NEW CHAPTER FOR Highest Tier (May 2021)

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Archdemon Empress Luna

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I really thought you were dead, King Apollyon because I couldn't see or feel your presence anymore when the Blood Beast consumed your soul." Princess Ourania gave him a slow smile.

"I thought you were gone but now you are here." Her Prussian Blue's eyes shined with sincerity as she locked eyes with Apollyon. With her palm pressed to her heart, she said. "There was nothing I could do. I couldn't stand watching you destroy yourself with my own two eyes. I don't want to feel helpless. I want to be free from you, your father and the Vampire Realm. You might think it is selfish of me—"

"You are right." Apollyon said, and his tone was as sharp as a knife's edge. "You are selfish."

"Listen to me, Apollyon, and let me finish explaining it to you."

Luna drew a breath and released it. "Husband."

"Please listen to your mother! Do it for me, please?" Luna pleaded sweetly as she squeezed his muscled thigh, and Apollyon flinched in surprise.

Apollyon's gaze landed on the hand on his leg before he turned his head towards his mother. "Go ahead and say your piece irregardless of my reaction. That wouldn't leave a huge impact on me."

Luna let out a groan of disappointment.

Nothing could change her husband's mind if he was determined to keep up with this.

Like Apollyon's mother, Luna was tempted to throw her hands in an 'I give up' gesture, but she didn't. She was close to quitting convincing her husband to understand his mother.

"I see you still wouldn't give a damn even if I told you the truth about what King Gwythyr did to ruin my life." Princess Ourania demanded. "What kind of son are you?"

Apollyon's attention was on other things as he scratched the cracks on the table with a fingernail.

"I'm the kind of son who had emotionally detached from his mother a long time ago. I have released my expectations of a perfect mother whether what you said was the truth or a lie." Apollyon replied as he averted his gaze. "I meant that not in a way to spite you but I already accepted the fact that we couldn't fix what was already broken and it's alright."

Luna's fingers touched her parted lips in surprise from Apollyon's confession.

"This is how I coped up with the hurt from your abandonment. I felt like a thing, Mother. Like a toy, you could pick up and leave whenever you want to without repercussions. Like I was nothing to you. Purging you from my mind and heart was slow and steady but I did it." Apollyon said coldly.

His words may come across as arrogance to Princess Ourania but to Luna, it was precious knowledge to know what her husband's true feelings were. Not all men can talk about their weaknesses as Apollyon did to his estranged mother. "The resentment I felt right now is more of an external thing. It is present but not all consuming to the point of destruction. I can still manage them without lunging for your throat and strangling you. Don't get me wrong. I'm still angry but it didn't affect me or control me."

He didn't hold back to be vulnerable in front of the princess.

This time around, Apollyon was mature with his response. "It hurt but I lived with your choice since I'm also affected with it. We are all trying to live even if our loved one's choice wouldn't align with us even after talking it out."

Admitting weakness and acknowledging one's flaws is a sure sign of strength.

Apollyon was a real king--not only in her heart but an epitome of a good one.

"Father is dead." Apollyon added, and his tone was a matter of fact. "You can make up these stories all you like. But King Gwythyr's narrative he carved in my brain from childhood until now, and I would like to keep it that way whether it was false. We can't change the past and i can't promise that our relationship as a mother-and son would be better."

"Can you even feel the slightest bit of sympathy to your mother who went through a lot of hardships just for you to be born in this world?" Her vocal pitch rose, insulted that Apollyon still preferred to believe the dead Vampire King compared to her.

"You want my pity?" Apollyon shrugged his shoulders, and his mother said, "No."

"You made it sound like I should be grateful. Sure! I can say that I 'm thankful if it appeases you. Thank you for bringing me into this cruel world." Apollyon's response was an amicable one. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't meet the love of my life. My beloved Empress. My blood mate, Luna."

Luna almost melted from Apollyon's romantic words.

"I thank you for that." He gave his mother a sardonic grin. "But I didn't ask to be born in this world so you don't have the right to hang it over my head---"

"----I apologize for my husband's behavior, Princess Ourania but I completely understand your struggles," Luna cut him off, blocking out Apollyon's complaints beside her as she tried to keep up with the conversation. "When we are in difficult circumstances, we can feel fearful, doubtful, intimidated from confronting the events that aren't in our control as they unfolded in front of us. All of these circumstances entered our lives through the choices we made."

"Despite this, we still had the right to be assertive and take up our space in this world. We should not let others minimize us." Arm outstretched, Luna reached for the Princess's wrinkled hand across the table and cupped the back of her hand as a sign of reassurance. "We might feel frightened at the moment. But you seemed to have forgotten that you are powerful in your own right, Princess. You outlive the husband you hated with your strength and tenacity—-"

"—and even left her son in the process—"

"Give your mother a break." Squinting at him, Luna finally snapped at her annoying husband as she figured out what Apollyon had been doing.