Chapter 430: A Thousand Soldiers Beneath The Violet Palace
"What?"
Damian’s expression slowly changed, the muscles around his eyes twitching repeatedly as he struggled to contain the rage boiling inside his stomach. For several seconds, he simply stared at Rah as though he had not properly heard her. Then his grip loosened around Hazel, and he pushed gently through his wives, moving toward the little girl with an urgency that immediately made everyone around him tense.
Rah nodded firmly, confirming what she had said, and that single movement was enough to make Damian’s chest tighten.
The room suddenly seemed to tilt.
Damian’s vision blurred and his body staggered backward. He instinctively reached for his head, gripping it as a wave of dizziness crashed over him. Hazel immediately caught one arm while Ruby grabbed the other, and Racheal moved behind him to keep him from falling. Together they guided him back toward the bed, lowering him carefully onto the mattress while Damian clenched his teeth against the throbbing pain inside his skull.
"Sire, remain here and rest for a while. The effects of the Song of Iniquity are not something you can easily shake off. It is already incredible that you were able to fight back while in this condition."
William’s voice rang directly inside Damian’s mind, calm and measured despite the chaos surrounding them.
"More importantly, as the Crown, you must never appear weak before your subjects and rivals. In situations like this, you must keep your condition a secret."
Damian frowned deeply, but he understood the reasoning immediately. On Earth, he had tried so hard to handle everything his own way that it had nearly cost him his life. He had been too confident in his ability to overcome every obstacle personally, and that arrogance had nearly gotten him killed. He would not make the same fatal mistake here.
Velmora was filled with demigods, ancient clans and enemies who had already spent years waiting for him to show weakness. If word spread that the newly awakened Prince had been seriously injured during his first night on the throne, they would not see an injured man. They would see an opportunity.
"That means I won’t have much free time tomorrow." Damian managed a bitter smile as he leaned back against the headboard.
His current condition would almost certainly force the Royal Court into an emergency session. After an assassination attempt inside the Violet Palace itself, there was no possibility of simply continuing with tomorrow’s schedule as though nothing had happened.
"If you must proceed with your initial plans, we can clear your study time since you are injured." William responded immediately.
"Let’s do that." Damian nodded weakly.
"What is she doing here?"
Racheal’s sudden question drew everyone’s attention. The warmth that had briefly occupied her expression disappeared as she turned toward Loth, her eyes immediately becoming cold. Loth was her attendant. She had served Racheal for years, and yet she was now standing inside Damian’s private quarters in the main palace instead of remaining within Racheal’s residence.
Racheal’s gaze moved from Loth to Damian, then back again, and Damian could practically feel the tension radiating from her.
He knew exactly what this was about.
"Relax. I needed some cigars to dull the pain." Damian casually waved toward the table across the room.
Everyone followed his gesture.
The box of cigars sat exactly where Loth had left it, several already smoked and a thin trail of lingering smoke still hanging around the container.
"Oh." Racheal’s cheeks immediately flushed.
Of course.
Who else would know that Damian wanted cigars except the woman who had spent years serving beside him on Earth? It was not suspicious that Loth had brought them. If anything, it was perfectly natural.
Racheal’s expression softened as she realized the explanation was that simple, although Damian noticed that she still glanced at Loth for a moment longer than necessary.
"Now everyone leave. I need to rest." Damian waved them away.
The three women exchanged reluctant glances before looking back at him. None of them wanted to leave him in his current condition, especially after watching him nearly collapse, but Damian was already climbing further onto the bed with an exhausted expression. His body clearly needed rest, and there was little they could accomplish by crowding around him.
They eventually nodded and began walking toward the doors.
William noticed their hesitation and stepped forward to ease their concerns. "Do not worry. I shall personally stand by His Majesty’s door for the remainder of the night. You have nothing to fear."
The reassurance did little to eliminate their reluctance, but they finally accepted it. One by one, Hazel, Racheal and Ruby left the room, casting lingering glances toward Damian until the doors finally closed behind them.
Only then did Damian pull the sheets aside and sit upright.
"My soldiers. Where are they now?" he asked.
"Beneath the palace, waiting for Your Majesty to address them." William bowed slightly.
