Deja Vu

Arina herself had almost forgotten about it—because she was busy stressing over her failed assassination attempt, but she did get a letter from Prince Felix a few days ago. The contents said that he wanted to buy one of Arina's antique collections, and wanted to talk about it when they met on the day of the priests' welcome party.

It's just, to be honest, the prince wasn't the only one who sent letters like that to her. So when her day got worse because of yesterday's problems, Arina immediately forgot about all that stuff and preferred to just stay at home so she could calm her body and soul that felt like they wanted to explode!

But when Arina was busy meditating alone in her room, suddenly a dove landed on her window. It brought a letter with a brief content.

'Why don't you come? Do I need to kill your mother first so you can come to the palace now? You know I'm not good at joking.'

"What the hell?!" Surprised by the letter in her hand, Arina immediately shouted for Sei to prepare everything so she could go to the palace as soon as possible.

So here is Arina, coming only to meet this crazy prince.

SLAP! But as soon as the door closed, without further ado, Arina immediately raised her hand to hit the prince. Although unfortunately her hand was caught. "Next time, if you want to buy something…" But Arina still gritted her teeth in front of Felix. "Make sure you don't add threats like this!"

Replying to Arina's gaze, the man with the ponytail raised the side of his lips. "But it did get you here quickly." He said. But because Arina still looked like she wanted to strangle him even more, he lowered his smile again.

"Your temper is really worse than I heard... Alright, then let's just pretend this letter doesn't exist." He continued while seizing the letter and burning it with a small fire in his finger. "So, you can sit now."

But Arina still furrowed her brows in annoyance. "...Trust me, you don't want to mess with me." She said, although prince Felix just laughed at it.

It had been more than 3 months since Arina last saw the prince when she came back from Lavit's jungle expedition. But as the rumors say, Felix's attitude now is indeed different from the usual Felix. Or rather, 'it's like he's back to being the old Felix…' Arina thought in disgust.

Since childhood, Prince Felix has always been hailed for his high physical and sword abilities. But the one thing that stood out the most about him was his extremely high ego as the crown prince. And what's worse, he's very proud of it. Apart from his two siblings, other children who dared to stare back at him were probably only Arina.

But since losing his hand, he probably experienced quite a bit of trauma. Not only does he rarely speak, his temper also becomes more unpredictable and he likes to make a mess. Even before going on Lavit's jungle expedition, Felix honestly didn't seem to mind it if he didn't come back alive.

But after returning with new magic abilities, it seems like his ego has returned as well.

"I only have one hand, so please don't ask for coffee." Felix said who relaxedly sat down on a chair near the window.

After clicking her tongue in annoyance, Arina finally sat down in front of him. "Whatever it is, I won't give it." She said bluntly.

"Why? Because I didn't provide coffee?"

"No, but because you haven't mentioned what item you want." Arina replied seriously. "Most people usually write it down in the letter. But the fact that you didn't mention it outright means it's very likely that you have some ulterior motives and I don't want to be bothered by that."

"Mm, half right, half wrong." Reply prince. "I did not write it on purpose, but I have no intention of hiding it either. That's why I called you here, so I can tell you directly."

"..." They both fell silent as if trying to read each other's thoughts.

Then finally, Felix chuckled again. "And you really think I can't have someone steal it from you? You should be grateful I didn't destroy your house."

Not to be intimidated, Arina grinned back at him. "You can try."

"Haha! Why? Just because you're a Dark Magician, you think it makes you invincible?" Felix replied, which instantly made Arina feel like her heart was dropping to her stomach.

"Pfft, you don't even try to deny it." He added mockingly.

"I saw you two days ago, you know. When you tried to kill that priest." Felix continued. "Wow, you really looked cool back then! Actually I've always liked women who can fight. And when I saw you, I almost fell in love for real!" He said in an excited spirit.

'Ugh, f*ck!' Arina cursed in her heart that spontaneously felt an annoying deja vu. Dealing with his little brother was already troublesome, but now she also had to serve his big brother? 'Should I just kill them both right now?!'

But while she was forced to listen to Felix babbling like that, Arina finally realized something. "Though… What were you doing at that time?" She asked suspiciously. After all, if he saw everything, why didn't he do anything about it?

Felix suppressed his smile. "You haven't heard? Everyone's been talking about it lately though. That I was aiming for her because I could become the crown prince again if I made her my partner." He replied casually.

But since Arina still furrowed her brows suspiciously, he added again. "Well, if only she wasn't that cute, I might actually consider it."

Seeing Arina put on a flat expression now, the man widened his smile even more before continuing. "No need to be so confused. Just like you, the point is I also want that woman to die." He said then.

"..."

"I don't want much. It's just, you know, I just hope you give me that woman's body when you're done killing her." He continued.

Feeling a bit fed up, Arina spontaneously scrunched up all the muscles in her face and made a disgusted expression. But prince Felix still continued. "I've sent around 6-7 assassins for months to kill her, but damn, she's so hard to get. So if a Dark magician like you does intend to kill her, I might have hope this time."

Arina was silent for quite a while after hearing that. But before asking why Felix wanted to kill the priest too, even to the point of wanting her corpse, there was one thing she needed to ask first. "Why did everyone fail like that?"

Felix just smiled at first, but then he chuckled. "You already tried it once. Don't you know?" He said. "She has a troublesome bodyguard these days..."

"...But he's already dead."

"Are you sure?" Felix replied while looking out the window, where the noise of the garden party was still faintly audible.

With an uneasy feeling, Arina followed Felix's line of sight. And that's where she saw him. The young merchant she should've trampled two days ago. "...What?! How--"

"I already inspected it. That man's name is Ergin, some kind of an immortal human. I think it's called Ajin? Maybe you know it more than me." He explained when Arina still widened her eyes in shock. "I'm not sure they're just friends or what, but he always gets in the way."

Felix allowed Arina to be shocked as long as she needed. Only when she slumped back into the chair did he speak again. "I didn't write down the item I needed because I wanted to hide them. But because I thought maybe you'll know better what kind of weapons we can use to take care of those troublesome beings."

Still with a displeased look, Arina finally looked at Felix again. "We?"

"What? If you don't want to, of course, I'll take care of it for you as long as you give me a useful weapon." Felix replied casually. "But in exchange, give me her body--"

"What for??" Interrupted Arina who didn't want to hear that for the second time.

Prince Felix was silent for a long time as if he didn't want to answer that question. But after a few moments, he returned to his faint smile. "Because I heard you could become immortal if you ate the heart of a high priest."

Arina almost returned to her disgusted face. But rather than being disgusted, she was more astonished to hear that. 'Eternal? Only that?' She thought somewhat in disbelief. Because in her head, she didn't feel that there was anything good in such a useless thing.

"You know I can do everything myself if I know all this right?" Arina said again.

"Oh? You wanna do it yourself? Of course. Then I just have to wait until you finish killing them all."

"..." 'Damn it.'

"Come on, there's absolutely nothing to lose for you to befriend a prince like me." Felix said again. "Not like you could ask Alex to help you kill them."

"...Sure I can't."