Ryder left the house, keeping up with the guard that was here to escort him. He had no idea why he was being called to the Royal Palace.

There were three possible explanations. The Prince found his truth for some reason. The Girl recognized him or, lastly, something else entirely.

...

As Ryder left the house, he forgot to close the door entirely, leaving the house unlocked.

He didn't know that a few moments after he left, the hundreds of people he had invited arrived.

They people stood before the house and called out to Ryder but got no response.

"Is he not home? What kind of person is he? He invited us here and himself left?" One of the guests complained.

"That idiot! Is he messing with us? The next time I see him, I'll beat the crap out of him," another man said, cursing Ryder.

"Yeah. That bastard deserves it! He's making a mockery out of all of us!" the bulky woman also chimed in. She was the first person Ryder had invited.

Everyone was angry. Only one person was calm.

"Wait a minute. Let's think about it. Maybe he got something urgent and had to leave? He left the house open. That must be for us so we can go inside and eat? Why else would he leave the door open? He invited us for a feast, and he left the door open so we could have our feast," the man said.

"Oh right. Why didn't I think of that? He left the door open so we could eat. Feast doesn't need him to be present personally. All it needs is the food that he might have prepared inside. Let's go inside."

One after another, more and more people kept agreeing.

They all entered the house and started searching the house for food, not knowing that what they were searching for was the poison.

Soon, they found the food as well, properly served as if it was waiting for them.

Each of them picked up a plate and started eating at the same time.

"Amazing. Chubby's food is expensive, but it's worth it. This thing is so tasty!"

"It's my first time eating it. I can't believe that I hadn't eaten out before. I deserve to be punished for such a big mistake. I was missing out on something so great. Even if it's expensive, I'll buy it again. It's so amazing."

"It's your first time? It's my fifth, but I still love it just like I did the first time."

Everyone praised the food they were eating. They ate it while enjoying it properly.

Even though they tried to savor the taste for as long as they can while eating slowly, the food was still finished within minutes.

As everyone finished, they stood up to leave.

"Amazing. This was the best fea-" one of the men let out with a satisfied grin, but he couldn't even finish his sentence when he stopped.

His face turned pale as he held his throat with his hand, struggling to breathe, "Urgh! Wh, ah, can't bre-"

Soon, he dropped to the ground, dead. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone in it.

The others also had the same reaction at almost the same time as they also dropped to the ground. People kept dying in hordes, one after another. Not a single person was able to step out of the house before dying.

.....

Ryder was still walking with the guard. They were just at the entrance of the Royal Palace.

He was still unaware that he had already achieved his target. He had killed more than a hundred people of the Royal City of Death Domain. He finished the trial. If he went back now, he was going to be the king of the Demon Realm. Unfortunately he didn't know what he did yet.

Leaving the door open was only because he didn't care to close it. Who could have expected that even in his absence, the plan would succeed and that people would enter the house and eat themselves.

Ryder remembered coming to the Royal Palace of the Death Domain last time. He was even escorted to the Throne Room by the Prince of Death Domain himself.

Now that he was again walking the same path, he realized that he was once again being escorted to the Throne Room.

They were walking through the same path, after all. He didn't even need to ask the guard where he was being taken. One thing that was confirmed was that he was going to be presented before the Death Domain Prince.

They soon reached the throne room entrance. The door of the chamber was opened by the other guards, letting them enter.

Ryder entered the chamber with the guard. He could see the Death Domain Prince sitting on the central throne at the other end of the chamber.

The four High Duke equivalents of the Death Domain, the Death Generals, also sat inside the chamber along with a few more people that Ryder didn't recognize.

'Oh God, is this because of that?' Ryder thought as he realized what was happening. It was obvious now.

In the middle of the chamber, he saw a woman standing. The woman had her head down, but still, Ryder recognized that woman. It was none other than the woman that had slept with him yesterday.

Beside the woman, a man was standing. The man was glaring at the woman in anger.

'Did her affair get exposed? And I'm here to get the punishment? God, this is embarrassing. Why would a Prince take care of the matters of affairs though?' he wondered as he gazed at the woman.

"Stand right here! And get down on your knees," the Guard told Ryder after he reached near the center of the chamber. Not only was he told to stop, but he was also told to get down on his knees?

Ryder couldn't believe it. The last time he came here, he was sitting proudly in front of their Prince as his equal, and this time he had to get down on his knees before this guy?

'Whatever. At the moment, keeping my disguise is more important. If things go downhill, I can take other steps. But as of now, it's not the time,' Ryder thought as he convinced himself.

He went down to his knees.

"Your Highness, this is the Jiw I was told to bring," the guard told the Prince, who nodded his head lazily.

The Prince looked towards Ryder.

"So Jiw, so you understand why you're brought here?" the Prince asked Ryder.

'Man, his voice sounds so arrogant. Did he learn some of my tricks last time? He used to talk so calmly, unlike now. Or could it be that was only in front of me? This is his original self?' Ryder thought as he raised his head.

He shook his head lightly. Even though he did have an idea, it was better to act ignorant.

"Alright. I'll tell you. We heard that you have an affair with the wife of General Linni. Is that the truth?" the Prince inquired.

'Ah, so that's why a Prince is taking care of the matter. It involves his general. I understand now. But still, this Jiw guy was pretty badass. Despite only being level one, he had an affair with the wife of a general? How did he even achieve it?' Ryder wondered in surprise.

"Your Highness, I had no affair. It's not the truth," Ryder answered, denying the accusations.

It was possible that it was a test. If the woman denied it and he confessed, it would be wrong. He would be trapping himself. Thus, he could only have faith that the woman wouldn't accept her mistake either.

If she had accepted, he knew it would be even more wrong since the Prince would know I was lying to him.

"Alright. She also says the same thing. But still, there are witnesses that said they saw her meeting you secretly and spending time inside your house? In fact, I even heard that you spent hours inside. What did you do?" the Prince asked.

'So I was right. She didn't confess. The situation is still salvageable if I'm careful,' Ryder thought.

He tried to come up with an answer to the next question. His answers needed to match her answers.

'What could she say we did inside for hours?' Ryder wondered, trying to guess her answer.

"We talked," Ryder answered. What else could they do for hours except talk?

"We are like friends who have been close for years. In some ways, we're as close as brother and sister. We meet and talk about various things. We get so immersed in talking that hours pass before we even realize," he added to his explanation.

He did talk slowly so he could see the woman's expression before speaking his following words to know he wasn't saying wrong things and, if he did, to correct himself in time.