How to Survive as a Mage Inside a Game-Chapter 84: Provocation (1)

Radiant Light Palace, the Fifth Prince’s palace.

From early morning, three people had gathered in the palace’s training grounds.

Jurein and Sephiel were engaged in sword training, while Karl observed.

“...Your upper guard is open again!”

Drenched in sweat, Jurein struggled to block Sephiel’s blade.

Karl stood off to one side of the training grounds, watching the scene with a bored expression.

Jurein’s swordsmanship was clearly poor at a glance.

Even though Sephiel was doing her best to match his tempo, he still couldn’t land a proper counterattack even once.

‘He really is hopelessly untalented.’

From what he’d heard, Jurein hadn’t missed a single day of sword training since he first picked up a blade.

[Lv.11]

[Fifth Prince of Marhargel]

And yet, now that he was nearly an adult, his level was lower than even a regular soldier—nowhere near a knight.

Just as he had said himself, Jurein truly lacked all martial talent to a terrifying degree.

The moment Sephiel withdrew her sword, Jurein collapsed to the ground, utterly drained.

Morning training was over.

Karl walked up to them and spoke.

“I’m hungry. Let’s go eat.”

After taking a short break, the three of them left the training grounds and headed for breakfast.

It had already been a week since they’d returned to the capital.

During that time, Karl hadn’t done much of note.

All he had done was keep an eye on Jurein in case of another ambush, and adapt to life in the palace—while acting like the real Seion.

It wasn’t particularly difficult.

Seion, who had been in the Fifth Prince’s faction, was a pariah even among the palace mages. He rarely left the interior halls, and the only ones close to him were Jurein and Sephiel.

No one thought it odd that Karl didn’t try very hard to imitate Seion's personality.

“When will I be able to start learning the Flame Ring?”

“The request was submitted the day we arrived in the capital, so the approval should come soon.”

Though only the three of them were nearby, Jurein addressed Karl informally.

Better to be cautious now than risk making a mistake in front of others.

The original Flame Ring manual was stored deep within the royal palace’s restricted archive.

Now that Jurein had completed the royal ceremony, he was qualified to learn the original Flame Ring.

Perhaps someone was deliberately stalling, but they couldn’t block it forever. Before long, he’d be allowed to enter and read the manual.

‘It’s probably pointless anyway.’

Karl shook his head internally.

Having seen Jurein’s miserable lack of talent firsthand over the past few days, he was even more certain.

If learning the original Flame Ring was his only option, then he had no chance.

The real question was whether this powerless prince had another plan up his sleeve.

Just then, a group approached from the opposite side.

Jurein stopped walking. Sephiel, standing beside him, subtly stiffened.

The one at the front of the approaching group was none other than the Fourth Prince, Thayns.

He halted right in front of them, wearing an unpleasant smile.

“Going somewhere, Jurein?”

“...Brother.”

Jurein glanced briefly at the knight standing far off at the palace entrance.

That knight, who was supposed to be guarding the palace, had escorted Thayns all the way here.

Even if he was the Fourth Prince, he was still an outsider.

Showing up here without any prior notice was blatant disrespect toward Jurein.

And for the palace guard to not stop him, but actually escort him in?

Aside from Sephiel, there wasn’t a single knight in this palace who was loyal to Jurein.

Jurein sighed inwardly and spoke.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Do I need a reason? Can’t a brother visit his younger sibling just to see his face?”

When Jurein stared at him silently, Thayns chuckled and continued.

“Well, I’m joking. As if I’d waste my time coming here just to see your pitiful face.”

“......”

“I came all this way out of courtesy, to deliver the news myself. The authorization’s been granted—go to the Central Hall and receive the formal permit from Her Majesty the Queen.”

“Is that so.”

Jurein nodded indifferently.

Suddenly, Thayns burst into laughter.

“Kuhuhu... Honestly, it’s laughable. A guy who couldn’t even get through the degraded version of the Flame Ring wants to learn the original? Well, I suppose someone in your position needs to struggle, even if it’s pointless.”

After laughing for a while, Thayns abruptly stopped and his tone shifted.

“But listen, little brother. There’s one more thing I’ve been wondering. That’s the real reason I came.”

His gaze turned icy, like this had been his true purpose all along.

“How did you survive?”

“......”

“Those two clowns beside you couldn’t have done it. Or... have you been hiding your true skills? Hm? Have you been pretending to be a fool this whole time?”

Even as he said it, Thayns knew full well how absurd the idea was.

Jurein answered flatly.

