The Tyrant's Pet

According to Samael and those who had gone missing for the past two years, they were stuck in this so-called Hell's Gate. It was a powerful ability that only the Grimsbanne originally could wield. Through the years, exceptional vampires were able to achieve a certain level of strength and power and were able to make use of this power.

However, unlike the Grimsbanne Clan, who could naturally unleash such a powerful weapon, many other people out there sought help from another party. These people were greedy enough to exploit others such as Maleficent to gain more power and stand on the same ground as the "cursed" Grimsbanne Clan.

These people's schemes went so far as to seek help from an actual demon.

Yes. A demon.

On the mainland, there were at least three demons that existed. One of them was in the possession of the royal family, locked in the underground palace. No one knew about that aside from the king; even Conan, who was a part of the royal family and a prince, and Aries, who was the Queen of the mainland. They had no idea about this demon.

The second demon was already dead. According to Samael, they met one in the land of Spade; the land where they were trapped for the past two years.

And then the third one had gone missing a long time ago.

"So aside from the demon in the Spade Kingdom, you're telling me there were now two demons that are missing?" Aries clarified, watching Samael nod leisurely. "Did you confirm this?"

"Tilly confirmed the first missing demon, and then Abel confirmed that the underground palace is empty," Claude chimed in, sitting around the table while Aries and Samael stood on opposite sides of the oval table. "These demons are already incapacitated, by the way. They were nothing but decorations you can hang around."

"They were convenient decorations," Lilou commented solemnly. "Even though these demons don't have any capability to defend themselves or attack, drinking a drop of its blood could give a person unimaginable power."

Her expression turned hard as if an unpleasant memory crossed her mind.

"Fighting one demon took a lot of capable people joining hand in hand to take it down," she continued in the same tone. "But against two…"

Lilou paused, lifting her eyes to everyone. "I am not sure. Let's not ignore the fact that the night council of the mainland existed. They were of a different caliber, consisting of exceptional pureblooded vampires, who had lived longer than most of us."

There was a moment of silence after Lilou's remarks. It wasn't that they weren't aware of that. Matter of fact, they exactly knew what Lilou was talking about. They simply didn't mention it because there wasn't an opportunity.

"We had always known that the mainland is involved in our affairs," Samael spoke after some time, breaking the prolonged silence. "We don't know for sure what's wrong with them, but what we're certain of is that they waited for Tilly to leave the mainland before they set their wicked plans in motion."

"What about you?" he asked, darting his eyes between Aries and Abel. "Although we heard snippets of what happened in Haimirich from Conan, we still needed to hear the details of how things went down."

Aries pressed her lips into a thin line. Of course, she knew that. She cast Abel a look, only to see the latter nod approvingly.

"Alright…" Aries drew a deep breath, swallowing a mouthful of air. "Two years ago…"

Aries detailed everything she could remember for the past two years. She started at the time Abel received a letter from Maximus regarding Maximus's visit to the Haimirich Empire. She also shared her preparations, her countermeasures, and also, how she missed a minor detail that eventually led them to a two-year separation.

Aries took complete accountability for how their perfect plan turned out as a failure and a learning lesson for all of them.

"I won't allow that to happen again," she breathed out with a jagged breath, telling herself she wouldn't underestimate other areas ever again to avoid such a problem from arising again.

"Problems are normal and not everything runs smoothly," Samael casually remarked. "I'm not trying to console you, but in my unbiased opinion, you did a good job in improvising in preventing more problems in the future. If you didn't lock Abel in that damned world to get used to each other's presence, I don't think we'll be sitting at the same table."

"Sam is right." Lilou nodded. "We are already up against formidable people who want nothing but the demise of this clan. I don't think I want Maleficent on the opponent's side."

"Maleficent is not in Aries's anymore," Abel chimed in with a knowing tone. "If you were listening to my wife's explanation, Maximus drained the powers in her and her life, creating this weapon just as deadly as Fabian's dark spear."

"You're missing the point, Abel. Maleficent might not be inside Aries's anymore — or perhaps a little bit of Maleficent was still hidden within her. We cannot put a period on a statement since all possibilities are open. Still, it is better to have Aries by our side. After all, we also needed you, Abel." Lilou argued, not beating around the bush. "I don't think you'd be useful if your wife is one of our enemies."

"Actually…" Abel opened his mouth, but the rest of his words rolled back into his throat. He pressed his lips again, pointing at Lilou. "You make a good point, niece-in-law."

"Abel." Suddenly, Aries called with furrowed brows. She watched her husband slowly look back at her, raising his brows while tilting his head to the side.

"Yes, darling?" he crooned, smiling coquettishly.

"You said… Maximus created a weapon using Maleficent's power."

"Yes, I did." Abel nodded as he proudly spoke. "Maximus used it against me, but he still hadn't had good control over it. Thus, he died."

"So, where is it?"

"Hmm?"

"The weapon, Abel." Aries's brows rose, eyes fixed on Abel. "Where did this weapon go?"

Everyone waited for Abel's answer patiently, but the latter just shrugged.

"Who knows?" was the only answer Abel gave, and that was enough to add more weight to the piles of dilemmas they were already facing.