A few minutes after the incident, we began dealing with the aftermath.
The Vampire's bodies had already disappeared alongside their blood, so no cleanup was needed except for the panicked guests. They were escorted out, and only headmasters and a few people, including my subordinates, remained in the party venue.
All headmasters besides Earl Lawrence, who just agreed with the others, suspected they didn't care about the dizzy effect of reviving too fast. They set their revival chamber in a few seconds to not leave any evidence behind.
But nothing was for sure yet, so Alesia led them and proposed a deep investigation into this matter, trying to find where this revival chamber was.
As my Vice-Captain and the former female Kingdom Knight's Commander, Rania also joined the investigation. I also told Sophia and Tristan to tag along, help them, or at least pretend to help them.
No one was hurt in this accident, but one person was about to break down mentally. That person was Queen Eve. She couldn't believe what had just happened earlier and was consoled by Pope Juriel in a private room.
Sana and Ertha didn't tag along as they returned to the church first to launch a fake investigation to keep everything under wraps. The cute Archbishop whispered to me and said the shadow squad would erase all tracks and fabricate some evidence.
The church was moving all forces to keep this matter secret and push Queen Eve into the throne. Everything went as planned.
I sat on the sofa in the same room as Pope Juriel and Queen Eve. I apologized to her for killing King Cassius, but she didn't blame me as she also saw his transformation. And King Cassius' intent to kill me was clear from the way he was about to hit me.
"I should've trusted the rumors. My husband did love Princess Carissa too much, and his view toward his Kingdom has clouded. And as a Queen, it was my fault for not realizing that sign. It's a secret, but I think it will be found in the investigation. So I will tell you, Your Eminence."
Queen Eve began to speak softly after recovering a little and calming down.
"Actually, I realized that the donation he sent to the church was lacking. In truth, His Majesty followed our daughter's idea of focusing on strengthening our knight force and protecting our citizens from monsters by ourselves.
"I also think that's a good proposal, but I never thought that the loyalty of the Royal Guard, where we allocated our funds the most, would change not to our King but to the Princess. After interrogating the two knights accompanying the Princess before she went missing, we found this information.
"Using the chance of the annual tournament, we reformed the Royal Guard under the Grand Marshal's command. And just a few days ago, that man, whose loyalty to His Majesty can't be doubted, reported to me that His Majesty had turned strange. We plan to investigate this after I return, but… but…"
Before finishing her sentence, Queen Eve's tears once again dripped down from the edge of her tears. She covered her face with her hands, and Pope Juriel caressed her back slowly, consoling her.
"Don't worry about it too much, my child. It was not your fault, and it was no one's fault. We just found out about the harsh truth. People's real personalities could be well hidden. Sometimes, we won't realize it even until the Goddess calls us back to her kingdom."
Queen Eve lowered her hand and looked at Pope Juriel's calming expression, "Her Eminence…"
"It's okay, my child. Mistakes can be fixed. We will help you."
That 'we' Pope Juriel talked about was the Castitas Church. She implied that even if there were no King Cassius, Castitas Church would support Queen Eve to ascend to the throne until one of the two Princes could take it from her.
"Thomas is still 15 years old, while Edison is still 13 years old. The ideal age for either of them to take the throne is 20 years." Queen Eve said, her gaze was down. "And I can't really take the throne. Many nobles would oppose me doing that."
"I will declare my support," I interjected at the perfect moment, surprising the Queen as she jerked her head up. "It was my fault for not reacting faster before King Cassius was turned into a Vampire. If only I were faster…"
"No, Your Holiness. It wasn't your fault. The attack was unexpected, and you are far away from our table." Queen Eve shook her head in rejection, looking at me straight to my face. "You don't need to feel responsible."
"Even so, I will declare my support." I asserted and declared with a clear tone. "Please listen to me, Queen Eve. With King Cassius' state right now, the throne is left in an empty state. With no one sitting on it, the Nobles will certainly be hungry for it, targeting the Princes as a result."
When I mentioned that, Queen Eve's body jolted slightly. It seemed like she also realized this problem but was still hesitant to take the throne because there were only a few people supporting her.
