The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

Princess Airen thought the current situation was truly unfair.

A boy being bullied by numerous students and those who passed by without doing anything.

No one offered a helping hand to the boy.

She seemed to understand why the boy was being bullied.

Probably, he was a commoner who entered the school with the status of an honorary noble.

Some students, unhappy about this, appeared and were insulting him.

She had expected the Royal Academy to not be entirely peaceful, but she had not anticipated it would be this bad.

It went beyond simple assault; they tried to force a mana sphere into his mouth.

How was this any different from attempting murder?

She had heard that it was best to form connections with the nobles, but this was unacceptable.

If no one else would step in, she had to.

“I am Barrett Luymil, the eldest son of the Duke of Luymil from the Kingdom of Garam. And who might you be?”

The blond student abruptly introduced himself and then demanded she do the same.

“I am Princess Airen Sevellus from the Ushif Empire.”

At the mention of “princess,” he flinched for a moment but then sneered unpleasantly at the name Airen.

“Ah, so it was the Princess of the Ushif Empire? It’s an honor to meet you.”

“Unfortunately, I’m not in the mood to exchange greetings with you right now. You need to explain what is going on here.”

He shrugged, as if he didn’t understand what he had done wrong.

“It seems there’s been a misunderstanding. We were just enjoying a bit of fun. It’s not bullying.”

“Shameless. I’ve clearly seen your cruel acts of violence with my own two eyes, and you say it’s not bullying?”

“Shall we ask him directly, then?”

Barrett grabbed the bullied boy by the hair and asked in a brazen voice.

“Tell us yourself. Are we bullying you right now?”

The boy hesitated.

“It’s okay! Speak freely! The princess here is curious, so you better answer quickly!”

As if the question had a predetermined answer, the boy struggled to speak.

“I-, I wasn’t being bullied…”

“…?! What did you say?”

“I wasn’t being bullied! So please, don’t worry about it and just go…”

But Airen quickly realized.

That statement was out of consideration for her.

The fragile look in the boy’s eyes was conveying a message to not get involved and to escape quickly.

“There’s no need to hide it! Anyone can see that you were being bullied. If these people are threatening you…”

“Kekeke…”

The vile laughter made Airen flinch.

“Threatening? That’s a bit of an exaggeration. You’re moving from misunderstanding to making me quite uncomfortable?”

Barrett smirked, and Airen bit her lip in frustration.

“Even so, to treat an innocent student as a thug and a blackmailer, isn’t that a bit much? If I don’t receive an apology, I think my mood will get very gloomy.”

He clutched his chest, making a gesture as if he had been wounded in the heart.

Of course, knowing it was all pretense, it only appeared more malicious to Airen.

-Swish

At Barrett’s gesture, as if giving a command, numerous men who had been hiding behind the trees revealed themselves.

Dressed in plain clothes and armed with swords, they appeared to be his knights.

In response, Airen’s waiting knights also appeared, confronting them.

The tension subtly began to rise.

They wouldn’t be foolish enough to draw swords in the middle of a park, but ultimately, it wasn’t the knights who could resolve this situation, but Barrett and Airen.

Regaining her composure, Airen spoke again.

“Fine. But I will take this boy with me. Regardless of how these wounds came to be, even if it wasn’t through bullying, I will see to his healing.”

Just as Airen reached out to support the boy,

-Click

Barrett grabbed Airen’s arm.

“…!”

“It seems you haven’t understood me…”

He looked at Airen with a face that seemed greatly displeased.

At this, the knights momentarily moved to draw their swords, but Airen raised her hand to stop them.

“It seems you’re the one who hasn’t understood, Barrett. Shall I formally bring this matter to the academy’s attention?”

She glared back at him with unyielding eyes.

“What a stubborn princess you are. Do you think anyone will care about some commoner? Why are you showing concern for someone whom nobody else bothers about?”

“You seem to lack the pride of a noble. If a noble, who should be the first to show moral responsibility, doesn’t take interest in such matters, then who will?”

Barrett then openly scoffed.

Airen was greatly displeased but swallowed her anger to not show it.

“Keke! Very well, then let’s ask this friend here directly. Now, tell us, Resimus! Do you want to go heal your wounds with the princess here?”

He passed the question to the boy again.

The boy, not knowing what to do, glanced around nervously until Airen took his hand and said,

“You don’t need to be swayed by such unfairness anymore. As the Princess of the Ushif Empire, I promise to save you with my name on the line. So, come with me.”

For the boy, being addressed so directly by the empire’s princess, even risking her name, was an unbelievable situation.

With his hands trembling in a mix of emotions,

-Thud, thud

“…?”

Suddenly, footsteps approached from ahead.

And then, the mysterious pair of legs entered the boy’s line of sight as the owner of the legs suddenly sat down, looking bewilderedly into the boy’s eyes.

