Chapter 513: Evils Of Lin Royal Family Of Velmora

The carriage finally rode up the long path toward the Violet Palace, its wheels rolling over the smooth stone road as the towering palace came into view beneath the evening sky. Damian had taken considerably longer to return than he originally intended because he had made a detour after leaving the royal court, spending some time speaking privately with Yuji, Kahlid and Lucy about their new responsibilities and the preparations for the following day’s execution.

By the time he finally arrived, the palace grounds had already settled into the quieter rhythm of the evening. Damian stepped out of the carriage and immediately noticed Alice standing near the entrance with several young male attendants behind her. The moment their eyes met, he understood why she was waiting there.

"I’m guessing Jugo must have gotten to her before I got here." He mumbled under his breath.

Alice did not move as Damian approached. Her expression was composed, but her eyes carried an expectation that was difficult to miss. She had clearly been waiting for him, and judging from the urgency in her gaze, whatever Jugo had told her had affected her deeply.

Damian stopped beside her and glanced briefly at the attendants before turning his attention back to her. "Walk with me." He said.

Without waiting for an answer, Damian turned left and began walking around the palace. Alice quietly followed beside him, leaving the attendants behind. Neither of them spoke for several minutes. Their footsteps echoed softly across the stone path as they moved through the palace grounds, eventually reaching the expansive gardens surrounding the rear portion of the building.

Damian’s eyes wandered across the open field before them, taking in the carefully maintained grass, the water fountains scattered throughout the grounds and the numerous sculptures positioned beneath the trees. The evening breeze moved through his long hair as he walked, and for a brief moment his expression softened as he appreciated the peaceful surroundings.

"Jugo told me a bit about your clan’s predicament under my predecessor..." Damian finally said. "Not only did he betray your clan, but he also ignored the killings of your clan members who worked in hospitals."

Alice slowly nodded. Her gaze remained fixed ahead as she walked beside him. "That was just a small fraction of the crimes of the Kitsune, Nagen and Succubus clans."

Her voice was quiet, but the bitterness beneath it was unmistakable. She took a moment before continuing.

"They killed so many from different clans, and even though Ruby, Hazel and Racheal did not participate, they turned a blind eye and stopped Lin Qui from going after their families. So when I heard the new Prince of Lust had these same devils as his companions, I believed nothing would change and their clans would go unpunished."

Alice finally turned her head toward him. "Until today."

Damian’s eyes narrowed. The two of them stopped walking, standing several feet apart beneath the shadow of the palace walls. Alice’s expression had changed completely. There was no longer uncertainty in her eyes. There was desperation, mixed with years of resentment that she had apparently carried without ever having the power to do anything about it.

"My older brother was the man who saved Lin Qui’s life from the grievous wounds inflicted on him during the coup, but he was killed by Racheal’s younger sister, and my mother died to Hazel’s mother, Lilith." Alice’s voice trembled slightly as she spoke, but she forced herself to continue.

Then she stepped backward, lowered herself onto both knees and bowed deeply before Damian. "Please... Get justice for my family, and I swear I will dedicate all my life to serving you!"

Buzz!

Damian stared at her in silence.

For perhaps the first time since arriving at the palace, his expression became impossible to read. His face twisted with emotions that seemed to contradict one another, anger, disbelief, realization and something dangerously close to humiliation. He had thought the situation was complicated before, but this revelation had taken it somewhere entirely different.

He took a step backward and exhaled loudly, raising one hand to rub his forehead as a deep frown formed across his face. Pieces of his past suddenly began falling into place with an uncomfortable clarity.

He remembered how aggressively his wives’ families had sought him out after Lin Qui’s death. He remembered how Lin Qui had personally persuaded him to sign the Faustian Bargain and marry the three women.

At the time, Damian had believed Lin Qui was simply trying to ensure the continuation of the royal family and protect the women he cared about. Now, however, another possibility had emerged.

The girls had every reason to fear what would happen after Lin Qui died. Their families had committed crimes, accumulated enemies and participated in political conspiracies, and the new Prince of Lust had no blood connection to any of them. There was no guarantee that Damian would protect them.

Lin Qui had known that. By binding Damian to them through the Faustian Bargain and securing their future positions as queens, he had effectively created a shield around the three women. Even if their families eventually collapsed, the girls would remain connected to the throne through Damian himself. Lin Qui had not simply been arranging marriages. He had been securing their survival.

"What a fucking simp!" Damian suddenly yelled furiously.

Alice flinched at the explosion.

Damian staggered backward, pushing his hair away from his face as his expression filled with anger. He was not angry at Alice. He was not even truly angry at Rin. He was furious at himself for failing to understand what had been happening around him.

For years, he had believed he was making his own choices while surrounded by people who had carefully arranged circumstances around him. He had been manipulated into accepting women whose families had benefited from his predecessor’s generosity, all under the guise of preserving Lin Qui’s legacy and protecting the people Lin Qui loved.

He felt used.

The realization burned far more deeply than he expected. He had spent years believing that the Faustian Bargain was an act of compassion toward Lin Qui and his wives, only to discover that it had also been a political mechanism designed to protect people who might otherwise have been held accountable for the actions of their families.

Alice remained kneeling, staring at Damian with confusion. She could not understand why he had reacted so violently to her request, but she could tell from his expression that his anger was directed elsewhere. Whether it was toward his wives or toward the man who had preceded him, she could not say.

