The Hidden Extra: The Lazy Prince Refuses to Ascend The Throne Chapter 960 Backfired Hatred

"Good that you understand."

Nolan patted Ragnark on the left shoulder.

Just like that, the overwhelming pressure vanished as if it had never been there. Ragnark regained control of his body as well.

But his heart was still pounding, and an overwhelming sense of fear lingered.

He quickly took a deep breath before bowing his head toward Nolan.

"Thank… you."

Without saying another word, he motioned for his teammates to return. Although they were confused, none of them objected.

Yet, Ragnark suddenly stopped and turned toward Mike, whose face had gone deathly pale.

"I forgot to tell you guys. Mike was the one who gave me the clue."

With that, he started walking again and soon disappeared from view.

Ayakami, Keyn, Kleith, Mary, and Tony were all taken aback by Ragnark's sudden departure.

But they knew… there was no doubt this had something to do with Nolan.

"Mike!" Kleith shouted, gritting his teeth. "You bastard! So you were the one who did it!"

The others immediately started cursing at him, even Mary, who was usually polite and shy.

However, Mike didn't seem to hear any of them. His expression was completely blank.

What exactly… is going on? Things weren't supposed to turn out like this…

The plan was supposed to make Nolan look like the culprit and turn everyone against him.

But things didn't go as planned.

Instead of Nolan becoming the target, he was the one everyone turned against.

He knew… he knew all too well that from now on, his friends—especially Ayakami—would shun him.

Just thinking about it made him feel sick.

Mike turned toward Ayakami and met her cold, disgusted gaze.

No… don't look at me like that! he screamed inside his head.

Ayakami looked away and ordered, "Let's focus on finishing this test first. We'll deal with the rest later."

Keyn, Tony, Kleith, and Mary nodded in unison. Ignoring Mike, they resumed their attacks on the ape monster, landing powerful blows against its body.

From the beginning, Nolan had been watching from a distance. Seeing Mike being shunned by his friends, he smiled faintly.

This is just the beginning. I'll be waiting for you to make your move, Mike. I hope you don't let me down…

An hour later…

"Phew! Finally done!"

Keyn wiped the sweat from his forehead as he stared at the monster's lifeless body lying on the ground.

"That monster was seriously insane! I've never seen anything with regenerative abilities like that," Tony said with a long sigh.

While the others chatted casually, Ayakami cut off a piece of the monster's chest fur and placed it inside a metal box.

Once she was done, she turned and walked over to her friends.

"Let's go."

They nodded and walked away. Not one of them had spoken to Mike since then, as if he didn't even exist.

Mike remained silent, but the anger building inside him had reached its limit. He felt like he could explode at any moment.

***

Back at the tent, everyone sat around and relaxed while discussing the tense battle they'd just been through. Even Nolan, who had been excluded earlier, was now forced to join them.

"By the way, Ayakami."

Tony took a bite of his dry bread before glancing at Mike, who had been silent the entire time.

"What are you going to do about him?"

Everyone's gaze immediately turned toward Mike.

Feeling their stares, Mike gritted his teeth in frustration, but he didn't dare say a word.

Ayakami took a sip of her tea before shaking her head.

"There's no need to do anything. After all, this test is over. We've successfully defended our first-place title."

The others were somewhat dissatisfied with her answer. They had hoped Ayakami would punish Mike, but she didn't.

"Even so…" Ayakami continued, casting a cold glance at Mike. "For future tests, I'll never be on the same team as him."

Mike's chest felt as if an invisible hand were squeezing it.

"Hmm… I see. In that case, so will I!" Keyn said with a cold snort.

"Me too!" Tony and Kleith nodded in agreement.

"You guys…" Mike couldn't take it anymore and glared sharply at them.

But none of them were afraid.

"Why? Didn't you cause all of this yourself? You traitor!" Tony taunted.

Mike punched the ground in front of him before standing up and walking away.

None of them paid him any attention. They simply continued eating and chatting about trivial things.

"Nolan, thank you."

Ayakami walked over and sat down beside him.

Nolan, who had been sipping his tea, raised an eyebrow.

"Thank me for what?"

Ayakami rolled her eyes.

"Don't play dumb. Ragnark didn't attack us because of you, didn't he?"

Nolan didn't deny it, which only made Ayakami more certain.

"I don't know how you managed to convince him, but that alone is enough for me to thank you."

She started to bow, but Nolan quickly grabbed her shoulders and stopped her.

"Don't bow to me. I'm not comfortable with someone from the Ashikaga family doing that. If you really want to thank me, then help me."

Ayakami puffed out her cheeks. This was the second time Nolan had mentioned her family name.

She was really curious… How did that man know she was from the Ashikaga family?

Not even her friends—except Sharon—knew about it.

Then, she noticed Nolan's black hair and froze.

Could he be from the Eastern Empire of Izanagi as well?

Her heart raced at the thought.

She had only just noticed that Nolan actually had black hair, just like most people from the Eastern Continent.

However, since Nolan clearly didn't want to talk about it, Ayakami was too embarrassed to ask.

After calming herself down, she asked, "What do you need?"

"Can you lend me the Falling Star Academy's teleportation portal that connects directly to the Great Velmora Empire?"

With Nolan's current power, he could easily teleport to the empire himself.

But he didn't want to return too soon. He wanted to enjoy some carefree, unburdened time—just like he had dreamed of since childhood.

Ayakami was surprised.

"Do you want to go there?"

Her voice sounded indifferent, but Nolan could sense the sadness behind it.

Nolan gave a slight nod.

"That's right. After all, it's my home."

Ayakami wanted to say something, but she held herself back.

"All right. Tomorrow, we'll head back to Rodard and report our success. There's a teleportation portal there that connects directly to one of the cities in the southern part of the Great Velmora Empire."

Nolan smiled.

"Thank you."

Seeing his smile, Ayakami quickly looked away, feeling a little embarrassed.

"You're welcome…" she whispered.