性瘾者

Viscount Carter and Viscountess Joane Dalton flinched at his cold words.

“Your Majesty, is it really important why my parents decided to take a video of me giving birth to my child?” Juliet asked him hesitantly. “I believe that my parents had to do that because of my situation. I heard that people who lost their memories would eventually retrieve their memories. And there were cases where the most recent memories would disappear once the old memories were retrieved. My parents probably took a video of me giving birth in order for me to remember that moment in case I forget it.”

He didn’t like how Juliet was defending her “parents.”

Seeds of doubt were starting to grow in his heart, after all. And Juliet was the last person he wanted to doubt.

[The person who “died” for me and Mona wouldn’t betray us like this.]

“Viscount and Viscountess Dalton suspected that you were the supposedly dead empress,” Nikolai said indifferently. “And yet, they still took a video of you giving birth. That itself is already a crime, Juliet. No one is allowed to see and touch the body of a monarch without permission.”

.....

Juliet looked afraid for her parents as she reached for the viscount and viscountess’ hands. “Your Majesty, please do not punish my mother and father. They just wanted to ensure that I won’t forget about giving birth to my son.”

That was obviously a lie.

Calyx Dalton was the product of the crows’ experiment.

Obviously, Viscount and Viscountess Dalton had taken a video of Juliet giving birth to Calyx Dalton under the crows’ order.

[I just don’t know how the crows made it look like Juliet was giving birth.]

The video could be fake, though.

“Let’s talk about Viscount and Viscountess Dalton’s punishment later,” Nikolai said indifferently. “For now, I’ll ask the Royal Archmage to see if the video is real or not.

“Before I leave, let me ask you a question, Juliet. Is it okay if I watch the video with the Royal Archmage?” he asked carefully. “I have to see it with my own eyes, so I hope you understand.”

“I came here prepared, Your Majesty,” Juliet said determinedly. “I don’t really care about my own identity because I’m already content with my life. But Calyx doesn’t feel the same. He wants to reclaim his birthright as a prince. So as his mother, I’m willing to do everything to prove my son’s identity.”

[Calyx Dalton is not your son, Juliet. He is not our son. I hate to see you this attached to that bastard.]

That was what he wanted to say, but he had to hold back.

“It’s not that I don’t trust Your Majesty, but I also want to prove my son’s identity to the other nobles,” Juliet insisted in a soft yet determined voice. “Your Majesty, I’m giving you my full consent to allow the necessary people to watch the video as well.”

“We’ll talk about that once I proved that the video is real,” Nikolai said, holding back his urge to grab Juliet by the shoulders and shake her in hopes of snapping her back to reality. He hated the fact that Juliet had to show that video to the other nobles just to prove Calyx Dalton’s identity. “Stay here until we’ve verified the authenticity of the video.”

***

“YOUR MAJESTY, I regret to inform you that the video is real.”

Nikolai felt a thump in his heart after hearing Abigail Barlowe’s report.

Abigail Barlowe was the Royal Archmage, and the head of the Royal Tower. The woman with short blonde hair and blue eyes looked like she was only in her thirties. But she was way, way older than that.

[Archmages live long while looking youthful thanks to magic.]

He summoned the Royal Archmage into his office to check the device handed to him by the Daltons.

The video-recording device that he received from them was a pretty old model. It was a stone tablet the size of a regular paper. The surface was smooth, and it had a transparent glass screen where the moving images were shown.

He watched the video with Abigail Barlowe.

Juliet was modestly covered while giving birth. Thankfully, the video didn’t focus on her private part. Even so, the angle of the video clearly showed that a baby came out of her. He couldn’t watch it properly in order to protect Juliet’s privacy, but Abigail Barlowe confirmed that Juliet wasn’t faking it.

“The device and the video itself weren’t tampered with in any way,” Abigail Barlowe continued with her report. “I cannot confirm if the lady in the video was truly Empress Juliet, but the possibility is high.”

“Did Juliet really give birth in that video?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the Royal Archmage said. “I was there when Your Majesty and the late Princess Nichole were born, and I saw the same bluish light that covered Your Majesty and the late Princess Royal when the baby came out. Calyx Dalton was covered in the same bluish light. That means the video really captured the moment that he was born in this world.”

He let out a frustrated sigh.

Now he knew why the crows were very confident. The evidence in their hands was solid. It wasn’t something that he could easily refute.

“I don’t understand how this could be real,” Nikolai said, his jaw clenched. “Calyx Dalton was two years older than my children.”

A rumor had already spread that Nero had a twin sister, so he was talking about the royal twins more openly now. Moreover, their family already decided to add Neoma to the Royal Household Registry soon. Thus, he wouldn’t hide his daughter anymore.

