Chapter 85 - Chapter 13: The Right to Rule #4 (1/2)
Chapter 85 - Chapter 13: The Right to Rule #4
The carriage was moving.
It was a huge carriage drawn by six horses but only two people were inside.
Elaine Moonlight, queen of the lycanthropes and the demon king’s 4th queen, and her younger cousin, Ludwig, leader of the Blood Companions.
Elaine’s expression was very calm as she stared out the window. Ludwig asked without knowing,
”Is it okay to not be there when she wakes up?”
There was no need to ask about who he was talking about. Elaine, who turned and saw the impatience and resentment on Ludwig’s face, closed her eyes like she was enjoying the sunshine.
”You’ve already checked on her several times now. I waited to the limit, but Caitlin was a little late this time. It is unfortunate.”
‘Would she be awake by now? It would have been really nice if I could have seen her awake.’
In contrast to her rigid words, Elaine’s voice was full of uneasiness. Ludwig couldn’t understand Elaine, his lord and cousin. It wouldn’t have been a big deal if she had waited a few more hours.
Elaine opened her eyes and spoke with a mischievous smile that resembled Chris.
”Can you tell me the story now? I originally planned to start after returning to the palace.”
The task of Ludwig, leader of the Blood Companions, wasn’t just to be Elaine’s escort. He served simultaneously as Elaine’s secretary and adviser and always had to be mindful of the three roles that he played.
”I’ve found the body of the fake Gerard in the east. It is obviously a lycanthrope but everything else is unknown. As expected, he killed himself.”
He used suicide after all avenues of escape disappeared.
It was the most extreme and effective way to prevent information from leaking.
Elaine pressed a hand to her temple and said,
”Regardless of whether it is the fake’s own capacity or a magic weapon from support forces, the fake Gerard has shown enough power to turn our attention to him. Moreover, he committed suicide after being caught. This is obvious, but there has to be a big organization behind this.”
It wasn’t inside the lycanthrope kingdom. The organization intervening was clearly from the outside.
Elaine bit her lip before turning her head abruptly. Her trustworthy and handsome cousin, who had all the female maids at the palace pining after him, had a dog-like expression on his face.
“Why? Do you want to say something?”
”How have they known about him?”
Ludwig was more curious about that than the identity of the external forces.
How had they found out? The fact that Gerard had been trapped in the lowest level of the Grey Tower was a secret.
”The information that Gerard was in the lowest level of the Grey Tower was top secret. It has been a secret for over 200 years.”
Even those in the Grey Tower were unaware that Gerard had been there.
The secret had been perfect and no leaks had existed.
However, Elaine didn’t think so. She leaned on the window and shook her head gently.
”Hundreds of people died due to Gerard. It happened overnight and occurred inside the palace, but... there was a crowd. There is no perfect secret in this world. One day, it would be discovered.”
In the end, she seemed to be talking more to herself, than to Ludwig.
Elaine’s expression was detached, but Ludwig was different. He remembered Caitlin and had to clench his teeth to stop the words from coming out.
Elaine laughed. She returned her cousin’s thoughts to the original story.
”They wouldn’t have freed Gerard for no reason. It would benefit them to harm the lycanthropes, but he kept his mind after being freed. Why did they let Gerard go and do his own thing?”
The most valuable use of Gerard was the fact that he was the former heir to the lycanthrope throne as well as Elaine’s brother.
They could use Gerard to cause confusion about the legitimacy of succession.
Yet none of those things seemed to be happening. Moreover, they didn’t control Gerard after he escaped. Perhaps, the organization had set Gerard’s actions into motion, but Elaine’s female intuition didn’t think that was the case.
Ludwig was much simpler.
”I feel that Gerard is alive.”
Disregarding the relationship with the external force, the fact that Gerard had fled was uncomfortable.
Elaine nodded.
”He is really tough. He survived 20 years ago as well. I should have killed him at that time, but I fell into my bad habit.”
Ludwig once again thought that he had made a mistake. So, this time, he was the one who changed the topic.
“What do you think of 9th Prince?”
The switch was sudden, but Elaine just smiled. She knew why her loyal royal guard had changed the subject.
”Do you like him? I was quite surprised since I had seen him once before. At that time... how should I say it? I almost felt like he had no soul. Well, that was in the old days.”
It had been 7 years since she had last seen him. It had been a difficult time for the 9th Prince. Maybe Elaine had been mistaken.
Elaine touched her chin and nodded.
”Ludwig, you saw him. What are your thoughts?”
Ludwig had been watching In-gong and Elaine while they had been talking. Regardless of how much Chris trusted the 9th Prince, it was absurd to let the defenseless Caitlin stay there with no supervision.
”I don’t know what I saw, but...”
”But?”
Ludwig mumbled with a somewhat embarrassed face.
”It seems like he really cares about Chris and Caitlin.”
He had seen it when In-gong looked at Caitlin.
Elaine laughed at her cousin’s reply. It was just like Chris’ laugh.
”That isn’t what I’m talking about. Do you think he can really become the demon king?”
”He isn’t a lycanthrope. I don’t want to be hit in the back of the head.”
Despite all of this, 9th Prince was still an outsider. It was like letting someone else inside the cuckoo’s nest where babies had just been born.
Ludwig realized that his posture was uncomfortable and fixed it. Elaine was still smiling when he turned to face her and asked,
”Does Queen really think that 9th Prince can become the demon king?”
”Chris thinks so. So, I think so as well.”
”Your Majesty.”
Instead of responding, Elaine stretched out a hand toward Ludwig. He sighed and pulled out a metal box containing cigarettes. Elaine received the cigarette with a satisfied expression and lit it up with magic. She then said,