Chapter 1319 - 1237: Potion of Happiness
The sailboat hall in May still remains dim as in winter.
Behind the lace curtains woven from spider silk and white gauze, there are only the distant blood clouds.
On the silver candlestick, three white candles illuminate the gloomy room, revealing dozens of grim and glowing red eyes.
In the spindle-shaped sailboat hall, there is an oval long table made of ivory wood, where Serafe naturally sits at the head position.
On either side, from front to back, are the Blood Race generals, governors, ogre marshals, and the few blood servants and human generals.
"I called everyone here today for this year’s upcoming offensive," Serafe placed her arms on the throne armrests, "Our goal remains the same: to conquer the entire empire."
The high officials and nobles of the Royal Court nodded, eager to speak, but saw the corners of Serafe’s mouth move slightly and immediately suppressed their words.
"You all did well this year; you took the Roaring Corridor, you conquered the Windmill Field, and met all the targets I set.
Next, despite signing a ceasefire agreement, the attack on Golden Horn Bay will not stop.
As for the attack plan, it remains the same, using the happiness potion."
Saying this, Serafe suddenly turned to a governor sitting on one side: "Governor Slanrica, have the happiness potions transported from your port been successfully sold out?"
"Sold out, the effect is great; those citizens, farmers, and nobles all rushed to buy it," Governor Slanrica bowed repeatedly.
"Who did you sell it to?"
"Of course, I sold it to the humans of Golden Horn Bay."
"What, I didn’t hear clearly, say it again." The corners of Serafe’s mouth held an indistinct smile.
"I said, I sold it to the humans of Golden Horn Bay, Your Majesty... uh, uh... Your Majesty, what do you mean?"
Governor Slanrica’s body suddenly rose, his buttocks leaving the seat, flying upwards.
And on his neck, a clear depression of a handprint appeared.
Cataloni stood behind Serafe’s throne, slowly walking out, looking at him coldly.
"What do I mean? Do you think sending those blood servants at work means I won’t see it?"
The mask of mercy and kindness on Serafe vanished, replaced by anger and ferocity.
"It’s hard for you, specially choosing to trade and command during sunny days, thinking I was sleeping at that time?"
"No, no, Your Majesty."
"You were once just the head of a small clan, a mere administrator; it was I who brought you to the governor’s position, and this is how you repay me?"
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." Blood flowed from Slanrica’s eyes, nose, and ears.
"Do you think what I gave you can’t be taken back?"
Amid the silence and cold observation of the other high-ranking officials of the Royal Court, Slanrica, controlled by Cataloni, struggled violently.
Blood flowed from his eyes, nose, ears, and even every pore of his body.
He looked pleadingly at Serafe, his mouth silently opening and closing, speaking words of mercy.
But Serafe was not moved in the slightest, and eventually, the Lilith’s blood in the governor flowed out completely.
As for the governor, he turned into a dry corpse, lying on the ground.
The blood circled around Serafe’s fingertips like a small snake, eventually becoming a crystal-clear ruby.
Serafe’s gaze turned among the ministers, finally stopping on Cataloni: "Your subordinates have suffered considerable losses; take this to replenish a batch of new troops."
Receiving the ruby with respect, Cataloni kneeled halfway to the ground: "Thank you, Priest King, for the reward."
"I will say it once more." Serafe didn’t open her mouth, but her cold voice echoed in everyone’s mind, "The happiness potion is for the humans; this is about the big picture.
Private sales, as long as they are sold to humans, I won’t interfere; what good is internal digestion, hm?"
The entire sailboat hall fell into silence; time flowed slowly and stagnantly.
The Blood Race members looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
In fact, these Blood Race members are not fools; at this point, they already saw some of it.
The happiness potion is not the key; the key is that some Blood Race members don’t want to see the growth and development of the Central Army.
No matter how Serafe balanced, established central authority, united the Blood Race, or carried out political barter, she couldn’t solve one problem.
The faction issue.
Serafe’s time unifying the Royal Court was too short, and she seized the throne.
She encountered the same problem Horn did; that is, the lack of manpower.
The only difference was that Horn could enjoy Juanuo’s inheritance with pleasure, and the territory was smaller than Serafe’s, so he could quickly centralize power.
Even so, Horn had to negotiate with the noble faction forces of Thousand River Valley for a period of time.
Although she has the ability to remotely monitor high-level vampires, she can only monitor one at a time.
Serafe unified the country through bribery, military repression, and political compromise, without changing the national nature of the Royal Court.
Its foundation is still built on the large and small Blood Race clans.
Serafe dismantled several clans, replacing them with new clans instead of old ones; they are still large landowners.
Thus, according to region, clan, and economy, they automatically formed vague factions.
The Southern faction, naturally, doesn’t need much explanation; they are all large southern clans, unified by Serafe through military repression and political compromise, showing the lowest loyalty.
The Northern faction is relatively more loyal; they are lower-tier clans, but clans are clans; they still have to be entangled between Royal Court interests and clan interests.
The No Light faction, or Prairie faction, is actually the early followers Serafe recruited in the prairie after returning from the empire, using ogres as mercenaries.
These vampires include today’s Royal Palace guards; they are the only ones without clan origins.
Yet, after taking over No Light City and sharing the seven major clans, these vampires also transformed from frontier barbarians into nobles.
Like previously Cataloni, Samuji, they received tens of thousands of gold pounds in rewards and extremely vast territories.
They are mainly distributed in the proximity of No Light City, so they are also called the No Light faction.
The Blood Race counts of the Northern faction followed Shanluan to attack the Roaring Corridor.
The Blood Race nobles of the No Light faction followed Serafe in attacking Xilan Island, then conquered the Windmill Field.
Next, according to the plan, the Blood Race nobles of the Southern faction will use the happiness potion to take the lucrative Golden Horn Bay.
Can the Northern faction agree?
They went to gnaw the barren Roaring Corridor, spent money, lost troops, and gained nothing.
Why does the Southern faction directly feast on the most fertile Golden Horn Bay?
To delve into deeper intentions, the Priest King is even biased towards the No Light faction,
Making the Northern faction’s clans seem like stepchildren, gaining nothing.
Eating grass, squeezing gold, who can endure that.
So many in the Northern faction believe that Golden Horn Bay should be the reward of the Northern faction.
As for the Southern faction, they can go eat shit.
But from the Royal Court’s perspective, or rather Serafe’s perspective, the Southern faction is not interested in the empire’s conquest itself.
After the Southern faction Blood Race joined, all they did was provide blood for the Royal Court, and they hadn’t had a bite of meat, which wasn’t appropriate.
It’s crucial to let them taste something sweet first; besides, wasn’t the gold mine in Thorn Garden and the northern parts of Dawn Island reserved for the Northern Army?
Once summer is over and daylight shortens, the Royal Court will launch another attack, consuming more than a Golden Horn Bay?
Why can’t everyone consider the bigger picture?
Serafe knows the greedy nature of vampires, but this is engraved in their souls, impossible to eradicate.
"Clara." Serafe names one, "You will oversee the happiness potion from now on."
"Yes."
A bald woman with dark skin stood out, half-kneeling towards Serafe, receiving her orders.
The No Light faction’s Clara, like the earlier Nigesar, originates from the sand people.
However, rarely seen, she was personally transformed from human to vampire by Serafe, considered Serafe’s legitimate descendant.
As for her role within the Royal Court, it’s much like René’s role within the Holy Alliance.
"Alright, now that the trivial matters are dealt with, let’s begin the meeting."