The vampire viscount fell to one knee and lowered his head. “The territory…” His voice was caught in his throat, almost as though he didn’t know how to reply.

Nighteye’s voice became softer. “Stand up, how come I’ve never seen you before?”

“I’m from a distant branch of Count Klaus’ family, and my bloodline is very mediocre. I was allowed to serve the old count after barely making it to the viscount rank. You were already under the Monroe family by that time, so you probably don’t recognize me.”

“Did something happen for you to come see me?”

“His Excellency wanted me to give you something.”

Nighteye was startled. In truth, she knew without having to ask this person that her small family on Evernight Continent was not in a good state. Edward had captured the old count back then, and the Monroe family wouldn’t clash with the Holy Son for a small side-branch on the Evernight Continent. Who would’ve thought Count Klaus managed to leave something for her?

The viscount said, “You know that… His Excellency was not on good terms with the Perth Clan when he was taken away. He seemed to be expecting it when the men reported that a guest had arrived. He gave me this item and told me to flee through the secret passage, saying that I must give this to you no matter what.”

Nighteye was calm but also earnest in listening.

“I managed to escape, but I never found any concrete information regarding your whereabouts. Later on, I heard you seemed to have gone to human territory. I only dared to seek you out after your official return.”

Nighteye could imagine what had happened back in the castle that was her childhood home. “How many… of our clansmen survived?”

The viscount broke down in tears at this question. “Most of the clan scions died after the lord’s passing. The others were reportedly captured for something called bloodline refinement. Those with impure bloodlines were slaughtered on the spot. They… they wanted to eliminate our entire family!”

Nighteye remained silent for a while. When she spoke again, her voice was as cold as the frigid winds from the poles. “Who else apart from Edward and the Perth clan?”

“There were some experts from the other races as well. Oh, right… I can confirm there were two viscounts from the Dracula clan.”

“The Lightless Monarch?”

The viscount lowered his head in fear. “I’m not sure if His Majesty Medanzo is involved.” The actions of two viscounts couldn’t represent the will of the clan. How could someone of his status dare to point fingers without any proof?

Nighteye nodded. “I understand, I’ll deal with this matter. What about that thing you brought me?”

“It’s here.” The viscount opened his clothes and fished out a wooden box from within his undergarments. He said restlessly, “Your Majesty, I-I had to do this for fear of being robbed.”

“It’s fine, bring it to me.”

The viscount’s hands trembled slightly as he took a couple of steps forward and passed the box to Nighteye.

The square wooden box was about thirty centimeters give or take, covered in intricate patterns and sealed with a special lacquer. It didn’t look like it could hold much.

Nighteye had never seen this kind of sealed box, nor could she remember such an object in the old count’s study. The patterns on the box were origin arrays—their function was unknown, but Nighteye could tell that their origin power fluctuations were fairly weak. This proved that they didn’t have that big of a use.

The old count had found a way to send this item out before calamity befell him. What exactly could be in it?

As Nighteye reached out for the box, the viscount’s hand trembled harder and seemed to activate some kind of mechanism. The box sprang open with a pop and revealed the object inside.

It was actually a book.

Shocked out of his wits, the viscount explained repeatedly, “T-This… Your Majesty, I swear I never opened it.”

Nighteye, on the other hand, remained calm. “It’s fine, perhaps this is Klaus’ wish.”

It was actually a human book, not the thick and elegant style common to vampires. The cover was also empty without a single word upon it. The pages seemed rather thick as well because the entire book was made up of a couple dozen pages.

Nighteye flipped the cover page and came face-to-face with a single word: death!

In the blink of an eye, an indescribable aura erupted from the ancient book. It was like a tall peak, akin to the deep sea, and contained an overbearing aura that could look down on the entire world. The pressure bore down on the entire Castle Ducasse!

Nighteye’s pupils turned red, reflecting the book in the depths of her eyes. The tome flipped open without any strong wind as an old man walked out from its pages, throwing a punch at her from afar.

The Pointer Monarch!

A giant black sickle appeared amidst a burst of blood energy. She planted the weapon into the ground and fell on one knee, firmly blocking the monarch’s attack.

The Pointer Monarch wasn’t moved by this development. His image passed through Nighteye after the punch and vanished without a second glance. Apparently, it was a projection.

