Ryan blinked a couple of times. "See my brother?" He frowned.

It was actually a very good idea. The Eighth Prince was, along with Cecily, one of the most prominent Puppeteers of the new generation. But unlike Cecily, who was not at all good at teaching, he was a first-rate teacher.

At only 24 years old, his talent had allowed him to become a local legend and perhaps the only prince who did not really aspire to be king. He was also the only one whom Brandon would leave alone and do nothing to, no matter what he did.

This is because he was quite dangerous despite being young. His information network was not based on anything external, so there was no possibility of betrayal; it was based on his own strength and his own puppets who were around the city and knew where else.

"Yes, there is no better puppeteer than him in the current faculty. His level of expertise in Inanimate Destiny is surely on par with Miss Larsen's, so you would benefit greatly if he taught you," Austin replied.

Naturally, Ryan understood. Although he had his own concerns to think about, he had to agree.

"I'll go see him," he said and stood up.

"All right. I'll talk to you later. I'm very busy right now," Austin said as Ryan was leaving.

He stopped and turned to look at him. His hands were already resting on two pieces of pickles when he went to see him.

The poker face on Ryan said it all.

Austin quickly dropped them, cleared his throat, and then sat down to review documents, as if he hadn't noticed Ryan's gaze.

Ryan shook his head and left the room.

As he walked out and turned the corner to find his brother's office, Captain Garner ran up behind him. From how sweaty he was, it was obvious he had run all the way here and looked a little out of it.

"Captain, what's going on?" Ryan asked, puzzled.

"M-my prince." He took several deep breaths after saying that before speaking. "Prince, the traitor Sara, and the rest of the traitors in the castle have been murdered! No one knows who did it, but they died horrible deaths!"

--

An hour later, in the deepest part of the basement, where only traitors who had committed capital crimes were punished.

Two of the bars were open, and inside, bloodstains and pieces of flesh were scattered around.

A white sheet covered most of the bodies, which had not been moved until they had been carefully investigated. Not even he had the right to enter and search, but he was sure it was Sara and the rest of the traitors.

"Any information?" Ryan asked, looking around the place. Captain Garner was behind him, and Minister Martin was at his side, along with other soldiers.

Garner shook his head. "All I know is that the king is furious and has sent for everyone who entered this place during a certain period of time... they say he wants to torture them to reveal everything."

Ryan nodded and looked at Martin, who didn't have much of an idea either.

'This is bad. Things are happening so far outside the plot that I don't know exactly what's coming next,' he thought.

He frowned. 'I have to take the lead, whatever it is,' he thought, and looked up to see the bloodstains.

The Butler's men surely did this, but to get in here without even the King noticing means that this man has more support inside the castle than he thinks.

So he needed to make a move.

He started walking outside with a determined look on his face.

"What are you planning to do, Prince?" Martin asked, with Garner also looking interested.

"I'm going back to college," he declared.

"Right now?"

"Yes. Right now."

Martin and Garner followed him outside. As he left the punishment basement, Ryan ran into his father.

"Father," he greeted him.

"Ryan." He nodded. "The culprit must be in the inner circle of one of you, so I expect your armies to be returned. I will be investigating this situation thoroughly," he said suddenly and showed him the tokens his two brothers had given him.

Brandon's and Evan's.

Ryan did not refuse; he had no use for his army at this moment, so he handed it over. "I hope that when the culprit is discovered, I will be informed," he said before continuing.

The king frowned. 'What's wrong with him?' he thought, but he gave it little thought before entering the basement.

"Let me accompany you, now that even your army has been withdrawn," Martin said as they left, but Ryan refused.

"Nothing will happen to me, Mr. Martin. But I have a request. Would you be willing to allow me to use the organization's items?" he asked, putting on a black hood.

"Normally you couldn't, but I assume you're asking for a mission, right?"

"A very important one," he declared.

"I can take you to see them whenever you want. I can lend you two, but someone high-ranking has to go with you."

"Fine. Then I'll see you at the organization," he said, before leaving the castle and beginning to explore the city.

A massacre inside the castle was something that had never been seen before, and the fact that 10 top-level traitors died without warning, where even the King, a demigod, did not notice it, only revealed that it was the work of someone of a very high level.

Either that or it was the work of one of The Butler's creations. If it was the latter, then that guy was inside the castle.

He wasn't going to ask how he got inside, because it wasn't even certain. He could very well be being deceived, and the king himself did it. Either way, he couldn't just sit idly by.

He hadn't predicted it; he had overlooked it. He had been naive, to put it mildly.

He wasn't going to be again.

As he ran through the streets and across the rooftops, he suddenly stopped.

"Ninth Prince. Street 13, House 13, Room 13." A figure appeared before him, handed him a ticket, and then vanished.

The ticket was just information, exactly the same as what he had just told him.

Ryan frowned. "What good control of electricity," he thought. He was more amazed at how he disappeared than at the fact that they had found him.

That's because doing what that man did required at least a Level 6 in Spiritual Projection: moving at speeds close to those of voltage.

Although it was dangerous, he decided to go, suspecting the other party's identity.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.