CHAPTER 299: FINALLY THE CORONATION!

The next day, it was finally time for the coronation ceremony.

Every prince and princess woke up early and prepared their best; after all, today determined their fate for the future, either they would die or be on top of this kingdom’s hierarchy today.

Even if they survived today, once they didn’t win, the crown prince/princess would obviously not let them live, as there was always some chance that they could be overthrown. And who wants to take that chance?

So even if you did survive the coronation without winning, you could confidently say that even if you don’t die, your life would be a living hell, most likely deported to another kingdom if you are a woman; if you are a man, then...

Sophie must have known that, as long as she survived, she would eventually be deported to another kingdom. Grey, however, could only see her as naive, especially after his investigation of the five spies and countless others.

"Well, what can I expect from this little girl?" he thought with a sigh, lying on his bed as the morning sun streamed through the curtains, warming his face.

The knocks outside grew louder, and he frowned.

"Grey, come out already!" Sophie’s voice called.

"Fine, fine." Grey pushed himself up, rubbing his groggy eyes.

He walked past the pile of bodies and opened the door to find Sophie standing there, refreshed and undeterred.

"What’s wrong? Why do you seem to have had no sleep at all?" Sophie asked, tilting her head, curiosity reflecting in her eyes.

He felt his brows twitch upon hearing this—how could he not get any sleep while Sophie got a peaceful one?

However, Grey managed to calm down. Right now, he was the employee and she was the employer, and he was getting paid for it with the Ancient Artifact, so he needed to have some restraint at the very least, shouldn’t he?

"Nothing. Let’s just go," Grey said and walked ahead.

Sophie stretched her body while closing her eyes in enjoyment. "Okay," she said, then quickly followed after him.

The two quickly traveled, guided by the servant, and came to an open ground.

Grey looked around and found forty princes and princesses, surrounded by people in armor.

"Damn, I didn’t expect the king to be so capable," he spoke loudly.

"What?" Sophie turned to look at Grey with a speechless expression.

Since his voice was so loud, everyone heard it, and their heads tilted toward Grey and Sophie. In an instant, they became the center of attention.

"I didn’t expect that the daughter of the whore would also dare appear here."

"She is forced to, after all."

"I kinda feel bad for her."

"Shh, do you not see the man beside her?"

"I-is that Master Grey, the famous Diamond Grimoire tamer, like that legendary old man?"

"That’s right. He is protecting her. Do you think anyone can harm her at the moment?"

"But what about after the competition is finished?"

The conversations were countless, and Sophie could faintly pick up the voices while Grey could hear all of their conversation.

He turned toward the expressionless face of Sophie. ’Well, they don’t seem to care that she hears it. I guess I need to teach these brats some respect,’ Grey thought, rubbing his ear and blowing on it with a bored expression.

Then, all of a sudden, the temperature in the surrounding area decreased by several degrees, and stairs made purely of ice materialized. At the end lay a platform with an ice throne. The king made his way up the stairs and onto the platform before sitting on his ice throne, looking down at them.

His expression was stern, and his demeanor regal:

"My descendants, since aeons ago, our ancestors have made an iron rule that this throne can only be chosen by the strongest. The strongest doesn’t mean the most talented book tamer, but someone who has the wisdom and cleverness to gather the most allies, and they would be fit to rule this kingdom."

A Grimoire hovered in front of the king, and he wrote on it.

"And I, the Eleventh Descendant, shall also follow the teachings of our ancestors."

The sky grew cloudy and began to rain snow.

With that, the match started in full force.

In an instant, the entire place was lit with the attacks of the Grimoires, except for one small area that was completely vacant of all attacks.

That place was obviously Grey and Sophie. None of the Grimoires’ attacks even came close to reaching them, and it was obvious that they were intentionally avoiding them. Who would want to provoke this monster anyway?

Grey looked at this with a mysterious expression on his face. These people might not attack him, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t attack them, right?

With a grin, he willed the fox-patterned Grimoire to fly in front of him, and he raised his quill pen to write on it.

Swish!

The air instantly trembled around him, and blue flames rose behind him.

The surrounding temperature started to rise, causing the air to discombobulate from the sheer heat.

A few who were fighting stopped and turned toward Grey with horror.

Grey spoke in a loud voice, "So, who among you wants to die first?"

Almost everyone stopped fighting on the spot. Their silence was palpable.

Especially the princes and princesses who were looking at him.

"What, cat got your tongues or something?" Grey asked.

"Didn’t you say that you would only protect Sophie!?" one of the princes shouted.

"Yeah, I did say that," Grey spoke with his arms folded. "However," he suddenly grinned, "who was the one who sent spies and assassins?"

In an instant, everyone went silent. They looked at each other, exchanging glances.

"Aren’t you going to reply to me? You have ten seconds to speak, otherwise..."

"Otherwise, what!?"

"You will know soon." Grey raised his ten fingers. "Ten," then he instantly folded all of his fingers. "Zero."

The blue flames reached its peak and everyone felt their heart tremble violently, not because of the attack but because of the sheer mental pressure of facing him.