No Entry Except for the Master - Chapter 4
Teia, uncharacteristically flustered, muttered.
A crack appeared in the carefully maintained expression on his face.
His breath caught without him realizing.
Gritting his teeth, Teia searched his surroundings thoroughly.
Swish swish.
The grass rustled faintly.
Teia yanked away the thick vines entwined around the wire fence.
Beyond the tightly meshed iron bars, which no person could slip through, a small rabbit, about the size of a fist, was peacefully munching on grass.
Chomp chomp.
The little rabbit, nibbling away with its tiny mouth, tilted its head with a dazed expression and looked up at Teia.
It seemed to be a rabbit that had wandered down from the northern forest of the palace after getting lost.
The fairytale-like scene completely deflated the tension from the chase.
With an irritated face, Teia raked his hair back.
The rabbit, blinking and assessing him, suddenly darted away into the distant underbrush.
“Where did it disappear to?”
Teia lingered at the spot for a while, trying to calm the swell of emotion caused by the target that had slipped away like a ghost.
When plans fell apart and toys that should be under control suddenly stormed the board,
it triggered Teia’s deeply suppressed nature.
His learned rationality barely managed to suppress the instinctual urge toward violence that had surged up.
He recalled the gaze from earlier over and over again.
The ticklish feeling he had swallowed down began to boil furiously in his gut.
Teia only considered one person in the world to be of value—himself.
Everything in the world had to move according to his will, and anyone who went against it immediately became worthless trash.
Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for the world, Teia was born with the title of the Emperor’s son.
He held power that allowed him to act on his true nature without anyone being able to object.
<“If you can fight and defeat thousands or tens of thousands of people on your own, then you may live however you like.”>
But the one who kept a tight rein on Teia was his mother.
Though officially a concubine, she was the Emperor’s true beloved, more favored even than the Empress.
Once the Emperor’s tutor as well, the wise woman was the first to sense Teia’s unusual nature.
<“You’re a smart child, so I know you’ll understand.
To live the way you want in this world,
sometimes you have to know when to endure and hold back.”>
If she had tried to persuade him with things like “You should respect others because everyone is human,” or “All life is precious,”
he would never have understood or agreed.
But her repeated, logical teachings—that if he didn’t want to turn the whole world into an enemy and be trapped in endless conflict, he had to blend into society to some degree—did reach him.
Thanks to her “brainwashing education,” Teia no longer hurt or used violence against others for no reason.
He gained an eye for picking out those whom society wouldn’t care about even if they died, learned how to isolate unpleasant people with plausible justifications, and figured out how to get others to do the dirty work for him without dirtying his own hands.
He mastered the art of playing with people as amusing toys without turning the world against him.
As Teia grew up, smiling beautifully,
The traces of his devilish childhood faded completely from people’s memories.
“A Grand Duke with a sculpted face and a heart as warm as sunlight.”
Even when he was banished from the imperial palace, he gave up the empire’s name without resistance and became the ruler of the newly founded Duchy of Himeros.
The phrases that followed Teia around were always like that.
Squelch.
Even as he giggled, soaked in blood that gushed like a fountain,
The words used to describe him remained pure and angelic.
Teia had decided to wait patiently until the tattered scraps of people Ludvio had laid around him grew into a decently useful organization.
It wasn’t fun to crush something too pathetic.
It was a thoroughly self-indulgent decision based purely on amusement.
And so, he had been eagerly waiting for the day he would deal with this illicit information guild, now grown into a respectable one.
But then, a ridiculous scandal about an affair and the Imperial Crown Prince’s engagement had suddenly barged into his carefully planned schedule.
