Rise of the Lustful Evil Monarch (Re)

Third Person's POV

"What happened after that, Falco? And why are you sighing like some wrinkled old man?"

The question, casual in tone, sent an involuntary tremor crawling up Falco's spine.

His thoughts involuntarily flashed to the image of that rotating black wheel, the suffocating mist, the devouring dark… He started shivering even though the room wasn't cold.

Laurel, the woman beside him, noticed that.

Her own face tightened in discomfort, and her lips parted as she tried to speak, perhaps to defuse the tension or to explain in his place.

"Your—"

"Did I ask you to speak, Laurel?"

The prince had turned his back again, his hands folded neatly behind him, as if staring once more at the moon beyond the window.

But his voice had the weight of a guillotine.

The words came softly, and seemed almost kindly, but there was something about the condescending way he had spoken that a sense of deep shame and indignation rose in her heart, and she went silent, though she tried one last effort to explain herself.

"N-No, Your Majesty…"

"Then shut up."

The finality in his voice was like a door slamming shut on her throat as silence fell again.

"Okay," he said after a pause, with unnatural lightness.

"You may continue, Falco."

But Falco didn't seem to hear anything else as he stood there frozen with his gaze locked on the prince, and the words forming in his mind struck him like the toll of a great bell.

How…? How did this useless piece of trash, this burden on the earth, change so much? And why… why is it that the longer I look at him, the more he seems like… his father?

"Oh? Are you wondering how I have changed so much, Falco?"

The prince's voice cut through his thoughts like a blade as each of his syllables dripping with quiet intrigue.

His tar-black eyes gleamed faintly, and a faint smile ghosted over his lips.

Seeing this, Falco involuntarily shuddered, but he forced himself to answer crisply, his tone steady and without even a tremor.

"No, Your Majesty. I shall… continue. After we crossed Crimson Kill Tower City and entered the Sanctum Realm, we were planning to contact you immediately.

However, the long hours of travel had left us utterly exhausted, so we decided to rest and eat at the small hilly town below.

Who could have guessed that, upon arriving at a modest restaurant called The Prancing Rabbit, we would encounter the blond girl whose brother Erik had pushed off the rope, and as expected, Erik wasted no time in humiliating her and attempting to finish what he claimed was his… unfinished business."

Falco's voice faltered slightly before he caught himself.

"But…"

He paused as his eyes darkened with a hint of solemnity. After taking in a deep breath, he continued.

"On the way, Erik also made crude remarks toward a young girl with scars, and also mocked the vampire standing beside her.

As you know, your majesty, such behavior was second nature to him, and he didn't expect any consequences while casually forgetting the fact that this was not the Dark Capital.

But, Your Majesty… that was the beginning of his nightmare."

Even as he spoke, Falco felt a chill creep up his spine.

The memory of the fight, or to be exact, the brutal beating, replayed in his mind, vivid and merciless, every blow, every scream etched into his thoughts.

He recounted everything to the prince in painstaking detail, neither hiding nor exaggerating a single moment.

He never noticed that, throughout his entire account, the prince's expression remained calm, calm as the deep, still waters of a moonless pond, that didn't even have the faintest ripple.

When Falco finally finished, he dared to glance at the prince and expected to see fury, or at least anger, in those black eyes.

Instead, he found neither of them, and what he saw instead made him pause; it was a faintly amused glimmer, and a touch of genuine interest.

"Interesting…" the prince murmured, almost to himself as his lips curled ever so slightly.

His gaze then settled on Falco, and he said something the man never imagined he would hear from this hedonistic, frivolous, and infamously spoiled young prince.

"Well, what's done is done. Like you say, it was mostly Erik's fault and nothing that could have been avoided.

This way, he had been taught a lesson not to be so arrogant and idiotic every time, and it will tone down his foolish behavior."

As he said this, his dark eyes flashed with contempt and disdain but the two of them clealry saw it.

Seeing such a scene, they didn't even know what to say as they had already been shocked too many times today.

And seeing such a reaction from him to Erik's mistake, which would have been perfectly normal or even praiseworthy for the prince earlier, left them bewildered and flabbergasted to the extreme.

As they thought such things, the gaunt and thin looking prince continued.

"There is no need to trouble that young man any further."

His tone was gentle and almost mild, yet it carried a weight that made the room feel smaller. Falco and his companion exchanged a glance and started wondering if they had misheard.

"Also," the prince continued, "call for our family's healers and have their wounds treated immediately. I might consider giving Erik another chance, given the loyalty he has shown me.

That will be all, now I would like some time alone."

The two of them bowed and stepped out while being still dazed and their thoughts tangled as they walked towards their chambers.

For the first time, they had felt something regal—truly regal—about the prince.

It was a dignity and a nobility that had been absent in the young man's usual drunken revels and shameless indulgences.

They left the chamber like wooden dolls, while still replaying every moment of the meeting in their minds. For the woman, especially, the shift was almost dizzying.