The Crown and The Rose
Chapter 48: His Mistress

Chapter 48: His Mistress

The Crown

"So okay..." Seraphina snaps her head in my direction. "Will you please tell me what the hell I am doing right now?" She is disdainful.

"Helping me out. And getting on my good side." I reply without lifting my head from the report in my hands, my voice nonchalant.

"And why am I trying to get on your good side?" She sneers.

"So that your brother favors you," I answer matter-of-factly.

"Huh? What are you? His mistress or something?" She lifts an eyebrow at me.

A surge of butterflies breaks free but I quickly pull them into a cage and lock them away. I’d love to be Vermilion’s mistress but well, no, this is a topic for another day. Let’s focus on the matters we have in front of us right now.

I lift my head and look at Seraphina, struggling to keep my expression normal, "Will you please shut it?"

"I was just telling the truth anyway." Seraphina shrugs, "You said it like you were Lord Vermilion’s mistress."

Warmth starts to crawl up the back of my neck but I push it down, "Focus on the task you are assigned to." I order her.

"This is draining too much of my magic power, Lush." There is a hint of whine in her voice as she makes another firebird, her hands dancing to form the seal and formation. The bird flaps its wings and lurches skyward. "I have already made at least a dozen of these birds. Why don’t you assist me?"

"My magic is sacred and deathly to the demon kind. It will only lead to more deaths if I use it carelessly." I resume focusing on the written reports given to me regarding the situation.

Edward is helping Typhon regarding the situation since Keith is still so very out of it. And I doubt he will ever be in it again. Erick is assisting Keith to get better quickly. However, this is a highly unlikely chance because I am guessing that he is busy taking advantage of Keith while he is still out of it.

I taught Seraphina how to make moving things with magic. However, she is still very bad at it which is resulting in her losing more mana power than anticipated. She is reaching her limit pretty quickly.

I am using her magic to create some additional eyes to monitor the whole area. This will keep us updated immediately if anything happens. In a war, information is one of the most important things. Information is the key to victory. I am just applying the same method.

I watch Seraphina make a few more birds and fuel them with her magic. She is looking quite pale at this point.

"I think this is enough." I stop her, flipping the scroll shut, "This will do for the time being I assume." I get on my feet. "Let’s go in now, it is getting darker."

"So what do we do now?" She gets on her feet as well, following after me.

"We wait." I sigh, "There is nothing we can do other than that."

There was another corpse found last night. He was also a nobleman. Edward went there to inspect the dead body and its surroundings while I stayed here and taught Seraphina how to make moving things with your magic. Edward found nothing that hadn’t been found before so it was all for naught. Meanwhile, Seraphina was surprisingly good at learning—just as expected from Lord Vermilion’s sister. But she lacks experience unlike me. So the magic technique is affecting her core very much. Not surprising as it is a lost art.

Only the royal family of Blade Empire has the tradition going as I am the only one among them who can actually pull off the technique without harming myself. I have a feeling that Lord Vermilion is also able to do this. But I doubt he will show me if I told him to.

There is also something that I noticed nowadays no matter where my thoughts start, they always end up at Lord Vermilion. I seem to can’t take him off my mind no matter what I do and where I go. He is always preoccupying my mind.

"So tomorrow is another targeted date." Seraphina contemplates, "What do you plan to do?"

I eye Seraphina out of the corner of my eyes and then smile, "You will see what I have up my sleeves. I just need to get Erick to do the final part."

Seraphina raises an eyebrow, "Why Erick and not me?"

I chuckle, amused, "Oh Seraphina if I remember correctly, you were the one who was just whining about how I was using you up at the rooftop." We start to climb down the long staircase. "Now you are complaining about not using you?"

Typhon’s place is vastly different from Vermilion’s castle. I have a feeling that it is smaller and it is obviously warmer. Other than that, it is not empty like Vermilion’s place. There are many guards and maids.

Seraphina huffs, "I was just saying that I might be more useful than that shithead."

I snort, "I appreciate that. However, you need a while to recover your magic. And I need someone with a significant amount of dark magic. Typhon is the lord of the lands, I doubt any demon would want to mess with him. So the only option we have is Erick. I hope I don’t need to explain any further." I give her a knowing look and her eyes light up.

She smirks, "You are trying to lure it in, Lush?"

"That’s right." I chuckle and wink at her playfully.

Pink blush creeps up to Seraphina’s cheek and she forces a cough as we step into the throne room. Yes, this palace also has a throne room.

"Your Highnesses." Erick and Edward acknowledge together and Typhon ignores me and as if I want his acknowledgement.

"Have you thought of something, Your Highness?" Typhon asks, looking paler than the last time I saw him—which was about three hours ago.

"I have." I smile brightly and look at Erick.

"Oh no, no, no, I have a bad feeling about this." He backs down a few steps and I smile wider.

It might just work.