Chapter 156: 084. Ruppel Olfolse -2 (Part Two)

White took out the latest reports on the Vampires he received from the Imperial Family, and along with the information he had uncovered during his travels, spread them all on the table between us.

I scanned the documents and my eyes caught something among the pile. “This…?”

After spotting the report regarding Yulisia, the First Crown Princess Consort, I shifted my gaze back to White.

“The news regarding Yulisia’s fate came to me while I was making my way through the kingdom of Lome that was embroiled in a civil war.”

Specifically, what he heard was a rumour that had reached his location about a month after Yulisia’s passing.

The rumour spoke of the crimes the Vampires had committed – that they had murdered the Crown Imperial Princess Consort and cursed the First Imperial Prince.

Understandably, White was enraged by the news and he came back home as soon as he could to ‘infiltrate’ the imperial palace.

He tried to find out more about the creature that took Yulisia away from this world and cursed the First Imperial Prince. He slipped inside Luan’s room and saw the boy suffering from a nightmare-filled slumber. White confirmed that the demonic energy causing the curse closely resembled the energy belonging to the Second Prince.

“Count Fomor’s house, the one uncovered by the Imperial Family… It seemed they had a hand in letting the Vampires infiltrate the Imperial Palace. Ruppel was among the Vampires.” White pushed forward a different document containing more information. “The Second Imperial Prince, Ruppel Olfolse. Although he’s different from the other Vampires, remember that he’s good enough to attack the imperial palace along with blood-creations and then escape scot-free. Back then, he was quite strong already, but he must’ve gotten much stronger now.”

I received this new information and read through it.

“He was also responsible for Luan’s curse. Even I had no methods to heal Luan. I assumed that it was some kind of a warning. A warning from the Vampires to the Imperial Family.”

That was obvious. The moment anyone tried to heal Luan, his heart would’ve exploded.

“The only hope was to locate the Second Imperial Prince. By locating that bastard, I’d have uncovered a way to undo Luan’s curse, and also figure out who his backer is. At the same time, I could rout out all the Vampires hiding inside and around the Imperial Palace, too.”

“Why didn’t you inform the Imperial Family?”

White stared at me as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Don’t you remember that the atmosphere back then was truly indescribable? My father, your grandfather, was beyond enraged by Yulisia’s murder. Can you imagine what might have happened if he also learned about the Second Imperial Prince evolving past a zombie and straight into a Vampire, and that the whole affair was connected to a missing Archbishop?”

There was already a huge problem within the Imperial Family. But what if the rumour of some Vampires messing up the imperial court got around to the public as well? Things might have spiralled out of control.

The public would’ve gotten scared and their trust towards the imperial court would’ve fallen. Not only that, an indiscriminate ‘purge’ would’ve been initiated by the Imperial Family as well.

“Even though Archbishop Walter had been threatened and had no choice, everyone related to him would’ve been executed despite their lifelong loyalty and devotion to the Imperial Family. The Darina household would’ve also been held responsible for turning the Second Imperial Prince into an undead.”

Everyone from the households of Archbishop Walter and the Darina bloodline would’ve been killed off for the crime of defiling the Imperial Family’s blood, despite their lifelong devotion to the imperial court.

That would have included men, women, old, and even the young.

White back then had honestly wanted to protect the loyal retainers and his beloved wife.

“But now…”

While saying that, he stared at the most-recent information uncovered by the Imperial Family and angrily rubbed his temples.

“…To think that Rose was colluding with the Vampires all along. I…”

His eyes grew gradually bloodshot. He clenched his fists so hard that nails dug in to break his skin.

“…To think that I actually loved and cared about a human garbage who was blinded by jealousy, colluded with the Vampires, cursed her own son, and even turned him into a bloody Vampire!”

White was clearly suffering from anguish.

Even I was getting this bitter taste in my mouth now. It was no longer possible to say this matter had nothing to do with me. I’ve already become deeply entangled in the matters of the Imperial Family by now, after all.

I asked him, “Were you unaware of it until now?”

“If I knew, then I would’ve already done something by now.” White raised his head and looked up. “I’d have ripped them apart right there and then. I’d have made them beg for forgiveness in front of Yulisia’s grave until tears of blood came falling down from their eyes.”

So much killing intent could be sensed from every word he said.

That just proved how angry he was. Even though he knew that the Third Imperial Prince, Ruppel, was next to us eavesdropping, he still failed to rein in his emotions.

“…What about my brother, then?” I asked while pointing briefly at Ruppel on the bed.

