Cold As Night

Nyris’s face twitched, but then he smiled mockingly, “Hmm… It couldn’t be any better; I’d never be interested in a woman who doesn’t even look as good as me.”

Macy froze up, her eyes blazing with anger as she wanted to scream at Nyris to take it back. Her aura started flaring up, but she just couldn’t find any grounds to refute him. No matter how much she tried to delude herself, she had to admit that her appearance was incomparable to that of the Fourth Prince.

But she was a saint of noble blood! Was she the kind of person who needed to rely on her looks for survival? She started shivering as she almost lost control of herself, barely managing to swallow down her rage. In the end, Kimbaye had to stand up and pin her down to her seat, whispering, “For the Empire.”

“You heard it too! You heard what he said just now!” Macy snarled.

“I said: For. The. Empire,” Kimbaye’s tone grew harsh, prompting her to snort and stop retorting. Having gotten her to submit, he then sat back down and looked at Nyris.

The Fourth Prince sneered, “What? You’re going to tell me it’s for the Empire too?”

Kimbaye smiled, “For yourself, Your Highness. I think you would consider it heavenly to have Lady Macy by your side compared to Her Majesty Apeiron.”

“Wha…” Nyris was caught off-guard, barely suppressing a laugh, “No, serious—”

“I am being serious. I hear Lord Julian’s criteria for the second set of concubines is bloodline. The purer one’s blood and stronger the ability, the more likely they are to be chosen. Combined with your heavenly appearance, you are quite likely to be chosen.” At this point, Kimbaye paused for a moment and smiled, “Even if there was an oversight, I wouldn’t mind giving him a timely reminder.”

Nyris immediately stood up, “Despicable!”

Kimbaye stood up as well, bowing gracefully, “I don’t believe the word despicable exists in the dictionary of true nobles; we’re all born with it in our blood.”

“I don’t take threats lightly,” Nyris’s expression turned icy.

“I don’t believe the word impulsiveness should exist in our dictionaries either, for the opposite region. Are you willing to become a toy of Her Majesty? Forgive the honesty, but given her power I do not believe you would last a long time in her service. I’ve also heard some unpleasant rumours about her derision for your mother’s side; with her temper, I’m certain she would wipe out the entire family if she had the justification. In fact, I’m sure she could come up with a justification if she wanted to,” Kimbaye sat back down, crossing his fingers leisurely as he watched Nyris with attention.

Nyris paled and went silent; although Kimbaye was clearly attempting blackmail,  he had no grounds to flare up. There were no lies in the Earl’s words, but they mentioned facts he was trying his best to avoid. If he really was selected as a concubine, this could be his only way out.

Seeing that the Fourth Prince wasn’t planning to speak anytime soon, Kimbaye stood and turned away, “There are still a few more days, you can take your time to consider this thoroughly. Although Empress Apeiron is powerful, Her Majesty Gelan will always keep the Millennial Empire safe. Protecting your mother’s side shouldn’t be difficult either. Now, it’s getting late; I hope we meet again rather soon.”

Nyris stood still like a statue, completely expressionless. Passing by his side, Macy suddenly caressed his face with a hand and smiled, “Really a beauty. I’ve got my eyes on you! Haha!”

It was only when Kimbaye and company were far out that Nyris grunted and smashed his fist into the stone table, using so much force that the skin broke at once. He let the hand bleed freely for a while before standing up and finally pouring some energy into the injury, cleaning the blood off before entering the royal library.

The entire library building was empty this late into the night, with only the guards sitting around. Nyris entered and searched around for a while until he found an ancient tome named Inheritance of the Gods: Bloodline Theory. Sitting down at a nearby table and turning on the magic lamp, he started reading through the book.

It didn’t take long to find a chapter called Bloodline Fusion, and a specific section detailing the darkthunder titan and golden moonriver bloodlines. It stated that the offspring of these two lineages could produce a descendant with both flowing in them at once, with a minimal chance of someone possessing a fused bloodline that was of an even higher standard.

This book was written by a legendary mage called Russel, so long ago that he was one of a handful in all of Norland back then. He was a veritable tyrant that could roam through the void without worry, but he was remembered mainly for his pioneering achievements in bloodline theory. Inheritance of the Gods was the accumulation of his life’s work, containing a systematic theory on the emergence of bloodline abilities that addressed topics like concentration, fusion, and mutation. Although many of his conjectures hadn’t been proven by experiment, they were far ahead of their time. Even now, centuries later, Norland hadn’t advanced much further from his foundation; the intermarriage of the Archeron Family came from following his ideas.

Bloodline Fusion was a chapter that stood out from the rest, containing about ten-odd proposals for the combination and enhancement of family bloodlines. Many of those mentioned hadn’t even emerged during his time, but as a master of divination he had predicted their appearance well in advance.

A full third of Russel’s proposals had already been shown to work at least on occasion, a number high enough that many were willing to pay any price to try the rest despite the low probability. It seemed like the Millennial Empire was amongst this group as well.

Nyris threw his head back and covered his face with a hand, ignoring the dull pain from knocking against the bookshelf behind him. He was being treated like a stallion for breeding! Both Macy’s golden moonriver bloodline and Empress Apeiron’s astral destroyer bloodline, they had a chance of producing powerful offspring when combined with his own. This was a matter of importance to any established family, but he wanted nothing to do with it.

He knew that things wouldn’t just be done after some sex. Success would mean there were more people trying to do the same, and failure after repeated attempts would convince the other party that it would be best to get rid of a bloodline with the potential to reach the legendary realm. His bloodline might have awakened, but he still wasn’t strong enough to protect himself. If only there had been a way to conceal it from all the powerhouses of the royal family…

The one man who could have saved him from all this was now dead, and in the blink of an eye Nyris was like a piece of greasy meat placed in between starving jackals and wolves. The Millennial Empire was merely the first one that had pounced.

As it approached daybreak, the darkness outside the window seemed unusually profound. Nyris shivered from the chilly atmosphere, feeling the weight of the world upon him.

……

That very morning, Richard showed up at Blackrose Castle with his rune knights in tow and departed for Faelor once more. A burst of loud laughter rang in his mind the moment he entered Bluewater Oasis, “Boss, you’re back! I swear, I was going to beat up those Iron Triangles if you took any longer!”

Before he could reply, another airy and sweet voice followed behind, “Master Richard! I wish to serve by your side at all times!”

The voice sounded a little unfamiliar, and scanning his mindscape he found it was hundreds of kilometres away. Richard had to think for a moment before realising it was Zangru, the bastard demigod able to communicate with him because of their soul contract. It was just that Zangru was supposed to be extremely arrogant and temperamental, not as sweet and fawning as he was right now. Just what had happened?

It was the broodmother that cleared up his confusion, “Master, it has been so long. I’m almost through advancing to level 10, I need you to decide my direction and path. My truename might be awakened this time, and the process could be dangerous. I need Zangru’s help to advance successfully, please allow him to stay by my side and assist.”

“NO!” Zangru let out a piercing scream that made even Richard’s heart throb. He was confused by how the demigod had heard this, but he quickly realised the broodmother had passed the message on to him as well. He could understand the reaction; even for a bastard demigod, the torture of having one’s blood drawn out dozens of times every day was unbearable.

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