Chapter 33: Leash(3)

Lance's face stiffened and his eyes opened wide in shock. Luke just stared at the expected reaction.

In the novel, there was a secret that nobody knows about Lance, not even Noah knows about this. Luke just learned about it in one certain chapter where it all focuses on Lance.

The truth is, the crown prince was actually born from a maid that the king had an affair with when the king is in his thirties.

Lance was then born and her mother died giving birth to him. The king, afraid of his reputation worsening about his first child being a legitimate child, said that the crown prince was born from the love of him and his beloved Queen and gave him the crown prince title.

He cannot kill Lance, because of a reason connected to his mother. Luke still doesn't know what it is yet since the author kept it vague but he won't bother since it's a hassle.

Anyways, the Queen, unhappy about this, supported her three children that came after Lance. She established connections to powerful nobles and help her sons climb up to power, leaving Lance in the dust.

The king also ignored Lance after becoming sick and just dumped him in a mountain of work since it's the "crown prince's responsibility".

'The king was basically lazy like me.'

The crown prince, Lance, ignored by her brothers and father, struggled on his own to maintain his position and became a smart, cold, and sharp prince. He struggled from inside to the outside of the palace but learned how to fight back eventually, making him a scary opponent.

Luke thought that Lance is really a brave person. If he was in his position, he might've given up from the day the King and Queen start to ignore him. Luke's thoughts were interrupted by the crown prince's cold voice.

"You, how did you know that?"

Luke stared right in front of Lance's cold eyes. He then smiled.

'Oh look, it's his true self.'

The kind and noble appearance of Lance disappeared and turned into a stone-cold man with a piercing gaze that seems to be ready to slit his throat at any moment.

'How scary...'

"I told you, I have my ways."

"Just what kind of shady method are you using to even know something that only the Queen and King knew?"

"Who knows?"

Lance frowned at the aloof expression of Luke in front of him. Never once in his life, he felt like someone was choking him on the neck. He was always the one who grabs the opponent's neck first but now the situation is in reverse. He then looked at Luke's straight and unfazed face with disbelief.

He then started to think of every possible scenario he can get if he decided to deal with him. He brushed his face with his hands in frustration and asked.

"You son of a bitch, what do you want?"

Luke smiled at how fast the prince was able to weigh the pros and cons of the situation. But instead of answering, Luke answered in a very unexpected way.

"Your highness, you know that the Brom Kingdom is known for its talent in magic? Now that Reece had swallowed Paliath, the once source of incredible magic, The Brom, who was known as the second-best source of incredible magic, will eventually become first now right? I heard that they recently built a magic tower and has a potential candidate to be the next archmage after Ash."

Lance stopped for a moment and answered. He needs to be obedient for a while.

"Yes, the mages in their kingdom are also steadily growing. I bet those mages are the mages from Paliath who managed to survive the war."

"That is correct, and because the Reece kingdom was the one who destroyed their home, it is only natural to side with the enemy of their enemy. I bet that in the future war, magic will be one of their main source of attacks."

"Correct, that is why I am trying to enhance all the soldiers' armors with mana stones so that they can withstand magic."

"That is a good choice, your highness. Since our military power was mainly knights, we have to strengthen them as much as possible. Now, may I ask? Do you still need some more mana stones?"

"Yes, I absolutely need those."

Luke smirked and grabbed a pouch from his pocket, it was a spatial pouch, and put it on the table. Lance looked at the pouch with a confused expression and looked at Luke who was signaling him to pick it up with a smile on his face. His smile seems sketchy, which made the crown prince hesitate.

But in the end, Lance slowly picked up the pouch and opened it. He then threw the pouch away in surprise.

"Oh god!"

Clink!

The pouch's opened and few mana stones came out. They are the highest mana stones that Luke got in the cave, of course, not all of the mana stones are in there. Luke then saw Lance looking at him with an expression of shock and disbelief.

"This... Mana stones? And highest grade ones at that!"

"As expected of his highness! You noticed right away! Yes, your highness, you are correct and I am planning to sell you these mana stones."

"What?"

Luke's head tilted.

"What? What's wrong with that?"

Lance slowly sat back on his couch. He then brushed his face with his hands and started to laugh unconsciously.

He can't believe it. This situation is too crazy for him to believe.

He was cornered, forced, and was now facing incredible riches. This is crazy.

"Ha, hahaha! This is crazy! You crazy bastard! How much?"

Luke didn't say anything and put out his five fingers. Lance frowned and spoke.

"Five million gallons?"

"No."

Lance was silent for a moment before shooting a question with a surprised expression on his face.

"....No way, five billion?"

Luke smirked and the crown prince brushed his hand with his face. He wanted to protest but he can't do anything. This smirking bastard in front of him had a hold of his neck pretty tightly.

If word comes out that the crown prince is an illegitimate child of the king and a maid, not only the crown prince's reputation will sink but also the entire royal family's.

Eliminating this bastard is also out of the question because he is now the brother of Noah, the number one supporter of the crown prince's faction. He can't afford to lose Noah's trust.

Lance frowned.

"You planned this from the very beginning did you?"

"What do you mean? I just wanted to build trust between us that is all."

"Ha!"

'Your planning to put on a leash on me! Not trust but a leash! You bastard!'

The crown prince gritted his teeth while looking at Luke. Luke just signaled him to calm down.

"Please calm down your highness, now, where were we? Ah! Five billion gallons. That's too much, right? But it is only natural because those are the highest grade mana stones heck, I even cut down the price to the minimum for you."

"Bullshit."

"Please mind your image, so are you going to buy it or not?"

The crown prince pondered for a moment before talking in a sigh-like voice. He seems tired.

'What he said is true though. These highest-grade mana stones are extremely pricey and if I could take all of these in five billion then I'll be the one benefiting from this.'

"Fine, here."

The crown prince took out a shining gold plated paper with [5,000,000,000 gallons] written on it. It also has the signature of the prince on it. Luke asked in shock.

"You prepared for this?"

"Yes, I thought that bringing five billion gallons will be too much but I was wrong. You greedy bastard."

"I'll take that as a compliment, your highness. Now then."

Luke called Klein over and Klein entered the office with a nervous expression. Luke called out to him with a smile.

"Sir Klein please come and sit."

Klein looked at the bright expression of Luke while calling out to him. He seems to be really happy.

He's right.

'Five Billion! I got five billion just from selling a third of my highest grade mana stones! What a haul!'

He's happy scamming the crown prince. Very happy.