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Chapter 310: 163. The Ariana Family -1 (Part Two)

Translated by A Passing Wanderer

Edited by RED

In the end, Emperor Kelt had failed to chase the fleeing Vampire King down.

That enraged the old man greatly, and he proceeded to imprison all the surviving vampires down in the underground labyrinth to, uh, indulge in his favourite pastime for the past few days.

We got our hands on a Duke-class this time, too, so he probably was trying out all sorts of experiments on that poor vampire by now.

I was deeply curious about why that vampire named Kirum was trying to rescue Ruppel in the first place. What was he trying to achieve by saving the Second Imperial Prince, who was already at death’s doorstep?

There was one other point that left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth too, and that was the Duke-class vampire’s reactions.

{Just what have you done to him?! That, that was practically the same thing as contradicting your own gods, the one you claim to care so much about! Just what kind of experiments did you even...!}

That guy was roaring at the top of his lungs.

I couldn’t tell whether this guy had misplaced a few of his screws after drinking too much holy water, or he just wanted to reject his current reality.

I had been to the underground labyrinth a few times before, but I had never tried to check out Ruppel’s situation on my own.

“Hey, Hans?” Hans was perusing documents, and looked away from them to stare at me. I narrowed my eyes and asked him, “Just what did you do to Second Imperial Prince Ruppel?”

He flinched a little, then his eyes darted around urgently. His expression showed how troubled he was right now. “Ah, that, well... H-His Imperial Majesty said it was simply an experiment, sire.”

“Simply an experiment? What kind?”

“Using the blood of the Imperial Family to, uh...”

“Okay? Using it for what?”

“...”

The more I questioned him, the deeper Hans shrunk back.

Judging from his irises trembling like that, he seemed to be hesitating about something here.

Even I could tell that the Holy Emperor had done something other than pure torture to Ruppel. Knowing that only made me much more suspicious.

I glared at Hans and pressured him through this weighty silence, but other than breaking out in buckets of cold sweat, he didn’t say anything.

This punk, he seemed to have learned how to keep his mouth shut after becoming a Count recently.

It was right then that knocks on the door broke the silence.

Charlotte opened the office’s door and found a Paladin there; I could see him whispering something into her ear.

She blinked her eyes a few times at the report, before her brows shot up in surprise.

She quickly walked up to me and quietly informed me of the news. “Your Majesty. The members of the House Ariana seem to have arrived in the Imperial Palace.”

“...House Ariana?”

“Yes. It’s one of the blood descendants of the royal family of the Kingdom of Frants. The head of the Duke House, Duchess Runan Ariana, has arrived in the palace, sire.”

“...Ah, now I remember.”

Harman had handed over a list of the Imperial Family tree to me in the past, and that name was on it. She was Hilda’s mother, the younger sister of Zayner Frants, the current King of Frants, and the third wife of the Crown Imperial Prince, White Olfolse.

I couldn’t help but be taken aback.

This vampire incident must’ve been a huge deal, that’s for sure.

“To think that a lady who didn’t even bother to show up for the execution of the Third Imperial Prince or the coronation of the Holy King decided to come for this one.”

From what I could remember hearing, the Third Imperial Princess Consort was an extremely strong-willed individual, who could become unhealthily obsessed over something.

She was apparently very close to my own mother, Yulisia the First Imperial Princess Consort, even treating her like a real sister. On the other hand, she was practically a hated rival to the Second Imperial Princess Consort, Rose Darina.

She also deeply hated Rose’s son, Ruppel, and the rumour also said that she was less than keen to associate herself with me, who had acted like a damn mangnani and dragged Yulisia’s good name through the mud.

“No, that’s not true, Your Majesty. Rather, it’s more like she’s unable to leave the kingdom on her personal authority,” said Charlotte. When I stared back at her, she lightly scratched her cheek and continued on, “The area where the vampires have been most active in our continent has always been the Kingdom of Frants, sire. And that’s why she...”

Charlotte blurred the end of her sentence.

I tilted my head a little.

“...She has been personally conducting the vampire hunt, and that duty has kept her incredibly busy until now, sire. At least that’s to my knowledge.”

After hearing her brief explanation, my thoughts began wandering a bit.

These vampires. Weren’t they more like a bunch of pitiful bastards who couldn’t call any place home?

