Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 689

The Emperor took a sip from the champagne glass handed to him by one of the maids, and let out a deep sigh.

“Stop teasing the kid so much.”

“His reactions are just too good to resist, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor chuckled as he watched Connor Lint, who was still frozen and trembling, surrounded by his classmates. “It’s nice to dote on him, but if we keep this up, he might start claiming there’s something implanted in his ear.” 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

“Implanted in his ear...? What do you mean?”

“Ah, it’s nothing,” the Emperor replied with a mysterious smile. He often made cryptic remarks that only he seemed to understand.

After the war, Rowen had taken over as the head of the intelligence unit. Rowen was the leader because the others were more suited for fieldwork. Sarkegar and Connor Lint, for example, excelled in operations outside the office. Their roles were assigned based on their abilities rather than seniority.

Sarkegar had a particular interest in Connor Lint. Though it sometimes came across as bullying, it was evident he genuinely cared.

The Emperor quietly observed the banquet hall, where many guests were engaged in lively conversations. He watched as the groups formed below him and the conversations began, choosing not to mingle.

“You seem too young to enjoy alcohol, young lady,” he noted, as he watched a middle-aged gentleman approach a silver-haired girl.

The gentleman, adorned in a splendid suit, inclined his head as he spoke to the girl.

“Oh... What is that wine, as red as blood? I’ve never seen such a brilliant hue before.”

“It is blood,” she replied.

“Pardon?” he asked, taken aback.

“I said it’s blood.”

She gently swirled the wine glass, and it was clear that she was not lying. When she moistened her lips with the liquid, her blood-stained lips parted, revealing chilling fangs.

“H-huh...!” the gentleman stammered.

“Is this your first time seeing a vampire?” she asked, her voice calm and steady.

“I-is it... H-human blood?”

“What else would it be? Want a sip?”

“No, no! I’m fine!”

“Really? Then can you let me bite you? It won’t hurt. It actually feels surprisingly good.”

“N-no, no, I’m fine! E-excuse me...!”

The Emperor chuckled as he watched the middle-aged man, startled by the girl’s strangely enchanting smile, retreat in fright.

As the man hurried away, a woman with dark red hair approached the girl.

“Lucinil! I always tell you not to scare people for no reason!”

“He asked what it was, so I answered,” Lucinil replied with a mischievous grin.

The Emperor quietly observed Eleris and Lucinil’s playful exchange. Although many demons had joined the Empire, most of the vampires who had been with him in Edina from the beginning had already left.

Galarsh and Lruien had led their families away from the Empire. Tired of the chaos, they sought the peace and quiet of their own lands.

Eleris, the head of Tuesday, and Lucinil, the head of Wednesday, remained.

The family of Saturday had been left leaderless after the disappearance of their head, Antirianus. Eleris had stepped in as the interim head, juggling the responsibilities of heads for both families of Tuesday and Saturday.

None of the Vampire Lords had ever aimed to increase their numbers, so vampires were few and far between. Yet they had played crucial roles in the early days of the Empire. To legitimize their existence, a blood-buying institution had been established.

The challenge arose when some humans, upon discovering the Vampire Lords, became fascinated by the idea of vampires who could endure sunlight. Many troublesome individuals demanded to be transformed into vampires. To protect the vampires, not the humans, a secluded territory was created where they could live in peace. Outsiders were strictly forbidden.

Despite this, there were still those who knocked on their doors, seeking immortality and eternity. Such promises always held a certain sweetness.

As the lively banquet carried on, the Emperor spotted Empress Louise making her way toward him.

“Your Majesty,” she said.

“Ah... Yes?” he replied.

“I need to discuss something important,” she continued.

“What is it?” he asked.

Without waiting for his consent, Empress Louise took his arm with a determined look and began to lead him away.

Heinrich von Schwartz watched it all unfold, his mouth agape in disbelief.

***

Empress Louise guided the Emperor to one of the vacant guest rooms in the Spring Palace.

The Emperor’s heart pounded wildly in his chest.

Was the moment truly upon him? Was it really unfolding this way?

‘But why today, of all days? There were other days before this, so why today? Of all times?’

The Emperor feared many things, but at the moment, more than anything, he feared Louise.

It was a fear tangled with guilt.

Because of that fear, his mind froze whenever he encountered her.

“I-I... I need to prepare. Just a moment... G-give me five minutes, just five minutes...”

“...”

