The World Is Mine For The Taking-Chapter 1209 - 186 - The Princess’s Tournament (2)

That man was an enigma—no, more than that. He was the kind of presence that lingered in your mind even when he wasn't around, the kind that made you feel uneasy without ever doing anything outright suspicious.

The first time I met him, I knew immediately that something was wrong. Not wrong in an obvious way—there was no hostility and no strange behavior—but wrong in a way that made my instincts itch. He was incredibly hard to read, like trying to grasp smoke with bare hands.

No matter how closely I looked at him, I couldn't get a clear sense of who he really was.

That alone was already unusual.

Out of habit, I tried using my ability on him. It was second nature to me, something I relied on more than I liked to admit. Most people didn't even realize it was happening.

But this time, nothing happened.

My ability didn't respond.

It was as if it had hit an invisible wall—one that didn't repel it aggressively, but simply refused to acknowledge its existence.

That was when curiosity turned into something heavier.

There was something deeply unsettling about that man.

And the more I thought about it, the more one possibility refused to leave my mind.

Was it possible that he had the same ability as Veronica?

Veronica's power was absolute in its own way. She could cancel out abilities entirely, shutting them down like flipping a switch. Against her, my own power was useless. It would be nullified before it could even take shape.

That was why my ability never worked on her.

But the fact that it also failed against him?

That couldn't be a coincidence.

"Does he have the same ability as you?" I asked, breaking the silence.

Veronica didn't answer right away. She thought about it, her expression unreadable as always.

"It's possible," she finally said, her voice calm. "But the chances of that are really minimal."

Minimal—but not impossible.

"Something is off about that person," I said.

There had to be something going on with him.

If my memory served me right, he wasn't just any random cadet.

He was the Princess's lover.

The Princess wasn't someone who chose lightly. She didn't compromise. She didn't bend for convenience or sentiment. If anything, her standards were suffocatingly high—higher than mine, even.

She was the kind of person who evaluated everything and everyone with ruthless precision.

So why him?

It made no sense.

That man was known throughout the academy for being weak. Worse than weak—he was labeled as the weakest. Skillless. Untalented. Someone who had no business standing alongside elites.

At first, I hadn't been impressed by him at all. I barely spared him a second glance.

But now?

Now that I'd heard more.

Everything about him felt… wrong.

The more information trickled in, the clearer it became that he wasn't what people thought he was. Or perhaps, more accurately, he wasn't only what people thought he was.

It was entirely possible that he was far more incredible than anyone had ever realized.

And that possibility stirred something uncomfortable inside me.

For reasons I didn't fully understand, I found myself wanting him.

Not in a shallow sense—but in the way you want to possess something rare, something dangerous, and something no one else truly understands yet.

"Veronica," I said, turning toward my adoptive sister. "Why don't you enter the tournament as well?"

She looked at me, waiting for me to continue.

"It'd be better if we stop whatever the Princess is planning. If she's moving this openly, then it means she's confident. Putting you in the tournament would help. Don't you think?"

It wasn't just a suggestion. It was strategy.

Whatever the Princess was planning couldn't be ignored.

And since she was throwing her ace into the tournament from the very beginning, it only made sense that I'd do the same.

"Is that fine with you?" I asked.

"Of course," Veronica replied.

She nodded immediately, without even a trace of hesitation.

***

Leon's POV

The tournament was scheduled to begin tomorrow.

Fourteen days.

Two full weeks.

That alone was strange.

Normally, tournaments wrapped up in a week—sometimes even less. Three days, five days, seven at most.

But this one?

Fourteen.

The reason wasn't hard to guess.

There were simply too many participants. Too many applicants as well as too many eager contenders. Trying to compress everything into a shorter timeframe would've been chaos.

So a two-week tournament was the only realistic choice.

For now, though, none of that mattered.

I was lying in bed with Maya sprawled across me, her body warm and heavy in the most comfortable way possible.

Her head rested against my chest, rising and falling slowly with each breath.

We'd had sex earlier—nothing unusual about that—and now we were both caught in that familiar haze afterward. The world felt quieter and slower.

"You're amazing as always, Master…~" she murmured softly.

Her voice was weak, breath still uneven.

I wasn't surprised.

I'd gone at her hard, fucking her in a mating press. Anyone would've been exhausted after that.

Maybe I pushed her a little too far.

Not long after, she drifted off to sleep right there on top of me.

Yeah. I definitely overdid it.

Carefully, I shifted her head away from my chest so I wouldn't wake her. She stirred slightly but didn't open her eyes.

I slipped out of bed and walked toward the balcony.

The cool night air greeted me as I opened the door and stretched.

I was still completely naked.

Honestly, I didn't think much of it.

It was the middle of the night. No one was around. The chances of someone seeing me like this were close to zero.

Though… not zero.

"What are you doing here? You're a pervert, aren't you?" I said casually.

"You're walking around naked without a shred of shame," she replied. "That's impressive, in a bad way."

I snorted. "You're the one without shame. You came here unannounced—and worse, you were eavesdropping."

"So you noticed me the whole time?" she said. "That's new. Even my sister can't do that unless I let her."

Standing there in the darkness was Veronica—one of Lilith's fragments, just like me.

I looked at her properly now.

"So," I asked, "what are you doing here?"

"I want to know what the Princess is planning with this tournament," she said bluntly.

"I don't know," I replied. "She didn't tell me."

And that was the truth.

I genuinely had no idea what she intended to gain from all of this.

Now, though, I understood why she'd stayed silent.

She didn't want anyone knowing her plans.

Not even me.

She must've already anticipated that someone from the Commander's side would come digging for answers through me.

But since I knew nothing, there was nothing I could give Veronica.