“Juliet is already gone two years before the twins’ birth,” he said while washing his face with his hands.

And Juliet died while they were trying to free the Soul Beasts.

In order to help him and Mona escape the “cage,” Juliet had to sacrifice herself. In the end, she was locked up in the cage. No living could survive in that dimension, so the moment that the door closed, he knew that Juliet already died then.

“Your Majesty, it’s true that Empress Juliet was declared dead after that unfortunate incident,” Abigail Barlowe said. “But didn’t Empress Juliet’s body appear a few months before Prince Nero and Princess Neoma were born?”

He froze when he remembered what happened in the past.

Along with that, he was also reminded of his conversation with Nero a few years ago. That cunning son of his found out the truth about Juliet’s death back then.

[“Are Neoma and I really twins?”]

[“You know that the late empress died before you and Neoma were born, don’t you?”]

[“No, the empress disappeared a few years before we were born. Her body was found just a few months before our birth.”]

He didn’t give Nero a direct answer back then.

But his son was right.

During the time that Mona had completely hidden herself away from him after running away with Gavin Quinzel, he had searched for her using unconventional ways. One of those was opening different dimensions with the help of his Soul Beasts. Since Mona was a Roseheart, she was capable of living in dimensions where living humans weren’t allowed.

Back then, he accidentally opened the dimension where the souls of the old emperors lived while guarding the cage of the Soul Beasts.

There, he found Juliet’s lifeless body.

When he was kicked out of the cage, Juliet was thrown away with him.

[Her body was preserved, but it was definitely lifeless.]

But since the real cause of the late empress was hidden, only he and a few close friends and family members knew that Juliet’s body was finally returned to the living world. After that, they quietly buried her body in the Royal Shrine.

“I know what you’re thinking, Abigail Barlowe,” he said while shaking his head. “But Juliet’s “dead” body was stuck in the cage where the souls of the dead emperors dwell. It’s a place that not even the crows could reach.”

“Ah, Your Majesty is right,” Abigal Barlowe said while nodding her head. “If Your Majesty allows it, I can check up on Empress Juliet to see if her body was modified in any way.”

“We’ll have to ask Juliet’s consent for that. It’s her body, after all,” Nikolaid said firmly. “For now, I want you to modify the video before we show it to the other nobles in order to protect Juliet’s privacy.”

***

“WHAT did you do to Kyle Sprouse?”

Nero rolled his eyes at Lewis. “Will it kill you if you spoke politely to me, Lewis Crevan?”

“Yeah,” Lewis said bluntly. “What did you do to Kyle Sprouse?”

Right now, the two of them were climbing up the staircase on their way out of the basement prison where Kyle Sprouse was imprisoned.

Raven was in the palace, so today must be the day the crows would help Kyle Sprouse escape. Thus, he decided to visit the count and give him a little “souvenir.” He couldn’t kill Kyle Sprouse yet, but he could slowly punish him for hurting his family.

“Why are you asking me that when you saw everything anyway?” he asked Lewis with knitted eyebrows. “I only talked to him.”

“You whispered something in his ear.”

“So?”

“Kyle Sprouse looked strange after that,” Lewis said. “I know you did something else other than to whisper in his ear.”

Ah, as expected of the person who could tell him and Neoma apart (during their disguise) at one glance.

Lewis noticed that something changed in Kyle Sprouse after he whispered in his ear.

“Do you know that de Moonasterios are rewarded by a new power or ability once they overcome their Lunacy?” he asked Lewis, smirking. “I heard Neoma opened a Hellgate during her time.”

“What did you get then?”

“Why are you so interested in the new ability that I gained?” he asked curiously. “It’s not like you to care about something that has nothing to do with Neoma.”

“Because your new ability gave me shivers,” the fox boy said bluntly, his golden eyes glowed warily. “The new ability that you gained is as pure as a divine power from the Moon could get. But at the same time, it’s also full of malice. If you use that on Princess Neoma-”

“Why would I use it on Neoma?”

“That new power that you gained seems to have a life of its own,” Lewis said in a low growl. “And I don’t think it’s capable of telling allies and enemies apart. It’s too dangerous. I don’t want it near Princess Neoma.”

“It’s only because I haven’t controlled it yet. Thus, I’m using Kyle Sprouse as a guniea pig,” Nero said defensively, his eyes glowing red menacingly since Lewis’ aura was getting hostile. “I’ll take full control of my new ability soon, so don’t think about telling Neoma about this if you don’t want to get stuck with me forever.”

***

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