CHAPTER 628: CHAPTER 564: THE CLOWN’S PERFORMANCE

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In almost thirty years of life, Andre the Prince had never experienced such a vicious attack. After hearing Leon’s gentle-toned remarks, he couldn’t help but stop in his tracks and fell into a long silence.

"Why did you stop? Weren’t you just about to take me to perform for your parents?"

Watching the young Prince trembling continuously at the back, hearing the gnashing sound of teeth clenching, Leon couldn’t help but chuckle. He then soothingly said:

"Don’t worry, I’m just a clown with decent skills. I won’t say anything to your parents. A little trick here, some juggling there, and we’re done.

After all, my false clown humor is solely in the juggling, at most amusing your parents, while your humor is inside; all you need to..."

"Shut up!!!"

With a sudden loud shout breaking Leon’s comfort, Andre the Prince spun around swiftly, his still slightly childish face full of ferocity as he said:

"You guessed right. I, too, have to abide by the world’s rules and can’t easily do things against the ’Prince’ identity, but if you want to anger me into letting you go voluntarily by words..."

"No need, everyone here is talented, I really like it here~"

Waving his hand to interrupt Prince Andre’s words, Leon tied a balloon around his waist, fished out four colorful balls from his pocket, and began juggling them with a merry smile. Occasionally alternating his legs, he tossed the balls under his crotch, immediately drawing a round of applause.

"Well done!"

"Amazing!"

"Add another one! Can you add another ball?"

"Add! You can add them all!"

Replying to the cheering guests not far away, Leon didn’t stop his movements. Maintaining his juggling, he slowly walked to the open area in front of the platform. Somehow, the four balls magically turned into five and then into six with another glance.

"Wow!!!"

"Can actually juggle six balls at once?"

Watching Leon’s hands move back and forth like a dancing butterfly, even creating afterimages, the guests paused their drinking and curiously looked over. Some even began clapping and cheering.

"Beautiful!"

"What a fantastic clown!"

"You’re too kind, you’re too kind!"

After ending his juggling with a left-right alternating flourish, Leon pinched his own rosy nose, bowed in thanks to the guests who praised his skill, then said with a look of modesty:

"Actually, I’m not that good. In our clown circle, there’s a senior named Andre who is far superior to me.

A regular clown like me can only juggle some equally ordinary colored balls, but that senior Andre can juggle amazing items like knives, forks, dishes, chairs, and benches, he can juggle them all..."

At this point, Leon slightly turned his head, gave Andre the Prince a gentle look, then silently mouthed:

’Even his dead parents can be juggled.’

"..."

Bringing him here was the biggest mistake!

After personally experiencing Leon’s terrifying aggressiveness, Andre the Prince, who was watching Leon borrow a few small things from a guest, couldn’t help but clench his fists with a nasty expression. He then ducked his head and made his way through the guests until he found the queen, who was watching the performance with interest.

"Mother."

After pulling the queen’s sleeve and taking a deep breath to put on his original innocent and bright demeanor, he pointed at Feiliya, who lay asleep among the guests at some point, and pleaded:

"My friend, who I invited, fell asleep from exhaustion. Could you have someone send her home?"

"Sure."

Glancing in Feiliya’s direction, the queen lovingly patted Andre the Prince’s head, gave a couple of instructions to an attendant, then said to the young prince:

"I’ve already sent for Bagus to help take your friend home... Come, Andre, sit in your mother’s lap."

She embraced the young Andre, pulling him into her lap, while gently pinching his soft, warm earlobe, and softly said:

"That clown’s performance was terrific. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a good one... Andre? I remember you loved watching clowns, even considered being one yourself before. Why aren’t you watching now?"

"I..."

Just having been harshly punished by the "clown theory," Andre now felt uncomfortable at the mere mention of clowns, let alone watching Leon’s performance. He desperately wanted to escape from the "Royal Banquet" immediately.

But he was reluctant to leave the queen’s warm embrace, and he hadn’t personally witnessed Feiliya being escorted out of the "Royal Evening Banquet," so Prince Andre had to hold his patience, sitting like a real child in the queen’s lap, watching the performance.