“If you’re that curious, find out yourself. You seem to have plenty of people who follow you, don’t you?”

He was mocking the underworld hounds Thayns had sent.

Thayns glared at him for a moment, then his lips curled into another smirk.

“Take care of yourself. I wonder how long that flimsy thread of life will last.”

After casting a glance at Jurein, then Sephiel, then Karl, Thayns turned away.

The knight and the female mage who had accompanied him followed behind.

“......”

Karl stared at their retreating figures.

More precisely, he watched the female mage.

Because before turning around, she had looked straight at him—and smiled for some inexplicable reason.

“Do you know who that woman is?”

Only after they had completely disappeared from view did Karl ask Jurein.

Sephiel, her expression still tense with fury over Thayns’s rudeness, answered instead.

“She’s Magus Heila. One of the many mages who betrayed His Highness and left.”

She had once lived here in Radiant Light Palace as a mage aligned with the First Prince’s faction.

“Was she someone Seion knew?”

“...I don’t think you were strangers. I remember seeing the two of you talk a few times.”

Well, if they’d lived in the same space, they must’ve interacted at least a little.

A 4-circle mage from the Fourth Prince’s faction.

Karl quickly pushed her from his thoughts.

He judged her to be unworthy of any concern.

However, contrary to that assumption, he would meet her again soon enough.

* * *

That evening.

Karl received an unexpected message from a servant.

“Lord Seion, a woman named Heila is here to see you.”

“......?”

Heila was the woman who had stood beside the Fourth Prince earlier that day.

Now, unexpectedly, she had come to visit after sunset—and wanted to see him.

Currently, Karl wasn’t staying in Seion’s original room but rather in the building adjacent to Jurein’s residence, for his protection.

After a moment’s thought, Karl stepped outside.

No matter where he was in the palace, Jurein was still within detection range. He had also given him a shield artifact.

Besides, the likelihood of an ambush inside the royal capital was slim to none.

Even if he lacked strength, Jurein was still royalty.

If a prince were assassinated within the royal capital, it would deal irreparable damage to the royal family’s honor.

None of the other princes or princesses would risk that.

A prince as powerless as Jurein wasn’t worth the danger. If they really wanted to kill him, they would’ve done so hundreds of times already.

Even Thayns had waited until the ceremony day, when Jurein left the capital, before sending assassins.

Of course, if Jurein truly learned the original Flame Ring, then a chaotic scenario where he was targeted even inside the capital might become reality...

With those thoughts, Karl entered the drawing room of the outer guest quarters.

There sat the woman—Heila.

“Seion.”

She smiled warmly and greeted Karl first.

“It’s been a while. I didn’t get a chance to greet you properly earlier today.”

Karl stared at her silently.

She giggled lightly and continued.

“Doesn’t look like you’re happy to see me. What, nothing to say to a traitor?”

“......”

“But honestly, you regret it too, don’t you? Staying by the Fifth Prince’s side... You must be hoping for something if you didn’t ignore me and actually came out here, right?”

He was just sitting silently because he had nothing to say, but she was rattling off nonsense on her own.

Scrape.

Karl pulled a chair over and sat across from her.

“What do you want?”

“No need to be so stiff. I came to give you a chance, out of old friendship.”

At the same time, a curtain of mana formed around the drawing room.

She had cast a sound-blocking spell.

Karl frowned slightly, as if to ask what she was doing. Heila chuckled softly.

“Well, fine. I’ll get straight to the point.”

She pulled something from her sleeve.

It was a small glass vial filled with a violet liquid.

Karl looked at it with a questioning gaze, and she explained.

“The original Flame Ring.”

“......”

“They say it’s completely different in structure from conventional aura cultivation methods, right? Some Marhargels have ended up crippled or dead from mishandling it. And now the Fifth Prince is about to attempt it, apparently.”

Placing the vial down on the table, Heila tapped it lightly with her finger and smiled wickedly.

“It’s a poison that blocks blood flow.”

“...Ha.”

Karl let out a quiet sigh.

Up until she took out the vial, he hadn’t really believed it—but it was real.

This crazy woman was actually trying to commission him to poison the Fifth Prince.

And not in some secret chamber—but right here, openly, inside the guest quarters of the Fifth Prince’s palace.

When Karl stared at her in disbelief, Heila propped her chin in her hand and smiled sweetly.

“It’s one of the common side effects that happens when aura cultivation goes wrong. The Fifth Prince, dead from pushing too hard during aura training. And not just any technique—it’s the Flame Ring. Sounds like a tragic accident, doesn’t it?”

