The Crown's Obsession (WN)

"She must have been a wonderful woman," Madeline had often wondered how Lucy had turned different compared to the rest of her family members who were conniving, while she was humble. Now she understood it was because Lucy had been brought up in another person's shadow who wasn't related to Lucy's family.

"She was," agreed Lucy with a smile. After a few seconds, the vampiress said, "So are you, milady. Forgive me for my words beforehand. People might perceive you to be...ignorant, but I think you are amazing the way you are because they don't know you." There was a hint of admiration in Lucy's eyes for Madeline, and Madeline didn't know how to receive the generous compliment, and she smiled.

"You too, Lady Lucy."

Madeline spent some more time with Lady Lucy before she left the room to see if Calhoun finished his meeting in the court room. She headed in the court's direction and saw Calhoun be the first one to step out of the room, and he was accompanied by the member of High House, Daphne. She was glad to know that Helena was supporting Calhoun instead of putting up charges on him.

Suddenly a man walked past Madeline in a hurry to meet the King.

"Milord!" the man bowed his head deeply.

"Raise," Calhoun ordered, and the man stood straight, "Speak."

"Milord, there has been some commotion going on next to the Carnival village, in Holcott," informed the man. Holcott? Wasn't it the place where Calhoun used to live with his mother before he came to live in the castle? Asked Madeline to herself.

"What is the commotion about?" Calhoun inquired. The man had a perplexed look on his face with a deep crease on his forehead as if he didn't believe the news that he heard.

The man wrung his hands, opening his mouth to speak, "There has been talk about the previous King Laurence and mother Queen Morganna who appeared in the village yesterday." Hearing this, Calhoun's eyes narrowed.

"Are you drunk, Marcellus?" questioned Calhoun and the man shook his head vigorously.

"Milord, I swear, everyone has been speaking about it," Marcellus' rushed his words. "They also said a man appeared with them, and the man made the mother Queen lick his boot before they were beaten by the villagers."

Calhoun stared at Marcellus for a few seconds and believed the only way the two of them had appeared back in the living world was by the help of Vladimir. What was the old bat thinking bringing the dead into this world?

"Did you find out what happened later? Where are they now?" questioned Calhoun and Marcellus looked taken aback that the King believed this crazy information. He was sure he would lose his neck, but he wanted to relay the information as fast he could to the King.

"The villagers said the previous King and Queen Morganna disappeared after being beaten by the villagers. I did try finding the whereabouts of the three of them, but no one saw them after that," Marcellus promptly replied.

Calhoun's lips twisted, and he waved the man to leave from his sight. The High House member didn't comment on what was just spoken, and she bowed her head at the King before leaving the corridor. Both his father and his grandmother's soul must have gone to Hell for the sins they had committed, and Vladimir must have decided to torture them by bringing them here.

"Do you think he took them back to Hell?" Madeline asked, coming to stand next to him.

"Seems like it. The angels, who have not only tried to hide their existence but also the existence of the demons along with the fallen angels are going to fail badly, thanks to Vladimir," commented Calhoun with a serious look on his face.

The angels were trying to balance and protect the living world, while the Devil intended to create chaos. It wasn't like Calhoun wanted to do anything with the angels or with the Devil, but fate had turned in such a way that he had fallen in love with the girl who was a dark angel. And he was the descendant of the Devil.

This only complicated things for the angels.

As much as the angels thought that Madeline was harmful, Calhoun thought it to be otherwise. Because if Madeline was going to destroy and kill people, he believed the first person in line to be killed was him because of the amount of sins he had committed.

"Anyways, it is something between the Devil and the Angels. Let's not get ourselves involved in it and stay away from it," stated Calhoun and Madeline agreed to it.

In the carriage, Calhoun, Madeline and Beth left the castle, making their way to the graveyard where both Calhoun's mother as well as Raphael was buried.

Beth was the last person to get down from the carriage. Two days ago, when she had visited this place, everything was a blur and the only significant vision she had was the blood on her hands. She followed the couple, offering her respects and prayer to the late lady, before heading towards the other grave.

Reaching the grand cemented coffin, Madeline stayed behind, letting Calhoun take his time as the woman in there was special and meant a lot to him. But when she stopped walking, Calhoun's hand reached out for hers, holding her hand and he tugged her along with him.

Calhoun had pulled her to stand next to him as if it was the most natural thing to do.

They placed the flowers on the grave, and Madeline folded her hands close to her chest to pray, hoping wherever Constance was, she was at peace.

Not too far away from where the couple was, Beth's feet slowly reached the grave, and she stared at it. She held blue flowers in her hand with yellow in the centre. Noticing some of the dried leaves that had come to fall on top of Raphael's coffin, she leaned forward, blowing it away before placing the small flowers that the demon had asked before his last breath.