Chapter 194

Chapter 194: Chapter 194

Caedos lowered his head to the Archduke who was still waiting for a response from him. "Leave me." He decided to humor the Fiend and make a demand.

Tarraz’s face shuttered, his cold eyes sparking with the faintest hint of interest. "Very well. You can freely move through the city for today, every stable will be open to you."

"It is difficult to take him at his word." Captain Ayred stepped forward.

The last of the rescued Hellhounds had gone through the portal, and they would have done the same if they hadn’t gotten a visit from Archduke Tarraz.

Caedos had made preparations for another gruesome battle much like the last one but given the choice, he would choose freedom without bloodshed in a heartbeat.

"We’ll find out for ourselves," He decided, leading the way to the next stable.

After emptying two stables in quick succession without hindrance, Caedos had more men brought to speed up the rescue process. And just as he hoped, by the time the suns of Flaeris dimmed to signal the end of the day, the last of the captive Hellhounds were freed.

That night, there was a festival in Avalan. Although the last of the freed Hellhounds were far from fully recovered, they were home and that was enough.

That day marked the complete liberation of Hellhounds, their city, which was once deserted now thriving.

"Your Highness?" Lady Dilya called out quietly.

The Hellhound was covered in blood more often than not, but tonight she was dressed befitting her station. Nobility had ceased to exist after the Great War, Lady Dilya’s title was due to her service to her people.

She was in a soft gold dress, her dark hair around her shoulders for the first time, it softened the hardened lines of her face.

She hadn’t expected to find the Crown Prince standing solemnly on a balcony, looking out at the brightly lit city beneath, music and laughter drifting up.

There was a banquet at the festival and the captains had panicked when they couldn’t find him. Dilya already knew he preferred quiet, so that made it easy to narrow down where he could potentially be.

Caedos turned away from the view, he had gotten lost in his thoughts. "Could you pretend you didn’t find me?"

Dilya made a sound of exasperation, "Your Highness, today is the celebration of liberation, you have to endure it just for today."

"It truly is," He agreed, "I didn’t think it would come so soon."

Dilya stepped forward to join him, leaning against the stone banisters. "No one did, you truly accomplished the impossible."

Caedos didn’t share her sentiments but he didn’t say it, today had come about from a series of coincidences. "Our troubles are far from over."

Dilya’s dark eyes misted over, the Crown Prince was close in age to her but it had barely been a year since he was birthed from the trees, he was but a child, yet he had to shoulder such heavy responsibility.

"But now we’re whole, and under your rule we can overcome any adversity." She said with emotion.

Caedos’ hazel eyes had returned to the city beneath the castle, "And if I’m defeated and killed?" He asked lightly, his expression calm.

Dilya couldn’t keep the horror off her face, "That... I... Please, don’t say such ominous things, Your Highness."

"Dying is inevitable. I would rather Avalan isn’t condemned to death with me."

Dilya found that she couldn’t say anything to that, after all, the onset of the Great War had been caused by the defeat and the death of the King and Queen.

"W-Wouldn’t you like to eat at the very least?" She asked shakily.

Caedos’ eyes were unseeing as he watched Avalan, his thoughts were already far away from the city. They were right next to a soft spoken Vampire who he promised to return to.

"I’m too happy to eat." He said bluntly.

Dilya sighed and found her smile at that, misunderstanding the true cause of his happiness. "Well, one of the captains will find you sooner or later and I can’t bring myself to lie to them so I’ll wait with you till..."

"Your Highness!" Telos called from the hallway behind them, "Ayred! I’ve found him!"

Dilya smiled helplessly, joining the captains to urge the Prince to the banquet hall.

"...to His Majesty!" General Urien started a toast, one that the lively table enthusiastically joined in.

Caedos held a goblet of wine that had been pushed into his hand at some point, seated at the head of the table. His composed expression didn’t crack, so not a single person got an insight into what was going on in his head.

General Urien had always been clamoring for him to take the throne, so now that Avalan had been liberated, he was at his convincing best. Even at the banquet to celebrate their liberation, he was already making plans for a coronation.

Caedos let them do as they liked, there was no reason to dampen the party spirit. The Demons at the table had worked incredibly hard to achieve freedom, they deserved this moment of respite.

He was quiet for most of the banquet but he rarely joined the rest of the castle for meals so no one minded, merely happy to have them in their midst.

Caedos hadn’t exactly prepared for this moment because it had come too swiftly. His intent was to slowly change the people’s minds about their ingrained dependence on royalty while they fought for their freedom.

Which was supposed to take years, and at the moment they regained their freedom, it would be easy to extricate himself from the obligation that kept him bound.

But the road to freedom had been unexpectedly short so although he had carried out his obligation to his kind, he hadn’t made any progress in changing their deeply rooted beliefs.

His goblet of wine remained untouched but he did eat, unable to turn down meat. As he ate, he pretended not to hear General Urien making plans for the coronation to happen the very next day.