As he climbed off of me, I felt something shift within him.

His smile warped into that of a sadistic one as if he had already seen the perfect future in front of him.

“You’re just a nameless kid… How did you acquire such a weapon… No, I won’t question it. If this really works, I’ll be in your debt for a year. As long as I can become king within my family,” He muttered.

A warm pink aura slowly shed off of his skin like it was the last remaining bit of sanity which I was attempting to strip away.

“Hey, I put all my trust in you. If you can’t finish the job, then even if you survive, I won’t help you out,” I replied.

“That’s fine. I was expecting you to say that anyway,”

After a firm handshake and slow sensing of my surroundings, I noticed a few assassins were hiding in the shadows, meaning there would be some coming after me soon.

I just smiled lightly as we both parted ways.

…

“Bro, did you get a girlfriend or something?” Cy asked as he tried to wipe the lipstick off of my cheeks.

“Manipulation takes some sacrifices… Ah, I’m so excited for the future,” I muttered with such a large smile that the others at the dining table shivered.

“I don’t like that smile,” The little kid said.

“Nobody does,” Aisa responded as she turned the little one’s head away from me.

After finishing up our dinner, I immediately took a shower, where I played my head against the white tile walls.

My breathing was heavy, and my plan that flowed through my mind like water just wouldn’t stop running.

I tried to catch any holes that could be filled or any potential mistakes that might happen.

“Hey! Orion! You got an extra towel!” I heard Findir shout from the inside of my room, and after sighing and trying to calm myself down, I shouted back.

“Yeah! It’s on the left side of my closet!”

“Thanks!”

…

“Orion… What did you even do yesterday?” A cold voice woke me up from my peaceful slumber, and as the sunlight shone from both sides of the figure’s head, a punch was wedged into my stomach.

“What the **!?” I shouted as I rolled out of bed and ducked another punch before countering with a side kick to their rib cage.

They were sent flying across the room, tumbling into my pile of books that I had gathered during my stay here.

“Orion! WHAT DID YOU DO!?” Bella shouted as she went in for another punch, but I caught her hand and spun around, slamming her to the floor with my foot on her back.

“Seems he actually did it… I thought his mind wasn’t weak enough yet, but I guess he was already that insane,” I muttered with a large smile.

As Bella slowly got up, she held herself back from punching me again and sat on my bed, gripping the covers as she held her face with her hands.

“Do you know how much trouble you’ve brought us?” Bella asked.

“Trouble? What trouble? The only trouble that is here is the trouble I’ve placed on myself… so don’t worry, I’m helping to get rid of one of your enemies,”

“Explain. Now,” She demanded, and as there were no consequences to informing her, I laid out the entire thing before her.

Slowly, I removed the large carpet in the center of my room.

“What the hell… Did you at least use washable markers?” Bella asked, and I deadpanned as I expected her to ask a more… mmmm… substantial question.

“Yes, I did. Anyway, I’ve been in this ‘relationship’ with this girl from the Lunascar family. She thinks we’re in a real relationship, but I’ve just been using her to get information on the family. It didn’t take much to seduce her; at least she’s pretty… Besides that, I wanted to use her later to kill one of her siblings, but a big usage for her came earlier than expected,”

“Huh? She was the one who killed the next in line for the headmaster of the family? I thought it was one of the smaller guys,”

“It was one of the smaller kids. He was a sacrificial pawn, as I’m sure he couldn’t have done this on his own. From what I predicted to happen, he gave the weapon to one of his shadows as they are more proficient in hiding their presence. Once they killed the dude, the kid I met with yesterday would be the top suspect as the lingering death stays for at most 48 hours. Any master would be able to sense it. He should be in a dungeon right now, awaiting his sentence and expecting me to try and save him,”

“That’s… too simple. Do you really think his other shadows are completely loyal to him? I’m sure they snitched on you, especially since they most likely followed him when you met yesterday,”

“That’s what I wanted. Once they snitched on me, the assassins will most likely be restrained as well since they basically admitted to treason, and you know why I know they’ll do this even though it’s dumb?”

“Why?”

“The kid will most definitely order them to do so in order to try and save himself and put all the blame on me. Remember, I told you I’m not the only one trying to manipulate people,”

“Then aren’t you **ed?”

“Nope… Cause before they investigate further, they’ll hold a funeral in order to save some outside face, though I doubt they really care about him. The next in line will just be handed to the second oldest… And that’s when they invite me. They’ll most likely think I’m his friend and invite me in order to mourn the death of his older brother… in which the kid will be there and end up betraying me as other family members will be wondering where he went,”

“I’m so **ing confused….”

“It’s fine. Just watch it unfold,” I muttered with a large smile.