"I want you to impregnate Arcene O Conailli," The Queen reeked of sinisterness, "Kora Le Blank!"
Kora maintained a neutral expression and subtly smiled at the Queen. The fact that he was not dead yet, meant he was still useful, for whatever the Queen plans.
The Queen raised her brows in astonishment as Kora was too calm, instead of the fearful expression that many would expect, from him. But then again, she has seen him accepting his death, gracefully, with open arms. Revealing a secret that could lead him to his death was still below that.
"What?" Arcene snapped by the shocking revelation, overcoming her mental barriers of fear.
"I see...I shouldn't have used my demonic transformation inside the Academy..." Kora tried testing the waters, as he didn't know how much the Queen knew about him, " And that too in your daughter's mansion, Your Majesty" He glanced at Arcene from the corner of his eyes, indicating the Queen, that he understood why he got caught, and then at the pentagram formation at the ceiling.
"Of course someone as smart as you... must have already deduced why Arcene is such a good daughter?" The Queen smirked and nodded to Kora's conjunctions.
Kora briefly relaxed as it confirmed that the Queen only knew about him after he came to the Academy. "I have various formations installed near my precious daughter, and before you could run away, I saw you snooping around near Professor's Mansions... " The Queen stated with a sly grin.
There was another question lingering in his mind and he was waiting for The Queen to ask about it, "Why did you fake your talents back at the Vrigaipis Marquessate?" Intrigued, she couldn't help but ask.
Kora narrowed his eyes. 'She thinks I faked being a Zero level? Is it because of my high cultivation? Did she not see me cheating in the Academy?' Kora thought it was better this way, since the eerie aura that the Queen was reeking of, ensured him that he would become her slave if she knows about his absurd cultivation techniques.
"I thought it would be better to know who all are my real supporters and sniff out all the dogs that may hinder me from succeeding to greater heights," Kora gave the aptest answer he could think of, "The real friends are those who doesn't leave you in the face of adversity!"
The Queen nodded in understanding and inwardly praised Kora's cunningness.
"Funny thing, When I was being tortured, I thought Arcene was getting all the help because of familial love... " Kora jested, "And then you must have thought why my son was not getting the same treatment as my daughter? Correct?" The Queen completed Kora's train of thoughts with a big smile on her face.
"Yes, I thought when both the parents are the same, then why the difference in familial love for son and daughter?" Kora narrowed his eyes, as there was barely any concept of women being underneath men in the Glipike Kingdom. Whoever wielded power will be regarded as superior and both the Queen's children, Second Prince and the Fourth Princess were equally talented, with the same talent level.
"Ah, you must have thought Arcene is someone else's child, not The King's. Thus, whoever is the real father, with the influential background was giving her all the help. Right?" The Queen giggled at Kora's way of thinking, though she didn't berate him, as it was obvious from his point of view to think of something so outrageous. "Wrong, my son is an idiot. All he does is practice his sword, hone his skills, and a muttonhead... He is not suitable for me to give him attention. On the other hand, Arcene is smart," The Queen suggestively smiled at Arcene, "Aren't you? My daughter?"
Arcene only softly nodded without saying anything.
Kora shook his head, though he didn't care much about their relationship as his hair started changing color, back to green, while his eyes turned emerald.
"K-Kora!" Arcene shivered as Kora's real face came into her view, she sat on the bed upright, with her mouth opened wide.
"How have you been Princess? I missed you... " Kora chuckled, and added with a small smile, "... cutting my fingers!"
Arcene's mind went blank as the person she has been searching for all this time was right in front of her eyes, but she never realized it.
"But an Ozonal Demon? I thought they went extinct. I really found a gem." The Queen grinned upon seeing Kora's camouflaging bloodline ability.
"What have you been waiting for?" The Queen's smile reached her ears, "I want an Ozonal-Nixie Hybrid. Create one, or I might pick up your mother on my way to Vrigaipis Marquessate and make her a breeding machine." The Queen knew Kora's father was human, and the only remaining parent, his mother must have been a demon. She pressurized Kora to quickly make a decision using his mother as leverage.
