Chapter 200 – Chapter 42: Awareness #2 (1/2)

Chapter 200 – Chapter 42: Awareness #2

5th Queen Semita Ignus’ magic power wrapped around In-gong’s magic power, which was flowing into the bead. The two magic powers naturally intertwined and became one. As the blue bead gave off a soft light, a familiar yet strong magic power emerged from inside it. This magic power was the demon king’s magic power.

“Aba…mama?”

Felicia cried out with surprise at the demon king’s magic power, while everyone else simply gulped.

With a nervous expression, In-gong stopped supplying power for a moment in order to breathe. That was when the images and voices coming from the bead paused like there a seal had been placed on it.

Naturally, everyone’s gazes turned from the bead to In-gong. With his eyes, In-gong asked Chris to wait for a moment, and then he took deep breaths. At that moment, the person he had been waiting for opened the door and entered.

“Prince.”

“Carack, I was waiting.”

“I’m sorry. I am a little late.”

Carack scratched his head and smiled before closing the door. The cabin was already full, so he was forced to stand.

“Shutra?”

It was In-gong who had forbidden the aides from attending this meeting. However, In-gong’s aide, Carack, had entered. Chris sent In-gong a questioning gaze, but In-gong just smiled. In-gong was going to reveal an important secret in this place. The sword duke had said the bead would only play the video one time, so it was natural to bring Carack.

‘It is Carack.’

He didn’t need any more reasons or rationale. As Felicia glanced at Carack, she was convinced. After all, she was the one who knew best that Carack was always with In-gong. Chris let out a discontented breath but gave up as he leaned back. It was a signal to finish this quickly.

However, before injecting magic power into the bead, In-gong turned to face everyone. The reason he paused hadn’t just been to wait for Carack.

“First of all, I have something to say.”

“Say?”

“It is about my birth.”

Chris flinched reflexively at the word ‘birth’. Felicia and Silvan had no idea what to say, while Caitlin was just curious, since she knew nothing about her birth.

In-gong breathed out to speak again. He was already Shutra, so when he tried to tell the story, his lips didn’t work well because of nerves. The sword was already half-drawn, so In-gong squeezed his heart firmly. He then opened his mouth, and a surprisingly low and detached voice emerged.

“I talked to the sword duke. The sword duke said that no matter what happens, I’m still the son of the demon king… and one of the two candidates closest to the throne.”

He stated the two most important things first. It was not just Chris. The other children of the demon king also reacted after hearing that In-gong was one of the two closest candidates to the throne of the demon king. However, it was generally a good response.

“Shutra, what are you talking about?”

Felicia asked cautiously. It was nice to have a declaration from the sword duke about In-gong’s position, but his previous words were also in her mind.

‘No matter what happens, he’s still the son of the demon king’ sounded sinister.

No, it was more than that. Felicia’s expression and voice were quite rigid. She didn’t forget the first thing In-gong said. There was clearly something regarding In-gong’s birth. Chris’ face was stiff as well. Chris was very political, but he was still only in his late teens. With the thought that In-gong might know Caitlin’s secret, Chris’ face was filled with tension and confusion.

“The sword duke… he said that the demon king knew all of it. And this bead contains all the answers.”

In-gong started injecting his magic power into the bead again. A warm light was once again emitted from the blue bead.

“This is a video that can only be seen once. So, I called all of you here.”

In-gong had already decided to reveal his secrets to Felicia, Silvan, Caitlin, and Chris. So, instead of talking about it, they would see the video together. As In-gong kept injecting magic power, the bead started to float. The bead stopped at In-gong’s chest height and started to show a holographic video. As expected, it showed the demon king.

“Abamama.”

Felicia said with a low moan. The image of the demon king, which was the same size as the real demon king, faced In-gong and opened his mouth.

“Shutra, Semita’s child. If you are watching this video, then you have somehow realized the truth about your birth.”

It wasn’t a real-time conversation; this was a recorded video.

“It is as you already know. You are not a child born from me and Semita.”

Dismayed silence filled the cabin at the demon king’s blunt words. In particular, Chris showed a huge reaction. He barely prevented a sound from emerging, but his eyes were huge.

“Shutra, listen to my words carefully. This is all true with nothing omitted.”

The demon king began telling the story. It was a story which couldn’t be imagined, even by In-gong.

“The gandharva felt a sense of crisis. They seemed to have felt desperate after being defeated by the draconians. Maybe the gandharva hoped to get revenge on the draconians.”

Zentra Ignus, 5th Queen Semita Ignus’ uncle and king of the gandharvas, had wanted the next demon king to be a gandharva. However, Semita hadn’t been able to have the demon king’s child. To make matters worse, the draconian 1st Prince, Baikal, and 2nd Prince, Zephyr, had been born with exceptional talent.

“The nervous Zentra had a dangerous idea. So, he whispered sweet lies to his niece and my wife, Semita.”

Zentra had then placed the essence of the gandharva god, Dhrtarastra, which the gandharva had been protecting, into Semita’s womb. He wanted to created a divine gandharva child through powerful magic rituals.

At the time, Semita had thought the child would be born with the demon king’s blood. Perhaps, Semita had thought this because she either believed in Zentra too much or because she so desperately wanted to believe it. Maybe it was both.

“Thus, you were born Shutra.”

Zentra’s plan had failed. Shutra had been born without a soul and couldn’t communicate properly, while Semita noticed that the child was unrelated to the demon king. She could have deceived the demon king, but she hadn’t been able to do it. Then the demon king recognized that Shutra wasn’t his child.

The demon king had gone on to punish the gandharvas. Rather than slaughtering them, the entire species would be imprisoned for 200 years. Semita had blamed herself. She had asked to be stripped of her position as queen and punished. However, the demon king hadn’t allowed it. Semita retained her position, and the demon king recognized Shutra as his child.

“Shutra, no matter what anyone says, you are the 9th Prince of the Demon King’s Palace. This fact will never change.”

The demon king ended with these emphatic words.

Then all the pieces fell into place. The demon king loved the 5th Queen as well. In-gong could only think of it like that.

As In-gong manipulated the bead, he found out that the video of the demon king was added recently. Therefore, he could understand the feelings of the demon king more deeply. It had been more than 10 years since 5th Queen Semita died, but the demon king still retained his feelings for the 5th Queen.

The image of the demon king vanished, and a new video emerged of 5th Queen Semita Ignus. The pale faced Semita repeated the story the demon king had just told. As she spoke, there were a few moments in which she seemed to be on the verge of tears.

Perhaps the demon king had added his video because he had been expecting this. Semita looked bad in the video, like she had an immense guilt pressing down upon her. As she whispered, Semita finally started crying. Her words were filled with a sense of guilt and love for Shutra, who had been born without a soul.

Tears filled In-gong’s eyes. They were tears shed by the body of Shutra who had been born without a soul—no, they were In-gong’s tears, rather than Shutra’s. In-gong and Shutra had already become one a long time ago.

Then the blue bead lost its light. The video ended, and the bead turned into powder after fulfilling its task.

The atmosphere was heavy inside the cabin. Everybody looked at each other, but none of them could open their mouths. In-gong wasn’t the child of the demon king. However, the demon king recognized In-gong as his child.

Chris was convinced by this and felt like he had finally realized the secret to In-gong’s rapid growth. It was due to the essence of the gandharva god, Dhrtarastra.

At the same time, Chris also felt some fear. If the demon king recognized In-gong as his child, then what about Caitlin? Had the demon king also noticed the truth about Caitlin? If so, why did the demon king remain silent? Did he not know about Caitlin yet?