God of Tricksters

The banquet had started, and Richard had sat down in his room to finish his work for today.

Meanwhile, the prince hosted the banquet while making sure they didn't do anything that would harm Richard.

The two bodyguards stood next to Richard, preparing to throw their own lives to protect Richard.

But as expected, with his status, Haiskal Hetson or Mason Griffith was personally received by the prince himself.

"Sir Haiskal. Please follow me."

Haiskal nodded with a serious expression. While walking toward the room, he asked, "What do you mean by stressing him out?"

As expected from the Griffith Family, he was extremely careful. He asked everything he needed to know before upgrading his skill.

"The probability of upgrading your skills decreases if he feels stressed, especially if it reminds him of his past. Basically, if you look like a bad guy, the chance decreases. But if you look gentle and make him happy, the chance increases."

"Hoh?" Haiskal narrowed his eyes.

"We have the statistics if you want to see it."

"No need. I shall trust you, Your Highness."

"…" Karl narrowed his eyes, wondering what this sly old fox planned to do.

When Mason Griffith entered the room, he was guided by the prince to sit in front of Richard with his own case that contained all the Skill Cards.

"Hello." Mason put on a gentle smile.

"Hello, Sir." Richard nodded timidly.

"I want you to upgrade my Torrential Magic to S Rank. Do you think you can do that?"

"I'll do my best, Sir."

"Haha, no need to be that stiff. I'm not like her." Mason chuckled and said, "How is your life here? Are you tired or something?"

"No, Sir. I'm living well here thanks to His Highness."

"Is that so? Then how many Skill Cards do you need to upgrade my skill?"

"I need 30 A Rank Skill Cards and 20 B Rank Skill Cards."

"Then…" With a single wave of his hand, fifty Skill Cards flew out of the case like magic to impress Richard. "These are the Skill Cards."

"You are so cool, Sir!"

"Hoho? Are you interested in it?"

"Ahaha, I'm not worthy of it." Richard chuckled, brushing it off.

"If you want, I can teach you, you know."

"That's…" Richard scratched the back of his head before hurriedly upgrading his ability. "Let me upgrade your skill first, Sir!"

He hurriedly upgraded the Skill, but his face became extremely pale, showing the result.

Prince Karl immediately stepped forward to de-escalate the situation. "I apologize, Sir Haiskal. It seems that the upgrade has failed."

Surprisingly, Mason Griffith smiled. He even laughed while waving his hand, treating it as not a big deal. "Don't mind, don't mind. The chance is one in four people, right? I understand the risk. That's why I brought my family here, so I'm sure that a few will be able to rank up their skills."

"Thank you for your understanding." Karl nodded politely.

"Still, you're impressive, Young Man. To think that you can upgrade a skill to S Rank. I have seen that Flora Wegener using her skill, so I know your power is extraordinary. Do you have any person you like right now?"

"Wha—!" Richard was taken aback by this question while Karl tried to stop him.

"We have many beautiful women for you. You can pick whoever you like. What do you think, Young Man? Do you want to follow me?"

"Sir Haiskal!" Karl slammed the table to stop him.

But he didn't stop. He kept enticing Richard with many things. "That's right. If you want to get stronger, I can also teach you how to use your Magic Power. And unlike the prince you're serving right now, our place is far stronger.

"I can even directly stop Flora Wegener from bullying you, unlike the prince who can only swallow his pride and let you suffer."

"You… I need you to leave right now!" Karl gritted his teeth.

Surprisingly, Richard also opened his mouth. "Sir…"

"!!!" Karl's heart skipped a beat, thinking Richard had fallen for this trick.

But what he said next was truly shocking. "Please don't say hateful things to His Highness. His Highness has helped me so much. I want to repay the prince by staying by his side."

Richard made a genuine smile that completely showed his heart.

Mason was taken aback by that smile. Even Prince Karl widened his eyes in shock. He thought of Richard as a tool and tried to manipulate him to do so. All the good things he gave were just simply to make Richard love this place.

But he was aware of Richard's past. He had been tortured because of his ability, so this smile that had no lie or other hidden intention behind it struck deeply in his heart. In fact, he felt moved by Richard.

'Maybe I was wrong with him. I shouldn't have treated him as a tool. What if I consider him as my brother for real?' The prince had a sudden change from that smile. He felt bad for treating Richard like that in the past. From this point on, he would treat Richard far better like his own brother.

This might be the first time the prince thought of someone else as a genuine family, not because they were blood-related but because he desired to do so from the bottom of his heart.

However, the bigger his feeling for someone else, the harder the fall he would experience when it disappeared.

And he would regret it for the rest of his life because he couldn't do anything for this brother.

…

The prince was standing in Richard's room during the night. His eyes opened wide and his draw dropped to the ground. Pain couldn't describe what he felt in his heart right now.

After all, before his eyes, his brother, Richard, leaned on the wall lifelessly. His blood was splattered on the wall and his left arm had been separated from his body. But the one that shocked him the most was the severed left hand still holding the case that he had gifted to him earlier as if it was proof of his feeling and gratitude to the prince.

At that moment, something broke inside of him.