Damian’s cold gaze eventually fell upon her kneeling figure, and his eyes hardened dangerously. "Every crime committed by my wives will be brought to light, and everyone who had a hand in it will pay the ultimate price!"

Alice’s eyes widened.

Damian did not give her an opportunity to respond. He turned away and began walking toward the palace, his steps growing faster as he headed straight for his chambers. Alice remained on her knees for several seconds, watching his back disappear into the palace, before slowly lowering her head again. She had wanted justice. Now she had it. But the expression on Damian’s face had made it clear that the justice he intended to deliver would not stop with the families.

After several minutes of walking through the palace corridors, Damian finally reached his room. He entered, closed the door behind himself and stood beside his bed without moving. His breathing was unnecessary, but he still found himself exhaling slowly as he stared at the floor. The anger inside him refused to settle.

"Come out!"

Puff!

A cloud of smoke appeared on the bed, and Rin materialized within it. The seven tailed fox spirit sat comfortably atop the mattress, its eyes dancing with faint amusement as it stared at Damian. It did not appear surprised by the summons.

"You knew all of this, didn’t you?" Damian hissed.

Rin nodded without hesitation. "Of course, but I was bound by Lin Qui’s order to never reveal the truth to you. The only way this order can be broken is if the Sin of Lust asked me to break it and you never did. That is why I was constantly at odds with them and tried to stop you from marrying them, even if it meant letting you get with a lesser demon or a human. Anyone would have been better than them." Rin shrugged casually before jumping off the bed and walking toward the sofa.

Damian stared after him.

The anger remained, but Rin was not the target of it. The fox had warned him repeatedly. It had tried to ruin his relationship with his wives on several occasions, and Damian had always interpreted those actions as Rin simply being overly hostile toward them. He had never considered that the fox might have been trying to protect him from something it was forbidden to explain.

Rin climbed onto the sofa and settled down comfortably before continuing, "This is the Underworld. A land of treachery, scum and evil. Did you think Lin Qui would be blameless simply because of his calm demeanor? Or didn’t you think that graceful demeanor is a mask to hide something?"

As Rin spoke, the jug of wine on the nearby table lifted into the air under the influence of demonic force. It tilted naturally, pouring wine into the fox’s golden bowl before lowering itself again. Rin took a leisurely sip while Damian stared at him.

"That bastard!" Damian hissed viciously.

He promptly sat down in a cross legged position on the floor and closed his eyes. His consciousness sank inward, and within moments his vision disappeared into darkness.

When he opened his eyes again, Damian found himself in the familiar garden.

The cherry blossom tree stood exactly where it always had, its branches extending over the garden and scattering delicate petals across the ground. The tea table remained beneath it, and seated across from Damian was Lin Qui, calmly enjoying his tea with the same graceful composure Damian had once admired. But now that composure disgusted him.

"You set me up to marry monsters." Damian hissed with enough venom to poison an entire kingdom.

Lin Qui remained remarkably unmoved. He calmly placed his cup down and looked at Damian. "My girls are not monsters. They are beautiful souls surrounded by horrible people they care about. They are not responsible for any of those crimes." Lin Qui said plainly.

Bang!

Damian’s fist slammed into the tea table, shattering it instantly. The wooden structure exploded beneath the impact, sending the cups and tea jug flying in different directions. Fragments scattered across the garden, yet Lin Qui remained completely unmoved, sitting amid the destruction as though Damian had merely disturbed the flowers.

"Don’t play games with me, you bastard..." Damian hissed coldly. "A lemon tree cannot bear apple fruits. Those bitches covered up for their families’ crimes against many people and you call them innocent?"

Lin Qui looked at him for several seconds before slowly nodding, his expression becoming colder. "It’s only natural for one to protect the ones they love and call family."

"At the expense of others?!" Damian yelled.

Lin Qui’s eyes narrowed as he stared directly into Damian’s eyes.

"YES."

Silence descended over the garden.

For several seconds, neither man moved. Damian stared at Lin Qui with barely contained fury while Lin Qui returned the gaze without a hint of regret. The graceful mask that Damian had once admired seemed to have disappeared entirely, revealing a man who was willing to defend his loved ones regardless of what their protection cost other people.

Damian slowly rose to his feet. "Unfortunately for you, I am the Prince now. I will not overlook or excuse their crimes anymore. The Kitsune, Nagen and Succubus clans will die in Velmora, and those girls will go down with them if they are found in connection with any of those crimes."

Damian turned his back on Lin Qui and for the first time, Lin Qui’s expression changed drastically.

The gentle smile vanished. The calm eyes hardened, and the warmth that had characterized his presence throughout their previous encounters disappeared completely. What remained was an extraordinarily cold expression that Damian had never seen on him before.

"We made a deal!" Lin Qui hissed.

Damian stopped and looked over his shoulder. A cruel grin slowly spread across his lips.

"And I plan to keep that deal. I will marry them for certain, but what happens after is what I cannot be certain of."

"BASTARD!" Lin Qui roared, the garden trembling beneath his voice. "WE MADE A DEAL. I GAVE YOU THE ABYSSAL INHERITANCE!"

Damian’s body vanished while his laughter erupted from every corner of the garden.

"Bitch, this is the Underworld. It’s full of treachery and betrayals. Don’t bother anymore. This will be our last encounter, scum." Damian’s voice rang through the garden like a bell.