"I have an appointment in a few minutes, but I can spare five minutes for you now. Please make me feel that the next five minutes will be worth it."
Placing a five-minute hourglass on the table, Leon spoke with narrowed eyes.
Tighnari, Cyno, and Alhaitham all wore serious expressions. Although there was no hostility in their eyes, they were filled with vigilance.
It was as if the prince standing before them was a bomb that could explode at any moment.
But before they could speak—
"Ahhh… that should do. Sorry, could you three stay away from me for a while? Keep at least ten meters away."
Leon pressed a hand to his forehead and waved at the three men.
"Huh? What happened to you all of a sudden?" Tighnari raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Leon's resistant expression reminded him of how Leon would faint after taking only two steps every time he went into the desert.
Leon shook his head. His face turned slightly pale as he spoke with a bitter smile:
"It's nothing serious. I'm just not used to being too close to people of the same sex."
"I've barely spoken to men in my life, which gives me a bit of an aversion toward them."
The eyes of Tighnari, Cyno, and Alhaitham twitched. They were speechless.
Was this foreign prince showing off his good fortune with women?
The three of them were only interested in forests, card games, books, and physical training. They had no interest in women at all.
However, Leon was not showing off—he was telling the truth. He had only spoken to a few men in his life, and more importantly, most of the men he had spoken to were already dead, because they had been his enemies.
He was accustomed to an environment surrounded by beautiful women.
At that moment, the three men suddenly stepped closer to Leon, coming within less than five meters of him.
Even Leon was surprised to realize that he truly felt a sense of rejection.
He wondered whether he would only be able to stay around beautiful girls in the future.
Well, that didn't really seem like a problem.
[Well, it's fine. It wouldn't be a problem at all if all the men in this world died and only I remained.]
It had to be said—sometimes this guy was more villainous than an actual villain.
"Ahem, that was a joke. It's fine. What do you want to talk about?" Leon raised his hand and created an invisible barrier in the space between himself and the three men.
Immediately, he felt comfortable again, and the feeling of rejection vanished.
On the other side, Tighnari, Cyno, and Alhaitham spoke with solemn expressions.
"Your Highness Leon, we hope that you will leave the Kingdom of Sumeru and refrain from interfering in this incident."
"…Oh? Give me a good reason."
"Because we do not believe that your purpose in coming to Sumeru is to help us out of goodwill. You must have other plans—plans that are unfavorable to Sumeru. Although I do not know what they are, they may be even more terrifying than the Grand Sage's plan to seize the throne of the Lesser Lord," Cyno said firmly.
"Really? But you have no evidence," Leon replied.
"Evidence is unnecessary. We have the facts," Alhaitham answered.
"Then tell me these facts," Leon raised his eyebrows with interest.
"We have already learned about you, and I must say—it's as if you can create a storm wherever you go." Alhaitham held a dagger hidden in his sleeve.
"The Kingdom of the Knights, the Holy Land, Mondstadt, and those three small kingdoms… No matter where you go, major events always follow. Once is coincidence, twice is an accident, and three times is inevitability. And now, you're in Sumeru. What are we supposed to think?" Tighnari asked tactfully.
At first, they only felt that something was off, so they investigated.
Leon seemed to possess the ability to summon disasters, causing trouble wherever he went.
When he went to the Kingdom of the Knights, a battle broke out between Night Raid and the Cult of Diablos.
When he went to the Holy Land to participate in the Goddess's trial, Midnight appeared, interrupted the proceedings, and destroyed the headquarters of the Holy Cult.
When he went to Mondstadt, which was ruled by the Lawrence family—
On that very day, he executed the entire evil noble family that had entrenched itself for hundreds of years and then went on to conquer three small kingdoms.
Wherever he went, there was bloodshed.
It was as if he were the embodiment of disaster.
Of course, as scholars of the Kingdom of Wisdom, Tighnari, Cyno, and Alhaitham would never cling to something as useless as destiny or coincidence.
"So the three of us formed a hypothesis: what if your presence every time was not a coincidence at all? Of course, we have no evidence. But the result is right here."
They searched for every clue they could find, but there was no evidence that Leon was the mastermind behind each of those disasters. One could even say he was far too clean, with no grounds for suspicion.
No matter how well Leon covered his tracks, the one thing he could not change was the outcome created by his own hands.
The Kingdom of Palettia was always the greatest beneficiary.
Warm applause rang out from Leon's hands.
He looked at the three men with approval.
"Indeed. No matter how well someone hides the details, the result is an unchangeable fact. Congratulations on hitting the mark. I do have malicious intentions."
Leon stood up from the sofa, looked down at them condescendingly, and announced:
"I am here to conquer Sumeru."
"Mm." ×3
The three immediately took up fighting stances. At the same time, they were shocked.
They had not expected the confrontation with Leon to be so direct—it was as if he did not care whether they knew.
"I see. Recently, I noticed that there are many new faces in Sumeru. I believe those are your people, Your Highness," Cyno said.
"Some time ago, I also discovered a spy who had infiltrated the Akademiya. I tried to capture her, but she managed to escape," Alhaitham added.
"Your Highness Leon, although I do not know how far you've gone with this, could you please take your people and leave Sumeru? Otherwise, if this matter comes to light, it will cause you great trouble," Tighnari said.
Faced with the three warnings, Leon merely shook his head calmly.
"That would be quite troublesome. But is it really acceptable for you to do this? Without my help, can the three of you truly save the Lesser Lord on your own? To be more realistic… do you really think you can leave this place unscathed?"
(End of Chapter)