Rowena nodded without a change in her expression, to which Oberon smiled and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
*Clap! Clap!*
Oberon clapped twice as a servant came walking from the side with a large silver tray in his hand, atop which a large object was covered with a silk cloth.
Not only Asher but everybody else also had a confused look upon seeing what kind of gift Oberon had prepared.
Lady Naida Valentine squinted her eyes and asked her husband with a smile, "It seems like dear Prince Oberon has prepared something to please the queen."
Lord Vernon Valentine shook his head softly with a smile, "I doubt any gift from anyone could change the mood of the queen. The loss of our Demon King took the heaviest toll on her."
Lord Thorin Thorne's daughter, Sabina, clicked her tongue with a lazy smile, "There he goes again. When will he fucking give up?"
"Who knows? He might succeed this time," Young Lord Edmund Thorne said with an inscrutable smile.
Sabina furrowed her brows and gave a side glance at her brother with a squint.
Oberon maintained the same smile as he saw his servant walk up to him with the round silver tray in his hands.
And when the servant reached beside him, Oberon placed his hand on the dark golden scarf as he said, "For the kingdom!" With a solemn shout, he took off the scarf as everybody eagerly extended their necks to take a look. For Oberon to hype the gift before the queen, it had to be really good.
The moment they saw what it was, everybody gasped. Even their queen, Rowena, had her eyes quiver upon seeing what it was.
But nobody was as shocked as Asher, who even forgot to breathe as he looked at Oberon's "gift" with widened eyes, 'What the fuck…' Asher inwardly felt a number of emotions he couldn't describe since he was looking at his own decapitated head!...The head of his body from the time when he was a human was placed in a huge glass container with a creepy dark blue glow in the container.
'How did it get here?!' Asher never thought he would see the sickening sight of his own decapitated head that even looked like it had rotten for a short while.
The eyes of the head were gray and lifeless, the skin no different than that of a corpse with rotten patches here and there. The top side of the skull seemed like it was smashed by something quite heavy.
Still, it was quite surprising that the head hadn't decayed enough despite the passing of a year.
But it was the least of his concerns since the sight of his severed head also triggered the unpleasant memories from the time he got betrayed. This head reminded him of all his mistakes and regrets.
Ceti's expression became dark after seeing the head of the one who killed the Demon King, her queen's father. She was also concerned about how her queen might take this since it must have reminded her of her father's death as well.
However, she noticed Asher's hands firmly gripping the armrest and wondered what was wrong with him.
But she ignored him the next moment since she didn't want to waste her time thinking about what this pervert was thinking.
Seron's wife, Rebecca, smiled with a satisfied look after observing Rowena's expression.
Seron's youngest son, Prince Silvan furrowed his brows as he looked at his elder brother proudly presenting his gift.
Lord Thorin Thorne's wife, Lady Esther, furrowed her brows and said, "He really came prepared. No wonder he seemed so confident."
Lord Thorin let out a harsh scoff and said, "This could end ugly as well. He must have got more desperate after that cripple woke up…"
Oberon turned around to address all the people gathered in the hall, "The Golden Prince…that was the name of this filthy Hunter whose head this belonged to. A name none of us can ever forget. Not only me, but I am sure all of you remember the days when this name caused great unrest among us. This Hunter made our kingdom suffer great losses…including our good warriors and subjects."
Asher's eyes narrowed as he saw this guy mentioning his moniker he had as a Hunter. The name was not something he gave himself but Aira…his ex-girlfriend, who he thought endearingly gave him such a nickname.
Now he couldn't hate that alias enough, but he didn't expect his past self to have such an infamous reputation among the demons. It was true that he had killed countless demons, but he always did so for the sake of humanity and not for his own glory. But now he couldn't care less about what he did or what they felt about him.
"This Hunter hailed as the strongest among his people, took countless lives from our brethren again and again. If it were not for me having to take up quests that would help the future of our kingdom, I would have personally drained every ounce of blood from his body," Oberon said with a fierce light in his eyes, making the people nod with looks of admiration.
'Yeah, you wish. What a joke…' Asher scoffed inwardly and couldn't believe how thick-skinned this clown had to be to declare that before everyone else.
He took a quick glance at Rowena to see if she was entertaining his words, but his eyes narrowed when he noticed that her gaze was eerily fixed on the decapitated head.
'Does she still thirst for revenge as well?...' Asher mused. But since his Hunter self was officially dead, shouldn't Rowena be satisfied, or was she still not satisfied?
Asher looked away as he felt that it didn't matter. It was not like Rowena would find out who he really was and what she felt was the least of his concern.
"Still…previous year, on this day…our beloved Demon King got revenge for us by striking down this Hunter that had tried to sow fear in our souls. Their strongest Hunter was no match for our Demon King. But the Golden Prince had ganged up with other Hunters to fight our king. If it were not for his lowly methods and unfair play, our king would have still been with us! Our king killed the strongest hunter but at the grave cost of his own life," Oberon said with an emotional yet fierce gaze.
Most of them standing in the hall nodded with doleful yet fevered expressions, fully agreeing with Oberon. Their nerves were trembling with sadness and anger, thinking about how their king had to die to kill the strongest Hunter.
Asher was inwardly facepalming, wondering where this dipshit was getting his information from or whether he was spouting nonsense to rile up the demons. He could see that all of them already seemed to believe that their king killed him when he was a Hunter. He wondered what they would feel if they knew he killed their Demon King, though his own death followed shortly after.
But he could see that they held the 'Golden Prince' accountable for being the biggest factor in the death of their king. Otherwise, all of them wouldn't get so riled up upon seeing the decapitated head.
Prince Silvan leaned in and said to his father in a low voice, "Father, where did he get that head from?"
Seron squinted his eyes and was about to say something when his wife, Rebecca, chimed in with creased brows and said with a look of pride in her eyes, "Your brother has his ways, Silvan. He has known the queen since she was born and also knows how to earn her favor. You should watch and learn."
"Yes, mother," Silvan nodded with a stiff expression and didn't say anything more.
Oberon finally turned around to face the queen as he bowed and said, "I know Your Majesty loved the late Demon King more than any one of us ever can. And that's why this gift would greatly please you since the remnant memories inside this head would let Your Majesty see the glorious moment of our king killing the so-called strongest Hunter who had threatened our realm long enough."
'He has to be kidding...' Asher became anxious since this was very bad news for him!