Nighteye remained motionless while the monarch’s projection faded away. “Bang!” The sofa she was sitting on exploded, followed by everything else in the living room—all of them were reduced to fine powder.

It wasn’t just the decorations. Even the walls, floor, and ceiling burst open one after the other, the damage spreading throughout the entire castle at an alarming rate. The clash between the Pointer Monarch’s energy and Nighteye’s was too terrifying. Even an ancient castle with a thousand years of history could not withstand it.

Just as the main building was starting to crumble, two powerful blood energies surged out from the third floor to resist the destructive power. Their blood-colored domains were filled with various projections, but they would be destroyed immediately after taking shape. In the end, the terrifying duke-rank powers were only able to protect a small area around them.

The main building soon collapsed in its entirety. After the dust was scattered by the frigid wind, only three pillars remained standing amidst the wreckage. On them were Nighteye and the two dukes respectively.

The two dukes exchanged glances, unable to hide their shock. They arrived beside Nighteye in a single step, saying, “Your Majesty, are you okay?”

Nighteye slowly raised her head. She was deathly pale, and a drop of scarlet blood was trickling down from the corner of her mouth. She tried to support herself up with the sickle, but that bit of exertion reduced a segment of the shaft to fine powder. Nighteye lost her balance and almost fell down again.

The two dukes wanted to help her, but they stopped midway and carefully maintained their distance.

The vampires had always been meticulous and sensitive. If they were to approach recklessly, it might cause some misunderstandings.

Nighteye finally found her footing and stood up. Looking down, she saw that her abdomen had been punctured, and the defect was the same size as the Pointer Monarch’s fist. Her expression didn’t change much after seeing the injury. All she did was tighten her jacket to block the wound.

“Was that… the Pointer Monarch just now?” One of the dukes asked cautiously. At their rank, the only name that could shake them, apart from the sacred mountain supremes, was probably the Pointer Monarch.

“It is him but not the person. Just a projection containing the power of a single attack.”

The two dukes felt relieved but were also filled with lingering fear. The Pointer Monarch’s attack wasn’t so easy to withstand—they might not be able to even stand if the attack just now had landed on them.

“Why would the Pointer Monarch’s projection appear here? Is it that bastard from just now?”

Nighteye replied, “He’s already dead.”

The viscount who had delivered the book was standing at the epicenter of the clash. How could he survive? He was completely pulverized at the moment of impact, not even leaving a corpse behind.

One of the dukes said solemnly, “It seems the humans will do anything to kill you!”

The other duke said, “On the day of your return, the Pointer Monarch and Prince Greensun were there to intercept you. Do they already know something?”

“That’s impossible! Everything related to Her Majesty is the most confidential of information. Even the council chairman does not know more than he should. How could the humans know?”

“Don’t forget that humans have a lot of divination experts. They’re much stronger than us in that regard.”

“Is divination so powerful?”

While the two dukes were talking back and forth, a speck of darkness drifted in from the void and arrived before them. It immediately expanded into boundless darkness, covering the entire ancient castle until even the dukes couldn’t see a single thing.

It wasn’t the darkness that was frightening; it was the terrifying aura within that collapsed all notions of resistance. They fell on one knee and placed their hands to their chest. “Your Majesty Demon King!”

A figure walked out from the depths of the darkness, but no one could see his appearance or attire. He walked over to Nighteye and said, “How are you doing?”

Nighteye replied, “It’s not lethal, but my blood core was injured.”

Surprised, the Demon King said after a pause, “How come? No matter how strong Ji Wentian is, it’s just a projection without any consciousness. This shouldn’t be.”

“They seem to know my weakness very well and used a very targeted method.”

The Demon King sighed. “This is probably related to your experience in the human world before awakening. They must’ve done something to you back then, to be able to find your location and attack your weakness. If someone as arrogant as Ji Wentian is willing to resort to such a method, it would seem their desire to kill you is immovable.”

Nighteye replied calmly, “This is normal. After all, I’m the weakest link in our chain.”

The Demon King shook his head. “No, you’re not the weakest even in your current state. In truth, you’re one of the most difficult to kill. They should not have picked you under normal circumstances. I think there must be a different reason behind this.”