Somnus frowned, not liking how Urien is hinting that he'll leave them once they step into Imperial soil.

"Ah, yes. Sir Urien, before I forget again." Somnus said with a pout, casually pulling out the sword from his ether pocket. "Can you explain the peculiarities going on with this sword? It doesn't seem like it needed any maintenance? It's so…weird."

Urien blinked at him stupidly for a few moments, and Letum struggled to keep a straight face when the knight who also became their father figure turned to him, his expression seemingly asking for an explanation.

It was the kind of expression that Letum had always wanted to see on the knight whenever he goes beyond the skill expectations of him at a specific age; he was a little bitter that his brother achieved what he wanted the most.

"Who taught you that?" Urien asked Somnus.

"No one? I was bored one day, then stuff happened. Though…I did break many weapons…"

Somnus looked away, his voice becoming smaller. "Remember those brittle weapons in the training area…? Yeah, those…were my doing…I was practicing on those things but somehow they end up like that after I take them out. That's why this sword is weird."

Urien pinched the bridge of his nose, unable to fathom how the prince kept surprising him. "I…I see…well, it's from the Imperial family so it must have some magical properties."

It was only a minute and the impact is miniscule, but Urien was disturbed about how the Fifth Prince had somehow bent the law to his will.

No one was supposed to be able to do that, save for Progenitors that brought forth the Guardians.

×××

The twins, after having taken a bath and warm dinner, lounged about their room, finally relaxing their sore backs on the soft beds. Letum hummed a low lullaby that Eury usually sang to them when they were small.

They let their minds wander, staring at the ceiling without actually looking at it, until Somnus froze upon hearing something faint.

He slowly sat up, staring at the door.

"What is it?" Letum asked with a frown.

"Something's off. The sound from downstairs stopped."

Letum looked out of the window, one eyebrow arched. "Isn't it because the inn is about to close down for the night?"

Somnus shushed him, getting up slowly and summoning his sword. He held out an arm as if to protect his brother, approaching the door carefully.

Seconds ticked by, and Somnus swore he could hear his heart beat loudly in his ears as he gripped the sword tightly in his hand.

The faint stench of fresh blood reached his nose as a knock on the door was heard.

"Who is it?" Somnus called out warily.

There was no response, however Letum sensed a surge of strong magic coming at them from the door and quickly casted a shield for him and his brother.

The door then exploded into smithereens, rocking the entire building.

Three masked intruders came rushing into the room, swords and daggers drawn, roaring towards them; the fourth one stayed a few steps behind them, weaving another spell.

Somehow, the spellcaster looked worse than a novice student of magic due to their speed but Letum could sense that once they completed it, the whole floor they were in would surely disintegrate.

Along with the princes and the three melee fighters.

Is it a suicide mission with them as the target?

Why? Who would even target them when they barely made any public appearance or have any political impact until Xanthus’s coronation?

Somnus ducked from his brother's shield, swinging at them, his sword cutting through their flesh and blood splattering onto the wooden floors.

Letum created another layer of shield around himself, hesitating on using any destructive force against real people. He stared at the magic being weaved, analyzing it and looking for its weak link so that he could target it instead to make it dissipate before exploding on them.

Somnus raised his arm to parry an incoming attack from a dagger, however pain shot through his system as his arm got a deep gash; he didn't expect that their opponents could enhance their weapons' range with ether as well since he was sure only trained knights or those belonging to a guild could do so.

"The hell you want from us?" Somnus demanded angrily, shaking his arm carefully.

The intruders ignored him and the injuries he had inflicted on them. Instead, they all grinned manically when a surge of power from behind them flowed out.

"Die, you filthy mixed breed!" One of them screamed as they rushed towards Somnus again, raising his dagger.

"Rude." Somnus grunted as he shifted his stance for a better defense. His eyes widened when a shield formed around himself and glanced at his brother, bewildered.

"That's a living mana bomb." Letum told him as he opened up a small hole in his own shield, pointing two fingers at the spellcaster. He then released a single line of dispersing spell, though he's not entirely sure if it would be effective against such advanced weaving.

He watched it get absorbed into the spellcaster's weave. Instead of dispersing, it went wilder as the flow got disturbed and the spellcaster hunched over, clutching their heart.

Urien came rushing in, along with a handful of knights, however they stopped upon seeing the dead bodies of the knights guarding the princes' door and the wild mana flowing out of the room sent chills down their spine.

Ilhan also came up with a grim expression. "Damn it. That maniac’s about to explode any minute now.”

He turned to his subordinates. “Evacuate everyone in the vicinity quickly! We will secure the princes!”

The knights fumbled over their own feet, rushing to save at least a few lives.

“Sir Urien, I ask for your assistance—huh?” Ilhan said, surprised to see that Urien had gone on ahead, grabbing the living bomb’s collar and blasting the roof with undisguised anger, flying up to the night sky, leaving behind a few ember trails.

The person he had grabbed only looked at him in fear, seeing the golden irises, the majestic red and gold feathers of his wings being revealed from underneath his black wings as they gained more distance from the ground. They could also feel the slowed progress of his explosion the longer he stared at those golden irises.

“None shall be spared from attempting on the lives of my children. Immediate death is too kind for the likes of you.”

The person broke into cold sweats as his eyes rolled back, unaware that Urien was taking a peek into his memories quickly.

When he couldn’t glean anything useful, Urien clicked his tongue in annoyance and threw the unconscious bomb farther up, snapping his fingers to make it explode.

Down below, Ilhan had subjugated the three other injured intruders after realizing that they were trying to escape through the window.

Somnus and Letum could only stare at the disappearing embers, before looking at one another.