Meanwhile, in the distance, Leon seemed to have truly accepted his new profession, clopping around in bright yellow clown shoes, walking in a comical out-toed gait, showing the guests at the front whatever he had in his hands.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve all seen and touched this. It’s indeed an apple, not a prop I brought."

Following that gaze sharper than a knife, Leon found where the young prince was seated, seamlessly turning to face him and the queen, using his finger to pinch a mark on the apple’s skin, and then with a gleeful expression, he said:

"Everyone, this fingernail mark as proof, next I’m going to perform an extremely difficult trick, I’m going to turn this apple into..."

"Yikes!"

After Leon’s announcement, the guests present immediately cooperated and jeered:

"Boring, boring!"

"That’s it?"

"What’s so hard about making an apple disappear?"

"Do another one, do another one! This one’s no good!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, please don’t be anxious. This trick of mine isn’t just a basic disappearing apple trick!"

Raising his hand to hush the crowd, Leon’s expression turned serious. He rolled up his sleeves and mysteriously said:

"Those who make apples disappear usually just hide them in their sleeves or block them with their arms, but my hands are completely open, right before your eyes. And I won’t just make the apple disappear; I can even turn it into something else!"

No cover-up? And he can turn the apple into something else?

Hearing Leon’s teaser, all the guests were immediately intrigued, unconsciously holding their breath and staring intently at Leon’s hands.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I’m about to start the transformation!"

Nodding seriously to those around him, Leon, much to the guests’ bewilderment, took a bite of the apple with nail marks on it, munching it clean in a few bites. With his cheeks bulging full, he proudly announced, while making a lap around the room with the apple core dangling, "Look! I’ve transformed the apple into a core!"

"..."

"Ah! So that’s how it’s done!"

"Yikes!"

"Hahaha!"

"Such a joker, haha!"

Whether it was the Colorful Clown badge at work or the sheer absurdity of Leon’s joke, everyone except Prince Andre was almost in stitches from laughing.

However, just as everyone was laughing and causing a ruckus, Leon suddenly let out a yelp, bent over in pain, held his mouth tightly, and shouted:

"Oh no! Oh no! This apple... this apple!"

Could it be poisoned?

Seeing the magician in trouble, the Guard Commander, who was following orders to take Feiliya home, was startled. Dropping her to the ground, he hurried to rush back, but then...

"This apple, it’s... it’s grown back somehow?"

In the midst of the guests’ alarmed expressions, Leon’s hands, which covered his mouth, gently opened. Then, with a sharp backstretch, he displayed the apple intact in his hands. The nail mark on the skin was still there, just as it was at the beginning.

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After a moment of dead silence, the banquet erupted into thunderous applause.

"Wow!!!!"

"It’s the same apple?"

"Amazing! Absolutely amazing! I’ve never seen such a talented clown!"

"Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your compliments!"

Bowing to the applauding and cheering guests, Leon chuckled and said:

"Actually, these are all simple tricks. If you talk about someone truly impressive, then it has to be that clown named Andre. The things he can make disappear are not limited to apples; he can even make living creatures vanish, like chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, pigeons, and even dishes and horses."

Hearing Leon mention him again, though not understanding what dishes and horses referred to, Prince Andre shivered uncontrollably, glaring at Leon with eyes full of icy fury.

The surrounding guests, intrigued by Leon’s praise, asked curiously:

"If this clown named Andre is so amazing, why didn’t he come along with you?"

"Well, that’s a long story."

Leon sighed at the question, then said with sympathy:

"To be honest with you all, the hardest part about our tricks is not making things disappear but bringing them back again. That Andre fellow was great at the first half but never quite mastered the second, more crucial part.

One day, for some baffling reason, he made the most important thing to him disappear, and no matter what, he couldn’t bring it back. The poor guy lost his mind a bit. As for what that important thing was..."

At this point, Leon paused slightly, then turned to glance at the ashen-faced Prince Andre with a knowing smile.

"..."

I’ll kill you! I swear I’ll kill you!!!