“……”
“……”
“……”
In his little thirty years of life, he had never been subjected to such a venomous attack. After hearing Leon’s mild-toned evaluation, Prince Andre couldn’t help but stop in his tracks, falling into a long silence.
“What’s with the pause? Weren’t you just about to take me to perform for your parents?”
Looking at the young prince whose back was trembling, and hearing the grating sound of teeth grinding together that made one’s scalp tingle, Leon couldn’t help but smile slightly before soothing him gently: “Don’t worry, I’m just a somewhat skilled clown, I won’t say anything to your parents. Just pull off a small magic trick, do some juggling, and that’ll be it.”
“After all, my fake clown humor is only in the juggling on my hands, at most it will make your parents laugh, but your humor is in your heart, you just need to…”
“Shut up!!!”
A sudden roar interrupted Leon’s reassurance. Prince Andre turned around sharply, his still somewhat childish face twisted with ferocity as he said:
“You guessed right, I also have to follow the rules of this world, I can’t just do things that go against the identity of a ‘prince’, but if you think you can get me to let you out by provoking me with words…”
“No need, everyone here is talented, I absolutely love it here~”
Waving his hand to cut off Prince Andre’s words, Leon tied the balloon around his waist, pulled out four colorful balls from his pocket, and started juggling them with a cheerful smile. Occasionally, he even lifted his legs alternately, throwing the balls under his crotch, which immediately drew a round of applause.
“That’s impressive!”
“Amazing!”
“One more! Can you add one more ball?”
“Sure, anything goes!”
After replying to the guests who were cheering not far away, Leon didn’t stop his actions, continuing the juggling while slowly walking to the empty space in front of the open platform. But strangely, the four balls somehow became five, then six in the blink of an eye.
“Wow!!!”
“Can he really juggle six balls at the same time?”
Seeing Leon’s hands moving like a butterfly in full bloom, leaving afterimages behind, the guests stopped their feast, curiously looking over. Some who were drunk even started clapping and cheering.
“Beautiful!”
“Such a great clown!”
“Not at all!”
After finishing the juggling with a fancy alternating hand motion, Leon pinched his red nose and bowed to thank the guest who praised him earlier. Then, with an expression of modesty, he said: “Actually, I’m not that great. In our clown circle, there’s a senior named Andre who is much better than me.
I, a regular clown, can only juggle ordinary colored balls, but that Andre senior can juggle all sorts of things, forks, spoons, tables, chairs, everything can be used…”
At this point, Leon slightly tilted his head, giving Prince Andre a gentle look, then silently mouthed: ‘Even his dead parents.’
“…”
Bringing him into the picture was my biggest mistake!
After personally experiencing Leon’s terrifying offensive power, watching him approach a guest to borrow a few small items, Prince Andre clenched his fists tightly, feeling unwell as he lowered his head and weaved through the crowd of guests until he found the queen, who was watching the performance with interest.
“Mother.”
After pulling on the queen’s sleeve, Andre took a deep breath, trying to put on his usual innocent and radiant demeanor as he pointed to Phelia lying among the guests, who had fallen asleep at some point, and requested:
“My invited friend is tired and has fallen asleep. Could you arrange for someone to send her home?”
“Of course.”
After glancing at Phelia, the queen affectionately patted Prince Andre’s head, whispered a couple of instructions to the nearby attendant, then said to the young prince: “I’ve already sent for Baggs to help you send your friend home… Come, Andre, sit in Mommy’s lap.”
After hugging the child version of Andre and placing him in her lap, the queen gently pinched his warm earlobes as she softly said:
“That clown performed wonderfully, I haven’t seen such a good clown show in a long time… Andre? I remember you liked watching clowns perform tricks, and once even wanted to become a clown yourself, why aren’t you watching now?”
“I…”
Andre, who had just been severely punished by the “clown theory,” couldn’t bear to watch Leon’s clown act now, let alone hearing the word clown made him uncomfortable, wishing he could escape from the “Royal Banquet” immediately.
But on one hand, he couldn’t bear to leave the warmth of the queen’s embrace, and on the other, without personally seeing Phelia being escorted out of the “Royal Night Banquet,” Prince Andre could only endure patiently, sitting like a true child in the queen’s lap to watch the performance.
