The private chamber was filled with tension as a stern female voice declared, "That filthy barbarian must be punished heavily!" Three figures sat at the dinner table, their expressions reflecting the gravity of the situation.
Alan narrowed his eyes, looking at the woman sitting opposite him, her presence making the extravagant food across the table feel flavourless. He grabbed his goblet of wine to pour it down his gullet, hoping to remove the sour taste of this meal.
'Ryuji, it's worse than I thought. It wasn't your fault, but the church aimed at this ending from the start... That vile woman set you up.'
"Can you be quiet about such boorish topics at the dinner table!" The King's sharp tone caused the queen to look visibly shocked. It was the first time he had spoken back to her in months, and the surprise was clear on her face. Alan couldn't help but smirk at the obvious confusion she showed.
Avandar seemed to have more colour on his face as he chewed a barbecued haunch of meat oozing with a greasy yet delicious sauce. Today's meal was created by the hero Ryo.
Alan insisted and changed the queen's chef and meal, which seemed to solidify the king's mind about his wife and the fact he wasn't just losing his touch or growing old, which she said was trying to gaslight him.
"How dare you speak to your wife that way, Avandar? Tonight, I will not be sleeping in your bed! Think about what you have done, and I expect an apology!"
"Woman, last I checked. It was I - Avandar Grigor who ruled these lands—you are nothing but a low-class noble who managed to catch my eye when I was struck with the grief of losing my beloved wife to a tragic situation!"
'What? Brother?'
Alan nearly spat out his wine. His brother for over five years seemed to diminish his thoughts, actions and judgement fading and becoming slow. Only when he would act in the interest of this woman, would he seem like himself again...
'What's changed, why are you able to resist her now?'
What neither of the trio knew was since the moment she noticed the strange actions of the queen. Her poisoning of the king involved using putrid succubus blood to cause a reverse effect on the king, weakening him.
So, while she was bored and floating around, she replaced the poison with sugar water and some demonic healing potion.
A human healing potion looked red to the eye, but demons made the potions without distilling them, leaving it a purple colour, close to the colour a succubus' blood turns when it coagulates or becomes putrid.
Thus, over the past week, he began to recover faster than before because the queen panicked after realising the existence of Ryuji was affecting more than just Alan.
Even Liana and Anne seemed to fall under his spell, which made her use more, allowing the king to enjoy multiple doses of the purest healing agent in the world after the elf's special sap, said to heal any wound or ailment.
Alan laughed, "Brother, that's exactly how I feel as well, but now is the perfect time. It seems that the church is making their move."
"Not only the church, Alan, the demons have moved west; they are preparing a large skirmish. I don't have the time to deal with a slut who gives her body to anyone willing to aid the church and her family."
"Don't worry about that. The church will not act soon after what happened. Brother, I believe that although it wasn't the best outcome, the fact Ryuji injured the Apostle has bought us some time."
Avandar's brow creased, looking at the empty doorway where his wife fled, "She had a lot to say... I never expected someone from the church to be so disappointing and vulgar... Alan, I cannot openly support your friend. Not now, because his actions have changed the public's mind. However..."
"What if I send him on a vital mission, one that is for the sake of Grigor, that will show his results and efforts through the guild and physical actions?"
The king looked at his brother, shocked at the underhanded tactic he planned. "So you will use politics and trickery to change their mind while also having Ryuji grow stronger outside the gaze of the church and any spies that might linger here?"
"Yes, Brother, I can't display support for him either, but the fact I didn't even try to hide him or deny his actions is already enough. They will know my stance, but my primary concern is not the church or the people."
"Alan, are you sure? The one you are worried about is?"
"Her..."
"... I see, she has taken interest in him, along with the goddess Lumina."
Alan didn't reply to the King's words. Instead, he got up and walked to the door and shouted, "Ryo, bring some wine. Brother, tonight you have a lot of thinking to do. Also, you may want to make up with your wife, I know she is a nasty woman, but I am sure you will find a way. It is too soon for us to face both that thing and the church...
Let us not forget the other nations which see us as a nuisance."
Alan left the room. His heart felt lighter than earlier, but he worried for his brother. That everything seemed to be set in motion made him nervous because that meant he would have to fight that monster, created from the body of his brother's wife, again.
"Sigh... Alan, you are right." King Avandar picked up a white letter with a royal emblem of red wax on the back... Inside the letter was an engagement proposal for Liana.
However, his face scrunched up when reading the details and requests.
"I guess I will have to send her with that boy... Will she come back a changed woman, maybe pregnant? I cannot say. But I know it's wrong; I refuse to sell her to the church, even if it costs me my life, it isn't worth it. Alan, should anything happen to me... I leave Grigor to you."