Morgan and Nevrai looked like they wanted to hug Alfard, but also tell him not to risk his life like that at the same time.
“In the meantime, dad’s condition grew a lot worse.”
Alfard turned back to Miledi and the others as he continued his story.
“Even if dad did have an illegitimate child, I realized there was no way I was going to find them in time. But even if I couldn’t convince my dad to change his mind, I still wanted to know how he’d felt about having a non-vampire lover.”
After all, Alfard was soon going to be walking the same path his father once had. Alesand seemed to have wanted someone to open up to as well, so just before his death, he’d told Alfard about Reej.
“But he stubbornly refused to admit that he had a child with her.”
“He probably wanted to respect Reej-san’s wishes until the very end. She’d distanced herself from him to protect Meru-nee, after all,” Miledi said with a soft expression as she squeezed Meiru’s hand. Meiru nodded in agreement. She was certain her father had distanced himself from her to protect her.
Alfard smiled at the two of them, then continued his story by saying, “Maybe he’d secretly hoped I’d change our society’s values.”
That was why Alfard had resolved to at least try to convince those around him of his and Selene’s love. He told the vampire nobles he’d ascend the throne so long as they allowed him to marry Selene. However, the vampires had tried to kill Selene instead.
A heavy silence fell over the room...and eventually, Miledi timidly asked, “Umm, Prince Alfard? Both the queen and Prince Sveit said they regret not defending you. They want you to return so they can apologize in person. Of course, they’re also now willing to accept Selene-san as your wife.”
“I see... So my brother’s finally...”
Alfard was momentarily overcome by emotion. Of course, he still hadn’t fully forgiven his brother for standing back and allowing the nobles to carry out their assassination plot, but he also knew his actions had put Sveit in a difficult position.
“Al-sama,” Selene said, squeezing Alfard’s hand. He looked up to see his wife smiling gently at him. “They didn’t refuse to act out of malice.”
Just because they’d stood by, it didn’t mean that Sveit and Anya had approved of Selene’s murder.
“Both your mother and Onii-sama are your precious family, right? I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Yeah, you’re right...” Alfard mumbled as he squeezed Selene’s hand back and kissed her and his son on the forehead. “But even so, I won’t become king.”
Selene gave him a reprimanding look in response. Alfard looked away awkwardly, turning back to Miledi.
“Anyway, let’s hurry. We need to get the information you Liberators need as soon as possible.”
He rose to his feet, pointedly refusing to meet his wife’s gaze.
That same night, Miledi and the others waited with bated breath in the palace’s basement. Selene, Albanor, Morgan, Nevrai, Anya, and Sveit were there with them. They’d made their way through a maze-like series of turns and come out in a wide room that was ten floors beneath the palace entrance.
A group of golems meant to keep out anyone who hadn’t been chosen by the previous king had appeared to stop the intruders, but Alfard had just finished destroying them all. He then struck a victory pose for his son and Albanor gurgled happily.
Beyond this room was the Trial Chamber. Normally, the ceremony was only supposed to happen after the various noble families had been summoned and the people had been given advance notice, but this time around, it was being held with only Alfard’s family and the Liberators in attendance. After all, if word got out that Selene and Albanor were here, it would cause quite a stir, and if Miledi and the others were busy dealing with racist nobles, they wouldn’t be able to get the information they needed. Luckily, Alfard had at least managed to reconcile with his family. The fact that Albanor was resting happily in Anya’s arms was proof of that.
Incidentally, Albanor seemed quite obsessed with Anya’s cheeks. Even as he was calling out to his father, his hands were poking and prodding the queen’s porcelain face. He was probably trying to point out how cool his dad was to Anya, and Anya was happily telling Albanor all about how amazing Alfard was. Though she hadn’t actually seen Alfard fight, since she’d had eyes only for Albanor ever since she’d picked him up. Sveit had no kids of his own, and Anya was so overjoyed about finally having grandkids that she didn’t care that her first grandson was a half-blood.
“I never knew mother could make such gentle expressions...” Sveit said, looking surprised.
Meanwhile, Alfard opened the steel door leading into the Trial Chamber and stepped inside. The Trial Chamber was a circular room, and the moment Alfard entered, the jewels ensconced into the walls lit up, illuminating the extremely complex magic circle in the room’s center.
“Looks like that’s it,” Alfard said as he stepped into the circle without hesitation.
It looked like Sveit wanted to lecture his younger brother for not acting with proper decorum during such an important event, so Morgan and Nevrai gave Sveit sympathetic looks.
“Wooow! Mama, pwetty!”
“Oh, you think daddy looks pretty too, don’t you, Albanor?”
“Papa pwetty!”
“He he he... Thanks, Albanor.”
“Umm, mother? I think Albanor’s talking about the ceremony, not Al-sama himself,” Selene said hesitantly, bringing Anya back to her senses.
Miledi and the others also looked suitably impressed as the magic circle activated. The glowing spiral of light surrounding Alfard and the motes of light filling the room really did look beautiful.
The magic circle glowed blindingly bright, and then a second later, a pillar of light shot up, going straight through the stone roof and bathing the room in light. Alfard really did look majestic, standing in the middle of all that shimmering light. He looked like a true king.
Outside, people saw the pillar of light shooting up from the palace, informing everyone that Dastia had a new king.
Eventually, the light began to fade and Alfard slowly opened his eyes. While the light from the circle had faded, Alfard himself was still wreathed in an aura of light and Morgan and Nevrai knelt before him.
Anya looked moved, while Sveit looked like he’d finally been freed from a burden he’d never wanted to carry.
“So, which of you wants to succeed me?” Alfard asked, looking from Meiru to Sveit. Even Miledi and the others had been a little moved by the birth of Dastia’s new king, but said new king didn’t seem to find this moment momentous in the slightest. He really was uninterested in being king.
Upon realizing that, Anya looked down, while Sveit frowned.
“I’ll let Miledi-chan decide. What do you say, leader? Do we need the vampires behind us?”
“Nope,” Miledi said, looking at Alfard instead of Meiru.
“All we need is knowledge of how to beat Ehit.”
Miledi was making it clear that she wouldn’t saddle Meiru with the responsibility of leading Dastia.
“Besides, you’d have to be insane to hand a country over to Meru-nee of all people,” Miledi added.
“Miledi-chan?”
“Good point. I agree completely,” Alfard replied.