Samael Grimestone. He was a powerful man. A Duke that the Emperor greatly favors. Many say that because of how much he adores the duke, Samael might as well be declared as second in line to the throne, right after Kian, the Crown Prince of Slora.
One sole reason for this is because he's beyond clever and stronger than his peers. Having to inherit the title of the Duke at eighteen because of his father's passing, many had tried to put him down, searching for any weakness.
And there was none. He excelled in his studies at the academy. His swordsmanship was excellent and he was untouchable. Only a few people rival his strength, and they were his very own friends.
As Samael grew, many people realized one weakness; he didn't have a betrothed. When he expressed his intention of not marrying, that was when people decided to stain his all-so-perfect name by saying that he was impotent, and would not be able to fulfill his duties to provide a seed of life to his beloved.
That of course… is completely untrue.
In fact, he was… full of passion for such activity.
"S-Sam…"
Unlike what many people knew, he in fact does have a lover. It was his aide, his sole secretary, and one of his very few rivals; Callista, a mysterious commoner who carried no last name.
Samael kept his face buried in her neck as he held her closer to him. His lips and tongue traced on her skin, savoring every taste of her.
His meal was then cut short when someone decided to knock on the door.
"It's us," Tadeas announced their presence, he was with Isaac.
"Fuck," Sam cursed under his breath before he moved his head away. He kissed Callista's forehead before carefully buttoning up her blouse. He grumpily tidied up his lover before he fixed himself and walked back to his table.
Callista couldn't help but let out a chuckle. She couldn't even afford to be annoyed for the interruption because of how adorable he reacted.
"Come in," Samael announced.
"I apologize for cutting your honeymoon short, but there's something you need to see," Isaac begins as soon as Tadeas swings the door open for him.
Isaac placed a folder and a crystal on Samael's desk and was then met with glares from both Samael and Callista. Isaac simply raised a brow at both of them.
Were they worried someone would hear me? He thought and rolled his eyes.
"What? Like it's not already common knowledge that the duke is in love with his secretary?" Isaac spat out in sarcasm and Tadeas shook his head.
"Because it's not, Isaac. Get over yourself. They hide it so well that making out in his study at the palace would still have them thinking that it's strictly business between them," Tadeas chimed in, riding along the sarcasm.
Isaac grins. "Right, after all, that's what they are, no? Anything but lovers—"
"Get to your point." Samael cuts his sentence.
"Here," Isaac taps the crystal to activate it. Several images popped out. "The past two days of searching have shown unexpected results."
It showed a wanted poster of a familiar demoness.
"Father, conduct a search for Nilsine outside of Slora."
Nilsine Holloway, the wandering princess of the Grand Duchy of Holloway… or Sin, with a bounty of ten gold bars, is a wanted adventurer in the Empire of Amadeus Oceana.
"She's working for Heins, and there's a possibility that she's replaced that beastman."
The atmosphere turned heavy as Samael recalled his adopted son's words last night.
"Yves was right," Samael mumbled under his breath.
"At this moment, our scouts are still pinpointing her specific location," Tadeus explains. "But, how will you explain this to His Majesty?"
Samael heaved a sigh. He wasn't sure what he would do as well. Nilsine is a precious niece to the Emperor. He would surely be shocked to learn such an absurd fact.
"For now, have the scouts lay low, we'll never know when the High Angels might learn of our spying. Let's go and meet up with Syvestian regarding this matter—"
Before he could even finish his sentence, they heard of an explosion.
"What in the world—"
They looked outside and they sighted that it came from the training grounds. All four of them then ran by the open balcony, which had a view of the training grounds.
"Oh, hello," a monotonous voice greeted them. They all turned to him, and it was Yves himself. He jumped from their window to the balcony which was about two floors above Samael's office. "You're all here."
"What did you do now?" Samael asked, showing extreme shock. Yves turned to the direction of the training grounds.
"Oh, it's Cimmerian. He woke up just now and chose violence, so I sent him flying to a place where I can actually beat the living shit out of him," Yves stated as he smiled. "He won't die, don't worry. Just think of it as a master-disciple sparring session. Well, then…"
He disappeared just like that.
Uh… Tadeas trailed a thought, looking over at Samael.
His switch flipped, Isaac thought to himself, sighing.
Not a moment of peace with these two… Callista sighs.
Tadeas, Isaac, and Callista then looked at each other before they covered their ears in unison.
Right then and there…
"SYVESTIAN GRIMESTONE!!!!!"
…a father's anger waved through the entirety of the Palace grounds.
While completely unbothered by the vibrating sound waves of the duke's shout, Yves reappeared in the training grounds, meters away from the barely conscious body of the elf.
Cimmerian landed on the hard earth, creating a dent on the ground. Yves kicked him from over ten meters high and Cimmerian landed within five seconds.
It would be no surprise if the elf was knocked unconscious after such a brutal hit… but since he's an elf… and a Black Heart patient…
Cimmerian slowly pulled himself up, standing on his own. He wasn't unscathed. He had scratches, black blood are trailing down his forehead, his veins are black and visible… and his eyes are blood shot red.
So this is what happens when the drug stays in the body for years… It has the same result from a months-old addict, just slower… and more dense, Yves thought to himself as he observed Cimmerian's thick mana.
Cimmerian himself barely had any mana, but Neura had helped in thickening his flow…
"How interesting…" Yves couldn't contain his smile as he changed his stance.
This will be fun.