Damian nodded with a tired expression before falling backward onto the bed. This was only his first day. Somehow, in the span of a single day, he had attended his first royal court, discovered that his own government was divided against him, learned that Earth had fallen under the control of his enemies, survived an assassination attempt and discovered that the old man who had fed him earlier that day had been murdered.
It felt as though he had lost another ten years of his lifespan simply trying to survive the first twenty four hours.
If this was what governing Velmora looked like every day, Damian would rather die and reincarnate as a completely ordinary human again.
William did not comment on the thought. The old Chamberlain simply turned around and raised one hand. A massive ancient door, designed in the style of the old Eastern architecture Damian remembered from Earth, slowly burned its way into existence behind him. Strange symbols of violet light crawled across the wooden surface before disappearing into the frame.
William gestured toward it and bowed deeply.
"Sire, it is time."
Damian sighed and rose from the bed, rubbing one finger carefully against his ear. He could hear again, but everything remained muffled, as though the entire world had been pushed several rooms away from him. His hearing was recovering, yet the damage caused by the Song of Iniquity would clearly require more time before it completely healed.
He walked toward the enormous doorway. The moment he crossed through it, the world changed.
The quiet corridors of the Violet Palace vanished, replaced by the enormous underground arena hidden beneath the palace itself. Damian’s eyes widened slightly as he found himself standing on an elevated platform connected to the arena below by a thousand broad stone steps. From his position, he could see almost the entire chamber stretching beneath him.
Nearly a thousand demons filled the arena.
They varied wildly in size and appearance. Some possessed horns, others scales, claws, wings or grotesquely elongated limbs. Several looked almost human while others possessed bodies so strange that Damian could barely determine what species they belonged to. Every one of them was dressed in the attire of the royal army, their armor and uniforms marking them as soldiers who belonged directly to the Crown.
The sheer depth of the underground chamber left Damian wondering just how far beneath the Violet Palace they had traveled.
Then the soldiers saw him and the entire arena erupted.
"YOUR MAJESTY!"
The roar rolled through the enormous chamber with enough force to make Damian’s robes flutter. Nearly a thousand soldiers raised their weapons and fists toward him, their voices merging into a thunderous declaration of loyalty.
"Do not worry, Your Majesty. An isolation spell has been cast over this chamber. No one beyond this room can hear what is happening here." William assured him.
Damian nodded absently, but his eyes remained fixed on the soldiers below.
A thousand soldiers might have seemed like an impressive force on Earth, but here they were practically insignificant. He had already learned enough about Velmora to understand the scale of the military forces commanded by the great clans. Compared to the armies of the people he was preparing to fight, these men were barely a drop of water in an ocean.
But that was not why Damian needed them. He needed people he could trust.
His gaze slowly traveled across the soldiers beneath him. They were not the strongest army in Velmora, nor were they numerous enough to determine the outcome of a major war. Yet they belonged to him. They had been brought into the palace for the sole purpose of serving the Crown, and that made them more valuable to Damian than thousands of soldiers whose loyalty ultimately belonged to powerful ministers and demon clans.
"I’m surrounded by enemies, and I need men I can trust." Damian’s voice carried throughout the arena. "Men who will eventually become the core of this nation’s fighting force. Will you be willing to play that role?"
The soldiers straightened. Then, as one, they slammed their fists against their chests and roared.
"YES, YOUR MAJESTY!"
The thunderous response shook the underground arena, and a cruel smile slowly bloomed across Damian’s lips.
Truly, life here was completely different from Earth.
Here, he was learning something far more important. A ruler did not merely need power. He needed people willing to stand behind that power when everyone else decided to turn against him.
And tonight, he had found nearly a thousand of them.
Too tired to say anything more, Damian turned toward William. The old Chamberlain immediately understood and stepped aside, allowing Damian to walk past him toward the ancient gateway.
Damian crossed through the doorway once more, and the underground arena disappeared behind him.
Knowing that nearly a thousand soldiers were waiting beneath his palace, men who had just sworn to live and die for him, was precisely the kind of assurance he needed.
After the disaster that had been his first day, Damian could finally get some sleep.