"I believe the Grand Marshal also trusts you a lot, knowing the first person he reported about King Cassius' strangeness was you. If you declare your intention to take the throne, Castitas Church and I will support you, and most probably Grand Marshal too. With that, many Nobles will think twice and will turn to your side."
What I said wasn't based on knowing those Nobles' sides but based on knowing which Nobles would definitely declare their support.
Earl Lawrence would be the first Noble who would declare their support to the Queen after I showed that I sided with her. Count Dixon would follow suit, as I had asked Emilia to influence their decision.
Then the Nobles Beatrice charmed before. She would take off her skill after they finished their declaration.
Alesia would also support the Queen but couldn't do it openly due to her neutral position. However, that would be enough to influence other Nobles. Actually, just my support alone would already be enough for Queen Eve to ascend to the throne. That was why she was surprised.
"We can use the time when you are on the throne to fix all problems caused by King Cassius' mismanagement. I am aware he is a great man, and most of his decisions were sound, but he made a few decisions, according to Princess Carissa, who was now colluding with Vampires.
"Just think of this as preparing the throne for Prince Thomas or Prince Edison. To ensure they will grow as a strong and dependable Prince, I am also willing to train them once every 7 days to show my support to them." I finished my explanation with a soft smile.
"We can minimize the opposition that way."
"Preparing the throne…" Queen Eve muttered and fell into deep thought.
She was a smart person, and she naturally understood what I was talking about. Thanks to understanding what I was talking about, she was now troubled to make her decision.
At that moment, Juriel's soft voice rang once again, "Take your time, my child. There will be a mourning time of 10 days after this. We will declare Cassius as being called to the Goddess' side instead of turning into a Vampire to maintain his reputation and dignity. I believe you want to choose that?"
Hearing the Pope, Queen Eve nodded, "Yes. That's better than having our citizens panicked. And the Royal Castle definitely can't allow a Vampire to enter. Now that my husband has turned into one… Please give him the rest that he deserves."
"I promise you." Juriel nodded, "His soul will stay at the Goddess' side. May her blessing be with him."
"Thank you, Your Eminence. My heart feels at ease knowing that."
"No problem, my child." The Pope nodded once again, holding the weak Queen's hand. "Now, you should rest. Alesia will teleport you back to the Royal Castle with your purple-haired friend."
Queen Eve's eyes widened in surprise at the Pope's words.
"Fufufu, she can't hide from me. In truth, she was protecting you and following you closely. Even if she's a Succubus, her heart is in the right place. You don't need to worry too much about her."
Nodding, the Queen revealed a smile for the first time, "Thank you. I saved her from a Vampire, and she was my pillar of support all this time. I will believe her more after this. It was a shame that I had never believed in her. If only I did, then I could warn people about the Vampires."
"Again, my child. She's a Succubus, and it's natural if you don't trust her too much. However, please remember. We can't see people according to their Races, but their hearts. But we also can't ignore their needs. You surely understand what I meant?"
"Yes." Queen Eve nodded. "She said she would be okay for a few days."
"That's great." Juriel smiled, clapping her hands twice.
The door of the room was opened from the outside, and Sana appeared. She bowed her head respectfully without saying anything.
"Let Archbishop Sana escort you to Alesia, my child. Please forgive me for not being able to escort you out because of my blindfold."
"It's definitely not a problem, Your Eminence." Queen Eve smiled softly and stood up. "Thank you for hearing me out. I will definitely have my answer in a few days."
"No need to rush."
After that, the Queen bowed slightly to Juriel and me before leaving the room with Sana. When their footsteps disappeared in the distance, the Pope looked at me with a wide smile.
"Is it according to the plan, Paladin Arthur?"
"It's perfect, Pope Juriel," I replied with a grin. "With you mentioning Beatrice, Queen Eve will definitely believe her more, and we will be able to influence the Kingdom easier. We just need to wait for a few days and help with her coronation next."
"Fufufu, I feel so evil." She giggled playfully. "But this is the will of the Goddess. May her blessing be with us."
Pope Juriel clasped her hands together and began to pray. I imitated her gesture and repeated it.
"May her blessing be with us."
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