Elion was surrounded by nobles, court knights, and numerous eager, smiling officials, all of whom were waiting for a chance to speak with him. One after another, they greeted him, introduced themselves, and launched into their names and titles.

At first, he really tried to listen, nodding and speaking calmly while attempting to remember every name, but after the tenth, the twentieth, the fiftieth, he stopped trying.

Not only were they giving him their names, but their titles too! It was all a bunch of long, winding things that seemed to never end.

’Get me out of here...’

He screamed inwardly.

Just when he thought it was over, he was pulled away again. This time to a secluded open court, and there, it got worse.

Henry, that elderly bastard, smiling as if he had just done something generous. He had thrown a small welcoming party for him!

Elion stared at the setup with his jaw hanging open, disbelief settling in.

Then another wave of introductions and greetings hit him

Young nobles, supposedly his "peers," approached, seeking to make themselves known to the great heroes. However, they didn’t simply greet him; they ambushed him.

Questions came from every direction.

"Where were you summoned from?"

"What was your life like before becoming a hero?"

"Do you have a wife?"

"What do you plan to do after the war ends?"

"Would you take a second or a third wife in the future?"

"What stage level is your mana core at?"

"Do you prefer small chests, average, or big ones?"

It was a relentless nightmare.

The entire time, he held onto an untouched glass of wine. He hadn’t taken a single sip from it. At some point, he stopped answering properly.

He stuck to just nodding and muttering incoherently, trying to survive the onslaught.

It was only after he spotted Alexander in the distance from the corner of his eye, standing off to the side, and trying to hold in a bout of laughter, that he finally regained his vigour.

’Is he laughing at my suffering!?’ Elion’s eye twitched. ’This guy dares to bait me into this gathering, and now he laughs at me?’

"I... need to speak with the prince," he said abruptly, cutting through the group before anyone could stop him.

Just like that, he skillfully slipped away from the group surrounding him.

’I swear... as soon as I get my hands on that guy...’

Alexander spotted him coming toward him and immediately tried to escape. He moved quickly, attempting to blend into the crowd, slipping into a group of blonde-haired nobles as if that would hide him by blending in.

It almost worked, but after a brief, scrutinizing look, Elion spotted him instantly. Even among the blondes, Alexander stood out like a sore thumb. Elion reached forward and grabbed his collar, pulled him back, and lifted him clean off the ground.

"I found you, you bastard!"

"Uhm... hello," Alexander said awkwardly, giving a small wave. "Are you okay? You don’t look so good." He sounded genuinely concerned about him. But the tiny bead of sweat on his brow gave him away.

"Whose fault do you think that is!?" Elion snapped.

Alexander wasn’t wrong about his appearance. Elion looked drained. His eyes were slightly sunken, his lips were dry, like he had been starved for days without food or water.

Even that time he had been chained by Zenith for weeks hadn’t drained him this much. He sighed and let go of him when he noticed they were making a scene.

Without another word, he grabbed Alexander and pulled him away and onto a cliffside balcony. It was an odd sight, seeing a balcony jutting out from an open court, but it seemed building a castle into a mountain had its architectural perks.

Elion leaned slightly against the railing, still catching his breath.

"...Did the others have to go through this as well?" he asked gravely.

Alexander adjusted his collar and cleared his throat.

"Aeron and Maya did, yes."

He brushed imaginary dust off his attire before standing back up elegantly.

"And Zenovia... somehow managed to evade us before the party even began."

Elion shuddered lightly, "Damn... she did herself a huge service," he muttered, visibly shaken by the experience.

A snicker slipped from Alexander’s mouth before he burst out into a bout of uncontrolled laughter. His shoulders shook as he bent slightly, clearly enjoying the moment far too much.

Elion’s expression darkened, and he clicked his tongue in annoyance, "You think this is funny?" he asked.

That only made it worse. Alexander laughed even harder.

"I’m going to make you suffer," Elion said flatly. "I swear."

Alexander finally managed to stop himself, though he was still catching his breath. He brushed an invisible tear from the corner of his eye.