An assassination of a royal inside the capital would be devastating to the royal family’s prestige.

But if it was framed as an accident, then there’d be no issue.

Just like what this woman was trying to do—disguise the poisoning as a side effect of aura cultivation.

Even if everyone suspected the truth, as long as it looked like an accident, who could stop it?

Especially when the target was a powerless Fifth Prince.

Karl was reminded, once again, of just how precarious Jurein’s position was.

It had only been a week since he’d returned—and already, this was happening.

No wonder he’d been so desperate ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) for help.

“Is this on the Fourth Prince’s orders?”

“Don’t go spouting things above your station.”

Heila’s eyes turned cold in an instant.

“Didn’t you feel it, coming back from outside the capital? He somehow survived this time—but how much longer do you think the Fifth Prince can keep it up?”

“......”

“Let’s be honest, Seion. You didn’t stay with him out of pure loyalty, did you? With your skills, you couldn’t switch sides, so you clung to the slim hope that maybe the royalist nobles would come around again—so you stayed with the Fifth Prince. And look how that’s turned out. Him, you, and that bitch Sephiel—you’re all just waiting to die like mayflies.”

She gestured toward the vial with her chin.

“This is your last chance. Your last chance to jump off a sinking ship. If you don’t want to die a pointless death, stop being stubborn and take it.”

Karl silently picked up the vial.

Seeing this, she smirked. As if to say, I knew it.

“The effects will start showing half a day after ingestion. Even half the contents is enough. It’s nearly odorless, so mix it with strong-smelling food and he won’t notice. Just give it to him when he starts training the Flame Ring. You don’t need to worry about cleanup, either. Once he dies, the mana in his body will evaporate the poison almost completely. I crafted it myself.”

Watching Karl toy with the vial, Heila waited leisurely for his answer.

Eventually, Karl spoke.

“I have one question.”

“......?”

“Putting everything else aside—what were you thinking, coming here and saying all this to me? Did it never cross your mind that I might summon the guards and have you arrested on the spot?”

Heila made an incredulous face—then burst into laughter.

“What? Arrest me? Pffft-haha!!”

“......”

“Seion, I never thought of you as a genius mage, but I didn’t think you were this dumb. Looks like I gave you too much credit.”

She scoffed and tilted her head toward the door.

“Go ahead, call them. If you really think you can handle the consequences.”

From Heila’s brazen attitude, Karl realized the truth.

This meeting wasn’t risky for her at all.

The only “evidence” was the vial in his hand.

In other words, it was all circumstantial.

Sure, even that much—visiting a prince’s palace this late at night carrying poison—was more than enough to be executed for treason, but Heila was part of the Fourth Prince’s faction.

If the Fourth Prince came to her defense, the situation could easily be turned around.

Hell, she could claim that he had summoned her to poison the Fourth Prince instead.

After all, no one else had heard the conversation, and the only evidence was this one vial.

Jurein didn’t have the power to stop it—even to protect Karl from being framed.

“And what, did you forget your place just because I was being polite? You think you can just walk out of this room without my permission? A third-rate 3-circle who failed the Academy graduation test three times?”

Heila began drawing in her mana.

The power of a 4-circle mage filled the reception room, pressing down on Karl.

She fully expected him to start gasping for air and squirming like a bug.

Smiling in anticipation, she watched—

“......”

But Karl remained completely calm, toying with the vial with the same blank expression.

As if he didn’t feel the mana pressure at all—he didn’t even spare her a glance.

“...Huh?”

Heila’s face twisted in confusion at the unexpected sight.

Karl lifted his gaze from the vial and looked her in the eye.

His flat voice echoed through the room.

“How should I deal with you?”

After a week in the capital, he had begun to feel it.

It wasn’t enough to quietly protect Jurein. He needed to stir the waters.

After all, the chances of Jurein successfully learning the original Flame Ring were close to zero.

If they wanted to learn the truth about the First Prince’s assassination, they needed to provoke the other princes and princesses—especially the most likely mastermind, the Second Prince.

He couldn’t move fully out in the open yet, but there was no reason to stay completely hidden, either.

In that sense, this was actually a good opportunity.

He couldn’t use this to bring down the Fourth Prince just yet—but as a signal flare to the whole board, it was perfect.

A cold smile crept across Karl’s lips.

Just as Heila felt a strange, chilling sense of dread and tried to raise her mana again—

CRACK!!

With the sound of bones shattering, her arms twisted in unnatural directions.