The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 545: Family matters need to be solved by family members

Chapter 545: Family matters need to be solved by family members

Was it because the others were more heinous in comparison? Or was it because I didn’t personally see them with my own eyes? For a while, I completely forgot about the incubi’s involvement in all of this.

But then again, they almost seemed like bystanders who got dragged with a neighboring thug because someone who used to be the gang leader said they would do something badass. It was a nice coincidence that it also involved getting revenge on the people they considered as their ’enemies’.

"Right!" I clapped my hands after Natha put me down in the greenhouse. "I didn’t see those incubi earlier; were they not in the dungeon?"

"No," Natha rang the bell that was magically connected to our personal pantry, informing the servants that we would have our tea in the greenhouse. "Unfortunately, that prick is still a royal family member."

He told me that they were detained in a decent house-like prison inside a dimensional chamber with guards and magicians guarding the entrance. It was so they could put recording devices on their cells and see if they could fish out some information that way, but still...

It was annoying that they did not spend their time in depressing dungeon cells.

My nose scrunched in disdain at that information. "Ooh...privilege."

Natha chuckled and pinched my cheek lightly. "Rather than that, he is still tied to the Lord and, well..." he smiled weakly, stroking the side of my head. "Your best friend"

Oh...

A forlorn gasp escaped my lips. "Zia..."

I knew she wasn’t fond of her brother, but...she was still Zia’s blood brother. It wasn’t like Aleena, who had different mothers. Zia and Zir’Kal shared the same parents, so no matter how much of an asshole her brother was, he was still family.

Wait... didn’t that mean I also shared the same clan as that incubus now? Aw, shucks!

"I don’t think it’s right to talk about his fate without involving her," Natha shrugged.

"Yes, you’re right," I nodded eagerly. It didn’t matter if Zia’s decision ended up the same as ours, but we should involve her in it. "We need to talk to her and Aleena."

And that was how, after having tea to calm my nerves and visiting Shwa to further soothe my soul, we invited some people for a serious meeting the next day after breakfast. Malta and Arta, who were having breakfast with us, were there with a stack of relatable reports. Naturally, as a member of the Ra clan, Aunt Nezja was also there, but due to the heavy topic, I asked D’Ara to once again babysat my little bird.

Interestingly enough, Zia came with Izzi, who had a basket of Zia’s favorite pastries in his hand. Must have come straight from a morning date.

"Uncle," Zia approached Natha right away, who was in the middle of setting the communication orb in the middle of his study. The fact that she didn’t even come to me and kept fidgeting showed how nervous she was.

"We’re going to call Aleena," Natha told her; his tone was softer than usual.

"Okay,"

As Zia and Natha huddled around the communication orb, I came to Izzi curiously. "Why are you here?"

The elf raised the basket filled with delicious pastries that got me salivating. "Emotional support?"

Him or the pastries? Ugh--I couldn’t eat them if it was the pastries, huh? Anyway, it could be both. Zia could just send Izzi back to the research tower and come alone, but she brought him along, which meant she felt like she needed him to be there.

"Good," I glanced at the nervous succubus in front of Natha’s desk. "Hold her hand well."

"Of course."

I smirked at the way he replied without any hesitation. He didn’t even get flustered like in the past, and he looked at Zia directly instead of pretending to glance at something else behind the succubus. "You don’t bother to hide it now, huh?"

"Is there a need to?" he shrugged.

"Good for you," I laughed quietly, before clasping my mouth shut.

Damn it, Valen! It was a serious and grim occasion!

While I was berating myself, the communication orb let out a buzzing sound and glowed as a sign of a successful connection. Immediately, Aleena’s voice came out of the orb.

[Lord Uncle...]

"Aleena, Zidoa is here," Natha informed the new Lord of Lust. He took a seat behind his desk while the rest of us sat on the sofas.

Except for Malta, of course, who was organizing the reports on Natha’s desk.

Zia slipped herself between me and Izzi, letting out a long and heavy sigh. She grabbed her hands tightly, as if to prevent them from trembling. I had no idea if it was from anger or fear--or both--but I glanced at Izzi and made a silent agreement to support her well.

[Alright] Natha had informed Aleena last night that we would have a meeting to talk about Zir’Kal, so she did not waste more time and went straight to the point. [Let’s not dawdle; please tell me all you know about his involvement]

"Malta,"

We shifted our attention to our Chief Secretary. She held a report in her hand, but she spoke to us without looking at it, as if she had been studying for many times that she could recite every line.

"Based on the result of the interrogation and cross-checking them with our own investigation, we found out that one of the elders made contact with the troupe while Ra Zir’Kal was in house arrest," Malta started her report. "They had several meetings in the empty region where the information broker relayed information he got from the spies."

"How deep is their involvement?" Natha asked.

"They are not the mastermind, at least..." Malta spoke carefully while glancing at Zia. "But we got hold of their flow of money, which went through the empty region’s black bank and received by the information broker to fund this specific operation."

"Only this specific operation?"

"Yes; they have several channels of sponsors for different acts. As of now, we are trying to trace the flow of money used to poison the Lord of Wrath."

[That money...where did that come from?]

Malta looked hesitant for a second, which was unlike her usual self. "...from the Ra mansion in Heksoka."

I glanced at Arta and she told me it was the mansion where Zir’Kal was getting banished into.

Zia buried her face in her hands at that point because...listen--what kind of money do you think those incubi used? Their own money? Of course not!

Just like the demons who tried to harm me in the past, Zir’Kal and the elders who lost during the battle for the Lord’s Key were stripped of their possessions. Still, Zir’Kal was the clan’s crown prince, so they couldn’t just exile him. Instead, they put him under house arrest and banished him to a mansion in the countryside where the only ones he could seduce were the animals on the mountain.

Naturally, the Lord Castle provided some money to the mansion for Zir’Kal and the elders’ daily needs.

Seemed like that money went somewhere else instead.

A long sigh could be heard both from this side and Aleena’s side. [This is my fault] Aleena said after that long, heavy sigh. [I should have checked the flow of money from that mansion more carefully...]

Well, that was true, but...how much time did a new Lord have? She must have been busy taking care of the realm after the chaos of the coup, and trying her best to win the citizens’ support while consolidating the Castle’s political factions. Would she have the time to mind the one little mansion where his annoying half-brother resided?

"Aleena, there might still be some of his supporters in the Castle," Natha said. "I don’t think the money you provided for their daily needs would be enough to sponsor an attack, so there might be more cases of embezzlement."

[Haa...I’ll look into it]

Gosh--I could hear her stress all the way from here.

"I can’t believe he went this far," Zia spoke with gritted teeth, finally raising her head from her hands. "I thought he would come to his senses once he lost everything, but..."

[We shouldn’t let the elders stay with him] Aleena clicked her tongue. [Are you placing them in the same place now?]

"In the same building, yes, but in different rooms," Natha replied. "We would like to see if they’d say something if they were placed in the same chamber, but I think Zir’Kal will croak faster if he’s alone."

[That’s good] Aleena let out a breath of relief. She paused for a few seconds before continuing with a hint of hesitation. [...I’m not trying to defend Zir’Kal here, but...I don’t think he’s capable of dragging himself into this mud]

"That’s right," Zia leaned back and slumped against the sofa’s backrest. "I know he’s an asshole, but he’s not someone who would willingly go to a place where he had to fight and hurt someone."

Oh? That was unexpected. It seemed that he had some redeeming quality somewhat? I mean, at the end of the day, he still shared the same blood with Zia and Aleena, right? And those girls were both wonderful.

But Zia continued with a harsh tone. "He’s too cowardly to do anything that might put a scar on him."

...never mind.

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