Charles V sighed and buried his face in his hands. No one was around to see him like this, so he didn’t have to maintain his demeanor as a king of a country and emperor of an empire. He reached out with his hand and picked up a glass of wine. With a bend of his elbow, he brought it underneath his face and gave it a sniff. The familiar smell soothed him, and he leaned back in his chair, bringing the glass up to his lips. Why was everything falling apart before it even started? His plan had crumbled at the very first step. He needed money—lots of it. The new world was filled with riches, and his men already sent him some very fine samples. However, because of that darn dragon, he had lost access to all the riches in the new world!

Without money, it was very difficult for him to do things, even if he was a monarch. Soldiers needed to be paid, and the Ottomans were right at his doorstep. Once the Kingdom of Hungary fell, his Holy Roman Empire would be next. Not to mention, that damned Francis I and his kingdom up north! Francis I was like a vulture, circling around, looking for a sign of weakness to bite into him. Should he give up some territories, cede some land? What kind of ruler would he be if he did that? A sigh escaped from Charles V’s lips, and he downed half of the wine in one big gulp. Fire burned in his stomach as he narrowed his eyes and clenched his hand, his fingertips turning white. Regardless of the setbacks in the new world, regardless of Francis I and his army looming up north, regardless of the Ottomans conquering the Kingdom of Hungary, regardless of his subjects falling for a cult and rebelling, he was still a king. He was still an emperor!

Charles V slammed his wine glass onto the table and stood up. He put on a coat, violently shoving his arms through its sleeves, the material making a crisp sound as it snapped into place. Even if he suffered some minor setbacks, what was that in the grand scheme of things? He was destined to be a great ruler. The territories under his land would be so vast, so numerous that the sun would never set upon his empire! With a straight back, Charles V yanked open the door to his study, marched outside, and bumped into a lady wearing a bright red dress and high heels. He was walking fast, but surprisingly, the lady was like a rock, and after bumping into her, Charles V fell backwards onto his butt, his imposing aura disappearing.

The lady in red glanced at her shoulder and wrinkled her nose. She reached into her hair, grabbed a doll that suspiciously moved and talked like a real person, and wiped her clothes with the doll’s dress. She didn’t spare Charles V a glance and looked around the place with her head tilted, revealing her pale neck. Her skin was nearly translucent as if she hadn’t stepped into the sun for her whole life. The lady tucked her hair behind her ear, which was pointed instead of round, and a small frown appeared on her face.

Charles V’s eyes caught every single one of the woman’s actions, and he couldn’t help but shiver. He had been by his mother’s side, ruling a kingdom since he was small. His grandfather was the emperor of a grand empire. What hadn’t he been exposed to since he was young? Ambassadors, nobles, royalty, even his own grandfather had never given him as deep of an impression as this woman. The eyes she had looked at him with, they were those of a person viewing an ant. He had seen that expression many times upon his relatives’ faces when they talked about or were forced to interact with certain people. It wasn’t just her eyes. It was everything about her that made him feel as if he were a mouse in front of a snake. However, he was still a monarch. He would fight to be viewed as a person. Charles V climbed to his feet and dusted off the back of his coat. His mouth was dry, his tongue sticking to the roof of his mouth, but he forced it open. “Who are you?”

The lady glanced at him and frowned again. Charles V lifted his foot but found that he couldn’t move it more than a millimeter off the floor. Something was holding him into place. It was as if the air had become solid. The woman approached him and raised her hand at his forehead. A chill ran down Charles V spine, and he tried to shout, but only a small whimper came out. Once the lady’s finger made contact with his forehead, a very strong itch assaulted him, and he felt the urge to sneeze. Then, a white light circled around the woman’s finger. Had, had that come out of him? Charles V swallowed, and his body collapsed to the ground. The air was no longer solid, but he didn’t have the strength to stand up. He couldn’t pinpoint what it was exactly, but he sensed something important had been taken away from him.

The lady brought the circling white light to her mouth, and it condensed into a sphere. With a grimace on her face, she opened her lips and inhaled, sucking in the light. It extended from her finger into her mouth like strands of spider silk before finally disappearing. Her eyes flashed with a silver light, and she lowered her hand. “Charles V, king of Spain, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, is it? Your world is a very weak one, so pitifully weak.”

Charles V raised his head, unsure of what the lady was saying? He didn’t know what she was doing either. The woman took out a crystal and squeezed it. The very space in front of his eyes was torn apart, revealing a dark cavern. Demonic eyes and scaled faces stared at him before the lady blocked his view and entered the portal, which he suspected led to hell. The portal disappeared, and everything returned back to normal. Cold sweat pooled underneath Charles V’s body. What the hell was that about!? Did his soul just get stolen!?

***

“Yeah, Vur’s perfectly fine,” Lindyss said after nodding at Sung and Sera. “I went in and digested part of someone’s soul. Luckily, he happened to be someone really high up there on the echelons of power. There’s absolutely nothing in that world that can bring harm to Vur; you don’t have to worry.”