The young woman's colleague is a girl of similar age to her.

"Why did His Highness come here alone?"

The young woman was curious.

"I don't know. It's best not to pry into the affairs of your superiors."

"My God, he's even more handsome in person than in the portrait! And just now—he smiled at me!"

"You can be infatuated with this? Take my advice, I've heard Leon isn't a good person."

"Ah... okay, but—it doesn't seem as bad as the rumors said..."

Very quiet beeping.

Chapter Fifty-Six Rotten to the Bone

Hayden County truly lives up to its name; they get things done efficiently.

No, this should mainly be attributed to Hazel. She truly deserves to be the beloved first wife of the protagonist in the original series. She is stunningly beautiful, intelligent, and understanding! She is incredibly reliable.

A day had passed since Hazel left the palace. In the early morning, while Leon was handling official documents in his office, he received an impeachment letter from the city of Illidan.

The signature reads "Moses Jordan, Deputy Chief of Staff of Finance of Zero City," which is probably equivalent to an official like the Chief Accountant of Modern Blue Star.

This official position isn't particularly high-ranking, nor is it particularly low-ranking; it's somewhere in the middle to lower tier.

Indeed, Moses is courageous, ambitious, and bold. If he has good character and abilities, we should try to get him the mayoralty of Izero City. Of course, the prerequisite is that he survives this turmoil.

Leon inwardly admired this brave man who dared to report the crime by name.

He quickly took the matter very seriously and convened a meeting at the Guberlan Prosecutor's Office. At the meeting, in order to expose the matter as soon as possible, Leon invited reporters from the most authoritative Guberlan Central News Agency of the Fchester Empire, as well as other well-known newspapers in Guberlan City.

At the prosecutor's office meeting, most officials held strong opinions about Leon, and the debate was exceptionally heated.

"Your Highness, the empire is currently at war. Your grand gestures are causing a great uproar in the capital and are disturbing the peace of the people."

A senior prosecutor vehemently refuted this.

"Disrupting public morale? Mr. Stanford, my most beloved father and my dearest brother are fighting on the front lines for the people of the empire, but what about these people? They are hiding behind the people, sucking their blood. If the empire continues to do nothing about this, wouldn't it chill the hearts of the people of Fchester!"

Leon retorted without hesitation, while secretly making a mental note of these officials who disagreed with him.

“Your Highness, I disagree with your statement that it has chilled the hearts of the people. We have already read the impeachment letter. It is merely the one-sided account of a finance deputy, which is too subjective. The truth of the matter cannot be verified. If it turns out to be just a farce, it will make our Imperial Prosecutor’s Office a laughing stock of the world, and history will remember this incident forever. Your Highness, you are still young. Please heed the advice of our elders and don’t wait until the time comes to realize how foolish you were.”

After Leon rebuked the official who had spoken earlier, another official stepped forward.

Leon understood his subtext perfectly. If the investigation continued, it would end in a farce, and he, Leon, would be recorded in history as a fool, ridiculed and vilified by future generations.

However, since Leon dared to do it, he must have been confident. He would never let this matter end in a farce. Now that things have come to this, if he doesn't get Bart and his group off the stage, then it will be Leon's turn to step down!

In terms of background, he's the rightful heir of the Hoyle family, while Bart is nothing!

With such a privileged birth, if I, Leon, don't act tough, who will?

"Confused? Mr. Harlan, if being responsible to the people is called being confused, then let me remain confused for the rest of my life! In the event of this, regardless of whether this impeachment letter is genuine or not, we must thoroughly investigate it. The people support us, so we should protect their rights and uphold the fairness of the law. We must fulfill our duties in our positions. If we turn a blind eye to this matter and let it pass, it would not only be a disservice to the people and to our official robes, but also a desecration of the goddess of justice!"

Leon retaliated fiercely.

"Your Highness, the empire is currently focused on the war. This matter is no small thing. We might as well report to His Majesty first and see his opinion before making a decision."

Leon was in the right. He consistently argued based on the interests of the people of the empire, which made it difficult for anyone to refute him. As a result, some clever people changed their approach and started using Caesar to pressure Leon.