Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix

Meanwhile, in a dark room somewhere in the capital of Silvara.

A group of seven men, all wearing strange masks with numbers on them, sat at the round table with several letters opened on the surface. The same letter Asura received from Verana moments ago in the south.

It was the Queen's cryptic letter, shrouded in secrecy, announcing her unexpected marriage to the nobles.

"Ace, why did the queen do this?" Number Seven asked, his voice trembling with anxiety. His rough and slurred accent, proof of his southern roots, added a layer of tension to his words.

"The queen has lost her foolish son, and now the king seems infatuated with another woman. She is losing her power within the throne." Ace spoke with a confident tone, and his voice sounded like someone who lives in the capital.

"Are you sure, Ace?" The man with the rabbit mask and the number two asked, his accent foreign to Silvara, Adding to the air of ambiguity. "Perhaps the king and the queen are planning this to deal with the current threat in our society. I feel there is more to this than just a power play."

"Oh? Second, you seem quite versed in Silvaran dealings."

"It's my job. I deal with information for a living." Number Two shrugged.

"I disagree with Number Two," Six spoke this time. His accent sounded a bit like Ace's but was lower pitched. "This is just a foolish and desperate move by the royal family. The king couldn't tame a wife and bought one instead. The woman he is with is a distant relative of the queen. Imagine how amusing this information would be for the common folk."

"You say that like it wouldn't be amusing for us."

"If not now, it will be in the future," Six muttered.

"Do any of you want to pursue this for more information?" Ace asked.

No one said a word.

"Now then, onto the next itinerary. What shall we do regarding the wedding?" Ace changed the subject.

"Why are we involved with something that might get us executed?" Seven complained, clearly not liking this side's aim.

"I don't really like this either, but isn't the possibility of luring us out of the shadows the queen's true reason?" A soft, feminine voice sounded from the number five and a sophisticated Drakkur accent.
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"Indeed." Ace agreed. "That thought occurred to me; that's why I arranged this meeting. We have two weeks to learn whether they are targeting our activities or we are just overthinking things."

"Or simply they are doing it for the sake of the kingdom," Five replied. "Don't forget, Ace; all we did was create a route for people to receive an opportunity to escape their suffering. Perhaps the queen sees this as a path for her subjects to have hope for their future. The war in the south seems to have escalated."

"Oh? Do you have information?" Ace's eyes behind his mask narrowed as he leaned back, stroking his chin.

"My family and I just received the news, and if that is true, they will be sending a full army to march south to conquer Romantica to avoid the growing threat from the western port city of Westrin that orcs conquered several days ago."

"We might have time to play." The third spoke for the first time with a Western accent, likely from the coastal cities in Silvara. His words were strangely addictive, and his tone was confident and precise.

"Alright, here is the plan. We will allow this farce to go on and follow through with the wedding as usual. It seems we have two weeks until the queen makes her next move, and our benefactor wants us to give the bride a gift on the day. What do you all think we should do?"

"Kill the groom." Number two insisted.

"Definitely kill the groom." Number three agreed.

"The guards and the knights will kill us," Six mentioned.

"I agree, kill the groom." Five said, her voice revealing a hint of fear.

"If you want my opinion," Seven spoke, sounding hesitant, "then I believe that both the queen and groom should die."

"Isn't that a bit too much, Seven?" Number Two asked, clearly baffled at Seven's suggestion. "You are extreme with your resolve, or is it a grudge?"

"But why?" Ace inquired.

"Isn't the queen being too sly? She can just let her daughter take over—if we kill her, that silly princess, we can manipulate her easily in the council meetings."

"..." Hidden under her mask, number five seemed to smirk at that comment.

"If we kill the queen, then won't her husband want to claim power again? Won't it provoke a civil war within Silvara? Isn't that fun?" Seven proposed.

"Seven has a point," Ace muttered, tapping the table.

"Your Excellency?" Number Two asked. "Wouldn't that contradict our ideology of the betterment of mankind?"

"No, because we are for the betterment of nobles, not mankind." Ace sneered under his mask.

"Ace!" Number two glared at Ace, who could only shrug.

"Let's sleep on this decision and reconvene when we have a consensus," Ace ordered. "Do you understand?"

Everyone nodded.

Their figures vanished like a magic spell, the fluttering of cloaks fading before only number Five remained, a familiar face appearing from beneath the mask. Petra licked her lips as she leaned back in the seat with her lovely pink hair.

