Wilhelm heard a crack somewhere, but nothing happened. He thought Julian would at least throw a punch but no.

“B-brother?”

After Wilhelm moved away from Julian, he could see his face, though it was twitching terribly but he was still able to smile. It was quite surprising that he was able to hold back since Wilhelm directly insulted his utmost reason for his inferiority complex.

‘His self-control really is the only admirable thing about him.’

Wilhelm could continue with his insult but decided to back off, to enjoy a dish, you need to eat it slowly and savor it.

“Ahahaha! It’s a joke, it's a joke, you shouldn’t take it too seriously brother.” Wilhelm said as he smiled.

“Ah, ahaha…”

“There’s no way I would do that to you right? You are my brother after all, well then as I am busy I shall take my leave.”

Wilhelm turned around and left with Abraham. Wilhelm felt a flicker of guilt about insulting Julian’s mother, after all, she wasn’t at fault.

‘Hm? Wait no, isn’t the reason why Julian is like that mostly because of his mother? I heard that she abuses him quite a lot, comparing him to Wilhelm, which is one of the reasons why he developed such a high inferiority complex. At least that’s the story in the game.’

Wilhelm then thought he had nothing to be sorry about. Both mother and child are filthy. Even if you have a sad past, it doesn’t mean you are justified to commit crimes and atrocities like it's your breakfast. At least that’s how Wilhelm thinks.

“Um, Your Highness.”

“Hm? What is it, Abraham?”

“W-well, even if he is a political enemy, I don’t think your words are quite…appropriate.” Unlike usual, Abraham seemed nervous when talking to him. Wilhelm looked at Abraham with narrowed eyes.

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew the things he had done,” Wilhelm said in a cold tone of voice.

“S-sorry, I spoke out of line.”

Wilhelm realized he was being a bit too emotional before he coughed and began speaking again.

“Well, I guess I was a bit too emotional back then, thank you for pointing it out, Abraham. If I do something because I am too emotional, I want you to point it out and criticize me.”

“Right, I shall.” Abraham smiled lightly before he returned to his stoic face. Wilhelm walked and scratched his head.

‘Was it my emotions or the Original Wilhelm’s emotions? Well, either way, not being able to control my emotions shows my immaturity.’ Wilhelm sighed since he had thought he was at least a lot more mature than other people around his age.

Even then, Wilhelm wouldn’t take back what he had said.

***

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!,” Julian said as he threw a vase to the wall.

“How dare he say that to me! To me! Wilhelm! I will kill you and feed your body remains to the dogs! ”

Like someone in a seizure, Julian trembled as he kept breaking everything around, many types of furniture were broken, a vase was thrown away and Julian kicked a wall, the wall broke due to his mana-enhanced kicks. There were a lot of rumors about the 2nd Prince's anger management problem. But not many people outside of the Ruby Palace which Julian resided in really believed those rumors. It was due to the charlatan and frivolous persona Julian takes on the outside and because he never really loses it on the outside.

However, inside the Ruby Palace, every servant knows about it as a fact. It's like the self-control he had on the outside disappeared as soon as he stepped inside the Ruby Palace. Whenever he is doing a temper tantrum it is best to just stay away as far as possible and let the Head Maid handle it.

“Please calm yourself, Your Highness.” The Head Maid said. Despite being only in her late twenties she was able to become the head maid of the prince.

“Calm myself? Do you know what that bastard said to me!?”

“I know, so calm yourself down you stupid brat!” The Head Maid deliberately shouted while saying so and Julian immediately shut up. Not because of the shout but because the thick, malevolent, and dirty energy that rose from the Head Maid suppressed Julian’s shoutings as it began pressuring the surroundings with unfathomable power.

The Head Maid in front of him is just below the Apostle level, meaning she is a lot higher in the Thalion Cultist’s hierarchy than Julian.

“Tch.”

However Julian is an important pawn so he knows that they at least can’t get rid of him even after the plans are over. For a group of lunatics, they have a lot of patience so Julian didn’t need to be so scared of them.

“Have you calmed yourself down?”

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yes, because of you.”

“Good, you don’t need to be angry because of such a fool, he will be killed according to our plan before the Eldoria Academy starts. We will torture him and make him beg to be killed.”

“...You guarantee the plan won’t fail right?”

“Of course, we have never failed in our plans. Not even once.” The Head Maid smiled.

“...Alright, I will trust you.”

Julian looked at the broken pieces of the vase he threw. Soon Wilhelm will become just like that vase. Julian smiled as he thought about it.

***

‘It’s saddening that I can't kill Julian right now.’

It's not as if he is incapable of exposing Julian right now, but it's more because of the consequences of doing so right now. The only advantage he had over the Thalion Cultists was that he knew a lot about their plans, their future plans, their members, and so on. Basically it's information about the present and future about them.

That’s why Wilhelm can’t afford to do something that would make them change their plans drastically such as the case with Julian.

‘It’s not as if Julian will do much damage right now so it's also fine to leave him alone. Though he will still commit some atrocities to people I don't know about.’

