Lu Xiyan slept until dawn.
Finally, he heard the sound of Wade getting dressed and leaving the room. Before leaving, Wade ordered people to lock the doors and windows leading to the outside world. The moment the door closed, Lucian finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He turned over.
The emperor's bedroom was large, with luxurious but low-key decoration. Lucian walked in the room, tapping his fingers lightly on the paintings and lamps - of course not for appreciation.
But it was to find the secret passage that was said to be located in the emperor's bedroom.
It is said that these secret passages were dug when the castle was built, and the craftsmen who knew about it were killed after the castle was built. Only the king of each generation (now the emperor) knows the opening location and destination of these secret passages.
However, Lucian did not hold out much hope for finding these secret passages, not to mention that even if there were secret passages, he could not confirm the direction they led to. It was just better than nothing.
He explored the lamps and paintings but could not find any traces. Before he could continue his search, he heard the door open.
Lucian quickly lay back on the sofa and pretended to be in a daze. Then, he saw the maids come in, all with their heads down, and put him back on the wheelchair.
Lucian: …
Where are they taking him
The maids were silent, so Lucian was pushed by them in one direction. Along the way, the guards Lucian saw became more and more majestic. They looked straight ahead and ignored Lucian's arrival.
Finally, Lucian saw the room he had arrived at.
That was the study where Wade handled government affairs.
Lucian:
The study room is divided into an outer room for receiving guests and an inner room for handling government affairs and reading documents. The maid placed Lucian on a sofa in the inner room and covered him with a duvet, then...
Vader walked in.
The young man was still wearing his dark uniform. He glanced gloomily at the white-haired succubus curled up on the sofa in the study, then sat down at the desk.
Lucian was on the left side of his desk, where he could be seen at any time. If Wade wanted to, he could just stand up and take a step to pick Lucian up.
The maids left one by one, and only Wade and Lucian were left in the inner room. Seeing Wade had already started flipping through the book, Lucian's tingling scalp finally relaxed.
But there was still a question lingering in his mind.
What on earth had Vader brought him here for
But he waited for a whole morning, and Wade did nothing to him. The black-haired young man just flipped the pages of the book casually. Although Lucian was right next to him, he never looked at him from beginning to end.
Even so, Lucian was too close to Wade—too close for him to take the opportunity to observe the study. After performing attentively for half an hour, Lucian finally began to feel sleepy again.
His head moved little by little, and finally he fell on the sofa and fell asleep.
He didn't know that Vader, who had been reading, didn't put down the book until he fell asleep.
And looked at him in his sleep.
In his dream, he faintly heard someone coming outside - it seemed that they came for the matter of the Duke of Rhine yesterday. After hearing the footsteps of Wade going outside, Lucian opened his eyes.
And start observing the interior.
The outside conversation continues.
"Your Majesty," Lucian recognized the voice of Grand Duke Murphy, who was known for his fairness. This man in his thirties was described as elegant and had a great reputation among both the nobles and the common people. But now, his voice revealed a hint of humility and caution, "Regarding the matter of the Duke of Rhine..."
He spoke at length, asking Wade to return the Duke of Rhine's body to the Rhine family. As if he was afraid of causing Wade's dissatisfaction, his words were low and gentle.
Finally, he said: "You are the emperor of the kingdom now, you should..."
"Emperor? If I remember correctly, it was you nobles who begged me and my army to stay in the kingdom to deter the demons." Lucian heard Wade's casual voice, "Put yourself in the right position, Lord Murphy."
Murphy's voice seemed to be strangled in his throat. Finally, he lowered his head and said, "I will obey your will."
The conversation between the two ended here. Before humbly retreating, Grand Duke Murphy thought that Vader was really... out of control.
He possessed extremely powerful strength, an immortal recovery ability, and a terrifying army of undead. He defeated the demons by himself and spread his reputation as the "Hero King" to all human cities. In addition, he also had the full support of his family, the Cecil family, and several other families, including the famous Hall family and the Lester family. But obviously, he didn't take these families seriously.
Grand Duke Murphy had thought of using Vader's family to "control" him, but Vader didn't care about the life and death of his family. The incident that drove him out of the royal city seemed to have completely changed Vader's mind, leaving him with nothing to care about. Even the throne seemed to be something he had just casually accepted on a journey where he didn't know where he was going.
An enemy without any scruples is the most terrible enemy. This made Grand Duke Murphy very uneasy.
He wanted to find something that could hold Wade back. A dark light flashed in Grand Duke Murphy's eyes.
Money, power, beauty... He had tried to offer these, but to no avail.
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, the scene inside the study made his eyes pause for a moment. Wade did not close the door when he left the inner room, so from Grand Duke Murphy's perspective, he could see the desk in the inner room, and...
There seemed to be someone lying on the sofa
From Grand Duke Murphy's perspective, he could only see that the man seemed to be wrapped in a blanket, curled up on the sofa. Two slender white legs stretched out from the blanket, and his long silver hair was faintly exposed.
The man appeared to be under a blanket, wearing only a light nightgown.
Even though there was only a vague outline, you could tell that person was indeed a beauty.
While Vader was handling government affairs... he wrapped a beauty in a blanket and placed her on the sofa next to him
Is it for the sake of “convenience”
No, that's not the point, the point is...
Grand Duke Murphy said goodbye to Wade in a hurry. Before returning home, he was thoughtful all the way, tapping his chin with his fingers.
He seemed to have found... something that could hold Vader back.
He was trying to figure out the identity of that person. Recently, there had been no news from any family that any young lady or young master had been chosen by Wade. The strange beauty in the study was probably brought back by Wade from the folk.
