"I have the last remaining mber of House Lewellyn in my custody—just a day before the coronation." My voice cut through the tension in the hall like a blade.
The gathered council mbers stiffened, their anticipation palpable. I let their silence stretch before continuing, savoring the weight of my words.
"And after so light entertainnt, she revealed the depths of House Lewellyn's treachery—how they maintained a connection with the Damned lurking in the outer world."
A council elder narrowed his eyes. "Are you suggesting House Lewellyn as a whole consorted with the Damned?"
"This is unprecedented! It could point to the possibility that other grand houses may have traitors nestled close to the throne."
"This could shake the very foundation of the Grand Houses."
The murmurs grew louder until my father cleared his throat, and silence crashed over the hall once more.
"House Lewellyn was not rely dabbling in corruption; they were consud by it. They had infected every servant, every steward within their walls. Worse, we have confird that Finnian Lewellyn himself was the one who carefully, thodically, corrupted Gunnar Blackwood."
I let the words settle, a smirk creeping onto my lips as I recalled Yelena's trembling form, her pleas dissolving into the cold stone floor beneath her. A few council mbers stole uneasy glances at , as if uncertain whether they had truly seen the expression flit across my face.
"Knowing Gunnar Blackwood's greed and insatiable taste for extravagance, they ensnared him with a rare golden wine. But this was no ordinary indulgence. The wine was, in fact, the heart-blood of a Damned Nocturnal—a slow-acting poison that corrupted him from within."
I still rembered the golden liquid swirling in my goblet the night he had offered it to , the scent sickly sweet. Vasen had examined it, confirming its insidious nature. Had I indulged, I too would have been tainted.
"Now, the most crucial revelation." I leaned back, my gaze sweeping across the assembly. "We have uncovered the one responsible for supplying this wine from outside our borders. The one who funneled funds and resources to the Damned. Had we not intervened, the exchange of tainted armor would have been completed."
Anticipation tightened the air as I gestured to Lucian. He strode out of the hall, his presence alone commanding silence. Monts later, he returned, leading a lean man whose hands were bound in heavy chains. The council mbers inhaled sharply.
"Let us welco Tyler." My voice rang out as Lucian shoved him to the center of the hall.
"Tyler Ryzen," an elder gasped. "Your Highness, this must be a mistake."
"He is the grand manager of House Aestherisin's branch of Unity Bank!" another exclaid, disbelieving.
Unity Bank was the bridge between the Great Houses and the outer world, handling all currency exchanges. Every council mber here had entrusted this man with their wealth at so point. Their disbelief was expected.
I tilted my head, watching Tyler's carefully schooled expression. "I know exactly who he is."
"Why don't you speak, Tyler?"
He lifted his gaze, attempting to mask his fear. "I have denied these allegations since my capture, and I will continue to do so."
His voice feigned composure, but I could hear the frantic rush of his blood even from my seat.
"And yet, you cannot hide the golden mark of power seared into you."
The council mbers stiffened. "A mark of power? Where?"
"Allow to demonstrate." I gave Lucian a slight nod.
Tyler flinched. "You cannot do this!" His voice cracked. "Your Majesty, you cannot allow this. The sacred oath protects !"
"And yet, even the Trinity would not consider this a violation of the oath if the cri can be proven." I smiled as Lucian's hand shot forward, twisting deep into the man's hair.
Tyler's eyes went wide—then he scread as Lucian yanked. A thick clump of hair, still attached to strips of raw, glistening flesh, tore free from his scalp. Blood spurted down his face in hot rivulets.
His knees buckled, his shrieks reverberating through the hall.
"You cannot do this!" he sobbed, sucking in ragged breaths. "This is a violation of the sacred oath!"
The Unity Bank's personnel are rely vampires, not Nocturnals. The only reason they hold such power is because of one thing—the sacred oath.
An oath made under the Trinity's guarantee.
It was the sole reason he was so are that he would be safe even in the throne room and in front of the council.
Lucian did not stop. Another brutal yank. Another chunk of hair and scalp dangled from his fingers before he discarded it like refuse. The once dignified banker writhed, his face a mask of gore, his scalp a weeping wound of exposed flesh and torn sinew.
I chuckled, watching him tremble, his hands twitching in their restraints. "Look at you, Tyler. A man so assured of his immunity, now reduced to a pitiful wretch. How does it feel? The certainty of your safety stripped away like the flesh from your skull?"
Lucian twisted his fist into the remaining tufts of Tyler's hair and ripped again, harder this ti. The sound was wet, sickening. Blood sprayed in an arc, a piece of scalp dangling loosely from the exposed bone.
"Your Highness, this could put us in direct confrontation with the Trinity!" an elder stamred.
"We must not do this!" others echoed, voices frantic.
"Shh." I raised a single finger, silencing them all. "Watch."
Tyler trembled violently, his regeneration sluggish but persistent. Through the agony, through the blood pooling at his knees, sothing else stirred. Slowly, strands of hair sprouted from his mangled scalp—shimring, unmistakably golden.
A gasp rippled through the assembly as thick, golden liquid seeped from the wounds, accelerating the grotesque regrowth. His head pulsed with the power of the Damned, his eyes flaring red before they were overtaken by molten gold.
"A Damned cannot hide their mark once they have fully embraced their corruption." My voice was calm, almost amused. "Unfortunately for our dear manager, his manifested in the most obvious place."
Tyler's gaze snapped up, golden veins webbing across his skin. "You have gone against the sacred oath." His voice dripped with unearthly venom.
"You have tortured a representative of the Unity Bank."
"And yet, we have undeniable proof," I countered smoothly.
He staggered to his feet, trembling yet defiant. "The Trinity will give justice." His voice had taken on an eerie resonance.
The air in the hall thickened with static as sothing unseen coiled around him.
"My death will bring them here."
And then he burst apart.
A grotesque explosion of golden ichor and crimson viscera erupted from within him, drenching the floor, splattering across garnts, staining the throne room in a symphony of gore. His entrails slithered across the marble like glistening serpents, his skull shattered into fragnts, chunks of brain matter clinging to the council mbers' robes.
The scent of burning gold and raw blood tainted the air.
The council mbers stood frozen, their expressions twisted in horror. And then, the air itself shifted.
The atmosphere grew leaden, suffocating. A crushing weight pressed down upon the room.
I exhaled slowly, lifting my gaze.
They were here.
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