The Damned Demon

"I assume you are mentally prepared now. You must be after asking for a month's time," Rowena said as she looked at Asher, both of them sitting in the study hall.

Asher lightly smiled and said, "Of course. I am all set to go. I have been looking forward to this."

Ceti was standing right outside the room, though her expression wasn't looking good at all. How could she feel alright when her mother was standing right beside her, waiting on Asher to go with him?

Who would have thought he would be bringing her along with him to go to the Tower of Hell? She was a maid of the castle and didn't have any obligations outside of this castle.

Yet, to her surprise and confusion, her mother insisted on going with Asher, which only made her feel even more worried, wondering what that pervert did to make her act like this.

Nothing seemed suspicious on the outside, especially since her mother was the same as always. Still, she couldn't shake off this unsettling feeling inside her, and the fact that her mother's mana seemed stronger only added to her confusion.

When did she start to refine her mana again or even accept quests in the middle of her duties? When she asked her about it, all she said was it was for the sake of becoming stronger to protect herself and her family, which included her as well. And to support her, the royal consort had been extremely kind to her, which made Ceti feel quite suspicious about that.

There was no way that cocky bastard would be nice to anyone, let alone her mother.

Merina saw the restless expression of her daughter and said, "Ceti, please. Do not keep worrying about me. I will be fine. The royal consort is not troubling me as you think."

Ceti sighed and shook her head, "I know, but…something doesn't feel right, and you don't even come back to our room anymore. Kookus told me how you keep working till the late hours and even more. No maid in this castle does that, not even for the royal members of this house. I barely get to see my mother. So how can you tell me not to worry?"

Merina's fingers were tightly wrapped around each other behind her back. But with a soft smile, she answered, "I am sorry I am making you worry like this. But remember that the royal consort awakened just a month ago. He knows nothing about our ways and our world. As his maid, it is my duty to teach him everything, and he has rewarded me for it as well, even if he didn't have to. I know you have your reasons to not like him, but he is still the royal consort in the end. You have to stop speaking against him like this. Otherwise, you might slip up in front of him, and it will be bad."

Ceti didn't like how her mother was defending the royal consort like this. She wasn't like this at first, but as days passed, it seemed like she feared him more, and it also seemed like she truly respected him. Or was that just her imagination?

"You can choose to stay in the tower till you are ready," Rowena said, considering how all the demons who go there to train do not return to their homes till they survived all the trials. She knew Asher wouldn't be taking part in the trials, but she felt that he might want to stay.

"Nah. I will try to come back home frequently," Asher said with a casual shake of his head.

"Why? I thought you didn't like staying in the castle," Rowena said with a slight tilt of her head.

Asher nodded, "I don't. But I do want to see you since I will miss you. No husband should be away from their wife for too long, don't you think?" Asher asked with a subtle smile as he looked into her dim crimson eyes.

Rowena briefly shook her head as if she wasn't expecting him to say that and said, "You should focus on your training. You may go now. Ceti will escort you there."

Asher got up and walked a few steps before turning around and saying, "As I mentioned before, today there might be a surprise for you. Look forward to that," With a subtle wink, he left the room, leaving behind a confused Rowena, wondering what he meant by that. He mentioned this yesterday as well.

—

An hour ago, in the meeting hall, Rowena was seated at the table along with Seron and his family.

"Your Majesty, it's high time we discussed the matter about your heir," Seron said with a serious look while Rebecca and Oberon exchanged knowing glances.

"What about it?"

"Our kingdom is almost on its feet under your leadership. But to fully reassure our people, we have to let everyone know that our kingdom's future isn't bleak. So it's imperative that Your Majesty produce an heir to reassure the people and quell any doubts of weakness," Seron stressed strongly.

Rebecca nodded and added with a concerned look, "My husband is right. Us vampires need a lot of time and effort to produce even a single child, and by the time they grow up and become strong enough, centuries would have passed already. It is best to do this at a young age."

Oberon was rubbing his lips with a glint in his eyes, feeling that he had to give credit to his parents when it came to things like these.

Silvan was silently sitting on the side and simply kept on observing like a bystander, though nobody could tell what he was thinking.

Rowena's eyebrows squeezed together as she said, "I already have a consort for that. When its time…" Asher's face briefly flashed in her head as she continued, "...I will do my duty."

Oberon's expression became unsightly for a split second, unable to believe she was actually considering that filthy dog to help her produce an heir.

Seron wrinkled his brows and said, "Your Majesty, about that…I advise you to reconsider marrying someone who can truly lead this kingdom beside you."

"I am already married. I can't go back on that," Rowena said firmly.

Rebecca chimed in, "Of course, Your Majesty doesn't have to. You can still keep him as your consort, but that doesn't mean you are not allowed to marry again. As our queen, you have the right to have as many consorts as you want but what we are suggesting is not to have another consort but someone who could be your king. You will still be the one in power, but you will have a powerful and strong king by your side who will also help you produce an heir whose power would know no bounds."

Seron immediately spoke to support Rebecca's words, "Yes. Even if I don't want to say this before you, it is my duty as your adviser to let you know that it is unwise to depend on the royal consort to produce an heir. Not only is he manaless, but he is also not of our race nor a race we are familiar with. We have no idea about his origins and if his bloodline would disagree with ours. It would be no different than how our bloodline would never mix with that of those lowly werewolves. We wouldn't want Your Majesty to get into trouble because of this."

Ceti, who was standing on the side, wondered if they were going to propose Oberon step in. There was nobody else more qualified than him. She couldn't help but scoff inwardly, wondering how that pervert's face would look if he saw this discussion going on.

Oberon eagerly looked on upon seeing Rowena falling into contemplation. So what if she was married to some low-born cripple? She can still marry someone else, and that man can very well be the next Demon King. And the potential candidate for that was sitting in this very hall. Furthermore, with that cripple away, he won't be present to wag his tongue before anybody.

Rowena briefly closed her eyes as she remembered what Asher had told her yesterday,

[ Just wait for a surprise by the end of tomorrow. It will change our future and that of this kingdom ]

"I know your advice is not without reason. But for now, I will refrain from making any such decisions. I have other important matters to attend to for now," Rowena said as she got up, making the three have stupified looks while Silvan had a look of confusion as they got up as well.

Oberon and Rebecca couldn't believe the queen simply dropped the subject like that. They were sure the queen wouldn't take her duties lightly, and there was no way she would consider producing an heir with some lowborn after hearing them out.

Seron also couldn't understand what was going through her mind, but since she didn't want to continue on the subject, for now, he could only get up and bow as they saw her walking away with her entourage.

Ceti was baffled by her queen's words since it seemed a bit strange for someone like her who cared about the kingdom more than anything. Shouldn't she want what was best for the kingdom?

Still, she felt maybe she wanted to think about this topic and followed her out.

"What in the world is she thinking? What is making her still hold onto that worm?" Oberon mumbled in a cutting voice.

Seron shook his head and said, "She probably wants to contemplate on it. We can't push too much. But don't worry…in the end, she has to do what is best for her kingdom. Even the people would want the same. She can't ignore that."

Oberon nodded slowly but then looked at his mother and said with a dangerous light in his eyes, "Mother, today he will be coming there. I hope you know how to take care of him."

Rebecca snorted as she said with a sadistic smile, "Don't you worry about it, dear. Mother will make him understand who controls his pathetic life and he will be licking our feet in no time."