The sheet covering him flinched noticeably again.

White glared at him before opening his mouth. “Ruppel wasn’t even fifteen years old back then. He was probably being used by Rose. Of course, I still have plenty of things to ask of him regarding Yulisia’s matter. We won’t be able to escape my father’s wrath, and on top of that, well, I also need to have a father-to-son conversation with Ruppel anyway.”

“…”

White tried to control his emotions by breathing deeply in and out for a little while. After he calmed down again, he pushed forward some other information towards me.

“Besides, the matters have ballooned past the level where I can deal with them by myself. Indeed, it was the right call to investigate further.” He began telling me what he had uncovered so far, “The bastards have been growing more crafty recently. They also seemed to have become much better organised, more systematic. Not once in the continent’s history did the Vampires unite and form an organisation of this nature.”

White hunted down the Vampires hidden in all corners of the world, interrogated them, and then chased after other Vampires hidden somewhere else.

“The Vampires are targeting the Imperial Family. To be more precise, they scheme to bring down the entire Theocratic Empire. Their reason is quite simple.”

White raised his head away from the documents. His face was flushed red with visible veins bulging on his forehead, his teeth still grinding noisily as if he was working hard to suppress his emotions.

“They wish to turn all living humans into livestock and establish their own kingdom.” While saying that, he gathered up the documents on the table, unfurled a large map, and then began pointing at various places one at a time. “The empire might think it has successfully expelled the Vampires, but it only brought about a far less desirable result instead.”

He marked various nations surrounding the Theocratic Empire on the map. The marks indicated the Vampires, and it felt like they were practically found in every location.

It was almost as if the Vampires in various nations had surrounded the empire in the middle. It reminded me of…

“…A spider web.”

Right, this whole thing looked like one giant spider web, and the Theocratic Empire was a prey caught in the middle.

I muttered to myself and glanced at the information once more.

The individual suspected of being the ringleader by none other than White himself and as noted on the information…

The name of this individual was…

“The Vampire King, King Vlandmir.”

The so-called king of all Vampires, as crowned by the other Vampires.

“That creature is trying to devour the Theocratic Empire. And not too long from now…” White stared straight at me and continued speaking, “…the invasion of the Vampires will begin.”

**

Late into the night.

This was when the darkness had completely taken over the world and the aura of demonic energy was at its strongest.

In fact, the moon high up in the sky had been dyed crimson from all the demonic energy in the air.

Many Paladins were stationed throughout Aslan’s royal palace.

This was still the enemy nation’s capital and its palace. Even if the empire had achieved victory in the war, they were still in the middle of the enemy territory, and as such, the Paladins maintained watertight security detail around the area.

Aslan’s citizens living in the capital cautiously minded the moods of such Paladins and did their best to avoid making unnecessary contact. Even if these holy knights were sticking to their discipline so far, the Aslan people were well aware of how abhorrent the actions of the victors could be.

There was no reason to give the Paladins pretext here.

However, some individuals were actually approaching the Paladins on guard. A dozen-plus group with a young boy in the centre were walking towards the royal palace.

The Paladin on guard furrowed their brows and unsheathed their sword before pointing it at the unannounced guests.

“Halt! Who goes th…”

“Where did you learn such rude manners of pointing a blade at an Imperial Prince?”

When the Paladins heard that, they all tilted their heads in confusion.

The small-statured boy grinned brightly and continued on, “It’s your fault. Because of you alone…”

A blood-coloured spike suddenly impaled a Paladin. The spike shot up from the ground to impale its victim, then dangled him in the air.

“…All of your comrades are about to get killed, you know?”

The boy, Ruppel, snickered insidiously before shifting his gaze towards the royal palace.

“Well then. Time to get my hands on a new body. Gentlemen?”

The boy looked behind him and addressed the group.

The ones accompanying him all pulled back the hoods attached to their robes. These beings were also snickering away as the winds flapped their robes around. Unusually lengthy and pointy fangs jutted out from their lips.

The other surviving Paladins stiffened in their spots from that sight.

The boy continued snickering while staring at the Paladins, “Slaughter them all. Humans are livestock, anyways. Aren’t they fresh meat for us? So, all of you…”

With the crimson moon shining behind him, the boy with blood-coloured eyes gleaming in sinister light grinned deeply at his victims.

“…Will die today as livestock.”

He was the Second Imperial Prince, Ruppel Olfolse.

He began his assault on Aslan’s royal palace.

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