And far away, Leon seemed to have truly embraced his new profession, shuffling in a pair of bright yellow oversized shoes, walking in a funny duck-footed gait, showing the audience in the front row what he had.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve seen it, you’ve touched it, this is indeed an apple, not a prop I brought.”
Following that sharp gaze sharper than a blade, finding the position of the young prince, Leon effortlessly turned his front towards him and the queen, pressing a nail mark on the skin of the apple, grinning as he said:
“Eh!”
After Leon’s announcement, the gathered guests immediately chimed in very cooperatively: “Boring boring!”
“Is that it?”
“Isn’t it easy to make the apple disappear?”
“Change it! Change it! This one doesn’t work!”
“Gentlemen, please don’t rush, my magic trick isn’t just making the apple disappear! That’s too basic!”
Raising his hand to signal quietness, Leon’s expression grew serious as he rolled up both sleeves, mysteriously saying: “Those who make apples disappear usually hide them in their sleeves or block them with their arms, but mine is done openly right before your eyes, and not only will I make the apple disappear, I can even turn the apple into something else!”
Not hiding it? And turning the apple into something else?
Hearing Leon’s teasing remarks, the guests were instantly hooked with curiosity, unconsciously holding their breath and staring intently at Leon’s hands.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m about to start changing!”
Without any mistakes, one after another, content inside 69 book bar for reading!
After seriously nodding to those around him, amidst the bewildered gazes of the guests, Leon bit into the apple with the nail mark, crunching it clean in two bites, then with his cheeks bulging full, he paraded around the stage with the apple core, speaking unclearly yet proudly declaring:
“Look! I’ve turned the apple into an apple core!”
“…”
“Ah! So that’s how it’s done!”
“Eh!”
“Hahaha!”
“Nerve haha!”
Whether it was due to the “Colorful Face Clown” badge taking effect or truly being caught off guard by Leon’s cold joke, except for Prince Andre, almost everyone else was laughing their heads off at the sight of the proud-looking clown.
However, just as everyone was laughing and cheering, Leon suddenly exclaimed in pain, bending over and clutching his mouth in agony, shouting: “No! No! This apple… this apple!”
Could someone have poisoned it?
Seeing the magician in trouble, the chief attendant, who was lifting Phelia to send her home as ordered, was startled and hastily threw her back down, rushing back to investigate, but…
“How did this apple grow back?”
Amidst the panic-stricken expressions of the guests, Leon’s hands covering his mouth arched slightly, then he suddenly straightened up and spread his hands wide. The apple that had been eaten down to its core lay intact in his palm, even retaining the initial nail imprint on the skin.
“…”
“…”
“…”
After a period of silence, the banquet, which had been eerily quiet, erupted in thunderous applause.
“Wow!!!!!!”
“Still the original apple?”
“Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic! I’ve never seen such an amazing clown!”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your praise!”
After bowing to the applauding and cheering guests, Leon grinned and said: “Actually, these are all small tricks. If we’re talking about skill, it’s that senior clown named Andre who’s the real deal. He can make things disappear, not just apples, but even living creatures, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, pigeons, even plates and maids can vanish.”
Seeing Leon mention him again, though he didn’t understand what plates and maids referred to, Prince Andre still couldn’t help but shiver all over, glaring murderously at Leon.
And the surrounding guests, intrigued by Leon’s praise, asked curiously: “If this Andre clown is so skilled, why didn’t he come with you?”
“This is a long story.”
Hearing this, Leon sighed, then looked sympathetic and said: “To be honest, the hardest part of our magic isn’t making things disappear, but bringing them back. That Andre senior learned the first half well, but didn’t master this crucial latter part.
One day, for some reason, he accidentally made his most important thing disappear, and no matter what, he couldn’t bring it back, so he went a bit crazy. As for what this most important thing is…”
At this point, Leon paused again, then glanced at the ashen-faced Prince Andre, flashing a “you know what I mean” smile.
“…”
I will kill you! I swear I will kill you!!!(End of Chapter)
