It was the afternoon of the same day as the incident when Nial found himself sitting on a small throne next to his mother.
He didn't really like the throne because it was situated in an elevated position. One would have to look down on everyone in front of them, even if that was not something one intended to do.
The throne was also cold and hard, very uncomfortable.
However, that was one of the smaller issues Nial faced right now. He was more focused on the three kneeling Creatoran.
Three Creatoran, a young woman, a young man, and a child, Celine, to be precise, were kneeling in front of them. They didn't move a single inch for the last ten minutes. Not even Celine's Familiar dared to move right now.
Celine's Familiar also kneeled in front of the thrown, its carapace shuddering every now on then. A full-fledged Blaze Dragon was staring down at the Melolontha, also called cockchafer, or beetle if one wanted to simplify the kind of Familiar even further.
The Beetle was not ordinary either. It was a Vermin-tail Beetle, a mutated Vermin-tail Beetle, precisely! It could shoot its tail at other with an extremely high precision and terrific velocity. Regrowing the tail drained nutrition and mana, but that was still something one could easily cope with.
The Vermin-tail Beetle was a weak monster that was unlikely to cross the 4th Origin rank. Nial was already at the 6th Origin rank, and the Vermin-tail Beetle was not yet matured either. Thus, even without the golden scales covering his body, Nial wouldn't have died. The chances were slim.
After more than half an hour of silence passed, Nial felt even more uncomfortable than before. However, he didn't dare to say anything because his mother's ice-cold gaze stared down at the parents and the little girl, who had nearly killed her beloved child.
No matter whether it was as the Empress of the Lacardian Empyrean Void, or as an overprotective mother, she couldn't leave it at that.
"Attempting to assassinate a member of the royal family is a grave sin…Do you have any last words before I declare the punishment?" She asked coldly, releasing some of her aura to amplify her words.
The royal hall's walls tremored violently and the pressure around the three Creatoran and the Familiar increased tremendously. Nial saw that the mana within them was being suppressed. The gravitational force around the family increased exponentially, focusing on the parents.
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom When Nial couldn't take it any longer, he leaned over to his mother, trying to reach the Empress. However, his arms were too short and the throne too far apart.
He got up from the throne, and moved on top of the armrest where he could reach the armrest of the Empress' throne. With some effort, he jumped on top of her throne to reach out for her arm.
"Don't you think that's enough? Isn't this incident partially our fault?" He mumbled, pulling at the Empress' sleeves.
"Our fault? How can–...." The Empress asked, just to quiet down. It looked like she understood something.
But even then, Nial felt like he should say a little more, so he whispered quietly.
"First, we didn't even notice how talented Celine was. She said that she hatched and raised the Vermin-tail Beetle. Her Familiar is already several weeks old. That means she has been a full-fledged Summoner for Several Weeks by now. What were our scouts doing, not realizing such a heavenly prodigy? We should have protected her parents the moment she awoke her Mana Core a few months ago, but we didn't notice that.
We basically begged our opponents to use her, and we can be lucky that they exploited her to attack us. Do–..." Nial was trying to say a lot more but his mother lifted her hand.
"Lucky that she attacked you? Are you sure that your head is fine?" The Empress asked quietly, diverting her gaze from the three kneeling Creatoran. The pressure she had released on them dispersed slowly, allowing them to breathe once again.
Looking up for the first time, they noticed that Nial was sitting on the Empress' throne, talking to her. It seemed like they were having a small fight.
'Is the little Crown Prince fighting his mother for us?'
'He is so righteous…How do we even deserve such great treatment?!'
Celine's parents were on the verge of bursting into tears. They didn't expect that the Crown Prince would be on their side. Their daughter nearly killed him to save them, yet he did not only forgive them but even started to fight with his mother, the Empress.
The Empress was fuming in anger, understandably.
The situation was not exactly complex because the crux was pretty simple to explain. A secret organization had been hired to kill Nial Lacardian. The members of the secret organization in the capital either fled, or they committed suicide when the Queen and her Hellhounds found them. Thus, there were hardly any clues left to find out who exactly wanted to see Nial Lacardian dead.
There were many suspects, but it was not possible to annihilate all of them since it would create too much ruckus to kill innocent people. Nobody wanted to kill someone innocent, in the first place, but the Empress was simply too enraged. Her frustration was clearly visible and it was something everyone could understand.
Someone wanted to see Nial Lacardian dead, and they didn't even hesitate to use other children to make it happen.
"Your majesty…please don't punish our daughter. Punish me instead. We were too weak, and endangered the young Crown Prince…please forgi–..." The young man, the father of Celine, suddenly shouted out loud.
He knew that the punishment for assassinating a member of the royal family would result in the death of everyone related to the culprit. This included their family and even close friends. Something like this was a means to ensure that nobody would dare to attack the royal family, and that those who were daring enough to actually do it would be punished.
The family and friends of those culprits should have sensed his/her hatred, and reported it.
Attempting to assassinate and actually succeeding was a big difference. Nonetheless, the entire family would be obliterated regardless.
This was to create an example of what would happen to traitors and to make sure that something like this wouldn't repeat itself.
"You want me to kill you? Do you even realize what this means?" The Empress turned her head to the young father.
She didn't release her aura, and couldn't be bothered to speak in a lofty tone right now either. The young father was just trying to protect his daughter. However, it was already too late for something like this.
"Killing you will make sure that your daughter hates the royal family to the core. She is a heavenly prodigy, which means that she will rapidly become stronger. Fueled by hatred and the thought of revenge, it is not unlikely that she will grow strong enough to be taken in by some hidden organizations.
Once she works her way up the ladder, the Lacardian Empyrean Void will have to face a disaster facing your daughter, all of that because we killed you, and spared her." The Empress coldly explained with an example.
The young man grit his teeth. He felt helpless, just too helpless…and all of that just because he was too weak to protect himself, and his daughter too talented.
At this moment, Nial cleared his throat. He whispered something in the Empress' ear. She looked at her son for a few seconds, sighed deeply, and then nodded her head resigned.
"Let's do this then!"
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