Chapter 482: The Mad Prince

Bam!

The carriage doors slammed shut with enough force to make the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling tremble lightly. The cheerful atmosphere that had filled the luxurious interior before Damian’s meeting with Astaroth was gone. No one spoke as they watched him walk back toward his former position at the far end of the carriage.

Hazel, Racheal, Ruby, Mary, Rah, Kor and William all followed his movements with intense eyes, trying to read his expression, but the darkness clinging faintly to his robes made it difficult to tell what he was thinking.

Damian reached the table and calmly picked up the cigar he had left behind before leaving. He returned it to his mouth, leaned back against the seat and crossed his legs. Purple flames appeared at the other end, causing the cigar to burn once again, and a cold chuckle escaped his lips as he stared ahead.

No one found the sound amusing. The atmosphere around him felt wrong.

Before anyone could speak, Rin vanished from another part of the room and appeared on Damian’s lap in a puff of smoke. Unlike everyone else, the fox looked relatively calm. His tails rested around Damian’s waist as he glanced at the others, knowing their confusion was understandable.

"You told them everything?" Damian asked.

Rin was the only person who could see through Damian’s eyes and hear his thoughts. The moment Damian had begun speaking with Astaroth, Rin had been able to experience the conversation alongside him. He was also the only one capable of relaying everything that had happened between the two men to the others before Damian returned to the carriage.

Rin nodded calmly. "I did."

The women exchanged uneasy looks while William remained seated at the corner with the black file still resting in his hands. The Grand Chamberlain’s monocle reflected the dim lights inside the carriage as he carefully studied Damian’s face.

Rin tilted his head slightly. "You plan to break traditions, don’t you?"

Damian nodded without hesitation. His expression remained completely unbothered as he stretched out his hand and a goblet of wine flew across the table and landed neatly in his palm. He pulled the cigar from his lips, spat out a plume of purple smoke and stared at the liquid inside the goblet for several seconds.

"When I first gained this power, Hazel assured me that once I reach the demigod realm, as long as I return to Velmora and take control of the realm, I can draw power from the realm itself and even Gods cannot harm me." Damian took a slow drink before lowering the goblet. "I’m simply going to do that."

His words sounded simple but the reactions they caused were not.

Damian slowly turned his attention toward William, who was seated near the wall with his back unusually straight.

"The key fragments to the Seat of Power. Gather all of them. I will be taking back everything that belongs to me tonight."

William’s expression immediately changed and his fingers tightened around the file.

"Sire..." he began carefully.

Damian’s eyes shifted toward him.

William swallowed before continuing. "The tradition of the demon nobles holding fragments of the key to the Seat of Power beneath the palace has never been broken. Not even the former Demon Lords dared seize all the fragments for themselves."

The only exception to this rule was sole, who did not hesitate to massacre everyone in realm to get his hands on it.

The tradition existed for a reason. The Seat of Power was the ultimate connection between a ruler and his realm. Allowing the prince complete control over it would mean placing the lives of everyone in Velmora entirely in his hands before he can be deemed worthy. This was the way these demons were meant to fight back and potentially remove a prince who they deemed unworthy before he becomes too powerful.

It was considered a taboo to seize those fragments by force. Even discussing it openly could make the noble families turn hostile.

William looked down at the floor. "Many demons would consider this unacceptable if the matter ever comes to light."

The temperature inside the carriage seemed to drop.

Damian’s crimson slits glowed dangerously within the darkness covering his eyes, and for the first time since William had begun serving him, the Grand Chamberlain felt Damian’s killing intent pour down on him with its full weight.

His body stiffened as Hazel and the other women instinctively went silent. The pressure did not feel like that of the Damian they knew.

Damian slowly leaned forward, his voice low. "You demons have broken protocol time and time again."

"Your kind has challenged my rule before I even had the opportunity to take control of this realm. Your kind has ignored my authority." Damian’s fingers tightened around the goblet. "And now your kind dares to threaten my life on the very day I am supposed to be crowned God."

The wine inside the goblet began boiling.

"And you think I’m wrong for doing what must be done to survive?"

William immediately lowered his head as Damian leaned closer.

"Will you do as I say, or do I need a new Grand Chamberlain?"

The moment those words left his mouth, William felt the deeper voice hidden beneath Damian’s own overlap his words. The sound seemed to come from several directions at once, making the hairs on his arms stand.

"Of course, sire!" William immediately stuttered before rising from his seat and bowing deeply. "I will follow your wish!"

"Babe..."

Hazel quickly spoke, unable to remain silent any longer. She moved closer, but her expression revealed that even she was struggling against the pressure in the room.

"William is right. Killing a Duke for a crime is one thing, but breaking our laws and traditions is different. You will become an outcast within your own realm."

Damian slowly turned his gaze toward her but Hazel forced herself to continue.

"Breaking the protocol of succession is a crime that cannot be forgiven. That’s why even if Pride changes and begins fighting for demons, many would never willingly serve under him. If you take all the fragments of the Seat of Power by force, the demon race will see it as you destroying the agreement that has existed since the beginning of Velmora."

Ruby immediately supported her. "She’s right. This is no different from usurping a throne in the eyes of the people. We can gather our forces and all the demigods within your realm to aid against Greed. Don’t make a hasty decision."

Mary nodded firmly. "They are right. It would be better to deny Greed entry and send us alongside your army to protect the realm in case he tries to force his way through. Public opinion matters a lot right now, especially before your coronation."

"Then every living soul in this realm will die."

The response was so immediate that no one knew how to react and a chill ran down the women’s spines.

