Chapter 41: Chapter 41

“What is your name, Darling?” Lord Micka asked the young maid in his velvet voice, not caring about the annoyed stares he was getting from everyone in the room.

“This maid’s name is Andrea, My lord.” The maid answered and bowed respectfully as the lord picked the cup of fresh blood, she was offering him, sensing his eyes on her, she kept her head bent, not meeting his gaze.

“You can go back to your work!” Eren said calmly from across the table, annoyed by the way the fire weasel was ogling the girl.

“Wasn’t that the latest lord’s granddaughter?” Micka asked as he stared at the retreating maid’s figure, she was a pureblooded demoness no doubt, that he knew from the deep color of her eyes, but it wasn’t until he studied her face and scent carefully that he knew she was a noble, a noble who was now a maid!

“She is!” The shadows’ lord nonchalant response as well as the way he laid back in his chair, an obvious sign of how ridiculously he took the matter, only made the fire lord’s blood boil in his veins, he felt his palms heating up, his flames burning wildly under his skin, etching to be released in the hybrid’s direction.

It wasn’t the wisest thing to do though and Micka knew it, even though he was blazing with anger, it was not the place nor the time to discuss the shadows’ lord ways in running his empire.

The shadows’ lord believed that a person’s worth was defines by his own deeds and competence instead of his birth, and therefore, he changed the whole system in his empire once he took the position of a lord, meddling with the demonic hierarchy, putting those with the dirtiest blood in high positions while giving the nobles, such as the latest lord’s granddaughter, the jobs of peasants!

Micka, being born in one of the oldest and purest families in the demon world, always believed in the supremacy of pure blood, the pureblooded demons were those whose ancestors never mated with humans or impure demons, they kept their blood intact by marrying into their close circles, and as a consequence, they were stronger with heavier blood, capable of carrying the dark magic and controlling it better than any other!

It was a given fact that pureblooded demons were better, stronger ,and therefore, deserved to be served and respected, it was the natural hierarchy that established itself in their world, with the best on top and others under them, it went on for centuries, until this filthy hybrid showed up!

The shadows’ lord cleverness and leading skills were truly remarkable, but the real mystery was his strength, no one understood how could a hybrid be so strong, for he had easily defeated the previous shadows’ lord, who was a pureblooded demon, and took over his position, with no birth right nor inheritance.

and the shadow demons welcomed him, and all the destruction he brought to their system! Even those whom he had degraded, such as the latest lord’s granddaughter, they were blindly loyal to him, putting him high as if he was some holy savior!

Pushing his disgust to the back of his mind, the fire lord leaned back in his chair as well as he stared at the shadows’ lord, two can play the game of haughtiness, he thought to himself, and soon, he would put the filthy half blooded lord back in his place, but now, while they both waited for the arrival of the third lord, who wasn’t a lord but a lady, Known as Rima, the ice queen, he decided to mess a little with the shadows’ lord.

“I don’t see Geraldine; won’t she be joining us in this meeting?” Micka faked innocence as he voiced out his question, and while the shadows lord kept his face expressionless, her father, who was one of Eren’s advisors, looked at him in confusion.

“Sadly not, for she is needed somewhere else.” Eren answered calmly while sipping the warm fresh blood, it was a great idea to keep humans as live stocks in their cells after all, for he was never out of the thick rich liquid, especially in such occasions when he was too busy to go out and hunt.

Micka frowned, not knowing how to interpret the shadows lord’s words, for the demoness was indeed needed somewhere else, only that he wasn’t supposed to know anything about it!

“How odd, and here I thought you were very close, but seemingly, not close enough to include her in such an important matter!” the shadows’ lord placed the empty glass down as he looked at the fire lord with serious eyes, all while her father had an offended expression on his face.

“We are more than close! Geraldine Renaldy is my future wife, Lord Micka, her importance to me and to this empire runs deeper than even this meeting. So please, don’t trouble yourself with this matter, and, may I suggest you pay your fiancée equal attention to the one you are paying mine?!”

Eren said as he glanced at the beautiful brunette in the fancy red dress sitting next to the fire lord, a polite smile on her face, she was beautiful in her own way, he thought, not breathtaking like his fair lady, but a discreet kind of beauty that can be easily passed without being noticed if one didn’t intentionally stop to see it, her skin was a bit tanned with a golden shine to it, dark brown hair and doe like eyes, red lips that matched her dress, and a very, very, shallow smile.

She looked like a perfect doll, Eren thought as he looked from her to the fire lord who looked at him with obvious annoyance, a gentleman would have been looking at his lady in that moment, saying something sweet to her, some tacky line about how much he loves and appreciates her, but the fire lord didn’t even spare her a glance while she kept that fake doll like smile on her face as if she haven’t been brought up in the conversation.

She was scared to say anything that might displease or anger her lord, Eren concluded, so she decided to act dump and pretended she didn’t hear a thing, it didn’t look like the first time such incident occurred  between the two with how well she was playing her role and how indifferent he was about her, and that only meant that the fire lord hated his fiancée.

