Married To The Enemy Kingdom's Illegitimate Prince-Chapter 114 — For Power

Staring at the calendar of the lunar calendar, Valen’s gaze focused on a specific date– October 19th– the day his beloved younger sister had passed away.

Rage rushed through his veins once he recalled how much she pleased him to send her to visit Lucian, only for her dead body to return to the palace.

He turned to face the king seated on his desk. The table had accumulated a pile of documents on which one of them could work due to their mourning period. Although the servants made sure there was no dust on the bookshelves or any of the papers, Valen felt something bugging him and he knew what it was.

"Your Majesty, we must do something about that illegitimate child! This time he has crossed all limits! Because of his neglect, Arisia..." Valen paused, unable to continue his sentence. Every time he tried to say his sister had passed away, he felt nauseous. After all, which elder brother could handle losing his younger sister before his eyes? Even if the whole royal family knew she might not make it until her twenties, she was merely eighteen!

Sitting on the chair of his study hall, Valerian nodded for a moment only to shake his head afterward.

"I will send him to kill the demons that have been attacking the Lyac Lake. I’ve heard they seem far more dangerous than the usual ones he slaughters as if they were honeybees."

"But that means he had the chance to make it out alive! He needs to be executed."

"Crown Prince. I am well aware of your resentment towards that child but do not forget he went to the war in your stade, and even now, he is fighting the demons, without asking for anything in return. After the war, you know far too well that we cannot manage to hire a lot of knights. But that child..."

Valerian inhaled deeply, his hand pressed on his face.

"He has an army of men willing to throw their lives away for him, and he was allowed a lot of the riches of the royal family as a reward after his return from the battlefield."

"But still!"

"Quiet! Do not forget. I am still the king. While I am alive, I will make sure to use him enough to exhaust him till death."

"He is a monster, Your Majesty. What if he does not die, but instead, we are the ones who lose their lives in the process?" Valen raised an eyebrow.

"He is under my leash. He wouldn’t dare disobey me," Valerian confidently chuckled.

"How are you so sure he is loyal to you after what you did to him? Have you forgotten? You did it for Arisia as well. So why not just end him this time?"

"I have better plans you see. The Lyac Lake is close to Eldoria. If Eldorians see Lucian, whom they surely have already met, rush there with his army, they will feel threatened. And of course, rumours will be spread that the grand duke of Erion is heading to destroy Eldoria before he reaches the lake. And he will not be receiving any help from the kingdom, us. Even if the grand duchess, the princess of Eldoria tries to help him, an alley from Eldoria will make sure he doesn’t receive any help to kill the demons!"

Valerian’s laugh echoed in the study hall, sending chills even to Valen who wasn’t the victim of such a well plotter scheme.

"W-who might that man be?" The crown prince nervously asked, unsure if the king would be willing to answer him.

He has always kept his plans hidden from Valen, leaving the young man wondering why his father suddenly told him about this plan of his.

"Duke Ramsel."

"Isn’t he?.."

"Right. The princess’s beloved uncle," Valerian chuckled, his gaze filled with excitement as one would have if they headed into the forest to hunt, knowing they would surely bring their most desired prey.

***

Loud, scraping noises echoed from the queen’s chambers, but no one dared approach. Days had passed since the princess’s death, yet the queen remained trapped in the chaos of her grief. Her screams would rise, objects would shatter, and tears would fall until exhaustion claimed her—only for the cycle to begin anew.

"You... you took her away," Izabella rasped, her voice raw from days of anguish.

[You knew this day would come,] a voice rumbled, deep and grating as if the very walls spoke.

"You promised me!" Izabella shrieked, her nails digging into the arms of her chair. "You swore she’d live until twenty!"

[Promises? Foolish human. There was something in that cursed mansion, something that severed my hold. I could not reach her in time.]

The queen’s breath hitched. "Lies. Are you accusing my child of meddling with powers she should not?!"

The voice chuckled—a low, menacing sound that reverberated through her chest.

[You do not understand. Listen, human. In order to achieve something, you must make small sacrifices. You are the one who allowed it in the first place. Do not dare go back on your words now.]

A sudden flashback tore through Izabella’s mind, dragging her back to a memory she had long buried.

It was a stormy day, the sky as dark as her thoughts, when the princess was born. The king, as always, was absent—just as he had been when Prince Valen entered the world.

From the day of their marriage, Valerian had denied her any semblance of true power, relegating her to a ceremonial role while entrusting the kingdom’s affairs to another woman. A woman he claimed to trust above all, even his queen.

That woman had come to her chambers that day, her face adorned with a mask of false concern. When her eyes fell on the newborn princess swaddled in Izabella’s arms, she laughed, almost as if she were witnessing a ridiculous play.

Infuriated, Izabella demanded to know the cause of her amusement. The woman tilted her head, her voice dripping with disdain.

"How quaint. A daughter? She’ll be sold off before she even learns to stand, like a trinket no one desires."

Izabella’s grip on her child had tightened then, a silent vow forming in her heart.

When the woman had left, a dark shadow entered the room, filled with a few pieces of furniture, a golden vase beside the door and a glass of water with no servant tending the queen. Jolting in fear, Izabella asked its identity.

[Isla.]

A high-pitched female voice spoke.

"What brings you here?"

[You are quite sharp, aren’t you?]

"What do you want?" Isabella gritted between her teeth. As if listening to that woman wasn’t enough, she now had someone else visiting her.

[Nothing much. I simply want your body and... this child’s.]

"What nonsense! Where are you to begin with?! Do you not know I am the queen of Selvarys?! Such insolence will not be tolerated!"

[Oh, dear Queen. A queen with nothing but a title without power. What if I tell you by doing as I tell you, you will become the most powerful one in the world?]

Izabella narrowed her eyes, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Y-You could do that?" Her lips twitched into a smile, her eyes glimmering with joy.

[Of course. There is nothing, we, demons cannot do. All you need to do is do as I tell you, and hand over your body whenever I wish for it. And this child’s as well.]

"Letting demons possess our bodies... But... she is far too young for that now."

[Do not fret. It will happen when she is judged to be aged enough to contain a demon inside her body.]

Coming back to her senses, Izabella slowly wiped her tears. She was the one who had agreed to this. She did not have the right to shed any tears now.

I’ve come too far to step back...

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