"Sorry... sorry," he said between breaths. "I couldn’t help it. Seeing you like that... it was just so... inspirational."

Elion stared at him.

"...What’s so inspirational about that?" he scoffed. "Go get your inspiration elsewhere."

As he looked at the laughing prince, Elion couldn’t help but notice that Alexander was... just a boy after all.

Most of the time, since they had met earlier that day, he acted far older than his age suggested, his presence carrying a certain weight, even a bit overbearing at times, though not so much to Elion.

But right now, he looked and acted his age. Young and carefree, and entirely too pleased with himself.

Perhaps something he had been robbed all his life by the responsibilities that came with being the crown prince.

’...I’m still going to make him suffer,’ Elion thought. A smirk slowly formed on his lips.

"You know I’m going to be your teacher for the next week, right?" he said casually.

"Yeah," Alexander replied, still trying to understand what he was trying to say. They had both been there when King Melroy said the exact same thing, so why was he repeating it...?

A faint unease crept into his chest.

His expression turned sour the moment it dawned on him. All the joy suddenly vanished from his face.

"Oh no."

Elion’s grin widened, "You know, I like people who are quick on the uptake..."

"Oh great hero, Sir Elion," Alexander said quickly, raising his hands slightly in surrender and comically falling to his knees, "you know I was only playing a little joke, right?"

Elion didn’t answer; he just kept smiling. That alone was enough to make the young prince’s expression turn even grimmer.

"...Right?" Alexander asked again.

What followed was a sight that the nobility of Haven never thought they would witness.

The esteemed Prince Alexander Starheaven kowtowing while begging for forgiveness and cinging to the hero Elion. Meanwhile, Elion stood there with a smug smile, completely ignoring the boy as if he didn’t exist.

Servants passing by slowed, and some stopped entirely to watch with their jaws slack. A few nobles in the distance stared at the shocking scene, stunned.

"...Is that the prince?"

"...It is."

Alexander, however, had already abandoned all dignity to save himself from this demon.

"Please... have mercy!"

Elion didn’t even look down at him for a good ten minutes. It took a truly incessant amount of begging before Elion finally relented.

"Fine," he said at last. "I’ll keep the torture to a bare minimum."

Alexander froze.

"...Bare minimum?"

"I never said I’d stop entirely."

"BUT...!"

"Huh!" Elion gave the boy a deathly snarl that was followed by a brief pause. Alexander flinched as tears threatened to spill forth from his eyes. In the end, he had no choice but to accept the scraps he had been offered.

"This humble prince accepts your generosity."

That was better than nothing at all, so Alexander stopped bothering him for now. Elion went on to add that he would only agree on one condition, that Alexander immediately show him to his quarters.

The prince agreed quickly, nodding a bit too intensely. And so, under the cover of night, they left the grand celebration. The sun had already set while Elion was being pestered for hours by the entourage of nobles.

Sadly, it had been a long day for our boy Elion.

A very long day.

As they walked through the relatively empty halls of the castle, only occasionally passing a servant, Elion made a silent note to himself.

’Never become a noble.’

’Never become the leader for a large group of people.’

’Never deal with this kind of nonsense again.’

If only he knew that a certain someone was laughing hysterically while listening to his inner thoughts, he would have cursed his own fate.

After a while, Elion raised a question that had been bothering him for a while.

"Where’s your sister?" Elion asked casually. "Isla. I didn’t see her back there."

Alexander immediately put on a teasing smile, happy to finally get back at this greedy demon, "Ohhh... are you smitten by her already? My, my..."

Elion shoved the boy’s face away, "Not even."

He continued walking in calm, even strides.

"I just don’t want to disregard your father’s wishes, since I agreed to do as he said, I thought I’d at least get acquainted with her tonight."

He gave a small, nonchalant shrug.

"I heard from my father that you should never anger a powerful noble if you want to keep your head for long... so I intend to keep it that way."

He said it in a lighthearted, joking tone.

Alexander chuckled.

"I don’t know where your father got that from," he said. "But I assure you... My father is not part of that demographic."

Elion nodded lightly, "I’ll take your word for it then."