Samarth could sense the unknown as he observed Aeren carefully. Even though his eyes couldn't perceive Aeren directly, an otherworldly intuition allowed him to feel a mysterious presence surrounding him. Samarth shivered noticeably upon observing Aeren; it was as if he were sealed within his own body, Aeren's unknown gaze staring at him with a cosmic awareness. He paused, looking at Aeren with stunned surprise that he didn't show outwardly.
Aeren noticed Samarth's unusual behavior immediately and could perceive what he was genuinely observing. It was evident that Samarth was trying to gaze into the abyss, and in return, the abyss was watching him back, gradually taking things from him without his conscious realisation. Aeren allowed Samarth to see his abyss, absorbing Samarth's insights through just a single look.
Aeren smiled while continuing to absorb Samarth's inner insight and life essence without Samarth's knowledge. Suddenly, laughter broke through the heavy silence. Aeren turned his head toward the unexpected sound and saw Ellie laughing at him with amusement. He understood immediately why she found it amusing. She watched as Aeren began to absorb the silence around him, something she had tried many times unsuccessfully but failed to achieve. Unlike him, she couldn't even feel the silence; it was as if it didn't exist at all for her. Frustrated by her repeated failures, she had given up trying to absorb silence.
"What happened, Ellie? Why did you laugh?" King Vorthis asked, looking at her with a suspicious eye. Although he admired Ellie after Aeren, her sudden reaction surprised him, and it also disturbed Samarth deeply.
"Nothing, I just remembered something funny," she lied, not thinking much of their concerns, while her gaze lingered carefully on Samarth and Aeren. She noticed Aeren's rare expression of surprise, which made her feel a sense of satisfaction. Previously, she had rarely seen any emotion from him, but lately, she had begun to notice feelings emerging from within him, even as they seemed to dull and fade gradually, as if they were being slowly consumed by something unknown.
King Baltazar Vorthis regarded her briefly before turning his attention back to Samarth. "Lord Samarth, this is Ellie, my youngest daughter and the strongest among my children," he explained with brief words that conveyed just enough information for Samarth to recognise her standing.
Samarth studied Ellie carefully but saw nothing particularly special about her. He sensed that she lacked true potential, yet her father claimed she was the strongest among his children. Did that mean she was stronger than Aeren, or was King Vorthis unaware of Aeren's true strength and nature? Realising that Baltazar might not have known about Aeren's real power, Samarth turned to him, recognising that had he been aware, he wouldn't be so blindly loyal to him.
"Hmm, you have the potential to reach a higher level," Samarth said, replying to Ellie without giving it much genuine thought. He believed she had enough potential to surpass his second brother eventually, but nothing more substantial. He chose to ignore thoughts of Aeren in relation to Baltazar.
"I don't need your opinions," Ellie declared coldly, staring down at Samarth as if he were an insignificant ant beneath her notice. Her cold voice reached their ears like a sharp knife cutting through the air. "You peasants don't have the permission to look at me," she asserted, her words cutting deeply into her father as he listened, while Samarth felt a complex mix of shock and awkwardness. Anger boiled inside him, but he suppressed it carefully.
"ELLIE," Baltazar shouted at her as she spoke so defiantly. Ellie's eyes turned to her father for a brief moment. "Apologize to Lord Samarth," Baltazar continued as he locked his gaze on her and commanded her firmly.
"No, I won't," Ellie replied defiantly and turned away dismissively. "Rina, let's go," she called out, starting to leave the gathering.
"Stop, little one." A loud voice called out to Ellie, and she recognized that it was directed at her, as she was the youngest and shortest among them, which irritated her intensely. She turned around to find the source of the voice but couldn't identify who had spoken.
"Who said that?" she shouted, looking directly at Samarth and his companions with suspicion.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, little one," Aeren laughed at her, clearly enjoying the entire situation. All eyes turned toward Aeren as his laughter continued loudly. Jane hid her face behind her hand, having been the one to shout at Ellie earlier when she disrespected her master; she wanted to encourage her to apologise, but had inadvertently provoked her instead. Now, she couldn't bear to show her face or tell her sister about her own shameful words.
Ellie glared at Aeren, feeling increasingly irritated by his mocking laughter. Suddenly, a knife appeared in her hand from thin air, and she locked her eyes on Aeren with lethal intent.
Snapped!
She threw the knife directly at him with incredible force, and it flew through the air at remarkable speed. Aeren barely had time to react as the knife hurtled toward his eye; it pierced him just as he blinked his eye.
Pok!
A knife to the eye was a clone knife, and it went straight through his eyeball and did nothing substantial. Another knife aimed for his shoulder, but he caught it before it could pierce him completely; however, it still drew blood from his arm. Aeren felt the warm liquid seep from his shoulder, but as he prepared to react, Ellie sprinted toward him at incredible speed, closing the distance rapidly.
Bam!
Before he could stop her, Ellie struck him hard. He absorbed the punch to his abdomen and vomited a little blood, but he quickly grabbed her hand and smiled, declaring with confidence, "Got you." Aeren then punched her forcefully in the face.
"Stop!" she shouted desperately. His fist connected with her nose, and blood spilled from it, but she remained conscious. He punched her again, this time striking her nose once more with equal force.
She finally lost consciousness after his second punch landed squarely on her face. Aeren stood over her, holding her limp hand as her body leaned limply opposite to him. Disappointment washed over him as he realised it had taken only two punches to knock her unconscious.
"Hmm, what a disappointment," Aeren whispered, picking up the fallen knife from the ground. As he did, her body fell completely to the ground, and he sat close to her, positioning the knife near her eye as he prepared to pierce her eyeball. Just then, her body vanished suddenly.
"What are you doing?" Jane exclaimed urgently, positioning herself directly between Aeren and Ellie, her shock evident on her face. She turned to the others, who were ready to attack Aeren defensively. "She is our sister. Why are you doing this to her? You need to protect her, not kill her." She could hardly believe Aeren's brutal actions as she realized he had almost caused serious harm to her sister.
As Ellie stood behind Jane shakily, Jane stared at Aeren with visible anger on her face. However, only three people reacted against Aeren: Samarth, Seraphina, and Jane. The others remained observing, doing nothing whatsoever.
Aeren lifted his head toward Jane and picked up her line, "I had sensed on your blood, but I thought you were undercover or something, but I was wrong." Aeren stood across from Jane, looking at her directly; his face showed absolutely no emotion, and neither did hers.
As she looked at him, 'What is with him? Is he some kind of monster mimicking royal family blood? How can a person like him be prince and my brother? He is a danger.' Seraphina started showing visible trembling as she looked at the knife in his hand, and that told everything—she was fearing Aeren, though the simple answer was how he had shaped her perception of him, but how did he not react to her when he first saw her? She started contemplating as she observed the situation around them. She also noticed that Samarth was on his guard—something rarely seen from him. That also shocked her deeply, and more shocking was: 'I can't feel anything for him—no magic, no mana, no aura—but feeling something strange about him, like he is not here, or how could I say he is nothing like the world has abandoned him and he left alone without the world knowing. And he does not exist in this world—that's how I feel about him.' That's how she started sweating as her eye locked on him. The silence started to tense the entire situation, and Aeren enjoyed his new insight gathering around him from the absorbing silence.
"What happened, guys?" Silence broke suddenly, and all of their collective fear started to vanish gradually.