The Vampire Prince's Toxic Consort (BL)
Chapter 31 In to The Game

The old chapel was tucked away by luxuriating rosy rhododendrons and a splendid purple cloud of wisteria. Lucius had to push aside the numerous tresses loaded with purple flowers to replace the moss-dappled path.

It was a beautiful ancient Persian-style chapel that King Cosmo built for his wife, Queen Mitra Aslani, and it had been abandoned and slowly withered away in silence since the Queen and Dorian were exiled. The fresh green moss surreptitiously climbed up the once flamboyant and delicate geometrical patterns on the wall, and the elegant turquoise dome was mottled by the sun, rain, and snow. Yet it still possesses a desolated, melancholy beauty.

The chapel was dedicated to Queen Mitra’s Elder, Asmodian the Serpent. And as the Aslani family lost power and position in Eternia with the queen, the Elder also lost many worshipers. However, many vampires believed that Asmodian was the most fearful Elder. One of the most revered and trustworthy vampire prophet’s last prophecies, before she committed suicide in fear, was that one day, Asmodian would unleash hell on earth and revenge everyone who believed in God or who didn’t believe in him. And by then, the world would be burning in hellfire, and none, be it vampires, humans, or werewolves, could escape the impending doom.

Lucius found the door nestled under an arch was ajar, and he knew Dorian was inside. He gingerly stepped in. The hallway wasn’t long, and the dim light of candles revealed a statue erected under the dome. It was a beautiful, smiling man shrouded in a black cloak, and yet behind him was a thousand withering snakes, their head pointing into all directions as if a blooming chrysanthemum, and their ruby eyes glistened in the dancing flame.

That was Asmodian, the Serpent and one of the seven devils, the greatest seducer of believers, and the king of demons, jinn, and all degenerate souls.

The image of the Elder gave Lucius an eerily familiar feeling, and it chilled him to the bone. He shuddered, seized by acute fear, and couldn’t take another step for a while. No other Elder’s image ever gave him such a feeling.

Dorian was kneeling before the statue and smelled Lucius’s blood before the latter even entered the chapel. He said without turning around, “how did you replace me?”

“Duke Darius.”

“Ah.” He remarked curtly.

Lucius tentatively took a few more steps and stood beside Dorian, but before he could say anything, Dorian opened his lips again, “it is strange that my mother belongs to Asmodian’s purest bloodline. Her heart is too gentle to inherit such dark blood. And maybe that is why she didn’t pass any of her gifts to me.”

“Did she come here often?” Lucius asked.

“Yes. This is the only place in the citadel she could worship her Elder. She took me here every Thursday, and I often watched her sacrifice goats to him. I told her that other people sacrificed human slaves to their Elders, but she told me that the sacrifice was only symbolic, so killing a soul for it was too excessive.”

“She sounded nicer than most of the humans I knew,” Lucius remarked.

“And yet, she died at the hands of humans anyway.” Dorian scoffed.

Lucius kneeled next to him, and after a short while of silence, he inquired quietly, “why did you disobey your father when he asked you to divorce me?”

Dorian glanced at him, slightly surprised and irked, “did Darius tell you that?”

“No. He didn’t. But I have my own way.“Lucius considered it for a moment and decided to divulge a bit more. Considering their situation, they needed to trust each other more, “there are slaves everywhere in the Citadel. They move quietly in the tunnels between walls and floors, and they often see and hear a lot more than the guards and slave masters believed. And, as you can imagine, they believe I am their savior.”

Dorian studied him as if looking at him in a new light, and a new understanding quickly formed in his head, “and Buck can be the liaison between you and all human slaves.”

Lucius nodded, “that is one of the major reasons I took him in. I needed someone loyal to me. Someone strong and charismatic enough to be the leader among all human slaves in the citadel.”

Dorian had always known that Lucius was different from Julian in many ways, but after almost half a year, he realized he still knew very little about his consort and perhaps had greatly underestimated him.

“Why did you choose me over the Royal Army?” Lucius examined Dorian’s expression closely and added with a hint of playfulness, “I assume it was not because you love me too much.”

Dorian scoffed, wasn’t sure how he should feel about this new revelation about how calculating Lucius could be. He said, “my father is not a good king. He is a headstrong warmonger who only cares about his ambition and legacy and disregards his country’s reality. Eternia has been at war for almost a decade. He is overdrawing our economy and strength to fulfill his vanity. Now he wants to restart the war with Anthor to unify all Eleth. I cannot condone such foolishness anymore.”

Lucius was exceptionally calm as he heard the King wanted to break the peace treaty, “but now your brother gets what he and his mother had always wanted. I suppose he won’t hesitate to do your father’s bidding.”

“He may have the name of the High Commander, but he doesn’t have the soldiers’ respect and loyalty. You have to earn those in battles.”

Lucius nodded and asked, “so, what’s our plan?”

“Our plan?”

“Surely you don’t want to lose your position. You’ve sacrificed too much for it. And I don’t want my country to suffer from war. I can help you.” Lucius put a hand on Dorian’s shoulder and said earnestly.

