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Archdemon Empress Luna

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"We had kept our secrets heavily so that no enemies could outsmart us," Apollyon said.

Luna gave the Shadow King a sideways glance.

As Luna leaned closer to her husband, Luna's voice lowered to a whisper, "I have no idea that King Zephyr had powerful tricks up his sleeve."

King Zephyr replied. "I want my Shadow Kingdom to be in peace."

Noticing that he didn't want her attention on any other men the moment she arrived in this Realm, Luna blinked without leaving her gaze from Apollyon.

She wanted to honour his husband's wishes.

Anyway, Luna had prayed that the Shadow King didn't have sensitive hearing, but here he was, addressing her statement.

"Helping the Faerie Prince of the Spring Courts and the Vampire King through this was also a way of clearing the name of the Shadowkind."King Zephyr told her in a surprisingly gentle voice, "Other Fae might see us as mysterious, strange, and secretive. Those qualities would make other creatures wary of us, but our kind just wanted to be differentiated from other Faeries. Establish our own Kingdom."

"We didn't mean any harm." He shrugged and the shadow-like gesture of his robes dancing with every movement. "The Shadow kind was mostly reclusive, and we desired to be left into our own devices."

Turning her head towards him, Luna curtsied in her sky blue dress with a Bardot neckline with ruffles made of lace. "Thank you for your aid, King Zephyr."

For the first time, Luna had noticed something else in this unfamiliar room aside from the sticky brownish stains of blood on her feet, the scent of rust, and the pale, bluish corpses with sharp, pointy horns on their head and Archdemon runes on their skin.

These demonic fairies were all drained of their life essence.

All of them gathered on the floor, tied into chains.

Luna's stomach almost revolted.

Luna was slightly relieved that all of them had their eyes closed because she didn't want to look at their corpses for too long.

Her eyes never stayed on a single face for recognition to imprint it in her memory forever.

The room was large, with low ceilings and no visible windows.

There was old furniture clustered at the right corner covered in linen cloth.

The smell of dust, the papery smell of old books and fabrics which had started to decay, tickled her nose, making her sneeze.

Luna deduced that this room was some basement or storage area for old royal paintings, sculptures, artworks, masks, weapons, and other historical pieces Luna hadn't seen before.

She fixed her stare at Apollyon, King Zephyr, Prince Aspen, and Cederic, then returned her gaze to the corpses.

Sighing, Luna shook her head in regret.

She will never learn how to adjust to the kind of creatures she had surrounded herself in.

Even if she was an Amazon before becoming a Vampire Archdemon, Luna should have been used to this display of ruthlessness.

Still, this intention to kill with blatant disregard to the consequences will never sit right with her.

When she used to be part of an Amazon tribe serving the Goddess Artemis, the killing can be made for the sake of protecting their territory—the sacred temples.

The Amazon warriors will kill when the need to defend themselves arose.

No experience of hers could be compared to these stomach-churning foulness displayed in front of her.

Was she looking at the harsh reality of how powerful people, such as Kings, can kill anyone in the Realm without facing backlash?

Mayhap this tragedy was for the better.

These faeries who dabbled in Archdemon Magic had been relieved of a life of struggle and suffering, cut short by this blood-curdling sacrifice.

Noticing that she was absently staring at the wall where King Zephyr and Prince Aspen stood, Luna cleared her throat, "We will repay the debt in the future, King Zephyr."

"No need." King Zephyr shrugged, looking bored. "Seeing your reunion with the Vampire King made me miss my wife." He wasn't lying because his expression told her he would rather be anywhere but here now that Luna was back in this Realm for good.

As he straightened his spine, the Shadow King bowed his head in respect. "I shall disappear and go back to see her."

"Wait, King Zephyr!" Luna exclaimed, raising a hand to stop him.

King Zephyr's paused, and his intense dark eyes were on her.

It made her panic when the Shadow King began to walk—no, float—towards her.

"Apollyon." Luna looked over her shoulder and whispered, "What do we do with all these dead demonic faeries?"

She glanced at King Zephyr, who had appeared beside her once, and she did a double-take.

Terror kicked Luna in the chest when she saw him up close.

The Shadow King moved silently that she almost screamed.

Same with King Zephyr, Prince Aspen had a sensitive hearing, also, "Well, first off, we aren't letting them rot in the basement of Lilac Manor."

"Lilac Manor?" Alarmed, Luna twisted to face Apollyon and held his forearm. "Husband. Are we not on the Vampire Realm?"

"This is my home." The Faerie Prince informed her, "My human would not appreciate them if she came across the basement. She is an adventurous little girl who had a strange hobby of checking out all the empty rooms in my Manor."

Cederic, who had watched over the Archdemon conjurer, had approached them, and Prince Aspen followed suit.

Anyone who wasn't chained to iron balls and ceilings gathered into their circle to begin the awkward discussion.

"We are in the Faerie Realm, Your Highness," Cederic addressed her question.

"So this is why there are so many faeries over here," Luna murmured, glad that Cederic had finally acknowledged that she was the Empress.

Apollyon's eyes were blue flames when he focused on her. "It wouldn't be possible to abduct these many faeries in the Vampire Realm."

Luna's brows furrowed. "How come the demonic faeries have grown in number?"

"I thought Lilith, the Archdemon of Envy, only had a binding contract with her conjurer." Luna pointed at the unconscious High Priestess with the green hair, who was the only demonic faerie that had been spared. Glancing around, she demanded, "How did it escalate into this?"