The Masked Vampire King's Accidental Bride
Chapter 564: The throne is an ugly thing

Chapter 564: The throne is an ugly thing

Arizona smiled sadly at Elliana’s comment. She kept looking at the girl in front of her, clenching her hand that wanted to touch the girl she had taken care of for 18 long years but never got the chance to show herself to her.

"I know I hurt you," Arizona whispered softly.

Elliana stepped back subconsciously, a scoff leaving her mouth.

"Hurt is a small word for what you did Queen Arizona. It wasn’t in your hand, or you wouldn’t have thought twice before killing me. I don’t know what it’s with you sisters wanting to kill me. It’s almost as if my life doesn’t matter at all, nothing of what I feel matters," Elliana’s words were barely a whisper as she remembered how her mother found her too.

She raised her gaze and looked straight into the witch’s queen’s eyes.

"I am sure you have come here with a purpose. Let’s not waste each other’s time. There is no way you would be foolish enough to think of kidnapping me when Mr. Marino is in the kingdom.

I bet that you have come here to propose a deal, just like your other sister did. State it," Elliana said, a bit less hesitant with the thought of Mr. Marino being in the same palace as her.

’Mr. Marino,’ Elliana tried to test the mind link and see if it would work against this shield or not.

’Are you ready, my Princess?’ Sebastian, who was talking to Prince Stephano inside his office, immediately asked, making Elliana smile.

’Just five more minutes,’ She whispered, making the man hum.

Sebastian, who was about to look back at Prince Stephano, felt something strange with his princess’s aura.

’Are you with some witch in the room, Princess?’ Sebastian asked after a couple of seconds, and Elliana smiled.

He felt it already?

’I... um...it’s a familiar person,’ Elliana said, and Sebastian hummed before looking back at Stephano.

"Sebastian, I know you are the King now but this isn’t something we can take lightly. It’s not easy," Prince Stephano said.

Sebastian stood from his place and walked to the window of the office room before humming.

"That’s the reason I thought it was better to consult you first. Though we have been rivals for this position, I know you weren’t any less deserving. I couldn’t think of anyone else to take advice from," Sebastian said.

Stephano looked at his brother, unsure of how to handle this matter.

His gaze fell on all the reports, and photos thrown on the table and ruffled his hair.

Everything in front of him was substantial evidence against Angelo, but it was still hard to believe that one of his younger brothers would plan something so drastic.

What was this all about?

"Who else knows about this thing?" Stephano asked after some time.

"Apart from me, Lucas and Harry know about this matter. You don’t have to worry about them. They won’t tell anyone else. However, I hope you understand that we can’t delay this matter forever.

A person who can risk the lives of so many innocent people can do anything. I suggest locking him up in the dungeons, but I also want to know where the rest of the rogue bases are and what else they are planning," Sebastian said.

Stephano stood from his place, his fists clenched.

"Mom Freya would be the most devastated," Stephano said.

Sebastian looked at the trees, one of the dried leaves falling from it.

"Sometimes, when you have a bad apple in the basket, it’s important to remove that apple if you don’t want it to affect others. I will release the orders to get Prince Angelo locked in the dungeons with no communication from the other outer world," Sebastian looked at Stephano, who didn’t have anything to say.

He knew this was important.

If Prince Angelo had only offended Sebastian or acted against him, it wouldn’t have been such a big issue and they would’ve sorted it after talking to him, but it was useless now.

Whatever was brewing inside Angelo’s mind was so bad that he was now capable of ruining the entire Kingdom.

"I will talk to Grandfather," Stephano said after some time.

There was no other option left for them.

It pained him to think one of them turned out like this.

"If it was down for the throne, would you step down to give Angelo the throne? I don’t want any of us brothers to be hurt and in pain," Stephano said.

Sebastian stayed quiet for some time.

"I will," he said, surprising Stephano.

"If you think a person who didn’t think about anyone’s life and the Kingdom just because he wanted something is suitable to be the king and rule, I will step down from the throne. However, don’t expect me to stay in this kingdom after that.

I won’t let my wife stay in a place where anyone can harm her. Prince Angelo isn’t down for the throne only -" Sebastian paused.

"Princess Elliana?" Stephano asked, shocked.

"It was one of the reasons I didn’t want to stay here with my wife. You know she catches up on things pretty easily and quickly. And I don’t want her to stay cautious at home too. A home is supposed to be one place where she can’t let her guard down," Sebastian said before walking to his desk where a photo of Elliana kissing his cheeks was, a subtle smile appearing on his face.

"This should’ve been our honeymoon phase, but everything around us is just messy.

I am trying my best to keep things hidden from her and fight everything because I know she is already fighting her own demons, but for how long will I be able to hide it?" Sebastian asked Stephano, who walked to him and placed his hand on his shoulders.

"It will be fine soon. Believe in your love," Stephano said, already sad after hearing about Prince Angelo.

"Since when have you been suspecting Angelo?" Stephano asked.

"From the day the attack on the beach took place. That attack wasn’t just a simple attack. It needed the special artifact that was placed in our artifact room. I got someone to hack the royal’s security again. Just like I had guessed, the footage of that particular time was gone," Sebastian said.

"If it was gone, how did you -"

"Since the footage was lost, it was clear that it was an internal thing. First, I started collecting your alibi -"

"You suspected me?" Stephano widened his eyes, in surprise, his voice getting louder.

"I wouldn’t suspect any of you, but in the end, it was all down to you guys, no?" Sebastian asked, shutting Stephano immediately.

"I found out about all of you. Surprisingly Angelo wasn’t in his room for those 5 minutes which would’ve been more than enough to steal that artifact if you knew where it was placed and had the key," Sebastian explained.

"I backtracked and asked Lucas to look at the data of anyone who must’ve been frequenting the place. It was Angelo. Every time he went inside the room, he probably tried to look for the artifact until he found the original piece among all those fakes," Sebastian added.

"Just that much information?" Stephano asked.

Sebastian looked at his brother.

"That much information is enough to put a stranger on the altar of death. You are asking for more information because he is our brother," Sebastian said before he held the reports in his hand.

"One of my spy team has been working on this thing for twenty days and following Angelo wherever he has been going. Do you know what one of them said? They said they saw a white haze in the hotel where Angelo was staying," Sebastian said.

"A white haze?" Stephano asked.

"You know what it means, don’t you?" Sebastian asked and Stephano gulped.

"Of course, I know..." His hands clenched by his side, his eyes moistening slightly.

This was happening for real. There was no stopping it anymore. His younger brother was the culprit. And the punishment for disloyalty against the kingdom is no less than death.

Stephano looked at Sebastian’s back.

Maybe that was the reason why giving this position to Sebastian was more ideal. If it had been him in his place, could he have done so much research without letting anyone know about it? More than that, had he found the courage to say all these words and act against them?

"When?" Stephano asked.

"The moment he steps out of the royal palace," Sebastian said and Stephano hummed.

"What will we tell, Mom Freya?" Stephano asked.

"Angelo has gone to a meeting with another nation. If he agrees to reflect upon his actions and thoughts, he will return from that meeting and if he doesn’t, let’s just say that he got martyred," Sebastian said.

Vincenzo, who was about to enter Sebastian’s office to talk to him about the meeting in the Callisto regions, paused when he heard Sebastian’s cold voice void of emotions.

It looks like Sebastian found out about the truth too, and judging from how he was talking to Prince Stephano, he might’ve gotten his hand on some substantial evidence too.

Vincenzo sighed, leaving the corridor, not wanting to talk to anyone anymore.

As much as they knew it was important, the thought of their brother -

Vincenzo clenched his fists. This throne was really an ugly thing.