"These stupid men, they can't even fill my appetite for one day and speak about such grand things. If only a man like Asura Fenix would fall in love with me, wouldn't he fulfil my life? Tsk, let's fulfil my task for master and go home to tease the newbie."

While Petra imagined a future that would never come, she shrugged her shoulders and left the room—her figure flashing through the capital before setting off over ten messenger ravens, each with a different coded message, but all for the duchess.

"Master seems to plan on joining Asura soon. Will Verena or Verana take over? I wonder..."

****

Meanwhile, in the castle, the king stormed into the private room of the queen, her divine beauty resting against a soft sofa while looking at the man she once trusted most with a sneer.

"Oh, if it isn't my husband, where have you been for so long?" The Queen greeted him sarcastically, her eyes glaring with disdain. "You seem to have grown a sudden liking for that young woman. Could it be that you are interested in making another son? Poor Sereniah, forced to accept your pitiful thing and make children only to see you act in such a shameful way. All for the sake of that girl."

The king didn't respond as he walked closer to her, his brows frowning slightly as he could sense something different with her, a magical fluctuation of tremendous strength. "Queen, what have you done?"

"Me? I can't help it. He's already popped her cherry." She didn't seem to care that her daughter was seeing a man; rather, she felt proud that her daughter chose the one man she would approve of. "I wonder if she's addicted to the pleasures of flesh by now?"

"That man is not suitable for her. Why didn't you stop him? He is the reason our son became a joke!" The king roared in fury.

"Silence, you fool." She seethed, her beautiful face morphing into a grin like a mad demon. "Do you think that pathetic power is something special? Idiot, you tried to use monsters to kill Asura. Then, when your son died, you fused his corpse with a demon. Did you not realise it was YOUR actions that caused this war? Your son escaped and massacred hundreds, thousands of our people!"

"Silence, slut!" He rebuked. "Did you forget how many you killed through your manipulations and deceit, using your allure to get what you wanted? Now you're inviting him to marry our daughter, you witch!"

"Who is your daughter? When did you ever touch my body? Don't dream! Vela is my daughter. Valos was your pathetic spawn!"

Once upon a time, the queen considered marrying this man for real, giving birth to his children if only he could have stood the temptation. Her mother's test was a cruel one, and thus, the king's first time would be with the woman who gave birth to Valos from the curse of her mother's case.

The king could never get another woman pregnant for all his life because of breaking his oath.

A shame the two women were almost identical, except for their aura of power.

"!!!"

"You are free. Spend your life with that woman in peace. Once Vela takes the throne, I will never pursue you or blame you. I hope you both will leave the palace and become happy." The queen's voice became soft for a moment, causing the king to stumble. His anger seemed to simmer before he stepped back.

"Forgive me. That night, I should have been more resolute."

"It's fine. The curse and my mother were cruel to you. That's why I never blamed you for going to her room each night. Make sure you treat her well; she is my family, too."

"..."

The king could say nothing, nor could he utter a single word to excuse his weakness, the damage from the years of feeding his body in secret. "Is this alright?"

"Why not? She's pretty, and you love her, right?"

"I do!"

"That's Good. Vela won't suffer the same fate as I did; she has already connected with her beloved. Now go, she is probably worried. You should prepare to leave, maybe take a trip around Silvara or visit another kingdom. I hear Romantica is good this time of year."

The queen dismissed him without waiting for the king's response.

His face was flushed as he stepped outside, looking at the woman he used to idolise; shaking his head, he vanished.

"Haha, I hope they go to Romantica and die."

The queen never forgot betrayal, especially those who claimed to love her.

"Vela, is your mother wicked?"

She looked at the mirror to the image of the familiar goddess, her old friend, her appearance mingling with hers for a moment before retreating.

"Your son is marrying Vela soon, and I imagined Verena will soon follow. Freya, your plans seem to come true one by one..."

"How frustrating!" The queen swallowed a large glass of wine while lounging on her sofa; she seemed to have a strange friendship with Freyja Fenix.

"War is coming, and you are not here."

While the rain battered the beautiful streets of Silvara's capital, lightning cracked in the distant skies like the wrath of a deity.

On the horizon, a terrifying miasma leaked from the eastern port city of Westrin, their shadowy figures converging in a rally on the sea. The very earth and waters seemed to morph and change like second nature.

These were the monster kingdoms' reinforcements flooding into Romantica by the day.