Since it is impossible to start with Wade, then we have to find a way to start with his "new favorite". Wade doesn't care about his family, doesn't care about the assassination of others... But what about that beauty
That beauty might not be asking for nothing. Moreover, Wade even kept her by his side when he was reading in the study, so he must have doted on this beauty very much.
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Grand Duke Murphy's lips.
After returning to the Grand Duke's Palace, Grand Duke Murphy instructed his staff to find out the identity of the beauty.
After the staff left, Grand Duke Murphy leaned his head back in his chair and sighed.
"The situation is so bad now." He said to himself, "Since the day Wade came back, everything has been a mess. If there is still someone who can hold him back..."
A name flashed through his mind.
Lucien Cissell.
The adopted son of the Cecil family, the nominal adopted cousin of Vader, and the former Holy Son of the Church of Light. In front of him, even the most hard-hearted ascetics would bow their heads to his smile. When he had just entered the sanctuary and practiced for only one month, the holy arts he mastered were enough to restore the sight of a civilian old man who had been blind for many years.
When Vader was his guardian knight, the two of them were known as the "twins of the kingdom", and the Cecil family that nurtured this pair of stars also shone brightly. When Vader was expelled for "believing in the fallen angels", he and Vader were simply the two ends of light and darkness. The dark was the shame of the Cecil family, the stubborn Vader, and the light was Vader's cousin, the holy and kind Son of God Lucian.
But now, this name has been nailed to the stake because of his actions. Allowing a half-succubus to be the son of a human for more than ten years is a great shame for the entire human race. The balance of light and darkness has been cleverly reversed again. The nobles once admired Lucian, but now they feel ashamed and angry for being deceived. Of course, there are also people like Bright who believe in Lucian and doubt Wade, but they are only a minority.
But no matter how much they hated or loved him, Lucian was already dead—died at the hands of Vader, which was known to the entire kingdom and even the entire history. The entire Cecil family immediately turned to Vader, who had been let down by them, and burned Lucian's name from the family tree. This was the end of the story.
Thinking of this, Grand Duke Murphy actually felt a little regretful. He still remembered Lucian's bright expression when he sang, and he also remembered the scene where he saw the vengeful Vader wearing black armor walk into the court and brutally kill one of his enemies. No one knew what happened in the temple that day, but Lucian's end could only be more miserable than that enemy.
Duke Murphy shuddered and stopped himself from imagining Lucian's fate.
He pulled out an exquisitely framed invitation from an envelope - the invitation was from the Cecil family, inviting him to a ball.
This ball was initiated by the Cecil family, who invited all the nobles and celebrities in the royal city, but their real target was Vader. They wanted to use this ball to congratulate Vader on his ascension to the throne and show everyone the "repaired" relationship between the family and Vader. Whether it was Lucian or Vader, the Cecil family would never die.
Even all the nobles who knew the inside story could feel that Vader didn't care about his family.
Grand Duke Murphy stared at the invitation and suddenly remembered the first time he met Vader. At that time, Vader was still a gloomy and arrogant boy. Some people whispered at the banquet that he was the illegitimate son who was recently found by Duke Cecil.
"He has a very strange personality, nothing like little Lucian." A noble lady said disdainfully, "After all, one was raised at home, and the other was picked up from the slums. I mean, family education is very important."
"But he is the only heir of Duke Cecil, and Lucian is just the adopted son of Duke Cecil's elder brother who died young." Another person shrugged and said, "Of course, if he hadn't come back, Lucian might have been the heir of the Cecil family. After all, we all know how much he dotes on this child, even his collateral descendants can't compare to him. But Wade is his biological son after all."
The noblewoman who spoke first chuckled and covered her mouth with a feather fan. "It seems that the two brothers will have a tough battle for this great family property when they grow up."
"Little Wade feels very lucky, right? He was supposed to be a civilian or mercenary for his whole life, but suddenly he has the opportunity to inherit a huge inheritance. I dare say those guys in the alleys who used to play with him envy his good luck..."
Grand Duke Murphy politely brushed past everyone. He needed information, but he didn't like such trivial gossip. When he passed by the corridor, he saw the "Little Wade" mentioned by the ladies. The black-haired boy stood in the corner, isolated from the world, but silently watching something.
He followed the boy's gaze and saw Duke Cecil and Lucian standing on the other side. The green-eyed boy was holding his adoptive father's arm and acting like a spoiled child, spoiled but cute.
Duke Murphy looked at Wade, and he vaguely saw ambition in the boy's eyes.
… Perhaps from that time on, the fate of the two men killing each other was already determined, Grand Duke Murphy thought.
Therefore, Lucian was brutally murdered. The root cause of his murder was his ambition to be an adopted son.
But he also regretted that when he was a child, Wade still had ambitions for the family in his eyes, but now he seemed to have completely lost any expectations for the family.
It's terrible how a person can change so much.
And then there is the Rhine family... No matter what, the people in the royal city now have to rely on Vader to deter those restless demons. I hope the people of the Rhine family don't get too carried away. There are several people who are planning to take over the dirty industries left by Duke Rhine. I hope they won't get into a fight. Hmm... If necessary, he doesn't mind maintaining order among them and taking a share of the spoils...
In order to safeguard his own interests and maintain the "peace" of the royal city, Grand Duke Murphy has a lot to think about.
The life of a "high aristocrat" like him is so boring, ordinary and tasteless.
He washed up and went back to bed, hoping that he could find out the identity of the "pet" within a week. When he closed his eyes, he seemed to see the boy Wade's eyes again - eyes with the ambition to take away and inherit something.
He kept thinking about the scene, and suddenly, cold sweat broke out on his back.
He suddenly remembered what direction Vader was looking at at that time.
The person he was staring at was not Archduke Sissel, but...
Lucian!