The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1195: The Worst Wound

Now, if only everyone else’s comeuppance came in the form of a ground-breaking kiss...

Then maybe the universe would’ve undoubtedly been a much better place, and there probably would’ve been far fewer fistfuls of hair flying around the increasingly controversial crime scene.

Unfortunately for the compromised master mechanics—who could’ve greatly benefited from having even a single living example to lend credibility to the desperate claims they would eventually make that they’d truly been bewitched and not stupidly cheating—that one last exhibit just so happened to be an outlier.

Perhaps even an outlier among outliers.

After all, while everyone else was busy getting pummeled by their furious wives—folded into increasingly creative positions as those same wives lovingly beat some sense back into them—or watching one particularly reckless cadet embrace the philosophy of teamwork makes the dream work in an effort to overcome an absurdly troublesome enemy, one golden-eyed heir was rather occupied himself.

As he was about to discover exactly how an Imperial Crown Prince’s boundaries would blur the moment the person he loved was perceived to be in danger.

Unlike Killian Nox, whose first instinct had been to rush toward the redhead himself, Xavier’s body had moved with only one purpose in mind.

Threat removal for safety.

With someone who could be as destructive as he was, especially back when he’d struggled to control his abilities after deliberately keeping them hidden so he wouldn’t immediately succeed the throne, Xavier had naturally developed the habit of dealing with every threat himself rather than risk harming the very people he was trying to protect.

That was because even the smallest shard of ice ending up in the wrong place because his control slipped could cause catastrophic damage.

So in the state he was in now, it was as though he’d been thrown right back to those vulnerable earlier days, where eliminating the source of danger instinctively took priority over even remembering to breathe.

__

One moment, Luca had just exclaimed, "I think I got it!" as the grip around the back of his head finally began loosening.

The next, he instinctively covered his own mouth in surprise because the person standing only inches away from him had vanished from his field of vision so abruptly that it almost looked like he’d never been there in the first place.

An instant later, that same figure reappeared.

Only this time, he was hurtling through the air.

The kick happened so quickly that Luca barely managed to perceive it. Or perhaps it wasn’t that he’d failed to see it, but that there simply hadn’t been anything solid to follow.

The sound of a boot striking flesh had scarcely begun before it was drowned out by a far louder crash as a body slammed violently into the wall, the explosive impact sending cracks racing through the reinforced surface.

"?!!!"

What was even more surprising was that Xavier now stood directly in Luca’s line of sight.

His towering figure radiated such suffocating pressure that even the chaotic lounge seemed to hesitate around him. His icy azure eyes were razor sharp, utterly devoid of mercy as they remained locked on Lyrian, who’d become intimately acquainted with what was rapidly proving to be a very unstable wall.

The suddenly necessary situational assessment didn’t take long to complete.

After all, the man wasn’t exactly subtle about looking fully prepared to send Lyrian straight to the afterlife.

Oh no.

__

Said conclusion was rather accurate.

For one, Xavier had been trained never to assume success until the hit had been confirmed.

So after sending Lyrian hurtling into the wall, he immediately took another step forward.

One strike wasn’t enough.

Not when the person he was attempting to protect was Luca.

Not when there was still a chance that Aerun could get back up and meddle with people he had absolutely no business even sharing oxygen with.

He was operating with the single-minded intention of keeping his wife safe, repeating it in his head like a broken mantra.

Then, without warning, something wrapped tightly around his waist.

The ticking timebomb of a prince stopped so abruptly that he almost stumbled forward.

But he didn’t really need to look to know whose arms those were.

Only Luca would hold him like that.

And while it had always been something he welcomed, something he even looked forward to, at this very moment it made his heart lurch with apprehension.

Why was Luca stopping him?

The little Guide clung to him with surprising strength, stubbornly refusing to let him take another step toward the Aerun.

A dreadful possibility immediately forced its way into Xavier’s mind.

Had the Luxastra bloodline ability really taken hold?

Was that why Luca was using his own body to stop him?

Foolish as the thought was, Xavier still tried convincing himself that maybe his little wife had a different reason. But just as he was beginning to cling to that hope, the same voice rang out.

"No! You can’t!"

The words struck Xavier harder than any attack ever could.

Everything around him continued moving. The shouting resumed, hands kept flying, and people continued wrestling each other to the ground, creating just enough noise to drown out the heart-shattering words Luca had uttered. Yet all of it felt strangely distant as Xavier stood rooted to the spot, his entire focus fixed on the words that had gone unnoticed by everyone else.

The Imperial Prince learned right then that, sure enough, there were worse things than being shot or stabbed—because nothing felt worse than person intervening on another person’s behalf.

His suddenly trembling fingers tightened involuntarily as he slowly lowered his gaze, preparing himself for what he feared he would see.

He expected empty eyes.

He expected the same glazed expression worn by the bewitched master mechanics.

Or perhaps worse, he expected to find those very eyes burning with adoration for someone else.

But what he got instead was so far removed from anything he’d prepared himself for that his thoughts came to a complete halt—

Luca hugged him even tighter before blurting out with complete sincerity, "He’s so old! We’re not supposed to hit old people!"

"...?"