Fangless: The Alpha's Vampire Mate
Chapter 107: The Stunning Emperor

Chapter 107: The Stunning Emperor

King Valentin’s roar echoed in Lisbeth’s mind.

It was the first time the king—no, her father had shown even a flicker of concern for her.

His fierce determination to keep her safe felt more powerful than a thousand sweet words. That was enough to warm her heart for days—maybe even weeks.

Normally, Lisbeth wouldn’t stay put knowing Riona had escaped the royal palace. It wasn’t like Riona had been a prisoner, at least not until recently.

But Lisbeth had been denied the one thing she wanted most: victory over the fangless.

She should have been tearing her hair out, hurling objects, and leaving destruction in her wake. Cielo and Lumi tiptoed around her during training, fully expecting an explosion after hearing about the chaos at the palace.

But to their amazement, Lisbeth seemed... fine. She laughed at Lumi’s silly jokes and even invited them to tea. It was odd, but neither Lumi nor Cielo dared to ask how she really felt. They valued their lives too much for that.

Not knowing anything about Lisbeth’s deep yearning for her father’s affection, Lumi and Cielo speculated that her uncharacteristic leniency toward Riona’s escape might have something to do with the recent visit from the handsome emperor.

On the day of the incident, Emperor Kaan and his large entourage made their grand entrance into the Kingdom of Eira.

The young emperor was incredibly striking. Although he possessed a different kind of appeal, his allure was on par with Thorin’s.

It was curious how no one had mentioned him before—someone this breathtaking should have been the talk of the entire continent.

"What’s His Majesty—uh, the Emperor—up to?" Lumi asked, not bothering to hide her fascination.

Lisbeth was unusually accommodating. Instead of her usual biting retorts, she replied with a surprising calm.

"He’s got nothing on his agenda today, as far as I know. Father doesn’t seem too eager to host him."

In truth, King Valentin was absolutely dreading the emperor’s visit.

Though the ruse of defending the kingdom from Asvaldur’s expansion and push for unification was partly an excuse to draw Thorin closer, the king’s genuine concern about stopping Asvaldur’s influence was quite real.

"But why?" Lumi whined, clearly dismayed. "He’s so ridiculously handsome!"

She furrowed her forehead and tossed her sword aside as if her husband were being accused of high treason. She flopped down with a dramatic thud, unimpressed.

We’re not exactly here to discuss his looks! Cielo thought to herself, silently rolling her eyes at her friend but staying quiet because Lisbeth’s response was much more intriguing.

"Is it about the unification?" Lumi asked.

Both Lumi and Cielo came from prestigious families with influential positions in court, so it was only natural they’d be privy to the latest gossip about unification.

"Maybe," Lisbeth replied with a casual shrug.

Her nonchalance was partly due to her lingering excitement over her father’s unexpected show of concern that day.

The other part was her lack of detailed knowledge about the full extent of King Valentin’s relationship with the new emperor.

"But he helped us, didn’t he?" Cielo pointed out, giving the emperor a little too much credit. "This kingdom would have been reduced to ashes without him."

Everyone was now well-acquainted with the drama between the king and Elder Alfred’s faction. The whole kingdom knew Elder Alfred had defied the king’s orders and that the king had let the dangerous Blood Moon child slip through his fingers.

King Valentin and Elder Alfred would still be duking it out if not for the emperor’s timely intervention. If Emperor Kaan hadn’t shown up at the gate, those two would have kept fighting until sunrise.

"Yes, he did!" Lumi agreed enthusiastically. "Not only did Emperor Kaan intervene, but he also forced both His Majesty King Valentin and His Excellency Elder Alfred to stand down. Neither of them would have done so on their own."

That was also true. After Elder Alfred left the palace with his troops—or what remained of them, the very first thing he did wasn’t plotting revenge, though he definitely wanted to.

Instead, he tackled the simpler task first: hunting down the traitor who had the audacity to disobeyed his orders.

With his fists clenched and a sour mood, he went on a rampage, throwing anything that wasn’t nailed down. His tantrum sounded like a small bat having a meltdown over a lost bottle of blood.

"How dare they do this to me! How dare they blatantly betray me?!" he bellowed, expelling every ounce of air from his lungs.

His veins pulsed and his eyes bulged as he unleashed his unfiltered rage within the confines of his own home.

"Where’s Tanith? Get her in here now! I won’t stand for this nonsense. Those traitors need to understand the consequences of defying me!" he roared.

The servants scrambled off, frantically searching for the only vampire capable of calming Elder Alfred’s volcanic temper once it had been ignited.

The elder commanded Lady Tanith to come up with a punishment that would make the other elders and nobles wish they’d never been born.

While Lisbeth might have been in the dark about the exact details of Elder Alfred’s melodrama, she was well aware of the elder’s subsequent actions. The entire nation was.

Elder Alfred had expelled the other elders from the Elders Assembly and stripped them of their titles.

As for the nobles, they lost all their perks: no more fancy business partnerships, exclusive deals on materials and goods, or VIP access to all the best trades.

The severity of the punishment was so great that it left the affected elders and nobles severely weakened.

Cielo’s father was a loyal supporter of the expelled elder. During the incident, he had been conveniently out of the kingdom on a business trip, sparing him from losing his privileges. But now he must find another master to serve.

"By the way, Cielo, didn’t you mention you had something important to tell me?" Lisbeth asked, suddenly recalling Cielo’s comment before the training session.

Cielo gave an awkward smile, chewed on her lower lip, and gripped her headgear like she was holding onto her lifeline.

She was clearly bracing herself to drop a bombshell, hoping Lisbeth’s current streak of kindness would somehow cover the ugliness of what she was about to say.

"Please don’t be angry," Cielo began, her voice trembling slightly. "My father doesn’t know that I’m aware of this, and if he did, he’d likely tell me to stay silent. But I just can’t stay silent, especially with my entire family hanging in the balance."

Lisbeth’s tone remained calm. "What’s going on?"

"Elder Alfred is plotting against your father," Cielo said, her voice dropping to a whisper. "He’s rallying other elders and nobles to support his scheme. This time, he might actually pull it off."

Lisbeth raised an eyebrow. "And you know this because?"

"Because Elder Alfred personally tried to recruit my father for the coup," Cielo explained.