[V6C23 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]
Once Lilith gave the nod, the Monroe clan who had lost the Black-Winged Monarch would have no way to defy the will of the Queen of the Night. They would surely deliver Nighteye obediently and, at most, the Perth clan would only have to reimburse them according to the rules.
The Holy Son had just finished speaking when a duke asked in a deep voice, “What if your offsprings don’t awaken a powerful bloodline?”
That was also a possibility. The vampires’ bloodline inheritance had always been an unsolved riddle. Even some princes with sufficient strength to traverse the void would sometimes produce no experts among their offsprings. On the contrary, some bloodlines that were considered incomparably thin and some families that had been passed down for countless generations could also awaken a powerful bloodline out of nowhere. Nighteye was the best example.
The Holy Son was quite confident in the face of this duke’s question. “If there are no powerful offsprings in a hundred years, I’ll absorb her bloodline directly. With Her Majesty Lilith’s bloodline, I can certainly suppress the Black-Winged Monarch’s. At that time, I’ll have gained her bloodline powers and take another step toward becoming the next prince!
Many dukes and Honored Marquises exchanged glances in the dark. Many people were visibly moved. The Holy Son’s plan was indeed possible. It was just that not everyone could walk such a path.
Nighteye was an extremely pure primo of the Black-Winged Monarch. Everyone here, even grand dukes, would most likely have their blood cores destroyed by Andruil’s origin blood should they absorb her bloodline—their blood would turn to pus. Presently, only the Holy Son possessed the right and confidence to rob Nighteye of her bloodline power.
At this point, no one voiced their dissent any longer. Everyone was waiting for Lilith’s decision.
Lilith said calmly, “You’re not looking to produce a powerful offspring but to rob her bloodline. You plan to use it to trace the first drop of blood and finally ignite a blood seal. Am I wrong?”
These words shocked everyone at the scene.
The Queen of the Night had mentioned two keywords: the first drop of blood and blood seal. Any one of them would shake a vampire to the core. That was a deep-seated reverence from one’s bloodline.
The vampire race’s first drop of blood was an old legend. The secrets around it, the true vampire primogenitor, had already disappeared within the deluge of time. The primogenitors people knew of, including Lilith herself, were only the second generation.
Seeking the first drop of blood was the very reason for every vampire’s existence and the direction of their cultivation. The closer one was to the source, the purer their bloodline and the greater their strength. Lilith, as the second drop of blood, possessed indescribable power.
Meanwhile, each blood seal represented a second generation primogenitor, the origin of the ancient clans. However, some mysterious changes seemed to have taken place in the Sacred River of Blood throughout the long years.
Firstly, the thirteenth primogenitor, along with his entire clan, had vanished from people’s memories. Even Lilith, who was of the same position, couldn’t tell what exactly had happened. Next, no one had been able to reignite the blood seals after they had faded away with their respective primogenitor’s death!
The inability to reignite blood seals was a matter more important than the missing thirteenth primogenitor—this signified that the river of sacred blood was gradually losing its power with the passage of time. Although the change was extremely slow, it might affect the entire vampire race’s survival after tens of thousands of years, just like how those characters who once stood at the apex of the dark world completely vanished within the ancient history clans.
From this, one could see that the Holy Son’s ambitions were indeed lofty and unimaginably grand.
Before Habsburg’s coronation, igniting a blood seal was only a potential path and people might even ridicule his ambitions in secret. However, he had reignited the flaming crown and announced to all of the sacred blooded descendants—even the entire world of darkness—that the river of blood was still powerful!
Edward observed the queen respectfully with flames burning within his young eyes. Speaking of his intentions before Lilith was a gamble with everything on the line.
If he succeeded in gaining Lilith’s support, the Perth clan would surely produce a powerful prince. The most attractive prospect was that he might be able to replace the Black-Winged Monarch one day and ignite the blood seal of the flower of terror. This thought alone was enough to stifle everyone.
Lilith didn’t look at the Holy Son, and, instead, her gaze swept over all the high-ranking vampires in the hall. She then raised her right hand and slowly conjured a drop of blood on the tip of her finger.
This was just an ordinary drop of blood with nothing out of the ordinary. However, after appearing in Lilith’s hands, the ordinary became extraordinary. All vampires in the hall—from the dukes and the Holy Son to the ranked pure-bloods—gazed at the drop of blood in a bid to discover the profundities within.
It possessed an active vitality characteristic of the vampire race. It was flushed with the hue of abundant life and possessed a flawless, consummate form. No matter how one looked at it, it was a standard drop of vampire blood.
