Chapter 966

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In his thirty years of life, he had never suffered such a vicious attack; after hearing Leon’s mild evaluation, Prince Andre stopped in his tracks and fell into a long silence.

“Why did you stop? Didn’t you just say you were going to take me to perform for your parents?”

Watching the young prince’s trembling back and hearing the grating, scalp-crawling sound of his teeth grinding together, Leon smiled and gently comforted him:

“Don’t worry—I’m just a moderately skilled clown. I won’t say anything to your parents. A few simple tricks, some juggling, and that’ll be the end of it.”

“After all, my fake clown humor lies only in my juggling—it might amuse your parents at most. But your humor lies inside your heart, and all you need is…”

“Shut up!!!”

With a sudden roar that cut off Leon’s words, Prince Andre whirled around, his still-childish face twisted into a snarling mask:

“You’re right—I must follow this world’s rules and can’t act against my identity as a prince. But if you think you can provoke me into letting you go by taunting me…”

“No need. Everyone here is talented. I love it here~”

Waving a hand to cut off Prince Andre’s words, Leon tied the balloon to his waist, pulled four colored balls from his pocket, and began juggling them with a grin, occasionally lifting his legs alternately to toss the balls sideways between his thighs—prompting a wave of applause.

“Well done!”

“Amazing!”

“Add one more! Can you add another ball?”

“Add! Add them all!”

After replying to the guests nearby who were heckling, Leon kept juggling as he slowly walked to the open space before the terrace—but somehow, the four balls had become five, and in a blink, six.

“Whoa!!!”

“He’s juggling six balls at once?”

Watching Leon’s hands dart like butterflies, even leaving afterimages, the guests paused their feasting and turned to stare curiously; some drunk guests began clapping and cheering.

“Beautiful!”

“What an amazing clown!”

“Too kind, too kind!”

After finishing a flashy trick of alternating hands, Leon pinched his bright red nose, bowed to the guest who had praised him, then said with humble embarrassment:

“Actually, I’m not that skilled. Among clowns, there’s a senior named Andre who’s far better than me.”

“I, an ordinary clown, can only juggle plain colored balls—but Senior Andre can juggle all sorts of things: knives and forks, bowls and plates, chairs and tables…”

As he spoke, Leon turned his head slightly and gave Prince Andre a gentle glance, then formed a silent lip movement to add:

‘Even his dead parents.’

「……」

Bringing him here was my greatest mistake!

Having personally felt Leon’s terrifying aggression, Andre watched as Leon approached a guest, borrowed a few small items from her, and clenched his fists, face darkening, before ducking through the guests to find the Queen, who was watching the performance with interest.

“Mother.”

Pulling gently at the Queen’s sleeve, Andre took a deep breath, forced his usual innocent, radiant expression, and pointed to Philia, who had collapsed among the guests and fallen asleep sometime ago:

“My friend is exhausted and has fallen asleep. Could you have someone take her home?”

“Of course.”

After glancing at Philia, the Queen affectionately patted Andre’s head, gave a quiet instruction to her attendant, then turned to the young prince:

“I’ve already sent for Baggs to take your friend home… Come, Andre, sit on Mama’s lap.”

Pulling the young Andre into her arms, the Queen gently pinched his soft, warm earlobe and murmured:

“That clown performed beautifully. I haven’t seen such a fine performance in years… Andre? I remember you loved watching clowns—you even wanted to become one yourself. Why aren’t you watching now?”

“I…”

Having just been brutally punished by the “clown theory,” Andre couldn’t bear even hearing the word “clown,” let alone watching Leon’s act—he wanted to flee the Royal Banquet immediately.

But he didn’t want to leave the Queen’s warm embrace, nor could he leave without seeing Philia escorted out of the Royal Night Banquet—so Prince Andre gritted his teeth and sat in the Queen’s lap like a proper child, watching the show.

Far away, Leon seemed to have truly accepted his new role, shuffling forward in bright yellow clogs with a comical pigeon-toed gait, showing the guests in the front row what he held.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve seen and touched it—this is truly an apple, not a prop I brought.”

Following the knife-sharp gaze, Leon located the young prince’s position, then subtly turned the apple’s front toward him and the Queen, pinched a fingernail mark into the peel, and grinned:

“Ladies and gentlemen, with this fingernail mark as proof, I’m about to perform a highly difficult trick—I’m going to turn this apple into…”

“Eeeh!”

Upon hearing Leon’s announcement, the guests eagerly joined in the heckling:

“Boring, boring!”

“That’s it?”

“Making an apple disappear? What’s hard about that?”

“Change it! Change it! This one’s no good!”

“Ladies and gentlemen, please don’t rush—my trick isn’t just some beginner’s trick of making an apple vanish!”

Raising a hand to quiet them, Leon’s expression turned serious. He rolled up both sleeves and whispered mysteriously:

“Those who make apples vanish usually hide them in their sleeves or block them with their arms. But I show you everything clearly—I’ll make the apple vanish right before your eyes, and not only vanish it, but turn it into something else entirely!”

No concealment? Turn the apple into something else?

Intrigued by Leon’s tease, the guests instinctively held their breath, eyes locked on his hands.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m about to begin!”

After solemnly nodding to the crowd, under the guests’ bewildered stares, Leon bit into the apple with the fingernail mark, crunched it clean in two bites, then puffed out his cheeks bulging with flesh, circled the hall holding the apple core by its stem, and declared with slurred but proud delight:

“Look! I turned the apple into an apple core!”

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“Oh! So that’s how it’s done!”

“Eeeh!”

“Hahaha!”

“You’re insane, haha!”

Whether the [Colorful Clown] badge was at work or Leon’s terrible joke had truly won them over, nearly everyone except Prince Andre was laughing hysterically at the proud clown.

Yet as the guests laughed and cheered, Leon suddenly groaned, bent over in pain, clutching his mouth and cried out:

“No! No! This apple… this apple!”

Could someone have poisoned it?

Seeing the trickster suddenly collapse, the captain of the guard—who had been ordered to carry Philia home—was startled. He dropped her back onto the ground and scrambled to run back—but…

“This apple… how did it grow back?!”

Amid the guests’ panic, Leon’s hands, still covering his mouth, slowly arched upward. He straightened up and opened his palms—and the apple, just moments ago reduced to a core, now lay whole and intact in his hands, the original fingernail mark still clearly visible on its peel.

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After a long silence, the banquet—so quiet it seemed strangled—erupted in a tidal wave of applause.

“Whoa!!!!”

“It’s the same apple again?”

“Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! I’ve never seen such a skilled clown!”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your praise!”

Bowing to the cheering guests, Leon grinned:

“These are just minor tricks. If you want real skill, you should see Senior Andre—the clown. He doesn’t just make apples vanish—he can make living things disappear too: chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, pigeons—even bowls and horses.”

Seeing Leon mention him again, Andre—though he didn’t catch what “bowls and horses” meant—shuddered violently and glared at Leon with murderous intent.

The guests, however, were now curious. One bold soul asked:

“If this clown named Andre is so skilled, why isn’t he here with you?”

“That’s a long story.”

Leon sighed, then looked at them with deep pity:

“To be honest, the hardest part of our trick isn’t making things vanish—it’s making them reappear. Senior Andre mastered the first half perfectly, but he never learned the crucial second half.”

“One day, for some reason, he made his most important thing vanish—and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t bring it back. He went a little mad. And as for what that most important thing was…”

Here, Leon paused again, then glanced toward Prince Andre’s ashen face and gave him a knowing smile: “You know.”

「……」

I’ll kill you! I swear to God I’ll kill you!!!