The Crown's Seduction
Chapter 306: One of My Own

Chapter 306: One of My Own

"All we need to do now is wait for now for him to wake up," Nikolai told Dahlia as he looked at Zoran lying in bed. He then turned to her just as she kissed Zoran’s hand.

"Also, it’s not safe for you to stay here with him, especially since Zoran still needs close monitoring. Fritz will be the one to stay with him and observe his reaction to my toxin-infused into Mineah’s blood. He’s basically a newborn vampire, and waking up with a human beside him could be very lethal."

"If that’s the case, then I’ll be going to monitor my mother instead," Dahlia stated as tears started flowing down her cheeks again. "Again, thank you so much for this, Your Majesties. I owe everything to you both, and I’ll do anything to repay you two for this kindness."

His wife Mineah was quick to comfort her with a hug. "You have to stay strong. What matters now is that both Zoran and your mother, and Devon can no longer hurt them," she reassured her. "Come now. Let me walk you to the chamber where your mother is."

Mineah then turned to Nikolai, and he gave his wife a knowing nod before the two women walked out of the secret chamber where they placed Zoran’s body. Left alone, he then looked at Fritz who just released a heavy sigh.

"Is it that bad?" Nikolai asked Fritz, who was very knowledgeable with alchemy aside from being gifted in reading the sky, the stars, and natural phenomena.

"Well, this is absolutely something that I haven’t witnessed or read about before. A fusion between blood bearing the Mark of Eternity with a cursed Nephilim... I guess we’ll find out the outcome once Zoran wakes up," Fritz lengthily analyzed.

"Right now, his body is still adjusting to everything. But anyway, like you said before, what’s important is that it gave Zoran another chance to come back to us. I can only hope that he’ll be able to manage to get a hold of himself once he wakes up instead of turning rogue."

Nikolai simply nodded. He had told Fritz about Mineah’s curse since it was the latter who would be able to warn them about the coming Blood Moon. And besides, Fritz had the ability to shield himself from powerful hypnosis and compulsion. He was a Scion who shouldn’t be taken too lightly. That was why he entrusted him to be his spy on important tasks.

"Tsk... Why did no one tell me about this damn vision? If I had known, I wouldn’t have tasked those musicians to perform in the shadows," Fritz complained with a frown as he stared at Zoran’s body. "I just wanted that special occasion to be lively. This man suffered enough, and I just wanted to surprise and cheer him up like old times."

"It’s not your fault, Fritz. It’s bound to happen whether you brought those musicians or not," Nikolai comforted him. "The vision was meant to happen. While it might not have gone exactly the way the Seer saw it, it all ended up differently based on how we decided to do things."

"Of course, I know it’s not my fault, and yet I still feel bad whenever I recall the horror on Dahlia’s face as she screamed about the music," Fritz sighed as he casually opened his fan to cool himself. "Damn... I was expecting smiles from everyone, but it ended up with all of you going pale..."

"Since you’re feeling bad, then take extra care of Zoran here," Nikolai remarked. "Make sure to report any progress to me. In the meantime, I’ll be leaving to attend to other things."

Fritz nodded, and he promptly left the room to finish off some of his pending work like going to the court meeting to meet all of his officials who were already waiting inside the throne room. They were demanding an explanation of what happened at the pavilion of the Scorpius Residence that he had assigned and gifted to Dahlia and Zoran, and he gave them exactly that.

Despite Abel and Fritz having managed to not let anyone around the vicinity, the strong dark energy that erupted from the place was undeniably questionable.

Nikolai raised a brow as he entered the hall and sat on his throne. Surprisingly, it was the first he saw Eva attending after everything that had happened to her son, Haman.

"Please, Your Majesty. We demand an explanation," Eva pleaded with a firm voice and a blank expression on her face. "Obviously, the palace has been breached by dark energy, and someone must be held accountable like how you held my son accountable without mercy!"

Nikolai inwardly sighed. This was something he already expected from the other officials, but not from Eva herself.

No one really knew what happened inside the pavilion, but Abel told him that everyone was just assuming that it was Zoran who was behind the powerful dark energy. Information about how Lady Rosa was also a spy of Devon also leaked, and Nikolai believed that it was definitely Devon’s doing by using his other spies inside Valcrez.

"Indeed. The one responsible should be held accountable. As such, from this day onward, I declare an all-out war against Devon, the ruler and King of Helion," Nikolai declared.

"He has proven himself guilty numerous times by using my subjects’ weaknesses to his advantage to breach our Kingdom. Lady Rosa was nothing more than a victim of her daughter Rosela’s lies. Still, she is also guilty of letting the Demon tempt her. For that, Lady Rosa will receive a corresponding punishment, taking into consideration the fact that she was also a victim of her deceased daughter’s lies. Of course, since Rosela is already dead, we can no longer give her the exact punishment that Minister Haman received."

The more he spoke, the more he saw the burning fury in Eva’s eyes despite her calm demeanor.

"I demand death for this traitor Zoran! He colluded with the demon king, and yet we still let him stay here risking everyone’s safety like what had happened in that pavilion," Eva demanded. "It was filled with dark energy, and there’s only one person responsible for it. The traitor Zoran! He must die! We can’t trust a warlock like that!"

"Why would I kill Zoran when I can clearly use him in bringing down Devon? You must be mistaken with the information you got, Exodium Eva," Nikolai stated. "Devon tried to kill Zoran tonight because he was no longer of use to him. He already died, but I brought him back to life as my personal Scion... He is now one of my own..."