“It’s not that I don’t want to! I’m fine! It’s good! But, just give me a moment to...”

Louise rolled her eyes. “Really!”

Whack!

“Ow...!”

Louise, having reached her limit with the Emperor’s rambling, gave him a sharp flick on the forehead.

She gazed down at him with a frosty stare as his eyes darted about in confusion.

“Sit.”

“Yes.”

At her direct command, the Emperor obediently sat on the bed.

Louise’s eyes narrowed further.

“Not there. There.”

She pointed to a chair across the room. Realizing his mistake, the Emperor awkwardly rose and moved to the chair, his face flushing a deep red as he finally realized that it was not going to be the scenario he had envisioned.

After a moment, he regained his composure and noticed that the Empress was not empty-handed. She held a large case that resembled a backpack, which clashed with her elegant dress.

With a soft click, Empress Louise opened the case and began to remove its contents, setting them on the table.

“What are these... Books?”

Indeed, the case was filled with books—or rather, notebooks. A stack of worn and dirty notebooks were laid out before the Emperor.

“I think you should see this.”

The Emperor, intrigued, carefully opened one of the notebooks at his empress’s request.

***

The notebooks were worn, their edges frayed, with many pages missing. It was clear that the pages hadn’t been deliberately removed but had simply deteriorated over time.

“These are materials sent from the Adventurers’ Guild headquarters in Kernstadt.”

“I see.”

The Emperor flipped through the notebooks. At first, he seemed uncertain, but his curiosity was piqued.

Most of the pages were filled with drawings.

“Drawings of monsters?”

“Yes, it seems so.”

He furrowed his brow. “Why would someone draw pictures of monsters?”

Since monsters had a physical form, it made sense that someone might want to document them. There were all kinds of people in the world, after all, so it was not impossible.

Louise remained silent, as if urging him to simply look.

The drawings weren’t particularly detailed, but they captured each monster’s distinctive features. They weren’t exceptionally well-drawn, but neither were they overly crude. They were sketched quickly and accurately, with simple and efficient strokes.

Each page contained not only a drawing of a monster, but also a small note at the bottom.

[Northeast of Kernstadt, near the border area of Airedan.]

The Emperor tilted his head at the note.

“The location where it was discovered... perhaps.”

If that was true, then these drawings weren’t out of the artist’s imagination or something else; they had been drawn from direct observation.

The Adventurers’ Guild paid out bounties for monster kills, but...

“There’s no reward for sketches instead of monster corpses, is there?” the Emperor asked.

“Generally, that’s true, though there are exceptions,” came the reply.

Exceptions existed, but none involved paying for drawings. These sketches had not been made in expectation of any reward, and there were just too many of them.

Instead of questioning further, the Emperor chose to examine the notebooks more closely.

He handled the worn and dirty notebooks with care. He could sense some immense value in what they contained. He flipped through the remaining pages and then checked other notebooks. As he did so, his expression grew increasingly serious.

He revisited notebooks he had already reviewed, while Louise watched him quietly.

“What is this...”

The monsters depicted in the drawings weren’t identical, but he noted a few that bore striking resemblances to one another, appearing repeatedly throughout the notebooks. Each was set in a different location—northeast of Kernstadt, southeast, even in places separated by thousands of kilometers.

The Emperor slowly pieced together why the original owner of these notebooks had sketched these creatures. With each page he turned, his understanding deepened. By the time he reached the final volumes, a grim expression had settled on his face.

Toward the end, there were sketches of monsters that could only be described as identical, one after another. The locations where they were being found were also eerily close together.

When the Emperor reached the final pages of the notebooks, his eyes widened in surprise.

There were sketches of several small monsters, and accompanying the sketches was a brief note.

Unlike the neat handwriting that filled the earlier pages, this writing was shaky, as if mirroring the writer’s disturbed state of mind.

[Definitely immature specimens.

They were under the protection of a parent.

The monsters are breeding.

This case suggests that this subspecies of monsters discovered so far are not just similar-looking, but actually belong to the same species.

Many monster species likely have already evolved breeding capabilities.

Among the monsters discovered so far, there are 24 species suspected of having breeding capabilities.

In reality, there are likely more.]

The Emperor sat in silence for a while, absorbing the implications of what he had just read.

Louise observed the Emperor’s momentary silence.

“We need to gather everyone,” he finally said.

“Yes,” Louise replied, nodding in agreement.