Chapter 462: I am frightened

Ethan could easily imagine what Carmilla had gone through, what those thousands of years had meant to her.

Just thinking about torture on that scale sent a chill down his spine.

Arwen, for example, had been dead for far longer than Carmilla, but for her, it had all been nothing more than the blink of an eye.

Mireya had spent only a few centuries in that necromancer’s cave—a place where she could still walk, talk, see, and even fight opponents.

Even so, she had emerged from there nearly completely insane.

Carmilla never had any of that.

Her existence had been nothing but darkness—endless and unceasing.

Blind and trapped, without even knowing how much time had passed.

"I am frightened, Ethan." Carmilla burst out laughing, laughing at herself. "Can you fathom it? I, the Vampire Empress, who bartered her very soul to a Demoness, one of the most dreadful beings in this world... and here I stand, terrified of losing a man I have known for so brief a time. Hahaha, what delicious irony."

Ethan said nothing. He simply leaned in and kissed her, feeling her cold lips soften against his.

When they parted, he pulled her into a firm embrace, his fingers digging into her back as if to prove he was really there.

"It’s all right. You’ll be able to stay by my side for all eternity. We can integrate your Empire into Goldenveil."

"I fear that must wait a little while, my dear..." Carmilla murmured against his chest.

"Soon I shall return to the Empire of the Blood Rose and take my time setting my forces in order. My Night Guard is already exterminating what remains of the traitors, but, to be perfectly frank, anarchy has reigned over my domains for thousands of years. I must set that right before anything else."

Even though the Empire meant little compared to the love she felt for Ethan, Carmilla was an intelligent woman.

She still cared about the Veyrath Dynasty and knew she couldn’t simply drag her people into Goldenveil through a forced and chaotic integration.

She needed to build a functional command structure, rid herself of those who refused her orders, and prepare for a peaceful merger with Goldenveil.

At the moment, only the Night Guard served as a functional force, and the Eternal Mountain was enormous, stretching five hundred kilometers in length and reaching up to one hundred kilometers in width depending on the region.

It was, in fact, much larger than Goldenveil itself, although almost all of that terrain was impassable and frozen, leaving the truly usable area far smaller.

"All right... Tomorrow I’ll show you a few things that could be very useful for uniting the two Empires. I’m also going to create a dwarf infantry division for mountain combat. They’re experts at that and will help maintain peace in the Eternal Mountain," Ethan said, his mind already racing with plans.

He even found himself picturing a dwarf cavalry mounted on magical climbing goats, dominating every cliff face of the Eternal Mountain.

With a smile, he let his hand slide down the curve of Carmilla’s back, following the dip of her spine until his palm found the swell of her plump, juicy ass. Then he brought it down in a hard, firm slap.

The crack of it echoed off the walls.

His palm sank deep into the soft cheek, the pale flesh flattening under the blow before it surged back out, overflowing around the edges of his hand.

The tremor didn’t stop there. It traveled across to the other cheek, setting it swaying as well, until her entire ass was rocking lazily beneath his fingers, cool and firm and far too full for one hand.

Ethan kept his palm right where it had landed, squeezing slowly, feeling the chilled, generous flesh bulge between his fingers and fill his grip as he leaned over her and took her mouth again.

Her moan died muffled against his lips, her hips pressing back into his hand on their own, and the two of them simply sank into each other, in no hurry at all.

In any case, that would be a massive win for Goldenveil.

With a sigh, Ethan opened the system notifications.

He had designated Carmilla as his wife and taken the opportunity to do the same with several other women, marking them as wives and concubines, since that could be done even from a distance.

[You have designated Carmilla Veyrath, Vampire Empress and a sixth-stage being, as your wife!

Congratulations, you have received: 1x Transcended Gacha Ticket, 10,000 Common Gacha Tickets.]

[You have designated Hilda, Divine Shipbuilder, as your wife!

Congratulations, you have received: 25x Premium Gacha Tickets, 500 Common Gacha Tickets.]

[You have designated...]

[Name: Ethan Goldenveil

Level: 120/120 (XP: 10%)

Available Rebirths: 2

Stage: 3 (Advancement quest available at level 120.)

Talent: Rank S

Noble Title: Inferior Duke. (Increase your prestige to upgrade your title)

Heroic Title: The Unparalleled Degenerate of Darkwall! (-3 prestige), Goblin Slayer! (+2 prestige, +30% fear among goblins.) +3

Prestige: 7,117/25,000

Aura: 50,000/50,000

Attributes.

Strength: 1,670

Agility: 1,551

Vitality: 1,673

Intelligence: 1,300

Charm: 2,000

Available attribute points: 0

Wives: 11

Concubines: 951

Monthly prestige gained from wives and concubines: 22,750]

Ethan choked when he saw that number.

Even though he hadn’t taken most of them yet, he had already designated the maids, the warriors of the Order of the Silver Wings, and the Order of the Golden Rose Guard as concubines.

In total, there were two hundred and one third-stage concubines, each yielding twenty prestige points per month, in addition to another seven hundred and seventy second-stage concubines, each yielding five.

Amelia and Ysara each yielded two thousand prestige points. Arwen and Hilda, at the fourth stage, yielded one thousand, and the wives at the third stage yielded five hundred.

Carmilla, all by herself, yielded ten thousand prestige points!

It was worth noting that the amount of prestige was directly linked to Ethan’s current level.

When he became a King, for example, his wives’ prestige would rise, and with it, the amount they yielded each month.

To make things even better, he’d earned another Transcended Gacha Ticket and hundreds of Premium Gacha Tickets by designating Hilda as his wife and all the maids, Silver Wings, and Golden Rose Guards who had still been missing as concubines!

In the end, Ethan could only sigh, excited.

It wouldn’t be long before he became a King.