The Great Demon Hall was the largest hall in the Castle of House Drake. Since House Drake had always reigned over the realm, they naturally had the authority to name their largest hall as such to hold events where all the influential demons would be present.
The usually silent, somber atmosphere in the castle switched into a boisterous, lively atmosphere due to the gathering of so many people.
In fact, outside the gates of the castle, tens of thousands of demons had gathered since after the wedding of their queen, there had never been any big events or celebrations. There was only a heavy atmosphere of sadness and darkness looming over them due to the passing away of the Demon King, who was respected, loved, and feared by the people of this realm.
They could only imagine how much his death must have affected their queen.
They never expected there to be any kind of events or celebrations to be held anytime soon when, unexpectedly one came up. And this involved the Soulless Consort, who was said to be crippled in every way and hadn't even stepped outside the castle for 14 years. Since he was alive but appeared as if he had no soul, he was also known as the Soulless Consort among them.
None of them truly accepted him as the royal consort and still couldn't figure out why their late Demon King wanted such a marriage to happen when there were impressive suitors to pick from, even from the other two houses.
Wasn't it insulting to let his beautiful and powerful daughter of such a noble bloodline get married to a crippled demon who couldn't even talk or think? He even had a strange appearance and was not of noble bloodline, let alone have the Bloodburn Bloodline.
Since ancient times, the three houses had always had alliances, either amongst themselves or with each other through marriages, to keep the bloodline strong and to promote unity. So what their late Demon King did was unprecedented and shocking since he was known to be very wise and prudent.
They felt it quite sad and pitiful that their queen has to put up with him for the rest of his life.
But despite all the bad opinions they had towards the royal consort, all of them flocked here after hearing the news of the unexpected development.
The soulless consort actually gained his wits and wanted to know how things would be different now that he could speak and think. They knew not much would change, but they were unable to resist their curiosity.
—-
In the Queen's Chamber, five maids were helping Rowena dress and making sure her hand-designed attire wouldn't look poor before anybody else during the celebration.
Their faces were filled with nervousness, yet their eyes were extremely focused since they didn't want to make a single mistake dressing her and offending her in any way. But they had no idea that Rowena was least bothered by how they were dressing her, and instead, her eyes were blankly staring at the mirror. Nobody could guess what she was thinking about.
She usually wore only a simple black gown, but for this event, they dressed her up in a grand black gown that even spread over her feet and multiple layers over her skirt.
But it was more than just grand, as this ornate gown was adorned with lace, embroidery, and ribbons.
Her overdress had long sleeves and a low neck collar that perfectly skimmed over her well-endowed breasts and clung around her hourglass waistline in a good way.
And after carefully setting her long silky black hair, the handmaiden looked at the dark golden stand upon which a crown was resting. The crown was as dark as the abyss, with thorn-like projections and horns extending from the sides. But what made it stand out was not how intimidating it looked but the glowing red hot light coming from beneath the mystical metal.
The handmaiden was of the vampire race and had been serving this house for centuries. But no matter how many times she had seen it, her eyes would still shiver with fear and reverence as she gently picked up the Bloodburn Crown with special mana-infused gloves.
Even the other four maids held their breath upon seeing the handmaiden pick up the most ancient and powerful crown of the Demon Kingdom.
They knew that the red hot light was not simply light but parts of the metal of the crown that had yet to cool down after having it breathed upon by the flames of the strongest dragon of House Drake!
Only those of Rowena's bloodline and those whose bloodline was as pure as hers could wear this crown without getting hurt. Any other vampire would feel like their head would melt if they wore this, and that was considering if they were able to touch it in the first place.
After carefully placing it on her head, the handmaiden looked at her with a lowered gaze, "Your Majesty, is there—"
"You all may leave," Rowena said with an empty look as all five of them deeply bowed and left.
As soon as they all left, the door was about to close when Ceti came inside and stood at the entrance and gave a deep bow, "Your Majesty. It is time. Shall we go downstairs?"
"Is Asher ready?" Rowena asked before slowly turning around.
Ceti raised her head as her eyebrows briefly furrowed, "His Highness must be since I heard a word from the servants that he was spotted outside, dressed for the occasion," She felt annoyed that because of him, her queen's time was being wasted.
"Did you manage to find out who the expert was that saved Asher?"
Ceti lowered her head and said with a sigh, "Forgive me, Your Majesty. I have yet to find any information regarding that. Nobody seems to know anything about it. It was as if the expert disappeared into thin air as nobody saw anybody coming in or going out."
Rowena gave a brief nod before looking outside through the windows, where she saw other parts of the castle being well-lit for the occasion. If the windows were opened, one could even hear the loud music and dance going on down there.
Ceti pulled together her brows as she asked in a concerned tone, "Your Majesty…What is it?"
"A year ago, it was today, right?...The day he never returned…" Rowena mumbled with an inscrutable expression.
Ceti lowered her gaze as she sighed and said, "Yes, my queen…Today would be the late king's first remembrance day. Since you ordered that nobody should publicly mourn his death to not remind you of it, everyone purposefully didn't mourn him in public today. But it doesn't mean nobody has forgotten about his grace, nor anyone ever will. I already got reports that the people mourned him inside their—"
"It's not about that…It doesn't feel like a day has passed, yet everything has changed. The only thing he wanted me to do on his last day was to protect Asher no matter what."
Ceti raised her head slowly as she wondered what her queen was trying to explain by saying all this. This was also the first time in a long time she was seeing her expressing herself more than usual. Could it be that remembering her father's death stirred something inside her?
But hearing the queen's last sentence, Ceti shook her head inwardly, wondering why the great Demon King burdened his daughter with such a useless thing. Of course, she couldn't say this to her.
"I always thought my father felt pity for that crippled boy and didn't want him to be alone. That was the reason I thought he married that boy to me so that no harm would come to him. But now, after talking to him…I feel like my father might have had a different reason," Rowena said as her eyes briefly flickered in deep thought while remembering her interaction with him.
Ceti blinked her eyes in confusion and asked, "Your Majesty, I don't understand. What other reason could there possibly be?"
Rowena turned around and said as she narrowed her lucent crimson eyes, "That is something I can only find out from him."
Ceti felt more confused and didn't understand what her queen could possibly learn from that useless, arrogant pervert.
"Let's leave. Today will be a long night," Rowena briefly said as she walked out the door, and Ceti immediately followed behind her.