The Crown and The Rose
Chapter 45: Victim

Chapter 45: Victim

The Crown

"My lord!" A youth with pale skin,—like all demons— brown hair and dark eyes rushes to us as soon as we step on the room. "My Lord, you never informed your departure! I was worried sick!"

I visibly cringe at the word ’My Lord’ because I am not yet too used to people calling anyone but Vermilion ’My Lord’, earning a look of disapproval from Edward which I return with a strained smile.

"Now, now, Keith." Typhon grins and pats Keith’s shoulder, "I didn’t take long, did I? And other than that, shouldn’t you be resting right now? Why are you running around like this?"

Oh yes, now that I observe the individual more closely, he seems quite weak and sick. He is even paler than most people as well. I turn to Seraphina, who is just standing around with a bored expression etched on her face. She lifts a questioning brow at me and I shake my head in response. Seraphina too is pale but this Keith person looks paler and I am sensing almost no magic from him.

"My Lord, I cannot just rest around all day when you need me the most." Keith protests weakly, and there is a weary smile spreading across his face, "I would be ashamed as your servant if I keep u being like this."

"Oh Keith," Typhon wipes away a dramatic and non-existent tear from the corner of his eyes which makes me almost roll my eyes because I don’t under Edward’s pointed glare. "You are such a gem I have earned for myself."

Seraphina clears her throat, "Excuse me, if your master-servent drama has ended, then can we please go down to the business?"

For the first time in my life, I am actually thankful to Seraphina for asking this question because I wouldn’t be able to ask this damn question because of my courtier standing beside me, pinning me down with a pointed glare.

"Right." Typhon gets serious—if I didn’t know better, "He is my loyal servant Keith." He introduces Keith to us, he greets us and we greet him back—aside from Seraphina of course. This demon princess has too much ego to do something appropriate and polite. "And they are the Lord Vermilion’s servants. Lush Von Blade, Edward Millers and Erick Silverbell. And you know this one"—he points at Seraphina.

But Keith doesn’t really concentrate enough to hear the last part as his eyes widen as soon as he hears my name as if he has seen a ghost. Well, demons are more terrifying than ghosts. Public opinion, no offense.

"Y-You are a human!" He exclaims horrifiedly which arns a wide grin from me. "Not only that! You are the prince of the holy light! My Lord, what have you done?! You have brought an enemy to our territory!"

"Heh, Lush, you have snatched my limelight from me again." Erick eyes me from the corner of his eyes.

"This is, ’Your Highness’ for you." Edward snaps, and Erick rolls his eyes in response.

"Oh no, no, no, Keith, they are not enemies." Typhon tries to explain the situation the Keith, "They are Vermilion’s servants."

"What?" Keith frows deeply, "How did the prince of holy light become Lord Vermilion’s servant?"

"This is a story for another day, for now just know that they will be here for a week and they will help us out of the situation we have here." Typhon sighs, looking exasperate, "We should go down to the business. As you can already figure out, Your Highness—" He abruptly spins toward me, making me almost jump back a few feet away from him, "—Keith is one of the victims. And I am doubting that he is going to be in death’s bed soon if he doesn’t do anything. There is no magic to support his life force."

Magic is a different concept for three races, Gods, humans, and demons. God wields them to put on a display of their power. Human wields them to protect themselves and demons wield them to keep themselves alive. Gods are magic themselves. They don’t need magic to stay alive. The human life force produces magic. It combines with their genres and their traits. Meanwhile magic fuels their life force. This is why they are immortal like Gods. But the problem is if they run out of magic power. What happens? They die. Simple it is as that.

"But, Lord Typhon, I don’t think that once gone, we can restore his magic force." I put a hand on my chin in a contemplating motion, "Keith’s death is inevitable either way you see it."

The room is silent for a bit before Erick slowly asks, "What should we do now, Your Highness?"

"Nothing." I shrug nonchalantly, my lips pursed, "There is nothing that I can do about it. I am not a God." I shake my head, "And at this point, I doubt even if a God will be kind enough to help out a demon." I shake my head, "Lord Typhon, why when did Keith get his soul sucked?"

"Two days," Typhon replies with an unreadable expression, not that it is one of concern.

My eyes widen slightly, "It is pretty long, to be honest." I acknowledge, "I’d expect him to die within three hours."

"If this fellow dies either way, then why waste our time on him." Seraphina sneers, "We can move on to something more important."

Typhon doesn’t answer, his expression is as unreadable as it can be.

"Your Highness, don’t you think you are acting a little out of character?" Edward says after a pause.

I sigh internally, maybe I am... perhaps because they are demons, or maybe because it is Typhon’s servant we are on about. In either case, this is not like me. I take in Keith’s gloomy expression and Typhon’s face which is turning into a expression of grief. I sigh, giving up on my inner turmoil.

"There is a way that we can save him with... but I am not quite sure if you guys want that," Everyone looks at me with various kinds of expressions and I hesitate a bit before I say, "I can turn him into a human."