His Unbeating Heart

"Please, I beg you… Have mercy on me. I really don't remember a thing except for a woman's voice I keep hearing inside my head," a man sobbed on bent knees before Nikolai. "She ordered me to do things, it was as if my body was hers to use and command as she pleased."

His body was trembling as he begged, "Please, Your Majesty… I really didn't know what came over me. I have no intention of harming our Princess. Why would I even do that when she's pitiful enough…"

They were currently in the wilderness not far from an inn his convoy occupied for the night.

Taro had called for Nikolai's attention and reported on how the inn's cook had poisoned the dinner prepared for his wife.

Of course, while his servant could easily deal with it, the king wanted to personally interrogate the culprit who was brave enough to do such an atrocious act against their own Princess.

"Tonight is supposed to be my wedding night! I was actually having a very exciting bath with my wife before all of this," Nikolai calmly spoke despite the dark expression on his face. "Because of you, however… I was interrupted… First, my delegates had to disturb me, and now you…"

Wordlessly, he turned to Taro and gave his right-hand man a meaningful look. Likewise, Taro curtly bowed before grabbing the man by his collar.

As he was lifted into the air, the man begged hysterically as he trembled.

"No! Please don't!" he quickly blurted out, his eyes widening as his lips quivered while staring at Taro's elongating fangs, the same fangs quickly sank deep into his neck.

"Don't worry, my shadow knights have the ability to prevent the venom from entering your system," Nikolai hummed as he closed his eyes. "You won't turn into a vampire."

He hated sucking on human blood which was why he let Taro do it. The rest of his shadow knights had most of his abilities though they weren't as powerful as him.

There were different kinds of vampires, some more powerful than others due to many factors. All his Corvus Shadow Knights were Scions, born above the rest, and more powerful than most.

Scions were beings of any kind that were turned by an Exordium or a vampire with pure Exordium blood like him. This passed on some of his abilities to them at a muted capacity, they also maintained a bond to the vampire that turned them.

It was due to this Blood Bond that Nikolai shared with his Corvus Shadow Knights that he was able to access what Taro discovered by drinking the man's blood. Taro had gained access to the man's memories through his blood.

Tapping into his abilities, Nikolai frowned as soon as he dove deep into the man's mind.

"Hah, clever. A powerful sorcerer, I see…" he gritted out as his expression dimmed with each memory he parsed. He knew of only one Kingdom that could utilize the most powerful of sorcerers, and that was the Kingdom of Helion.

After some time probing through the man's mind and trying to see who had compelled him and whose voice it was that supposedly controlled him, Nikolai eventually opened his eyes. In that instant, Taro backed off and let go of the man's neck, the latter immediately passed out before his body could hit the ground.

"It would seem that Helion is slowly making calculated moves against us," Nikolai grumbled with a frown. "There's a spy in our midst, you and the rest must find out whoever it is before they do irreparable damage. Don't kill them yet, I want to personally deal with these traitors myself."

Unfortunately, he failed to find out who exactly compelled the man to attempt an assassination of his new wife, and it made him anxious beyond compare.

Turning around, the king couldn't help but grind his teeth as one name quickly came to his mind. If he recalled, there was the only sorcerer who could put a tight block on a person's mind, one that protected against anyone from finding out about him. He, who used to be his friend but chose the wrong path and was now working under the Demon King, Devon, of the Helion Kingdom.

"Zoran," he hissed. "He has to be the one. He must have sent the spy to sabotage us."

"Not all vampires have the ability to hypnotize and compel, Sire," Taro murmured. "How are we supposed to find this spy?"

Nikolai didn't care.

Well, what Taro said might be true, but there was still no way for them to find out who among his convoy had these specific abilities. However, all Exordiums and those with Exordium blood automatically had these abilities. And Scions...

Nikolai frowned, his head was starting to throb the more he thought about these things. It was his wedding night and yet here he was with two smelly men rather than his wife.

"I will get the genealogy list of each clan, Sire," Taro initiated.

"You have my blessing to do so,," Nikolai nodded with a dim expression on his face. "And be discreet about it. I don't want our enemies to find out about the investigation.".

After some time, the man they had just interrogated groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Seeing the man stir, Nikolai squatted in front of him and stared deeply into his widened eyes. "You won't remember who we are or that you ever saw us, you will forget that all of this ever happened," he commanded. "Sleep now…"

In the blink of an eye, the man passed out.

Standing up, Nikolai brushed off the dust off his shoulder as he ordered, "Return him to where you found him. And add two more shadow knights around my wife. It would seem that they're dead set on targeting my wife, seeing as she is supposedly my weakness. Also, put a tail on the Seer of Ebodia. I want to have a word with him before we set sail."

"I understand, Sire," Taro answered with a curt bow before he instantly vanished into thin air. Likewise, Nikolai also disappeared into thin air like a thin mist.

Not before long, he was back in the room he shared with his new wife. Seeing Mineah on the bed, Nikolai couldn't help but smile at his wife as he studied her delicate features.

"Peacefully sleeping, huh?" he hummed as he quietly joined her in bed, making sure not to wake her as he laid beside her. Propping his temple up on his knuckle, he stared at her sideways, admiring her sleeping face.

"A Seraph…" he whispered as his thoughts went back to what Mineah revealed to him earlier that day about her curse.

From what he could recall, a Seraph was a heavenly being known as a divine messenger doing the Almighty's good work to maintain order in the world. He had heard that they often appeared in dreams of the chosen ones, particularly to Seers or Prophets to deliver the Almighty's message.

Mineah suddenly moved closer, making his body stiffen, and she snuggled into his body as if he was some kind of a pillow and blanket. She buried her face into his chest, hugging him tightly, for some reason her relaxed breathing had a confusing effect on him.

Nikolai gulped.

For the first time in his hundred years of living in this world, he felt something in his chest that almost felt like the sensation of a pounding heart.

"This is…" he gasped with wide eyes, his body backing up a bit only to stare at Mineah's smiling face in disbelief.

It was a fleeting feeling, however, the sensation quickly disappeared as fast as it came. Still, that weird and itching feeling remained deep inside his unbeating heart.