The bad news (one)

NETHILOR EMPIRE

As Astrea (now Iris) got comfortable with her new family in the Findara empire, the empire from which she fled was descended into chaos. Empress Ravina's brother, Commander Sebastian went into hiding after getting framed in treason against the royal family.

The commander rushed to confront his sister after Astrea's death but was instead arrested by the emperor's private army. Some of his men helped him in escaping the royal family without getting detained. After his getaway, the royal family declared openly that the commander was working together with the late Marquis Campbell and committed treason.

Nobles who knew about the false allegation against the Campbells remained silent because they were either happy to witness the downfall of their family or were too scared to question the royals. Some major families like Duchy of Markle's rejoiced knowing that they now had a chance to push their daughter as the new crown princess. They were also vampires like the royals and always hated Campbell's daughter on the seat beside the crown prince Lorcan Radcliffe just because of love.

Crown prince Lorcan was currently fighting a war against the elven empire and was not aware of his fiance's situation. The royals planned everything perfectly to get rid of the only human noble house of the Nethilor empire in the name of treason. No matter what, powerful beings like vampires hated humans gaining more power than them so they had to get rid of them in the initial stage.

Duke Markle had a big smile on his face when he entered the royal palace. He was looking forward to today's conference, it was his chance to put his daughter in the crown princess's seat.

There was a huge gathering in the throne room filled with powerful vampires and other supernatural beings. Nethilor's empire consisted of Vampires, Werewolves, fairies, and many more entities and humans were either commoners or slaves. The only human family that had a noble power was Campbell marquis's house. They were well-versed sword masters which gave them the stability in entering the house of lords, but now that they were annihilated, no human noble family existed in the Nethilor empire.

The duke halted his thoughts when loud trumpets resounded inside the throne room as Emperor Henrick Radcliffe entered inside wearing his regal black royal robe with golden imprints. His entrance was followed by Empress Ravina Radcliffe who wore a bright red gown adorned with precious gems.

Everyone in the audience bowed, "Glory to His majesty the emperor and her majesty the empress"

After the royal couple took their seats, the audience too raised their heads and took their respective seats.

Emperor Henrick's red eyes glanced at his audience. His aide Count Herbert took on himself to address the current issue, "As all of you are already aware, the traitors from Campbell's house have met their demise. The traitor's daughter Astrea Campbell fled the empire but met her end by falling off of the cliff, and the issue about her elder brother Conrad Campbell going missing is handled by the royal army. We will make sure to catch him dead or alive as soon as possible"

The nobles whispered among themselves and one of them raised his query, "Then what about Commander Canmore? We heard about him betraying the royal family"

Empress Ravina gave a tight smile at the nobleman and replied, "My brother was friends with lady Campbell and wanted to avenge her death, so I a benevolent empress professed his mistake. The commander might be my brother and family, but nothing is more important to me than this empire"

"My empress is right" the emperor added his words, "She prioritized her duty before her family, that is why I grant protection for the empress's remaining family, and hereby I announce that I will forgive commander Canmore if he surrenders himself, he was just heartbroken over his friend's death and just threatened but never harmed any of us"

Nobles narrowed their eyes, they knew that the empress was controlling the emperor, but they didn't dare to voice it out. What was the meaning of forgiving the empress's brother? Threatening the royal family was also considered treason and what? He did that because of friendship? They were idiots if they believed that blatant lie. The whole empire knew about commander Canmore's sick obsession with lady Astrea Campbell. The lady never failed to express her irritation during public events, but the commander was deaf to all of that.

But this was not the important issue now, the disaster which was awaiting them was in the form of the crown prince. They knew that the prince was unaware of his lover's demise, and they didn't dare to imagine the consequences after his return from the battlefield. Crown prince Lorcan Radcliffe was a Psycho. He was ruthless and showed mercy to none, the only time he behaved well was in lady Campbell's presence, but now that she was gone, it was over for the royals, they just knew it.

Then the audience looked at duke Markle signing his death certificate, "Your majesties, now that the traitor's daughter is dead, isn't it the right time to find another fiance for the crown prince?"

"That's right your majesty..." the empress said to her husband.

The emperor nodded his head, "Do you have any ladies in your mind empress?"

Empress Ravina smiled sweetly, "How about my niece your majesty? Her father, my elder brother is the current duke of Canmore duchy. Roselyn is beautiful, intelligent, and kind. She will make a perfect crown princess" she glanced at duke Markle and raised her brows, "Isn't that right Duke Markle?"

Duke Markle's face turned dark hearing her words. He held back his discomfort and smiled, "It is indeed a wise choice your majesty"

"Then it is decided," the emperor said, "I leave the matters in guiding lady Roselyn to you empress"

"I'm honored your majesty"

The audience ended with that and everyone evacuated the throne room.

****

On the border of the Nethilor empire, crimson blood flowed on the ground. Bodies piled in one of the corners of the battlefield. Army with black armor attacked while the troop with silver armor defended.

The elven empire's commander breathed heavily as he gave instructions, "Soldiers! Don't let those vampires have the upper hand, kill them off with your magic"

One of his subordinates limped towards him and said in an urgent voice, "Our magic is not working Commander, those vampires are using blocking potions on us. Even our defense is collapsing"

"This is bad," he remarked, "What about the negotiations?"

The subordinate shook his head, "Emperor of Nethilor is rejecting our audience. He said that he has no control over this"

"What does that even mean?"

He pointed towards the armed figure in the middle of the battlefield and explained, "The one in power over this battle is their crown prince. The emperor informed us to negotiate with him instead"

The commander frowned, "He is like a crazed monster, how can we negotiate with him?"

As they were conversing, the battlefield suddenly became silent. Nethilor empire's army halted their actions as they saw their crown prince rushing out of the battlefield.

General Ryan winters stared at his confused soldiers and said, "We just got the news about Lady Campbell's demise" everyone widened their eyes as he continued, "I will negotiate and end this battle so retreat to your barracks"

Soldiers glanced at each other in uneasiness. Lady Campbell was dead? They were not able to digest this news, they felt sorry for their crown prince, but it was not in their stance to inquire more, so they retracted from their positions.

Ryan removed his head armor and looked at the elven army. He caught one of their soldiers, "Inform your commander that we are willing to end this battle"

The soldier nodded his head meekly and rushed towards his army to his commander. After finalizing the negotiations, Ryan too followed after Crown prince Lorcan.