Chapter 1317: Persuasion (1/2)

The vampires had established a circular string of cities here. The environment was raging hot because of its proximity to the upper continent layer, and there was a mysterious attractive force coming from the depths of the sea of clouds. That was why the ordinary clans could only build establishments in the periphery; none but the twelve ancient clans possessed the right to build cities close to the center.

Closest to the center—where the sea of cloud’s calling was the strongest—there was a small castle called Noctiluna.

The Queen of the Night, Lilith, had built this castle personally when she first set foot on the Genesis Continent. It was little more than a stone house back then, far from the castle it was today. One after another, the subsequent second-generation primogenitors would upgrade the structure once they were strong enough to set foot on the continent.

These people were just minor characters when they came to work on the castle. Their talents were high, but they had yet to bring them out at that point. It was already quite the struggle for them to remain near the sea of clouds, let alone build a majestic castle.

The expansion of Castle Noctiluna stopped after the fall of the first second-generation primogenitor and was kept in the same shape thereafter. Each generation of vampires would only do maintenance and repairs, no longer building new structures. This was a form of respect for the Queen of the Night and to commemorate the fallen primogenitors.

To this very day, only those with the highest bloodlines could approach the castle.

At this moment, there was a black-cloaked vampire walking slowly along the plains. He pulled back the hood to reveal a pale, sallow face. The handsomeness of yesteryears had been ruined by the black, sunken eyes and pallid lips. There was no longer an ounce of spirit and vigor in him befitting of a vampire holy son.

He paused to look up at the sky, narrowing his eyes at the overly fierce sunlight and revealing a disgusted expression. This place was too close to the upper layers; vampires did not appreciate sunlight this strong.

Edward put his cloak back on to block out the annoying sun and gazed into the distance. He could vaguely see the sea of clouds at the ends of his vision.

His face flushed red, his breathing hastened, and his blood core began to beat faster. The calling from the depths of the cloud sea was so strong that he wanted to jump down.

As a core character of the vampire race’s newer generation and a primo who had accepted Medanzo’s origin blood, Edward was someone with both talent and willpower. Even someone of his caliber found it difficult to handle the attraction from the sea of clouds.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have become the holy son of the Perth Clan. No one had imagined, though, that the Queen of the Night would refuse to recognize the title that the Evernight Council had granted him. This caused his status among the vampires to drop drastically.

When he failed to woo Nighteye later on and resorted to threatening her, he also sowed the seeds for today’s ending.

He looked up at the distant Castle Noctiluna. Although he wasn’t walking very fast, the end-point was right there, and he would get there sooner or later. He had already thought back to his entire life—the good things, the bad things, the satisfaction, and the regrets, everything.

The conclusion he came to was that it wasn’t because he didn’t try hard enough. It was because this world was too unfriendly. He would never be able to withstand the majestic will of this world even if he were to reach a state of perfection.

If only the Queen of the Night had valued him a bit more, if only Nighteye—then an ordinary primo—had followed him rather than betray the entire vampire race to be with that bastard, if only...

There were too many ifs in his life. These scenarios never happened, nor would they ever happen, but they pierced into his heart like a thorn.

Edward hastened his steps toward Castle Noctiluna, reporting his identity and intention as he arrived.

There were actually two marquises in charge of the castle gates. They were still quite young in terms of vampire age, but they had clearly heard of Edward’s name. Their expressions became rather odd when they heard he was here to see Nighteye; a bit of terror as well as a hint of schadenfreude. It was clear that Edward wasn’t the one they feared.

The holy son didn’t care about these things anymore at this point. His thoughts had drifted to the depths of the sea of clouds, to the summoning call of the parent entity. He had avoided it for all too long, and now, it was finally time to respond.

“Enter! Why are you in a daze?” one of the guards said harshly.

Edward felt anger well up in his heart. A small marquis would never dare talk to him like this under normal circumstances. However, Edward was in such despair that he couldn’t be bothered to bicker with them. Even glaring at them would be an unnecessary waste of energy, so he just entered quietly.

Whispered comments arrived from behind him. “What holy son? Just someone latching onto the Lightless Monarch’s thigh.”

“If he had endured for two more years, the Azure King would’ve woken up and he would’ve gotten a better thigh.”

“Exactly, even Habsburg the Flaming Crown is much stronger.”

These discussions weren’t exactly hushed—it was clear that those marquises didn’t really care about Edward hearing them, but the latter was too dispirited to care. Was this the reason he had offended both Nighteye and the Azure King?

He smiled wryly, ignoring the idle chatter behind him as he passed through the castle and walked toward the sea of clouds.

Nighteye was still sitting there, almost as though she had never moved.