After three and a half hours of travel, the carriage finally entered the Valentine Domain.

Leon shifted slightly and looked out the window.

The streets, and the shops were all strangely quiet today.

"Weird," Leon muttered under his breath. "At this hour, it is supposed to be filled with citizens."

There were fewer men and women walking around. Those who did cross the street wore stiff expressions on their faces.

Their eyes landed on the carriage once, on the Valentine crest engraved on the metallic frame, and each one halted on the spot before bowing deeply.

Leon raised his hand and gestured with a small wave.

But the moment they saw who was inside the carriage, they straightened abruptly, and then looked away as if his gaze would burn them.

"Huh? The hell," Leon whispered. It was not the reaction he expected.

Myra folded her hands on her lap. "Give them some time, young master. They are regretting it."

Leon blinked. "What…? Oh."

Right. They must be ashamed to meet his eyes now. After how they treated him.

"Interesting," Leon muttered quietly, watching the way every person avoided looking at him. Those who met his gaze were only children.

The carriage rolled further inside the estate grounds.

Leon's eyes widened slowly as he leaned toward the window, his expression hardened.

The moment the carriage halted near the main building, Leon stepped out.

"What is going on here…?" he whispered enough for the maids and butlers rushing near to take notice.

It was a chaotic scene.

There were far more soldiers and Valentine knights than usual. They were fully armed, some limping, some wounded and sitting against a wall with bloody bandages wrapped around their limbs. A few more lay motionless on the ground with white sheets draped over their bodies.

He could smell iron in the air.

It felt like he had walked into the aftermath of a battlefield.

A butler rushed forward the moment he saw Leon's shocked expression.

"Young master, I will explain the situation immediately. Last night, a very seriou—"

Leon raised a hand slightly and did not look at the butler.

He scanned the surroundings again.

The blood color on the soldiers' armor, the torn mantles, the broken spear shafts, the supply crates, the healers moving between the injured, and the marks on the dead shoulder's wound.

He connected each detail in seconds and came to a single conclusion.

"A Demon attack?" Leon asked calmly.

The butler froze. His eyes widened slightly, astonished that Leon pieced everything together without hearing anything.

"Y… yes, young master. The barrier around Dungeon 006 broke last night. More than three thousand lesser demons were spotted."

"Three thousand?!" Leon's words slipped out louder than he intended.

That number was enough to swarm an entire Shinra city district. Enough to wipe out a town in minutes. Enough to start panic across the entire kingdom..

Leon's mind raced.

"But how did three thousand lesser demons enter that dungeon…?"

A Dungeon were ancient underground channels from the Calamity era, created by the dwarfs of that era working for the Everbright goddess that time. It was created as an underground mana reservoir and weapon storage vault, it also served as a hidden passage staying to connect all the five kingdoms in the world through other entrances of the dungeons.

Over time, there were few sights of demons as well, the highest number of demons swarming from a dungeon break was recorded to be fifteen thousands a couple of decades ago. That was indeed the darkest day for the capital, as nearly seventy percent of the total population were reported dead.

But still, three thousands were not less either, for Valentine Dukedom, that would have caused an uproar and several deaths.

"Haaah…"

Leon sighed, his father probably didn't know this, but the person who was behind this must be that bastard king.

No one in their right mind could guess that the king used demons to distract Duke Orion last night. Veronica must have known it, but Leon doubted she ever told their father.

'Did she not trust him?' Leon wondered. 'No, knowing their daily interaction, I doubt she found father untrust worthy.'

Myra, walking beside him, asked the butler, "How is Duke Orion's injury now?"

"Hm?" Leon blinked, "he got injured?"

"Ah yes," the butler answered, "apparently the royal knights from Liora took time to arrive at the scene, so Duke Orion had to handle it with his force. His injuries are treated and he must be in his office now."

"That's good to hear, thank you." Myra said to the butler, then turned to Leon, "young master Leon, I assume you want to meet the duke first?"

Leon nodded, "mhm, I guess sister was there as well?"

Myra bowed, "alright then, I will arrange your belongings in your room, please call me if you need anything."

Myra went ahead with his belongings, and with several tokens he received as a gift from the queen's side.

Scratching his head, he took a deep breath before muttering, "a memory manipulation skill."

The king had no doubt the demon's support all this time. That House Vallahail's experiment must be one of his ideas too. But the real question was….

'Who is this demon exactly?'

There must be a high ranking demon, probably an Archdemon or maybe an Abyssal class hiding in the capital who was supporting the king.

Leon had no way of knowing who that was without proper investigation.

'I will have to talk with Eula.'

Raising the topic now would be troublesome, so Leon decided to raise this topic at Eclipse tomorrow when they were all alone.

Only they know what the king was truly up to. Also, Leon had to ask Veronica as well about the king's memory manipulation skill, and about the first princess incident.

He walked inside the corridor leading to the duke's office.

The maids were busy treating the injured shoulders, so there were hardly any maids inside the house.

Climbing the stairs he finally reached the door of Orion's office.

He can hear the murmur of many people coming from inside.

'Hmm? Did we have a guest?'

He recognized his father and Veronica's voice, but there were two other voices as well, although he can feel a bit of familiarity from it.

Knock Knock.

Without waiting he knocked on the door and called. "It's me."

The voices abruptly halted, as Orion called. "Leon, you can come inside."

He did as he was told.

The moment he opened the door, his eyes landed on two men, one in noble attire and the other wearing a suit and hat, seated opposite Duke Orion, and Veronica on the couch.

Leon's eyes blinked at the old looking noble, as he hurriedly greeted him. "Good morning Headmaster."

Raizen raised his hand politely and greeted, "Good morning indeed, Leon. Come sit with us."

Leon walked, but as he did, his eyes were studying the person seated beside Raizen.

Leon took an empty seat, and as he did Raizen said.

"Oho, you are truly exceptional Leon, I heard the news." He said, ribbing his beard, "but still I never expected for the second princess to be this bold."

He sneered respectfully, and then added warmly to Leon, "you did great."

"Thank you, headmaster."

Then Leon's eyes landed on the man with suit and hat seated beside him.

Raizen noticed his stare, and introduced him, "this an old friend of mine."

The hat and suit man greeted calmly, looking at Leon with curiosity.

"Good morning, master Leon, I am hearing a lot of things about you these past days."

Leon looked at him, and with an uninterred tone he asked.

"And you are?"

The man replied. "I am simply an old friend of your headmaster. The name is Ezra Holmes."

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