Ethan Morvendrell was shocked.

Even after searching the princess for quite some time, he had failed to find her, and the thought that she might have already killed Caelum was beginning to terrify him.

Thus, a rather strange scene unfolded in the ballroom.

The second son of Duke Morvendrell ran across the entire hall, greeting guests along the way with a miserable expression, as though his father had just disowned him.

After countless greetings and forced smiles, Ethan finally located the two people he had been searching for.

But the moment he saw them standing together near the balcony, a deep sense of horror washed over him.

Caelum’s life was in danger, which meant so was his.

Ethan hurried toward the balcony.

But just as he arrived.

He froze.

SLAP!

Caelum had just slapped the princess.

At that exact moment, a system notification appeared in Ethan’s vision.

———⟬ World System⟭———

«Ongoing Quest»

Prevent the death of Caelum Annum at the hands of the Youngest Princess, and stop the Immortal Count from slaughtering the entire Morvendrell Dukedom and plunging the Zenith Empire into Chaos.

Reward: Life Expectancy +10 years, World Saving Heroic Points +100, A gift from Aion.

Failure: Destruction of Background. The Host may survive, but your powerful background will be wiped out.

[Note: The host is advised not to seek assistance. The World System shields the host alone — its protection does not extend to others, and the consequences for meddling with fate could be catastrophic.]

———————————— 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

«Quest Completed»

Rewards are being transferred to the inventory.

————————————

’What the hellllll!’ He did not know how to process this.

Ethan turned and walked in the opposite direction at maximum speed.

He had absolutely not seen Caelum slap the princess.

And he certainly wasn’t going to stick around long enough to explain it.

***

Agent 101 was silently protecting the princess.

Though the princess in question had many troubling rumors surrounding her, Agent 101 still performed her duty without hesitation.

In truth, protecting wasn’t even the right word for what she was doing.

There was no real threat inside this ballroom, and most of the people present were either nobles or trusted allies.

Still, she maintained her vigilance.

Then she noticed a child approaching the princess – a boy with blue hair, blue eyes, and an unusually cute appearance.

Her attention sharpened immediately.

According to the Black Order, the Immortal Count was considered an entity of the highest level, surpassing even many legendary powerhouses of the world as well as most Evil Gods followers or cult leaders.

She didn’t know the exact reason behind that classification, but she was smart enough to follow protocol.

After all, she had thoroughly read the Black Order Manual for Beginners – B.O.M.B. for short.

In such situations, agents were instructed to simply observe first.

So she observed.

She watched Caelum approach the princess.

She watched him talk to her.

She even watched the ridiculous scene where Caelum appeared to be physically fighting the princess’s headache.

’This kid isn’t even a mentalist, how absurd. Who even tries to fight a headache physically?’ she thought in disbelief.

Clearly, the boy was just trying to gain the princess’s favor.

Still...

’That face isn’t bad,’ she admitted silently.

The cute appearance had earned him a few points in her mental evaluation.

Then Caelum slapped the princess across the cheek.

Agent 101 froze.

Several seconds passed.

"What just..." The words left her before she could stop them, and with them came something she had not intended, a thin thread of killing intent, leaking out entirely on instinct.

But then – BOOM!

***

Caelum was desperately thinking of a hundred different ways to stop Anastasia from crying.

"O-okay, listen, Anastasia... I-I just you see, that headache had a core problem," he stammered.

Then he saw a tear slide down her cheek.

"Nononono..."

Caelum panicked and quickly wiped the tear away.

But suddenly, he felt it.

A killing intent directed straight at him.

Perhaps Anastasia sensed it too, because her expression immediately changed.

But before she could say anything, a sword appeared in Caelum’s hand.

[Heaven Dominating Divine Sword Art] – First Form.

[Heaven Transcending Slash]

A brilliant blue sword qi erupted from the sword, enhanced by his aura. The attack tore through the air and erased a large section of the balcony where Agent 101 had been hiding.

The commotion instantly drew attention as several powerful figures appeared almost immediately.

The Duke, Roger, Hans, Victor, Baroness Fulger, and even Agent 101 herself revealed her presence.

She wore the distinctive mask of the Black Order, the same kind that Victor wore.

"What happened here? Princess, why do you look like you’re about to cry?" Victor asked as he stepped closer and examined Anastasia.

’How fast...? I didn’t even see him move.’ Caelum thought.

Then Victor’s words registered.

’Princess...?’

Caelum stiffened.

’So she’s a princess but...’

Cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

"...Nothing happened," Anastasia replied calmly to Victor.

But she was looking at Caelum with an intensity that made the word nothing extremely difficult to believe, and immediately raised several questions among everyone present.

"Caelum, tell me what happened," Roger said firmly.

Caelum immediately reacted the way any five-year-old child would.

"WAAAH! I was so scared!" he wailed dramatically as he ran over and hugged Roger.

Everyone stared at him with strange expressions.

After all, they had clearly sensed that Caelum was already an Expert-level swordsman.

Watching him sob into Roger’s coat was approximately equivalent to watching a dragon claim it was frightened of a loud noise.

Meanwhile, Agent 101 briefly recounted what she had witnessed.

The reactions around the room were stunned.

’How could he do that?’ Victor thought in disbelief.

’Even the royal physicians failed to cure the Anastasia’s condition.’

"Hah," Roger muttered calmly.

"Hans, repair this."

Hans stepped forward, and several intricate magic circles appeared in the air. The debris and dust were gathered and compressed, and the destroyed section of the balcony slowly reconstructed itself.

The result though was somewhat crude.

After all, Hans was a Battle Archmage, not an artisan.

"I’ll take my leave for now," Roger said casually.

"And Luke, I’m not paying for this, you’re not a beggar, are you?"

Luke Morvendrell’s eyebrows twitched.

Meanwhile, Victor watched something else entirely.

Anastasia and Caelum were quietly exchanging Private Badge contact information.

Interestingly, Caelum had already stopped crying.

’His acting is subpar,’ Victor thought silently.