“Even though she’s not one of the Imperial Family?” I asked back.

“Although the territory of the Kingdom of Frants territory is small, they are renowned as the second most active vampire hunting nation, sire. In actual reality, they have three times more vampire incidents, compared to the Empire.”

“...”

“That’s why, according to my knowledge, His Imperial Majesty the Holy Emperor went ahead with the political marriage, believing that she was quite a good fit as an Imperial Princess Consort. The report I received says that she came to Laurensis this time to provide military assistance.”

I interlocked my fingers and leaned back against the chair. “Meaning, she’s just like my older sister, Hilda. A tough, powerful lady, in other words.”

As she was literally a famous hero, she probably came here to command the troops and help beat the vampire menace back.

Well, as expected of Hilda’s mother.

I got up from the chair. “...I guess I better keep a low profile for a while.”

There was no doubt in my mind that Runan Ariana the Third Imperial Princess Consort and I were not compatible. Like, not at all.

Even if my public reputation had improved a great deal of late, a person’s emotions weren’t all that easy to change, after all.

“Sire, well... I think it’s already too late for that.” Charlotte sighed softly, then pointed towards the office’s doorway. That’s when I noticed a certain young woman peeking her head a little into the office and waving her hand at me.

“...Eh? Is that First Sister Hilda?”

That was the first thought popping up in my head after looking at the woman’s face. But then, I realised they were different.

From the vibe she gave off, and even to her expressions...

In a distinctively contrasting manner to Hilda, this woman’s expression was quite lively with a hint of mischievousness, while her overall vibe came across as rather gentle and easy-going.

“Hi, Allen. It sure has been a while!”

The young woman stepped into the office without waiting for my permission.

I urgently used my [Mind’s Eye] to confirm her name, then called out to her, “Seran?”

She was the daughter of Crown Imperial Prince White, and also my older sister, Seran Ariana.

“I came with Marvel and Marcel to pay you a visit, Allen!” The young woman, Seran, looked behind her. That was when I saw a pair of twins standing beyond the open doorway.

No matter how I looked, they looked like teenagers no more than fourteen or fifteen years of age.

Their names were Marvel Ariana and Marcel Ariana.

The twin brothers were shooting very sharp glares in my direction, all the while looking way too uncomfortable right now, too.

Hang on a minute, they were my older brothers? Really?

Even though their surname was Ariana, they were still seen as the Second Imperial Princess, and the Fourth and the Fifth Imperial Princes of the Theocratic Empire.

“Can we chat for a little while?”

When Seran said that with a carefree smile on her face, I ended up holding my forehead.

**

Meanwhile...

Harman and a company of Paladins were currently pursuing the escaped Second Imperial Prince, Ruppel.

They reached the coordinates from the damaged warp magic circle that Hans had reconstructed. It was in the middle of a forest quite a distance away from Laurensis.

Harman bent down and picked up a burnt torch. Another Paladin was running his hand on the nearby grass. “Sir. There are traces of wild animals. There are also some faint but definite bloodstains here, as well.”

“Either he got devoured by the animals, or someone picked him up. Is that it?” After saying that, Harman looked around. He could see an unpaved road not too far from their position.

That path was infrequently used by people, due to many ferocious wild beasts appearing in this location. Most travellers tried to avoid using this road in the past. However, there were two important things to consider for this road: one, it was fairly close to the capital, and two, the recent war against the vampires caused considerable confusion and chaos, prompting many travellers and even refugees to use it to flee.

‘It’s not possible for the Second Imperial Prince to escape from here all by himself.’

From what Harman heard, Ruppel’s mind was so damaged that he couldn’t have possibly moved on his own volition, not to mention the extensive damage to his physical body, as well.

Which meant that either vampires, or some other travellers, took him away.

Harman massaged his forehead before groaning under his breath. “This is going to get real troublesome, trying to track him down.”

In all honesty, he might as well come out and say that there was no real way to track him down in the first place.

“What should we do now, sir?” the Paladin asked him.

Harman groaned again. “Call the Verdant Cross. We shall do our best to pursue our quarry. Thoroughly analyse and investigate everyone who might have travelled on the road over there in the last ten days. Also, uncover anyone who might have travelled past the nearby villages in that time frame, as well.”

He locked his gaze on the withered, burnt torch.

“We must track Ruppel down no matter what it takes.”

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