So, these "wolves" are making their move.

Count Ediel Beleng leaned into the couch, sighing as he stared at the ceiling. In his hand rested a crumpled letter. But to think they were so close to Darghan...

He looked at the letter in his hand again. He knew that they were dangerous, but he did not expect they would have some ancient machines causing a ruckus so deep in dwarven land. Not to mention….

"Did you come to kill me for ruining your guy’s plan?"

"I am impressed you noticed me."

A woman covered in black slowly emerged from the shadows. Count Beleng shrugged his shoulders. It wasn’t so hard for him to notice this woman; he had done his own share of sneaking around and snooping. But considering where this young one comes from; she may have more experience than him.

"To snatch her Majesty directly from Oprichnina’s hands, I should not be surprised."

"And you finally got around to finding me and exacting your revenge?"

He sneered. His daughter was well past the point where these "Oprichnina" guys could manipulate her for their cult. As he prepared for his death at the hands of this woman, a bag filled with gold landed in front of him.

"New lady ZERO has expressed her thanks for helping us uncover the traitors within our ranks. Thanks to your help, the empire may rise anew."

I helped them? So, she will seriously not kill me? Count Beleng was confused. He took his daughter from them before they could do anything to her. That alone should have ruined their plans. The woman walked towards the window, addressing him once more as if she had read his mind.

"As the one providing food, shelter, and clothes for her majesty while we deal with the traitors and their treacherous plan to turn her majesty into a mere puppet. As well as the one to show those traitors to Lady ZERO in Itten. Do you believe such deeds would be punished by us, the loyal hounds of her majesty?"

The woman spoke as if what she said should have been obvious. And without elaborating further, she jumped out the window. Count Beleng went to the window and looked out, trying to see where the woman went. But he couldn’t find her anywhere.

Shaking his head, he opened the bag and pulled one of the gold coins out of it, examining it thoroughly. The coin looked old, like it was minted centuries ago. On one side was the crest of the vampiric royal family along a vampiric line, translating to: through the sanctity of blood, united.

On the other side of the coin was a depiction of a young-looking girl. The words: one nation, one ruler. accompanied the girl’s depiction. As he looked at the girl’s face, he was more and more certain that she looked awfully familiar.

Ediel opened a text message app on his phone, opening a chat window with his oldest daughter, Ele.

"No wonder she looks so familiar…"

Ediel Beleng murmured as he held the coin to his phone’s screen. On it, a single message from the previous day was displayed. Dad, why didn’t you tell me I have a cute little sister? along with one photo of a silver-haired vampire girl drinking a cup of tea while patting a wolf-eared girl. Ediel didn’t need much more to know that the one in the picture was the daughter he so painstakingly hid from a cult of vampires.

He knew that this cult… this oprichnina, saw Julia as the righteous vampire queen instead of Loriam. to the point that in the vision he got to see in Itten, they made her sign her own mother’s execution order. But I wonder why does this girl on the coin looks just like Julia?

No matter how he looked at it, this coin depicted Julia. despite the fact that the coin was minted centuries before Julia was even born. Could perhaps some of them figure out a way to see into the future and use it to predict her birth?

No that would be a stretch. Ediel shook his head. Even if the Oprichnina cult could see the future, why would they be so obsessed with Julia? It is true that Julia has full rights to the vampire throne, but why would they say she is the righteous queen?

Ediel couldn’t make sense of it. He wished he could have found more about them before Itten burned to ashes. Now, no matter how much he dug up he found nothing.

Sighing as he put the bag of coins aside. Ediel poured himself a glass of bourbon and drank it in a single gulp. They can’t manipulate you now at least, Julia.

…

This isn’t happening. This is not happening!

A young woman was clutching her head as she was pacing back and forth in a room designed as her living quarters.

"How can those ancient pieces of scrap metal still work!?"

The woman, known as marshal yelled in spite of herself. It has been a few minutes since her sister brought her the news from the land of dwarves. The unpleasant news was that dwarves dug up Valkyries, and, as if to add salt to her wound, they were still operational.

"They were made for her majesty directly; can you expect anything else?"

Marshal glanced at her sister, who ignored her stare and continued.

"And besides, it’s not like they will hinder our plans when they're all the way in the mountains of the west."

"Sure but…"

As her sister said, none of their plans in any capacity included lands west of the Ardal river in the land of the Rabbit people. So, the fact that the Valkyries are still working should not be much of a problem. But despite knowing that she could not help but worry.

"Sis, we did more than enough research to know that they will not obey anyone other than her majesty. And there is no reason to worry that a corpse will stop us."

She smirked. Marshal, though, still looked worried.

"And that brat?"

"You mean the princess?"

Marshal nodded. Her sister smirked and shrugged her shoulders dramatically.

"Oh, how tragic. It seems that her highness will not wake up from her hibernation. Oh, what a tragedy, to die at the tender age of 2000 years. What a shame."

With her voice filled with sarcasm, she smirked at her sister, who immediately understood what she was saying.

"Do you have an idea how that might happen? It’s not like the army or Orichnina are protecting her, but the soul guard is."

Even with her post as marshal, she has no way of actually approaching the princess without being watched closely by at least ten vampires who are fanatically loyal to the late imperatrix. not a group she could trick easily.

"It will be tricky but manageable. It's not like we need her to perish right now. All we need to do is sabotage her hibernation a little at a time. Besides, we can put our plans in motion without waiting for her demise."

"You think we can begin in this situation? Valkyries aside, did you forget about the troublesome lookalike in the blood realm?"

She pointed out what she considered an obvious problem. Her sister shrugged and walked to the map spread out on the table. Placing a chess piece on it.

"She is just a small obstacle that causes problems for us only if Orichnina gets wind of her. which they don’t."

She smiled, fiddling with a pawn piece in her hand before slamming it on the map north of the blood realm.

"More importantly, how will we utilize these whores?"

Her face morphed into a devilish grin. Marshal didn’t have to look at the map to know who she was referring to. Lien yu queendom; a nation of succubuses.