Of course, she doubted, Yelena would simply give birth to a hybrid without resistance as the child will be in Yelena's stomach and Yelena would be able to do whatever she wants with the child, even aborting it was possible, even if the Queen forces a male Nixie to breed with Yelena. Thus it was highly possible that Yelena wouldn't allow the Queen and hold a grudge against her, going as far as repeatedly aborting her child, to piss the Queen off. It was much easier to control Arcene than a woman who has lived for far longer. Arcene was only 18 years old, and since birth, the Queen has reformed her personality into what she wanted, unlike Yelena who had a normal upbringing and wouldn't yield to her rap*sts.
Furthermore, it would be difficult to hide her plans from the public eye as she would be snatching a Marquess' wife. Even though a Marquess is not as influential as Dukes, the Marquessate was Vrigaipis Marquessate, one of her loyal subjects and the Royals will have to investigate the matter wholeheartedly. Thus her threats came as empty as the underpants of a eunuch.
Kora sighed, it was inevitable. He couldn't refuse the Queen as his death was right at the corner of the hallway, and he could see the creepy clouds of death looming over his head. "Alternatively, I could kill both you and your mother by sending a small report of my findings to the Kingdom. They will send a nice surprise package for you, Demons." The Queen muttered and pressurized Kora further.
"M-Mother!" Arcene tried hard to fight against her innate fear, "Y-You can't do this!!" but her voice trailed off as low as possible when the Queen only craned her head slightly with a distorted smile on her face.
"Really?" The Queen narrowed her eyes into slits, "Care to repeat?" She jabbed with a small creepy smile.
Arcene trembled again as she bit her lips and looked down, unwilling to meet her mother's gaze.
"I want a hybrid, give me one! I have no interest in watching you two, but don't think I wouldn't know what happened in here." The Queen ordered as she glanced at the pentagram formation glowing at the ceiling. "You two don't have much time, get along soon, as a good couple would..." And with that, the Queen vanished in thin air.
Kora stood up, cursing his bad luck, but he still had to complete the task given by the Queen as it would be difficult for his survival if she leaks his real identity as a Demon to the Kingdom. He was confident, even after impregnating Arcene, he held some value for the Queen as an Ace-level talent and was sure of his survival, but he would have to find a way out of his plight sooner or later.
With a wry smile, he got up and looked at Arcene who was too dumbfounded by the shocking revelations. Never in seven hells did she thought, Kora was faking his talents, his cultivation base, and even the fact that he was a demon. She was thoroughly fooled but as she thought of what her mother told her to do, her face distorted with burning fury.
She threw her dress to a side and laid completely naked on the bed. "Just put it in!" She spat with an expression full of hatred as she closed her eyes, relentingly.
Her anger was redirected towards Kora and he knew why. He didn't blame Arcene for not understanding his predicament, as he was also pushed to this situation.
"I want to say something, that may change your opinion on me..."Kora got on top of the bed but didn't approach Arcene.
She rolled her eyes, "What? Don't tell me you are also a victim!" Arcene hissed, her voice oozed sarcasm, "Just get it over with, put your seeds and get out!!" One of her arms covered her breasts while the other over her eyes, hiding the moist tears rolling down her cheeks.
Kora sighed internally, Arcene was not in a state of mind where she would think rationally. He wanted to propose an alliance of sorts with her, and in return, he would help her get power, and maybe one day, she would be able to topple her mother with her own strength. He knew Arcene was a walking money bag because of the investments the Queen made in her, and with all that spirit stones he could have helped her a lot, and of course himself. He was always looking for ways to grab as many opportunities as possible.
But since Arcene was not in a mood to listen to his blabbering, "Very well," Kora spoke as he loosened his robes.
"You must be feeling great, isn't it?" Arcene blabbered, "After what I did to you, it must feel good to have me under you?" She tongue-lashed at Kora, obviously because she had no way to curse her mother upfront, and diverted all the hatred towards him.
"Karma is a bitch, Hah." Kora chuckled half-heartedly, half-pitifully. He didn't hold any emotions towards Arcene, nor anger, but what could he do in this situation, where his own survival was on the line? "Don't worry, I will try my best to please you, Your Highness, and it would be a pleasant experience... "
"I don't want any experience!" Her words rolled off with venom and spite into Kora's ears but Kora was unaffected, as he spread her legs as his hot breath caressed her slit.
"Wh-what are you doing??!" Arcene didn't know much, but she knew, the mouth has nothing to do with reproduction. She glanced down, to see the wolf below with a wide smile on his face, as he replied, "You might be cursing your fate right now, but in the future, you would gladly accept this as a blessing in disguise... "
That said, Kora dived in for the fresh meal.