Chapter 531 - Aftermath
New Chapter for the Highest Tier (June 2021)
******************************
Archdemon Empress Luna
******************************
Apollyon didn't care if she was scorching or not from entering the wildfire and hugged her immediately that her feet rose from the ground when he lifted her.
"Is the baby alright?" Apollyon asked as he put her down and tucked the stray strands behind her ears away from her sweaty face.
"The baby and I are alright." She replied in a scratchy voice. "We are well protected by my magic."
"Thank the goddesses. The anxiety almost killed me. " Apollyon exclaimed.
She almost laughed from the fact that her husband had adapted her favourite words if not for the disaster in front of her.
Apollyon hand's cupped her cheeks and showered kisses to her parched before adding, "I don't want my Leo to be toasted in your stomach while you rescue these strangers."
After they made sure that the flood completely wiped out the fire, King Oberon ordered the bronze-helmed guards to get rid of the water, throw it out of the Great Hall, and clean up the mess.
The dark cotton clouds began to drift away when the collective Fae magic stopped holding them back to condense themselves at the high ceiling.
Some of them couldn't even exit the tall windows' jagged cuts before the sun's soft rays of twilight came and dissolved them.
Expensive vases with hydrangeas and white lilies settled on decorative pedestals have survived the fire.
The elevated part of the Grand Hall, where the golden thrones of the Summer Monarch sat, were untouched by the water.
It was fortunate for the Summer Fairies that the fairy cakes and the wine bottles weren't destroyed from the commotion since the banquet table was located far from the isles for the couple to get to the throne.
The tablecloths were dripping wet when the servants began to drain the massive room from the downpour of the rain.
When Luna glanced up, she saw the children, fluttering their fairy wings, holding the flower baskets, stare back at her in dazed shock.
Her breaths became short.
Luna was overwhelmed with emotions that she thought her heart was about to burst, so she averted her gaze and looked down at the floor.
Luna apologized for the loss of the pure innocence in their eyes after seeing such tragedy.
The cloying scent of the contorted burnt bodies of the Fae aristocrats brought tears to her eyes. Luna stood there with her head bowed down, staring at the blocks of dark mass.
It was obvious that the engagement party was ruined. But can the celebration continue despite the ruined gowns and pantaloons and the sulphurous stench of death pervading in the atmosphere?
Their lavish and extravagant gowns, tunics, headdresses adorned with gemstones, and the precious pieces of jewellery bearing the family crests they wore were nonexistent.
The nobilities were stripped of their identities and their position in the Summer Hierarchy. Nobody would have thought they were Summer Fairies of higher standing.
Nobody can tell who they were before as they laid on the wet black and white marble floor with their shrinking muscles and blistered skin.
What about the loved ones they had left before they were burned to death?
These aristocrats believed they would have a good time in the Summer Castle.
What would be their family's reactions if the King's messenger knocks on their door and tell them the bad news—that their mother or father wasn't able to come home because of this misfortune? That the loved one who they are waiting for until midnight was already dead?
"Luna." Apollyon urged her gently, wiping the tear stains from her cheeks. "You must stop crying."
"I can't. I cant—" Luna shook her head repeatedly.
Facing Apollyon, Luna settled her hands at the back of his neck, sniffing at his chest. "I can't help it."
"Come here." Her husband murmured in a soothing tone, tucking his chin over the crown of her head while his hands were wrapped around her. "You must be sensitive to what you have witnessed. Let it all sink in."
"A-apollyon." Luna hiccuped. "I feel— I can't look." Her voice broke as she whimpered. "I want to get out of here."
Like King Oberon had told them at the Tea Party this morning, they were unrecognizable as the guards who were tasked to watch over the turrets to pinpoint the culprit's identity.
Luna had no idea why the impostor had chosen her husband's form to use for his glamour and attack the aristocrats.
At first, she thought it was the work of the Archdemon of Lust, taunting her and her husband about his deception to make her his, to compel her to have sexual congress with him.
The bastard couldn't escape Hell when his Archdemon spirit was bound to reign the Second Circle unless someone conjured him here.
But she was rightfully wrong to assume that if the dark green eyes behind the impostor's glamour of her husband's face were any indication.
They manufactured a fatalistic eternal fire that was hard to quench.
He was dangerous.
But how could he do this abomination to his fellow Fair folk if he was indeed one?
There was no chance that Luna could conjure that devil Luxen, as well, even by accident.
According to Ravin, an Archangel had already cut the soul ties between her and Luxen.
The Archdemon of Gluttony told her that he offered to lick the angel dust off her in the Pleasure Room.
Luna had another theory in mind that she wished she hadn't thought of.
What if the impostor assumed the Vampire King's form to frame him up in this incident?
They might think that her husband was the arsonist.
Apollyon had vocally expressed his hatred and disdain to his biological mother as soon as he set his eyes on her in the Summer Courts?
Will the Summer Monarchs blame him for this?
"Just hug me and don't look at it." Apollyon interrupted her train of thoughts, "I warned you beforehand but you still wanted to help." He scolded her, but his tone was gentle.