However, the vitality within this drop of blood began to expand, and the energy contained within increased rapidly. It grew from a newborn to a knight, a viscount, a marquis, then to a duke and grand duke—in the end, this drop of blood completely solidified and turned into a flawless ruby. But contained within its small frame was a terrifying power sufficient to blow this entire castle into the air.
It was a prince’s blood!
In Lilith’s hand, this drop of blood had completed the entire journey from an ordinary vampire to a prince. It had also reached the endpoint of evolution.
Even a grand duke had no clear idea about the path ahead. The primogenitors had perhaps already found a path since they possessed powers stronger than a prince. The few whom the darkness and sacred blood had favored the most throughout myriad years had probably found the path, too, allowing them to obtain the strength of a great dark monarch.
But since antiquity, none of them would speak about the paths they had taken. Even the descendants they had personally embraced were unable to inherit this information through inheritance. There seemed to be a certain mysterious power obstructing them from divulging these secrets.
Lilith had shown everyone this drop of blood, but everyone, including the Holy Son, wore baffled expressions. They were unclear as to hidden meaning within the Queen of the Night’s actions.
Lilith’s reaction was fairly calm, neither furious nor disappointed. She simply put away the drop of blood and fell into deep thought.
Moments later, she asked, “What is Nighteye doing now?”
The Holy Son wanted to reply but was forced to withdraw unwillingly as the duke in charge of intelligence glared at him.
Many vampires exchanged glances. Before the Queen of the Night, it was best to present the most objective truth obediently. It was pure madness to try and mislead her just because she had been in deep slumber for a long time.
“The council is currently recruiting experts. They’re preparing to explore the bottomless vortex left behind at the center of the Evernight battlefield and plunder the ancient essence. Nighteye has signed up for this. The council attaches great importance to this matter, but they seem to be hesitant about the roster for the first batch. We also have an emissary there; I’ll make immediate arrangements if you wish to see her. We might still make it.”
Lilith’s voice seemed to have gained an ineffable quality. She said slowly, “Seize the ancient essence? She’s planning to use this merit to buy her freedom from the council.”
These words caused everyone’s expressions to turn unnatural.
Lilith's expression was unchanged. In fact, even the dukes couldn’t see her appearance clearly and had no idea if her expression had changed.
“Since that is the case, tell the council to promise her freedom if she successfully retrieves the ancient essence. Tell them that it is my will.”
The Holy Son’s expression shifted drastically after hearing Lilith’s words, but there was nothing he could do. No one could question the queen once she had made a decision.
The duke in charge of intelligence was fairly loyal to his post. He added, “There’s another small matter that might perhaps interest you. A while ago, the Sperger clan’s primo was also seeking Nighteye’s hand in marriage.”
Lilith replied without any hesitation, “The Young Habsburg. He indeed possesses the power to express his will.”
The duke immediately bowed without further words. People from the Holy Son’s party were all wearing helpless expressions.
The Queen of the Night’s stance and how she had addressed Prince Habsburg went to show that she had placed the other party at a position where they could talk on the same level. This also meant that she recognized his grasp of the authority formerly belonging to the second-generation progenitor Prince Samael. At this point, the higher echelons on the Perth clan were very clear on how they should treat that young prince from now on.
The geographical change on Evernight Continent brought about by that shocking battle gradually settled down. The bottomless vortex that was several hundred kilometers wide also revealed different sceneries.
The “prismatic turbulence” was gradually weakening. The council and the empire had both dispatched people to investigate and discovered that it was a giant, marine-trench-like valley below. It was thousands of kilometers deep, probably due to the spatial distortion within the area.
The dense darkness of the vortex had lessened a fair bit, vaguely exposing the blade-like tips of the stone forest below.
In recent days, the council and the empire had mostly kept to their own side and minded their own business. They had reached a subtle state of balance.
Nighteye stood at the edge of a cliff as she gazed at the rolling clouds, seemingly thinking about something. At this moment, a vampire count arrived in a hurry. “Your Majesty, I have some news.”
“Good news or bad news?” Nighteye asked.
That Monroe count hesitated for a bit before saying, “Bad news.”
“Speak.”
“We’ve just received news that Viscount Aaron has fallen in battle. I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”
Nighteye turned around like the wind. “What did you say? Aaron? Which Viscount Aaron?”
“Your brother, Second-Rank Viscount Aaron.”
These words snuffed out Nighteye’s last hopes. She gradually calmed down and asked, “Who killed him? Do you have clues?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. This matter was of great importance, so we used a scene recall ability. These are fragments of the scene Viscount Aaron saw before his death.”
The vampire count produced a red ruby and activated it by injecting blood energy. Soon afterward, the stone started to project a series of images.