“Your majesty… Your son is without a doubt a genius. He has shown skills that surpass many others.”

“Is that so?” the king uttered before placing his hand on the boy’s shoulders and uttering, “You have done well… my son.”

There was no joy to be seen, as his father said those words to him. If anything, he looked like he was in pain…

‘I wonder why I am remembering that now. Is my mind trying to distract me from my current predicament? Or have the demons of my past finally come to haunt me?’ Theodemar thought.

Ever since he was a boy he excelled in the art of combat to the point that his tutors all called him a genius, and because of this, he was given a heavy burden to shoulder.

The burden to prove their royal blood was not inferior to others.

As the joke goes, ‘An elf is only as dangerous as the tree next to him.” With a few exceptions, Elves were generally not as strong as demi-humans, and while being stronger than humans, they were vastly outnumbered.

Outside of their evergreen forest, the fighting strength of the elven race was regarded to be below that of humans and demi-humans, which led to the elven royal family being looked down upon by other royals and high nobles.

For centuries the elven royal family looked for a way to change this concept and as luck would have it, a talented young prince was born into their family.

Battle after battle, war after war… Theodemar’s life was filled with nothing more than a never-ending fight to survive and prove himself, not only to the elves but to the world as a whole.

As the years passed by, his name became famous around the world and so did the royal blood he carried.

One by one offers of marriage and alliances came fast from powerful noble families. It was a complete 180 turn of events for the elven royal family.

However, that turn towards good fortune didn’t come without strings attached.

“You summoned me, father.”

“Indeed I did. What do you know about house Hocks?”

“From the empire? Wasn’t my elder sister married to one of their sons recently?”

“Yes. Aerin was married to the fourth son . As you can imagine, a fourth son is never likely to succeed as head of the family which led to no objections to the marriage.”

“Did something change?”

“The head and his three younger sons have all met an unfortunate accident and died.”

“…”

“Don’t look at me like that, this was not our doing… If it was, the empire wouldn’t let it go unpunished.”

“Then who?”

“Most likely the former heads’ younger brother. There have been rumors of him raising a private army. He probably plans on insisting on his right to succeed as the next head on the count that the fourth son is married to an elf.”

The empires have never liked marriages between nobles and demi-humans, especially if those demi-humans are long-lived ones like elves and merfolk.

This policy is what was putting the royal family and other high nobles in a bind. While they privately didn’t want the fourth son to succeed as the family head, they could not overlook the actions of his uncle as well.

For now, they simply planned to sit back and watch as the events unfolded.

Once Theodemar was made aware of the situation a question popped up in his mind.

“Even if what you say is true. I am sure my involvement in this matter will not be well received by the empire.”

His father was silent for a moment, which made Theodemar nervous for a second.

“Take this?” his father uttered while throwing him a piece of paper.

“This is?”

“A list of some troublesome people in the kingdom. Make sure to leave behind enough evidence to suspect you of the crime, but not enough to convict.”

“Am I to be exiled?” he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

His father didn’t reply to his question. He simply turned his back.

Theodemar, now a banished prince… became a mercenary and fought on behalf of his sister’s husband in the succession battle and won.

This was the first but certainly not the last time he would have to spill the blood of a noble person for the sake of his family.

Of course, this was something he suspected would happen long ago. It was something he prepared for most of his life and resolved himself to never regret doing it, however, that resolve was to be shaken.

“You want me to help overthrow the royal family of highland?”

“Yes. Your sister went ahead and married the hero without my knowledge… Tch… what a troublesome situation.”

“What do you mean?” Theodemar asked with a puzzled expression. It was an expression he rarely showed. If anything, only his father has ever seen him make such an expression.

“I received a visit from a certain vampire demon with an offer to join hands with the demons. At first, I rejected the idea of joining forces with them, but the words he spoke next changed my mind. The Hero is working for the demons.”

“...Is that really true?”

“It is, I confirmed it myself when I meet the hero in Jarodor. You can hardly imagine the sickening look he gave me when he admitted it.” he said with a frown.

“Why not tell the Empire? Why are you joining hands with the demons?”

“Because that is the only way to survive. The whole resistance against the demons is centered on someone who has sworn allegiance to the demons and the empire appears to be dragging its feet in response to the invasion. I see no way for this world to win this war. Our only chance at survival is to join hands with the demons.”

“I see your point.”

“I have nothing against the Highland royal family, but having loss ends at this critical time is something I would like to avoid.”

“I understand… I will make sure that Highland will not trouble you.”

“Thank you…” those were the words the king wanted to say but couldn’t bring himself to do it. He felt that he was unworthy to praise his son as the man who basically stole his entire existence for the sake of the elven people.

‘That right… It all started after that.’ Theodemar thought. He had never regretted killing anyone in his life, but when he took the life of Highlands King, his hands couldn’t stop shaking afterward. He couldn't figure out why it had shaken him so badly before. The peace in the kings eyes as he died, haunted him.

He failed to understand the thinking of a man who would thrown his life away for his son… How could he? He was raised by a man who would throw his own son’s life away if it meant progress for the elven race.

‘I see… so that what it was? The reason for his smile, the reason for his peace. Is that the same reason that is driving this woman? Edwin... huh? Looks like you are truly loved.’ He thought as he coughed out blood.

In his battle against Eve, one of the greatest mercenaries in the world was getting a one-sided beat down,

Try as he may, he couldn’t understand how such a situation had risen… The simple truth of the matter was that his opponent was a maid.

¹Don't mess with maids