Chapter 271: Demons.

The memory always reeked of freshly spilled blood.

In the nursery, red painted the white marble red. The air was thick with smoke, torn banners, and the desperate, fading wails of an infant nestled inside a crib.

Standing over the wreckage was a teenage Carolynn.

Her orange hair was matted with sweat and blood, her curved horns gleaming with fresh slaughter, a notched blade held loosely in her trembling hands. The palace had burned, the coup had fractured, and the traitors who had attempted to kill her in her sleep had fled like rats into the borderlands—abandoning their own kid in the cradle without a second thought.

The baby in the crib belonged to her cousin, the mastermind of the rebellion.

Carolynn took a step forward, her chest heaving. The child had soft, downy black hair and wide, innocent grey eyes, small cheeks streaked with tears and soot.

Carolynn raised the blade.

This was necessary. You do not leave a rival bloodline to fester. You sever the lineage before it grows teeth and claws to challenge your throne.

She tightened her grip on the hilt, stepping close to end the infant’s life.

Then, she froze.

The crying abruptly stopped.

The little girl blinked through her tears, staring up at the terrifying, blood-soaked orange-haired woman standing over her with wide, unblinking curiosity. The dark aura that made grown warlords fall to their knees didn’t scare her at all.

Instead, the infant’s face broke into a radiant smile. She let out a soft, bubbling giggle, reaching her tiny, chubby hands up toward the blade, as if asking to be held.

Carolynn’s breath hitched in her throat. Her arms locked. And

’Kill her,, the voice inside her demanded. ’End the threat.’

**

"Your Highness...?"

The voice drifted from a distance, muffled and hollow.

"Your Highness... wake up."

The voice sharpened.

Carolynn’s eyes snapped wide open, gasping for air.

She was staring up at the familiar ceiling of the Vice Principal’s private office in the royal academy. She lay curled on her velvet sofa, the rays of early morning filtering through the windows.

Tears welled up and spilled over her lashes.

"Your Highness?"

Carolynn flinched slightly, her gaze darting to the side of the sofa.

Standing a respectful distance away was a young man in the academy’s uniform. His dark hair was streaked with sharp crimson highlights, and his posture was stiff, lethal, and perfectly composed.

Vaelis. Her former legion commander, now her shadow who pestered her to come back.

"What happened?"

Carolynn slowly sat up on the sofa, running a palm across her face to wipe away the dampness. She pulled her silk shawl around her shoulders, exhaling a long, shuddering breath that rattled in her ribs.

"Nothing," she murmured, her voice hoarse and raw. "Just... an old dream... of my daughter."

Vaelis’s brow furrowed, his expression remaining straight and formal. "The human child?"

She stared down at her empty palms, the weight of a tiny infant lingering against her skin.

"No," Carolynn whispered, her heart aching with grief. "Not Norelia. My first daughter. Lilia."

Carolynn ruffled her messy orange hair, brushing stray locks away from her neck. A faint, easy smile returned to her lips as she looked up at her student.

"By the way," she murmured, her tone casual, "what brings my best student to my office in the morning?"

Vaelis didn’t share her lighthearted demeanor. He folded his arms over his chest, his dark brows drawing tight. "Where have you been for the past week, Your Highness?"

"I filed an official medical sick leave, of course," Carolynn replied with an unrepentant grin, tapping her porcelain collarbone. "Terrible seasonal chills. Very tragic."

"You are the Demon Queen," Vaelis retorted flatly, not an ounce of humor in his voice. "You don’t catch a cold."

Carolynn let out an exaggerated sigh, waving a dismissive hand as she stood from the sofa. "Fine, fine. You caught me. I took a brief, unauthorized field trip Rujgard to keep an eye on Eren."

Vaelis let out a long, tortured groan, dragging both palms down his face. He marched over to the heavy mahogany guest chair and slumped into it with rigid, exasperated seriousness.

"Why are you so hopelessly fixated on that stalker?" Vaelis questioned, his sharp gaze tracking her as she crossed the office. "If you crave his company that badly, fine. Keep him as your personal plaything when we finally return to our realm. Drag him to the palace on a velvet leash if it pleases your vanity. But why risk your cover in human borderlands for him?"

Carolynn chuckled softly. She reached her desk, lifting the silver kettle to pour a fresh cup of tea.

"Because he isn’t just some mortal plaything, Vaelis," she said, her voice dropping into a fond, gentle cadence. "Eren is... unique. In everything he does, everything he breaks, and every ridiculous miracle he pulls from thin air."

She leaned against the edge of the desk, nursing the hot cup between her hands.

"And for the hundredth time... stop talking about returning to rule," she added, her orange eyes softening with quiet finality. "I have no desire to ever sit on that slab again. I abdicated. It’s been two hundred years since I walked away from the throne, Vaelis. Let it gather dust."

Vaelis ran a frustrated hand through his red-streaked hair, his teeth gritting audibly. "A two-century vacation does not erase sovereign blood, Your Highness."

Carolynn merely giggled, the sound rich, musical, and thoroughly unbothered.

"You should have seen him in Rujgard," she mused, swirling the dark tea in her cup. "That absolute madman managed to get few explosives, hooked it up to a sacred array with the help of that pretty blonde Saintess, and detonated it. He made the continent’s most untouchable underworld shake, believing hehad many more explosives. Tell me, Vaelis... doesn’t that make him just a little bit special?"

Vaelis surged out of the armchair violently. His calm, disciplined composure shattered in a single, terrifying beat.

"Alice was in Rujgard?!" he demanded, his voice cracking with sudden, volatile panic. "With Eren?!"

Carolynn blinked, surprised by the volcanic flare in his aura. "Well... yes. It’s a rather convoluted story involving mishaps, but—"

"If that unhinged, lecherous stalker laid a single filthy finger on her," Vaelis muttered under his breath, his eyes blazing with genuine murder as his fists clenched tight at his sides, "I swear, he will not survive past noon today."

Carolynn raised an eyebrow, quietly amused by the commander’s sudden lack of stoicism. Setting her teacup down, her expression gradually smoothed into a deeper, lingering shade of melancholy.

"Jokes aside," she said quietly, her orange eyes distant, "I’ve been thinking about returning to our homeland. Just for a brief, quiet visit. I need to see Lilia."

She traced the rim of the desk with her thumb.

"She hasn’t replied to a single one of my letters in almost a century, Vaelis. I need to know she’s alright."

Vaelis exhaled sharply, forcing the murderous tension from his shoulders. "Do not risk yourself. If you set foot across the border just for a brief moment, the old clans will smell your aura instantly. I will go."