Dorian regarded him with an unreadable expression, “are you asking me to trust you?”

“Yes. I’ve proven that I trust you with my life when I breathe underwater, haven’t I? Now it’s your turn.” Lucius said solemnly, “I know you want to avenge your mother, even though you act like a filial son to your father. And I know you have been waiting for a chance. Now, your father is sick and weak, and Lady Devina has been whispering slanderous words against you in his ear. The King has had his suspicion about your loyalty. You must act fast before he decides to get rid of you completely.”

“What you just said is enough to get yourself executed.”

“But I’m talking to you, and it’s just us. So can you please stop putting on your enigmatic facade and just talk to me?“Lucius was getting irked, “we are in the same boat. I am not your enemy!”

Dorian contemplated everything Lucius had just said, and after a while, he stood up and looked at the enticing smile on Asmodian’s face.

“Of the four generals in the Royal Army, I am confident General Howell is loyal to me regardless of the King’s order. But unfortunately, the strongest general is Marquis Keaton, and you already met his son.”

No wonder why that brat Earl Keaton screamed, “do you know who I am” when Lucius ordered him to be whipped...Lucius cursed under his breath and grimaced, “sorry...”

“It’s ok. Everyone knows Marquis Keaton ingratiates himself to Devina like a dog. But to this end, gaining full control over the Royal Army is hard without another strong general’s support. And should I decide to take Emberton by force, everything needs to move lighting-fast. I won’t have time to summon Durchville and the Werewolves’ reinforcements, and Mahnound’s mainforce is also not here. The Royal Army is my best bet.”

“So we have to replace another General as strong as Keaton. Do you have someone in mind?”

Dorian nodded slightly, “Lord Kurt Osman. His attitude is always ambiguous as he is a tacit man. Though he had served my father for almost a century, and no one doubted his loyalty.”

“But you think he can be persuaded?”

“Perhaps. His son died in the war against Utharia, which almost broke him. Though he didn’t utter a single word against my father because of it, since I know the pain he went through so well, I know he is not as solid as he appears to be. ”

Lucius heard about Lord Osman and saw him once at his wedding banquet. It was a big, burly vampire with a severe look, and he didn’t remember the vampire ever smiling at anyone.

“So this Lord Osman, does he have any weakness? Like excessive drinking, gambling, drug addiction, that sort of thing.”

Dorian snorted, “he doesn’t even mix blood with wine. When I was younger, Silvan and I often joked that he had a giant broomstick up in his ass.”

Lucius chuckled and said, “alright, but he must have some weakness. Or maybe there is something that triggers him? Something he cares a lot about.”

Dorian hesitatingly said, “Well, the only weakness he has is probably his daughter Emel, as she is his only child now.”

“Emel, I think I saw her once in Devina’s chamber. She seems like a lovely girl, just passed her majority last year and will have her debutante ball soon. Perhaps I can try to befriend her.”

Dorian shook his head, “now is not a good time to make any obvious move. I just lost the Royal Army, and everyone is waiting for me to show signs of disgruntlement. If they see me still trying to maintain a relationship with the eldest general of the Royal Army, the gossip will ensue, and Devina will use it against me. For the next several weeks, we need to be very careful and appear as harmless and dissolute as possible and give them no excuse to incriminate us.”

Lucius found himself liking the word “us,” especially when it came from Dorian.

The crown prince then continued, “However, it is a good idea for you to attend more engagements and show yourself more frequently in front of the public. I will take you to tomorrow’s opera premiere, next week’s college speech, and the Gala at Euthania Gallery.”

“So, play dumb and harmless. Basically business as usual for me.” Lucius smirked.

For the next few weeks, Lucius often found himself making appearances on various major media after his several attendances at diplomatic events with Dorian. People talked about his demeanor, how he dressed, and how he smiled and spoke in great detail. Some comments were positive, while others were rather trashy and mean.

Lucius then, to the whole court’s shock, opened a personal account on Vibe, a major social network app for people to share photos, reels, short videos and even chat with each other. He posted on it occasionally about his breakfast, how he liked his coffee, the beautiful sceneries he saw, some jogging or workout videos, and even his praying scene, in which a streak of sunlight lit up his contour, giving him an ethereal aura. Some of those photos were taken by professional photographers that one of Dorian’s advisors found him, and many of the seemingly artless, leisure posts were carefully designed with the advice of a team to create an appealing image.

Within a day, he got millions of followers. Apparently, most vampires in Eternia were deadly curious about the mystic royal family routines, not to mention the life of the first human Crown Prince Consort. His popularity among the general public was boosted phenomenally, and the effect even spread to the aristocratic society among the younger generation. He started to receive more invitations from other royal families, though he only carefully selected some of them to attend and brought many bodyguards, claiming that it was for safety concerns while making his presence more desired and precious, almost like a gift.

Lucius never realized that he was rather good at this game of manipulating people’s opinion about him.

And then, a month later, he received an invitation to Lady Emel Osman’s debutante ball.