The Vampire Empress.

After our little time together, I placed Ayaka back to sleep which wasn’t a tough task before leaving the room as quiet as possible where Leo could be seen standing patiently. There were no signs of Felice and Iona which meant they were already outside, possibly waiting.

“Have the criminals been lined up already?” I looked at Leo who saluted as we walked down the stairway without making much noise since almost all of us are aware that Ayaka has pretty sensitive senses, she could hear us a room apart.

ss

After we reached the first floor, several more knights appeared as if escorting me as we left the town hall where a gloomy atmosphere soon blasted through us. Mad cries of the people could be heard far away, they all sounded mad at the criminals.

“Have you ensured that no children are within the radius of the execution area? I want to have the children avoid the sight of the execution completely, even if it will teach them a lesson about obeying the rules, it is not worth it for me to taint their memories yet…” my eyes lingered around unconsciously as if searching for any children but there were none.

“All families with children have been secured on their houses by an individual knight, we made sure to inform the families as well so they already know what is happening and most of them thought it’d be better for them to stay together with their children which we also thought and allowed them to stay together for the entire duration, my lady,” Leo responded as I nodded.

Moments later, a knight soon came running towards us as he stood up straight and saluted, “My lady, there is a bit of trouble… it seems like a roya—” before he could finish answering, a black flame stood between us as the figure of a beautiful, elegant woman appeared.

All the knights around me immediately entered into a defensive stance, pointing their swords at the figure but I quickly halted them while standing upright.

Her purple eyes screamed of destruction as her black hair fluttered around the windless surrounding, she looked at me in the eye and smiled with a giggle, she spoke: “You gave me quite the surprise on my first day of moving here, it makes me curious whether this is a coincidence or intentionally done.”

“It is a pure coincidence, Your Majesty,” I looked at her and bowed down a bit before she chuckled.

“That’s the wrong way of calling me, dear. You are supposed to call me ‘Helesta’ since we are going to be together for a long time starting now,” she showed a bright smile before appearing behind me as she wrapped her hands behind my back, laying her head on my shoulder as she blew some air onto my ears, “You are quite the amusing vampire, to have all possible elements of magic flowing around you even Holy attribute which shouldn’t be possible for a vampire.”

“Not to mention, your mana is extremely condensed and pure which is something that cannot be achieved through even abnormal means. It’s as if you are the incarnation of a Goddess but your body doesn’t have the divine feeling of a Goddess, instead, you feel more like a ruler of a clan,” she started mumbling.

I was surprised over how she could see through everything with just a single hug. My eyes widened as I quickly removed her from me with a glare, she returned my gaze with a laugh: “No worries, dear. Your aura is incredibly attractive and healing to me. I don’t have a single intention of doing any harm to you.”

“Apologies for not prioritizing you, Helesta but I still have an appointment to attend to,” I quickly bowed down in fear that she will start looking into me deeper which is something I don’t want especially since I also don’t know the full extent of the blessings I have received.

Not to mention, if she found something that will displease her inside of me then the chances of me being able to fight back against her are completely nil since just the pressure around her when she appeared was enough to make me understand her true strength.

“If you are talking about that cute execution you are holding, how about I lend you a quick ride?” she smirked before flicking her finger as our surrounding suddenly changed into the wooden stage that was at the center of the town with the civilians carrying rocks, throwing them at the criminals.

I was confused over the sudden teleportation but regained my composure as Leo and the other knights quickly stood up from their confusion as well with Leo announcing, “SILENCE!!!! Her Ladyship has arrived!” which immediately caused everyone to freeze as their eyes were pinned towards me.

The criminals who were respectively ugly were resting on the wooden platform with bruised faces, bloodied necks and foreheads, and extremely black eyes that made my inner evil laugh. They were not creatures that I feel should be pitied.

“Are these perhaps the criminals who dared to make mayhem in my territory?” I walked over to them before kicking the back of one of them which immediately caused a loud cry to echo around the entire surrounding followed by the sound of a certain spine exploding.

All the citizens looked at me with fear as I materialized my scythe whose blade looked as if it was hungry for blood. A red fog covered the blade which made me frown as I looked at the knights and ordered, “Bring them to the stakes and burn them one after another.”

The knights quickly followed my order and grabbed the criminals forcefully by their shoulders as I looked at them with a glare, “I will give all of you one chance to explain your reasoning for doing criminal acts, if you can’t explain within ten seconds then I will make all of you examples of what will happen to those who dare to humiliate me.”

“Take this as an example to all citizens who wish to live under the territories that I own and will own, any criminals who dare to commit extreme offensives inside my land will be a subject to meet the reaper,” my gaze turned towards the citizens who didn’t respond.

Ten seconds had passed, and it seemed like the criminals most likely have no explanation. They were caught by multiple knights who act as witnesses and since they were part of the royal brigade, they aren’t people to lie which is why I trust their judgment.

I walked towards the criminals and sliced off their hands and toes at the same time which caused blood to spill all around the platform as their cries loudly echoed throughout the entire surrounding.

You could see tears dripping from their sacked heads as I looked at the knight who was carrying matches, nodding as he quickly lit up a few matches and threw them into the pile of firewood that surrounded the wooden stakes.

“That looks a bit too weak, let me help you a bit,” the Demon Queen—Helesta suddenly spoke before flicking her finger as the red flames suddenly turned into an incredible blue flame that stretched up the skies. The bodies of the criminals weren’t burning but all of their screams grew louder after the flames changed.

They tried to resist as much as they can but the shackles that bound them to the stakes prevented them from moving as the flames kept on going without burning their bodies, I was confused and looked at the Demon Queen who was smiling, “What did you do to them?”

“It’s called ‘Tortuous Soul Flames’ and as the name explains, it is a flame that attacks the soul while also not letting their soul die. I use it a lot to create examples within my kingdom to not disobey me,” she smirked which made me shiver a bit.

Minutes passed by and their screams only grew louder as I looked at them with a sigh before gesturing all the knights to leave together with me, “Leave those criminals there for an entire thirty minutes before beheading them. Let them feel the pain that their victims experience… or face in the future.”

“I guess I’ll also make the flames extinguish themselves at the same time,” the Demon Queen smiled as I looked at her with a nod before the two of us left the wooden platform which showed the brightly burning flame that stretched the skies.

My heart didn’t want to look back as I continued to walk further away from the wooden platform. It isn’t in my nature to torture people, nor to execute them but it feels like my nature after coming to this world is changing drastically.

“You shouldn’t look gloomy, all of them deserved their punishments,” the Demon Queen laid her head on my shoulder again before all of a sudden, a sweet, delicious smell entered my nostrils as I immediately looked to the side where she was resting her head on as she poked me with a delicious looking barbeque.

“Are you trying to tempt me with food?” I looked at her with a wry smile.

“I was told by my little servants that if you want to attract someone then you have to start with attracting their stomach,” she giggled, “I made this barbeque before coming here, want to have a bite?”

I didn’t hesitate and immediately took a bite of the barbeque that she was holding, chewing it for a few moments before nodding as I looked at her with several nods, “I’ll give it a 7 out of 10, the sauce is too sweet, and the meat isn’t cooked enough.”

She looked at me with a wry smile before pouting as she said, “I’ll improve those two parts then…” which made me giggle unconsciously as we made our way back to the town hall… with me forgetting that I was talking to possibly the strongest person in this continent and also the Demon Queen…