And for a very obvious reason! Eren thought, for she was a hybrid!

Micka, on the other hand, and as much as he hated the shadows lord in that moment for reminding him with the bane of his existence who was sitting next to him like the obedient doll he wanted her to be, he was more worried about his earlier words about Geraldine, for his entire plan was built on manipulating that silly girl’s feeling so she handles him the hybrid girl, but Eren’s words!

If his words reached her than she would definitely change her mind about their deal, if she hasn’t already!

“I am sorry I am late!” both the lords were pulled out of their exchange of glares when they heard the steady voice of Rima walking inside the room with confident steps, followed by four ice demons who could have been mistaken as her white shadows because of how synchronized their moved were with hers.

Taking her seat in the triangle table with two advisors on each side, the ice queen greeted the attendance with a nod, and the two lords looked at her, wondering how did this frail looking girl acquire the position of a lord, or lady!

Unlike the two of them, the ice queen wasn’t wearing a black attire but a plain simple white robe, its simplicity was almost laughable even though it was made out of the finest silk, it was still very humble for such an occasion.

Her brown hair was also styled very simply, and one could easily think it wasn’t styled at all, the big waves were tied in a low ponytail with a white ribbon, and then, there was nothing!

She had no jewelries on, no accessories, but she still shone brighter than any other woman in the room, Eren thought, her strength and confidence were palpable in the air, and even though she had one of the most feminine and innocent faces he ever saw, those deep red eyes of hers spoke volumes about her actual strength and blood purity.

It was still a mystery to everyone outside the ice edge how did that frail looking girl got the position of a lord, or lady, even though her family didn’t lack any male heirs, in matter of fact, the ice queen was the granddaughter of the latest lord, and he had a long line of sons and grandsons alive and capable but the position skipped them to be, somehow, snatched by the youngest granddaughter who was now sitting in the room with a confident and serious expression on her face.

“Shall we begin?” seeing everyone’s nods, Eren wasted no time to tell his ‘allies’ about his new discoveries.

“I know some of you are a little reluctant to go fight the Gods in the center, especially if the curse was broken using Historia’s blood.”

“You mean her daughter’s blood!” Micka interrupted and it took Eren all his self-control not to throw something, except for the angry glare, at the fire weasel.

“And yes, if the curse is broken, we can simply move to the human lands and claim them back as ours, I don’t see any good reason as to why we should fight a war with the Gods, we all know how slim our chances are actually are! Why don’t we just establish our lives in the human lands until we are strong enough?”

“I am afraid that is no longer the case, the dark energy is going to spread in the human lands as well, nothing in this world is going to be spared except for the center!”

“This cannot be!” Micka scoffed at the unreasonable words the shadows lord was throwing, but the objection didn’t come from the shadows’ lord.

“I confirm the shadow’s lord’s words, and even more, because they are aware of our movement and the fact that the hybrid girl is captured by a demon, the Gods are planning to eradicate our revolution in the most effective way!”

“And what way is that, My lady?” Micka asked in a bored tone, and Both Eren and Rima exchanged a look, and a thought.

The bastard didn’t care! He never did!

“They will wipe all life, drain it from both of us to use it as a barrier to block the dark energy, and then restart life all over again, they are waiting for us to move into the human lands, where their eyes can see us and powers can affect us.”

“The Gods are not just going to watch their loyal pets die, they are going to do the jobs themselves! How divine!” Eren spat, not knowing what to do next! The ice queen’s words were not confirmed, and he didn’t trust her enough to believe her right away either, but if her words were in any case true, then his plan would be useless.

“I am sorry, my lady, but how do you know all of this!” he asked her, he couldn’t take any decisions based on doubts only, he needed confirmations!

“I have my sources!” Rima answered calmly and both the lords looked at her with raised eyebrows, not knowing what kind of sources the ice queen had to bring her such information from the center.

“Once we step in the human lands, they are going to wipe both races, and end the demons’ problem once and for all, and then, according to my sources, recreate life somehow!” seeing the shocked faces, Rima continued

“These were the bad news, now the good ones, it takes time for the Gods to prepare for such a massive life drain, and they are counting on the humans to provide them with that time! They want to keep us busy fighting the humans while they prepare for the attack, and even though we are stronger, the humans have the numbers, by the time we take them down, it would be too late for the both of us.”

“Bloody humans, again in the way!” one of the attendants hissed, voicing out almost everyone’s thoughts!

“So that means, it is either we stay here and die! Or go to war and die!” Geraldine’s father said with a deep frown, unable to believe that after all the hard work, after all the hopes they had, this is how the reality turned out to be!

“That is why, a war with the humans is not in our best interest!”

“Even if we don’t fight them, they will fight us, you know they think this war is against them!” Eren said and shook his head, but the look on the Ice queen’s face made him think she had more to say, and he wasn’t the only one as someone else voiced out the crazy thought.

“My lady!” Micka narrowed his sly eyes at her, but her gaze didn’t waver and stayed as confident as it was since the moment she walked inside the room.

“Are you, by any chance, suggesting that we ally ourselves with the humans?”