A Reader's Grimoire In A Novel World

*Three days later*

'People always have unexpected sides. Even assassins,' Julius thought as he moved his head side to side while playing the cursed piano in the bunker.

'The author did a good job, writing realistic people.'

His special eye was active, and he could see Ivana through the wall, sitting there, probably listening to him.

'While she was trained to be very cold, her lack of outside world knowledge makes her very curious. And one thing I love about her is the fact that she is into music.'

'A girl with a clean mind and dreams to become a singer, fated to die by the very hands of the main character.' Julius smiled as he thought about it and shook his head.

Soon, he stopped and walked out of the place. As he noticed Ivana trying to escape, he frowned.

He's not letting her slide like this.

"Ivana, I see you," Julius said as he came outside to meet the black-haired girl, and she seemed annoyed at him.

"What do you want this time?" she asked with an emotionless tone as she glanced the other way.

"If you wanted to hear me play, you could have come in. But first, it's been two days since I repaired your runes. You're supposed to leave," Julius said to her and then let out a tired sigh.

Ivana didn't answer him, and she began to walk away from him. Julius ignored her.

[Status: In admiration]

A small smile crept onto Julius' face when he saw this, and he walked his own way, letting out a breath as he headed back into the castle.

---

Three hours later, Ivana was leaving the castle with a bag of her belongings. She glanced back at the castle and remembered the face of the prince.

'Focus, Ivana, you don't have time for such thoughts,' she thought to herself as she left the castle.

This was the first time in her entire life that she failed an assassination.

She was trained to hold back emotions to execute plans flawlessly, but she couldn't help it this time.

Over her years of living in the outside world, she had an interest in only one thing: music.

She couldn't bring herself to kill a source of the only thing that makes her feel emotions.

'It's just like Duke Atryas said, emotions are like poison to an assassin. I'm definitely going to be punished if he finds me. I think I'll go home,' she thought to herself as she made her way into the city with large carriages and people walking around.

---

In the northern sector of the human kingdom stood a massive building resembling a castle at the center.

Within it, a tall man with thick black hair and a round face gazed out of the window, his big black eyes looking outside with calmness.

He held a glass of wine in his hand as he was already lost in thought.

"Has he been taken care of?" a voice came from behind the Duke.

The Duke turned back from looking at the window and saw a handsome young man behind him, clad in black armor. His purple eyes were cold, and the black coat he wore rubbed the ground as he walked towards the Duke.

"Prince Caesar," the Duke bowed as he glanced at the tall prince.

"Ivana wasn't capable enough. We'll have to wait until the clan event to get rid of him finally," the Duke said, and the prince couldn't help but facepalm.

"The experiment was unsuccessful. If someone manages to find traces of it, we might be tracked down. Don't fail this time," the prince said in a calm tone and walked out of the room.

The Duke let out a breath of relief as he saw the prince leave and couldn't help but fall flat on the ground.

'The first prince really came in person and didn't send his associates. A single wrong move or word, and I wouldn't know when I would die.' He gritted his teeth and then got on his feet.

"Amaya!" the Duke shouted, and a woman with a blindfold appeared beside him.

"I'm going to have you and a few other elite members infiltrate the human castle. We have eyes inside; he can help you all enter and blend in. Take out the prince during the clan event," the Duke said, and the woman nodded subtly before leaving the place at that moment.

'Hmm... I wonder how that prince was able to disable my rune. He just awakened an essence recently, so he should be new...' the Duke couldn't help but feel cautious as he thought this.

"Even if he figured out her slave rune, she has been raised by me and would never..." he frowned.

The slave rune on her was meant to allow the Duke to pass specific commands. The rest, she does on her own. A natural-born killer.

"Argh, that girl... For now, she should behave like a normal princess, but the next time she comes over, I'll scold her," he said with a frown and went to sit on the couch.

'We have to keep the king off our backs. We're still not at a level to face the ki...'

---

Caesar got downstairs and went out of the gates of the house. He approached a black carriage waiting for him and entered inside it.

There was another white-haired woman there with him, and she glanced at him.

"Is the boy dead?" the woman asked, revealing a pair of elongated canines.

Her gray eyes had slit pupils like a snake's, and her beautiful face, coupled with fine and delicate skin, made her seem like a perfect sculpture.

"They failed to kill him. The Duke is sending out more assassins to sabotage the clan's upcoming event," Caesar said in a cold tone, and the woman couldn't help but look up at the clouds.

"People of royal bloodline are the best choices to test the serum on, as they have the king's genes. Do you plan to use it?" she asked with a sly smile, and Caesar only shook his head.

"Once he's dead, we can continue plotting my reign."