Furykov stepped aside dutifully, hiding the murderous intent buried deep within him.
"Oh~"
Seeing Furykov fully give up on resisting, Camilla lost interest. She curled her lips in disappointment and strutted into Room 1001 with light, cat-like steps.
Inside, Benjamin sat at the head of the room like a chief judge, flanked by his captain Balsamilco and several guards, positioned neatly across from the door.
He looked down at Camilla with contempt, his gaze cold and sharp.
"Coming to the banquet alone? I must say, your courage is admirable~" Benjamin sneered. "Too bad your temper's still as short as ever."
"Huh? I'm just chasing down a suspect in an attempted murder. Hand him over already!"
"I don't have time to play games with you. Arrest her!"
At Benjamin's order, fire erupted.
But the gunfire didn't come from Benjamin's guards.
It came from Camilla.
"?!"
The soldiers by Benjamin's side flinched in shock. Just as they were about to react, Captain Balsamilco raised a hand to halt them.
At the same time, Furykov entered after hearing the gunfire. He saw Camilla holding a smoking gun.
Clearly, the shot came from her.
Benjamin, however, remained seated. The bullets aimed at him had been effortlessly stopped by the Nen aura surrounding him. Not a scratch, not even a wrinkle in his clothing.
Silence fell over the room like a heavy curtain.
"You—! You fired first?! You've got some nerve!!"
Camilla paused, then suddenly shrieked, trying to provoke him.
But if you listened closely, you could hear the crack in her confidence. The more she shouted, the quieter Benjamin became.
And the quieter he was, the more her heart sank.
Something was wrong.
With Benjamin's arrogance, she had expected him to fly into a rage and strike her down then and there to maintain his authority.
If that happened, she could use Cat's Name to kill him in return and resurrect herself.
It was a perfect plan.
So... why wasn't it working?
Benjamin sat there with a grim expression, but didn't move. He just stared at her with stern eyes as sweat slowly gathered on her back.
This spoiled, delusional woman was about to learn: the world doesn't revolve around her.
...
"Oof, Second Prince, let's not lose our heads~" Furykov, catching Balsamilco's signal, stepped forward with a pleasant smile to break the tension. He moved to Camilla's side.
"If we must, we'll use force."
Without hesitation, he slapped iron-hard handcuffs on her wrists, wrestled the gun away, and ignored her struggles.
Camilla, glaring daggers at Furykov with fresh blood still on his forehead from earlier, hissed venomously:
"You! Your family! Every single one of your loved ones—I'll torture them all to death in ways you can't even imagine!"
Even now, her arrogance didn't waver.
But the sweat on her brow betrayed her unease.
"Haha. Family? Sorry, I don't have one." Furykov chuckled with genuine amusement.
And then, with a glint in his eye, he added:
"Listen well. The First Prince is the only one I consider family!"
...
Camilla, having failed her plan completely, was thrown into prison by Benjamin without a shred of mercy.
Since you're so eager to die, Second Prince, I won't grant you that wish.
Sometimes, living is more painful than death.
...
Camilla sat slumped in her cell, hair in disarray, her eyes lost in shadow.
Benjamin looked at her once—just once—then turned and walked away.
He never looked back.
Camilla had always considered Benjamin and the Ninth Prince her sworn enemies, but she never realized:
To Benjamin, she never mattered. Not in the past. Not now. Not ever.
...
"She's just a moth flying into the flame," Balsamilco muttered outside the cell, arms crossed as he monitored the Second Prince's status.
"Even if we understand her main Nen ability, her Guardian Spirit Beast remains a mystery. We'll need Nen users to monitor her at all times."
Furykov turned to him. "Should we recall someone already tasked with watching another prince?"
"Don't worry. Musse has already completed his mission. His 'bird' is now with her~"
Balsamilco's eyes drifted toward Camilla, as if seeing something invisible.
High above, where no one else could see, a doll-like owl flapped its wings quietly.
Musse—the soldier Benjamin assigned to watch Camilla—had been killed by her less than ten minutes ago with Cat's Name.
But Musse's Nen was called Secret Window. It allowed him to control three types of Nen beasts for intelligence gathering.
Once he made contact with a target, an owl-shaped Nen beast—visible only to the user—would latch onto them. It would then telepathically transmit everything the target saw, heard, and said back to its master.
After Musse's death, the ability passed on to Benjamin, whose Nen ability Benjamin Baton could inherit his soldiers' abilities upon their deaths.
From that moment on, every word and move Camilla made was laid bare before Benjamin.
That's why he didn't kill her.
He already knew her ability. He already knew her plan.
And now, he knew everything else.
...
"Musse... I've received your ability," Benjamin whispered to himself. "I'll carry on your will, and bring about the unification of Kakin."
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Fanfic is completed on patreon.com/FanficsHub (799 chapters in total)