The Duke's Passion

"Since you are here... tell me, how bad is it?"

Samael's tone dropped as his aura thickened. For Dominique, his chief shadow knight, to be in this place himself, only meant something went terribly wrong. Whatever it was, he knew the emperor needed to settle it. His mind already considered the worst while Dominique kept his silence.

"Terrible, Your Majesty," Dominique replied in a quiet tone. "The Spade Kingdom finally made their move and were marching to the empire. Just a few days ago, a terror attack happened in Grimsbanne. Fortunately, Princess Le Blac had her people securing the west, so the casualties were minimum. Meanwhile, the north had sent troops to help the east defend its borders."

"So, they are attacking from every side?"

Dominique gazed down. "The east and west will soon become a battlefield, Your Majesty. We are facing two opponents at once."

"Two?" Samael's brow quirked.

"Quentin's troops will reach the west in no time."

"And in the east?"

"The troop marching towards the east raised a flag of the previous emperor. It seemed Stefan and Quentin joined hands, after all."

"Did you confirm if Stefan was leading the soldier marching towards La Lona?" 

"Jayden did, and I received his letter today telling me Stefan was leading the troops in the east. I also received a confirmation that Quentin was marching with his undeads. The wolves in the west and the Princess's chief knight can only minimize the casualties."

"How many?"

"About two hundred thousand in the west and over a hundred thousand in the east."

Samael went silent after hearing Dominique's reports, rubbing his chin. Stefan and Quentin wanted to split the military forces of the emperor, putting them at a disadvantage. Quentin's troops were already a headache, as he had already built the Spade Kingdom with undeads. Now, Stefan also joined at the same time. 

Five years ago, Samael discovered many people deserted their houses and tons of missing people — mostly human nobles, commoners, and peasants. It was easy to conclude that those people weren't casualties of the series of chaos in the capital. But they were people Stefan hid along with all the people that went missing throughout his reign. 

Meaning, turned vampires were marching towards the east and undeads on the west. Even with everyone's knightage combined to defend those borders, they would never be enough.

'What do you think, Alex?' Samael inquired internally, as the voices in his head had been so quiet ever since Lilou woke up. 

'What do you mean, what do we think?'

'I am asking Alex, not you, Jin.' Samael's inner voice was cold, not a bit amused at Jin's sassiness right now. 'I already had an idea, but I am asking Alex since this requires all risk.'

'Just do whatever you think is best for everyone. You're the emperor,' Alexander replied in a solemn tone. 'Not that I trust you, I just know that you will not let her and her child die.' 

Samael rocked his head. He knew the people in his head already figured out what he was planning, so he didn't spell it out for them. 

"Dominique, send a letter to Karo and everyone to send reinforcement as soon as possible. If any of them dared to delay the royal decree, burn their kingdom to ashes," he ordered solemnly, eyes glinting as he stared at his wife and son dancing. "I'm sure Rufus already got a wind of this."

Suddenly, Ramin appeared on Samael's side and pretended not to notice the shadow night behind the pillar. His expression was solemn, making the former know his left hand already heard the important matter. Well, he was Samael's left hand who carried Samael's voice inside his head.

"Ramin, mobilize your people and tell them to march to Grimsbanne. Make sure that those will land on the battleground Yul prepared. Charlie, I know you can hear me. Rush to the east with the marchioness tonight. Heliot will aid you." Samael didn't cast Ramin a look as he spoke. "Dominique, tell Fabian to gather everyone to hear my plans — including Noah, Cameron, and Jaime Malum."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Ramin and Dominique bowed, knowing the emperor had more things in mind. 

"For now, make sure none in the south will hear about this. If the news already reached anyone's ears, silence them. I need Minowa to not know about this for now."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

As soon as Samael gave out his orders, Dominique disappeared from behind the pillar, while Ramin also walked away. He stayed leaning against the pillar, keeping his silence with a dead expression.

"Of all the days they picked, they coincidentally chose my son's birthday," he whispered, staring at his son, who never ceased to upset him. But Samael loved that boy more than his own life. 

"But I guess... I can't keep this secret for as long as I wanted to." His eyes softened, letting out a shallow breath. "I will never forgive them for forcing me to take such measures."

******

I carried Law on our second dance, giggling as he looked at me in worry. 

"Mother, am I not heavy? I can dance even if you don't carry me," he said worriedly, but I just smiled while staring at him.

"My son, I can do this much," I replied in a soothing tone. "You don't know yet, but I used to carry heavy things before I met your father."

Not just heavy things, but I did hard labor back when I was a peasant. Moreover, I missed carrying Law for five years. So, this wasn't much. I had my strength perfectly stored from my five-year slumber.

"How sweet!" I turned my head to my side, giggling when my eyes landed on Kristina and Noah dancing near us. 

"I'm always the sweet type," I humored as the corner of my lips stretched, casting Law a knowing look. He nodded as he averted his eyes towards the two. 

"My mother is the sweetest!" 

"Oh my! My lord, why don't we have a child too to resuscitate the softness in my heart that my unfair circumstance killed?" Kristina jest, teasing Noah, who let out a helpless sigh. I knew these two were close and Kristina was always comfortable around Noah — more comfortable than when she was with me.

"Lady Monroe, please don't say such an ominous thing," Noah remarked, inciting evil laughter from her. I stared at them for a moment and shook my head. For some reason, I knew something was wrong with Kristina, and she was simply hiding it by teasing Noah. 

I wanted to ask her, but I knew this wasn't the right place for that. Also, Sam was heading this way.. My brows furrowed, noticing the fading killing intent in his eyes.