Axel could not help but frown at that statement and her behavior. At the same time, the situation had indeed become precarious, and yes, he had intentionally made the whole thing turn out this way out of his paranoia, so that in the future, there was not even a 1% chance of Sophia being enamored by Lucien. He had already set this plan in motion from the day Sophia and he had recognized each other. The contents of the story he read could be true or false, but he couldn’t take the risk of it.
He would rather fuck up the entire situation than let there be not a chance of Sophia and Lucien getting together, even in the worst-case scenario. Axel was already aware of Lucien’s whole plan through the "Envoy" of the Arclight organization. After all, he held the highest level of authority as a vip client of the Arclight organization. Even if the prince had a special request token from that organization, Axel was still much higher in authority, and Arclight was never afraid of the royal family of Suncrest.
Their corrupted roots ran too deep throughout the whole of humanity. So, Lucien had requested their help to kill him and made the plan to bring him into an isolated corner of the beast forest by taking Heinz hostage. He was notified of the complete details of Lucien’s plan. Through them, he had made sure that Heinz would not be killed. But will only be kept as a hostage, and will go along with the flow of it. Because he knew Sophia had been keeping an eye on him constantly. She had her ways to see if he was ever in danger and to find out wherever he was going.
If he had wanted to, he could have blocked that surveillance, but he did not. This situation, where Lucien tried to kill him, presented the perfect opportunity for him to make Sophia fight against Lucien, creating an irreconcilable hatred between the two. And Sophia might not care as much, even if it was about Lumina at this point. Axel’s existence was far more important to Sophia than Lumina would ever be. Lucien would never get along with her again once he realized that.
While he had gained the assurance from this scenario that Sophia and Lucien could never form a relationship ever again, even with the influence of the soul brand on her, this also created many more problems. Now that Lucien knew Sophia had a thing for Axel. This could easily reach the ears of the king.
Suppose this were any other prince or princess of the Suncrest royal family, excluding Lumina. Axel could have found a way to kill them. While Sophia was indeed incapable of killing any of the royal blood and was obligated to protect them, this obligation only applied if she was aware that a royal was in danger.
She was also obligated to kill anyone harming the royal blood, again on the condition that she was aware of who harmed them. But the promise Sophia made to Lucien’s mother was tricky since it was something governed through Prime Nexus itself. If either Lucien, Lumina, or Ken were in life-threatening danger. Sophia would immediately know, even if she couldn’t save any of them in time. Prime Nexus would notify her of the identity of the killer.
After that, the soul brand would do the rest; she would be forced to kill the individual and take revenge. And that process is something she would not be able to fight against, no matter what. And the reason why Sophia did not know of the incident when Axel had almost killed Ken after transforming into a partial demon is that Axel had no real intention of killing him at that time. If he did have the intention, Prime Nexus would have immediately notified Sophia of it. Follow current novᴇls on novel⦿fire.net
Even without all those, Lumina and Lucien were too crucial for the future. They should not be killed here and now, no matter what. So, nothing was stopping the prince from telling this incident to the king or any other powerful individual to make Sophia willingly obey every command without even needing to use the soul brand. Because it also had its limitations. Specifically, as Sophia grows stronger, the control of it loosens over her existence.
But regardless of that, Axel had his own way to keep the mouth of the prince shut, even if there was unsolvable hatred between the two parties. Lucien still needed Sophia’s help in the future; whether he liked it or not, he would have to depend on her. But without a doubt, from Sophia’s perspective. This put Axel in the spotlight, making him vulnerable to being used as a weakness against Sophia. Also, she knew that Axel was close to Heinz.
Heinz was indeed a necessary chess piece for the foreseeable future, but Axel still regarded Heinz as his friend. Would he risk his life for Heinz? No, of course not. But if possible, he would definitely help or save him if he were in danger.
He stated to Sophia in displeasure, "Well, he is my friend, and Lucien targeted him in the first place because of me. So, of course, I should come to save him. If I didn’t come, Lucien might have actually killed Heinz."
There was a deafening silence the moment he said that, and the darkness all around them seemed to stir restlessly. A black shadow covered the face of Sophia; her eyes, which had returned to normal a moment ago, seemed to narrow into slits again. The killing intent pressing into Axel was relatively light since she would obviously not hurt him. But it now appears to grow more sinister and stronger. A suffocating pressure pressed onto Axel’s soul as he found it hard to breathe.
Sohia grabbed both of his cheeks, her lips went closer to one of his ears, and Axel remained unmoving as he let her do whatever she wanted. She stated in a soft tone, "If your stupid ass is in danger one more time. I will kill Heinz Gil with my own hands right in front of you."
Axel went pale. He slowly rotated his head to look into her eyes. For a moment, he realized that perhaps her eyes weren’t as beautiful as he had thought. He audibly swallowed, the tension evident in his voice. She was extremely close to him, too close even, he asked in a trembling voice, "You’re joking, right?"
But Sophia’s expression did not change; her predatory gaze remained fixed on Axel’s blue eyes without blinking in the slightest. His face became ashen, ’Oh no... she’s not kidding, she is serious? She’s dead serious.’
Her eyes returned to normal, her neutral expression vanished, and she wore the most beautiful smile. She asked lovingly, their faces still close, "Well, should we leave?"
Axel wanted to say that he should rescue Heinz, and Lucien should be put in a safe place, but he couldn’t muster the courage to say a single word and nodded obediently, she walked ahead, while Axel walked right behind her, but unknowingly, a devilish smile appeared on his lips, his face fluhsed red as his heartbeat quickened to the extreme, he couldn’t help but mutter to himself,
’That was so fucking hot. She’s so damn hot, threatning me like that, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it,’
’Now that would actually be quite exciting,’ he couldn’t help but unconsciously imagine the scenario when he would be tied up to a column or chair, and Sophia killing Heinz right in front of his eyes, just to prove a point. Oh, that would be so damn exhilarating. His smile had become so wide that he had to cover his mouth as the smile almost threatened to split his face in two.
But he soon came to his senses and could not help but mutter in shock, ’Wait a damn minute? Am I a masochist or something?’
’Oh, no, absolutely f*** not. I am not a masochist, and seeing Heinz get killed would not be fun, absolutely not. I am absolutely not a lunatic, psychopathic, obsessive bastard who obsesses over his childhood friend in every wrong way possible. Nope, I absolutely am not such a person. I am just a harmless extra who reincarnated in a f*** up world, where I never wanted to come. Goddamn it,’ he cursed at his shitty luck of being so unfortunate.