“Cy, Cy…!?”

Princess Airen, upon spotting him, was so startled that she stood up and covered her mouth.

Barrett was equally surprised,

It seemed he had not noticed this mysterious man approaching at all.

“…”

The man, appearing to be a peer, silently stared intently at the boy’s face.

* * *

He thought the situation was unfolding quite interestingly.

Three nobles bullying a pitiable fellow student,

The empire’s princess who couldn’t stand by and watch,

And the commoner insisting he wasn’t being bullied and to not worry about him.

Even though the atmosphere had escalated and the knights had stepped in, in reality, there was nothing they could do.

What was somewhat unexpected was that Princess Airen appeared more resolute than he had thought.

She seemed to have grown significantly from the hesitant and naive figure she was a year ago.

He even remembered the name of the blond kid the moment he heard it.

Barrett Luymil, a guy who was quite famous for his problematic personality even in his previous life.

While the outcome of the fight was highly intriguing,

Upon closer inspection, the commoner’s face seemed very familiar.

He wasn’t particularly good at remembering faces, but as he mentioned earlier, he had a nose for these things.

How to put it? This commoner friend didn’t emit a malicious aura but rather one of hardship.

Did he have any connection with this friend in his previous life?

It felt like this person might cause him quite a bit of trouble if they met later…

“Now, tell us, Resimus! Do you want to go heal your wounds with the princess here?”

He tilted his head at the name the blond kid spat out.

Resimus?

The Resimus he knew?

The last guardian of the Kingdom of Garam and the continent’s greatest swordsman, Resimus?

Was this pitifully slumped commoner friend really that Resimus?

Haha, that’s impossible.

It must just be a coincidence of names.

It’s not like there’s only one person named Resimus in the world; at most, they’d just share the same name.

-Startled

Yet, contrary to his thoughts, his body moved first.

As if drawn by something, he slowly approached them.

“…?”

With a mix of doubt and curiosity, he faced the boy.

Ah, but now that he thought about it, it wasn’t a boy.

The Resimus he spoke of, the continent’s greatest swordsman, was a woman.

Given the short hair and the masculine features, people around probably mistook her for a man.

But seeing the yin energy pervading her face…

She was a woman.

A woman pretending to be a man.

And despite some injuries, look at that firm and determined gaze.

In the not-too-distant future, she will have the aura of a true champion, destined to reign supreme.

He was unsure just by the name, but seeing her face, he could be certain.

This boy, no, this girl… was indeed the Resimus he knew.

She seemed clueless about the situation, blinking her eyes in confusion.

“Cy, Cyan, how did you…”

“Ah, it’s been a while, Your Highness.”

Surprised by the sudden encounter, Princess Airen was stuttering.

“Cyan?”

The mention of my name made the blond kid’s eyebrows twitch.

“You’re Cyan Vert from the Vert Ducal Family?!”

Judging by his reaction, it seemed he knew who I was.

Ah, come to think of it, this guy had a connection with me too.

The continent’s greatest swordsman, Resimus, and Barrett Luymil, the madman of the Kingdom of Garam.

I killed both of them.

Especially this Barrett guy, I killed him quite brutally.

He was the eldest son of the Luymil family, an external relative of the Kingdom of Garam and a powerful influence in the kingdom.

Being a latecomer to the family, he was doted on excessively.

The problem was that it was too much.

Having tasted power from a young age, the prince became a unique psychopath.

Beating servants was the norm, offering food to beggars only to give them animal feces, and burning animals alive under the pretext of practicing magic.

He did things that were inconceivable to any sane person as if they were normal.

His cruel nature continued into the academy, leading to a duel where he killed his opponent, which, thanks to his family’s influence, was dismissed as an accident.

Of course, those who knew him were aware that Barrett had the intention to kill from the start.

That’s why I killed him.

Under the guise of a purification mission for Mist.

He was ambushed on his way back home after being expelled, where I made him experience all the atrocities he had committed one by one.

At first, he clenched his teeth, insisting such things could never bring him down, but people usually don’t realize until they’re beaten down.

After the torture, instead of begging for his life, he desperately pleaded for death, the image of his begging with his severed hands still vividly imprinted in my mind.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. The one who survived that terrifying front, right?”

I silently nodded.

“Do you intend to get involved in this situation as well? I’ll say it again, we were not bullying this student.”

“I’ve roughly heard. Something about enjoying a game?”

Barrett’s brows furrowed, seemingly annoyed by my informal tone.

“A game where you insert your own mana sphere into the opponent’s mouth… I’ve never heard or seen such a game before, but it seems quite interesting to you?”

“Haha, well, something like that…”

“Why don’t we try it out then?”

“…?”

With a flick of my hand, a dark sphere of condensed mana materialized.

Seeing it, his face stiffened drastically.

“What’s wrong? Not taking it out?”

(To be continued)