Wilhelm felt sad and pity for the people who had their lives destroyed because of the Devil Worshipper. Still, he can’t do anything since if he does, in the worst-case scenario there will be even more sacrifices.

‘I'm sorry, I am no god, so I can't save you, nor do anything about it right now. But at the very least I shall hunt them down.’

His words wouldn’t get to the other people but it's fine, he would prove it with action.

After the engagement is officially recognized, the Emperor plans to hold a grand party celebrating the engagement between Wilhelm and Iris. Because the Marriage Vow was known not just to the nobles but also to the commoners, it was very popular in the Empire. It’s a big event that the Marriage Vow is finally fulfilled so the Emperor had to create a big party to make sure he doesn’t lose face.

‘There will probably be a ton of nobles there, I might even meet characters from the game.’ Wilhelm's heart pounded as he thought about meeting the other characters of the game but thinking about how many times he would have to talk to nobles exhausted him already.

‘No need to think about it now.’

Right now, what Wilhelm needs is the [Anti Poison Physique], like its name says, it's a physique to make him immune to poison. While it might not seem much, it's an extremely useful thing to Wilhelm. The first and primary reason is that he would be able to screw over a certain apostle and its members. The secondary reason is the poisoning attempt on him.

Even if Wilhelm had known about poison from the Original Wilhelm, he didn’t have the confidence to avoid it entirely. He would be targeted a lot more than Iris because he is the foremost candidate for the throne therefore he would surely be poisoned or there would be assassination attempts in some way.

Wilhelm is not worried about the assassination attempt. He would be sticking to Iris and Abraham a lot and it's even harder for people to assassinate him inside the Academy. But poisons are another matter.

‘Fortunately, it's easy to get the physique.’

To be exact it's easy because Wilhelm is a prince with tons of money, and manpower, and has knowledge of it. In front of him are two Vials, one is called the All-Destroying Poison filled with poison of all types while the other is called God’s Neutralizer which is said to be able to cure any and all poison.

Wilhelm didn’t understand the logic but he knew that if he consumed the two of these at the same time he would get the [Anti Poison Physique].

‘The game explained it like the poison destroying the body with all types of poison while the God’s Neutralizer neutralizes and simultaneously heals the body, rebuilding the body, and the body will adapt and gain immunity to all kinds of poison. But I honestly don't get the logic.’

Wilhelm tried to grab the vials but he noticed his hands trembling as a certain thought came to mind.

‘...I wouldn’t die drinking this right?’

He trusts the game since he has confirmed that everything about the game that he knew is the same here, therefore it was pointless to worry, and consuming it would make him gain the [Anti Poison Physique] but…

‘My mind gets it, but my heart is saying no.’

Even if he wouldn’t die, the game described it as an incredibly painful process, since the body is being simultaneously destroyed by poison and healed. Wilhelm also can’t erase the instinctive repulsiveness of drinking poison.

‘But I can’t throw it away, i need it to save the world and both of them are hard to get.’

The poison was expensive, even by Wilhelm’s standards. He had to get information about where to buy this from the Information Guild at this point and the price of buying the one All Destroying Poison glass vial is also insane. While the God’s Neutralizer he got he had to send Abraham to a high ranking ruins since he himself is not strong enough for that yet.

He remembered Abraham coming back all beat up as well which made him feel guilty, though Abraham did not seem to mind it that much.

‘It’s fine. I also bought a ton of High-Grade healing potions for the worst-case scenario.’

Healing potions are less effective than priests but they do help, besides he already had God’s Neutralizer.

‘Alright! Bottoms up!’

Wilhelm combined both of the liquids from the vial into a big cup and drank it. The taste sucked but Wilhelm can’t afford to puke it, because his money will fly away as well as his life if he did.

Right after he finishes the cup.

‘Hm, it's not too ba-.’

“AGHHHH!”

‘IT FUCKING HURTSS.’

Wilhelm collapsed onto the floor and convulsed. It felt as if his entire body was a mirror and someone was crushing it with a hammer, rebuilding it, before crushing it again, every single part of his body was in pain, with all his nerves screaming out. Sweat immediately poured from every part of Wilhelm’s body. He even felt scared that he might die and drank a healing potion though it didn't do anything.

After the futile potion attempt, he stayed on the ground because just moving hurts a lot and he decided to quiet down his mind, body, and soul and just endure the pain. Eventually, the pain began subsidizing. He didn't know how much time had passed but it felt like an eternity to him.

After the pain subsided completely, Wilhelm gasped for air, drenched in sweat, yet he was smiling and began to laugh. He had never felt more grateful than ever.

“Hahahaha! Life without pain is to be grateful for. How utterly sinful I am to only recognize this now.”

Perhaps his mind also broke down because of the poison but he truly never felt more grateful than now. However soon his vision started getting darker.

Wilhelm didn't know whether it was because of shock, trauma, or whatever but his vision darkened even more regardless of his will and he collapsed to unconsciousness.