For a brief moment, they could not tell whether Damian was merely angry or whether he truly meant every word. The darkness around his eyes pulsed faintly as his gaze moved across the carriage, and everyone present understood something deeply unsettling.

If Damian received another answer he did not like, there was a very real possibility that everyone in this carriage could die.

He would not blink while doing it.

"I’m done playing by the rules of people who have constantly undermined my authority and threatened my life." Damian hissed as he leaned back into his seat. "If the whole of Velmora is discontented with my decision, the whole of Velmora will die and be replaced. There is no exception."

No one answered.

Damian returned the cigar to his mouth and stared out the window. The conversation was over.

Following those words, the carriage suddenly lifted higher into the sky before the Night Shade runes activated again. Crimson smoke poured from the body of the carriage, swallowing the massive structure until it completely disappeared from sight. Only the faint beating of the Hellfire Nighthawk’s wings could be heard as the group began its journey back toward the capital.

Half an hour later, Alice was still standing by the window of her room. She had not moved much since watching Damian and the others leave.

Alice stared into the darkness beyond the palace walls until her eyes suddenly narrowed. The Hellfire Nighthawk appeared in the distance.

The massive beast only became visible after descending toward the palace grounds, and Alice immediately leaned closer to the window.

"They’re back already?" she muttered.

Bam!

The carriage doors burst open the moment it landed and Damian stepped out first. Ghastly darkness trailed behind his figure as he walked across the palace grounds with Rin sitting on his shoulder. Even from the distance of her room, Alice could sense something fundamentally different about his presence. The air around him seemed heavy, and his body moved with a frightening rage.

Minutes later, everyone else emerged. Their expressions immediately caught Alice’s attention.

"What happened?" she whispered.

She had watched them leave laughing. Now they had returned looking like they had just witnessed something they could not fully understand.

What happened next confused her even more. None of them returned to the palace.

Instead, the moment Damian disappeared inside, the others exchanged several quick words before shooting into the sky in different directions. Their expressions were filled with urgency as they scattered across the capital.

Alice’s eyes widened.

"What the hell is going on?"

Meanwhile, Damian returned to his room without speaking to anyone. The guards instinctively stepped aside when they saw him approaching. He entered the room and shut the door behind him.

Damian sat on his bed in a cross legged position and slowly shut his eyes. When he opened them again, he was standing inside the familiar flower garden.

However, something was wrong. Every flower had withered. The vibrant colors that once covered the garden had been replaced by dead petals scattered across the ground. The trees stood motionless beneath a blood red moon, and the water in the small pond beside the garden reflected a crimson sky.

Lin Qui sat at the other side of the tea table, calmly sipping from a cup. He did not seem surprised to see Damian.

When he finally placed the cup down, he lifted his gaze. The black cracks spreading across Damian’s face now pulsed with red light. They had reached the edges of his face and seemed to be slowly searching for somewhere else to spread.

"They have finally broken you," Lin Qui said with a bitter smile.

Damian did not return the smile.

"How were you almost killed by Hagrid?" Damian asked immediately. "I need to know how they will come."

Lin Qui’s expression changed. Damian’s voice sounded different now. The deeper presence within him had become increasingly difficult to hide, making even simple words sound unnatural.

Lin Qui calmly picked up the teapot and poured warm tea into Damian’s empty cup.

"They came during the ceremony," he finally answered. "I had been given the Fox Pendant and I began creating a link with all my realms across the universe."

Lin Qui continued. "That was when I was at my most vulnerable. My consciousness was divided between several realms while the Seat of Power was forming its connection with me."

His fingers slowly tightened around the teapot.

"Hagrid struck at that moment. He drove a blade directly through my heart. That’s how I lost my human heart."

Lin Qui placed the teapot down.

"If it wasn’t for the girls and William, I would have been dead already. They mean the best for you. They just respect traditions."

"Trash!"

Damian’s voice cut through the garden with such force that several dead petals scattered across the table and Lin Qui’s eyes widened slightly.

"You nearly died because of that tradition and somehow Hazel convinced you to spare her brother."

Damian slowly rose to his full height. He had heard enough.

Lin Qui frowned as Damian stepped away from the table.

"I’ll say this now. You gave too much love and too little fear. That’s why your wives were wayward and useless until I became someone they could no longer control."

Lin Qui’s expression slowly darkened.

"You gave your realm so much freedom that the moment you died, everyone began snatching and grabbing whatever they could and even the people who tried to asssinate you gained ground in your fucking realm. They killed the few loyal subordinates who actually believed in you. They tore apart everything you built because you never made them fear what would happen if they betrayed you."

Damian turned back toward him. The crimson light pulsing through the cracks on his face became stronger.

"I’ll say this and I’ll say this once. From henceforth, anyone who stands against me for sentimental reasons will die instantly. My girls included."

"I will not become another story they will share with the next Sin of Lust. I will not become another dead ruler whose failures are used as lessons for his successor. I will be the last Sin of Lust in existence and I will do whatever it takes to make my reign eternal."

Lin Qui’s frown deepened.

The moment Astaroth had revealed Lazarus’ plan, he had felt Damian’s emotions change.

It was not simple anger. It was something much deeper.

It felt like Damian was reliving every nightmare he had endured on Earth. Every assassination attempt. Every enemy that appeared without warning. Every moment he believed he had finally found peace only for another powerful opponent to emerge from the darkness and threaten everything he cared about.

The anxiety he had carried throughout his life had returned all at once. That was why when Astaroth told him that Lazarus was already planning to kill him during his coronation, something inside Damian finally snapped.

The Prince Of Lust Had Gone Mad!