章 24: Encounter with Royalty

Following this little moment in between, they waited for the servants to come and open the door for them before getting out of the carriage.

From the moment Eden had set foot outside, he saw the vastness of the royal palace. It was not like what he had seen on Earth. The palace was magnificent but still sober, showing the great dignity that the royal family of the Empire of Chronus possessed.

The palace resembled a large white cathedral, with some touch of gold from right to left, making the latter even brighter. On the right, you could see a large garden with all kinds of flowers, being all more beautiful than the others. There were also tree carvings, all of which were extremely detailed, showing the various monsters, or rather non-hostile animals that could be trained like domestic animals on Earth.

On the left, one could see the entirety of the royal guards training diligently. There were a very large number of guards who did all kinds of activities, such as running, muscle building, or sword fights. There were even women who beat men. Eden could see the power of the Empire through this. There was so much different fighting style in front of his eyes that he couldn't believe his eyes.

Eden also understood from seeing this that he had to become stronger. Stronger in case of need, but above all strong enough for him to defeat an army on his own.

So they continued to walk for more than 2 km, and during this time Aether tried to speak to Eden but without success.

"*Sigh* your Highness, or should I say Aether? Now that we're friends let's go with that" Eden thought out loud"Aether if you want to ask me something, you can just tell me. I will not be able to understand you if you give me an anxious look every second"

"Well, uh, how to say it, Before the slave traders attacked you- " He tried to ask before being interrupted by a young woman with a royal guard uniform.

"Your Highness, glad to see you again. You've grown tremendously since the last time I saw you" The woman said to the prince while bowing slightly forward. "And I guess the man who is on the side is the so-called vampire? Quite handsome if I must say.

"Master Rosalyne, it has been a long time since I saw you. Lead the way to the throne room, please. We are already late so" Aether ordered to Rosalyne who immediately complied.

Without a word, the 3 began to head to the throne room, with Rosalyn leading the way while Aether and Eden were just behind her side by side.

After turning right, taking the stairs upwards, turning left, and then right again a few moments later, they finally arrived in front of two large doors going up to the ceiling and which seemed extremely solid.

Rosalyne asked permission to enter the room with the prince and his guest before her request was granted. The doors began to open, and once open completely, a long way was in front of them, with at the end the Empress sitting, crossed leg, and at her side, two men.

One of the two appeared to be more than two years older than Aether, and had two guards by his side, while the other appeared slightly younger, by a year or two at most, without anybody on his side.

The Empress had chestnut hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in along black dress with an open shoulder and down to the bottom of her legs, highlighting her curves. She also had a simple transparent veil on her shoulders as well as gorgeous jewelry such as a pair of onyx-like earrings and a diamond necklace that contrasted perfectly with her earrings and dress.

The prince who had the guards with him had light red hair almost towards pink and blue eyes like his mother's. He was dressed in a burgundy tuxedo with black moccasins, and like Aether, he had a black cape with gold decorations that covered only part of his shoulder.

As for the other prince, the one who had no guard with him, he had black hair and blue eyes. He was dressed exactly like Eden, except that his clothes were white instead of black. He even had white earrings, which made the perfect opposite of Eden. He also looked more handsome than his two brothers, which was amazing in itself since they were above everyone else in terms of beauty.

"Aether, here you are. You will have made your mother wait a long time this time. The young man behind you is the supposed Vampire I presume. How charming he is" The Empress of the Empire, Karaine said to her son and to Eden who looked at her straight in the eye.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you mother. You are still as alive as before" Aether said with a smile on his face while bowing slightly forward.

"Hoho, you are already burying your mother from what I see," She replied.

After exchanging a few more jokes, Aether began to report to his mother the mission she had entrusted to him. He explained to her how they had managed to find the place of the auction, how successful the slave traders had managed to kidnap so many slaves and that they were going to have to take care of homeless people, and finally, the magnificent gem or rather his new friend that he had brought with him today.

"Hmm, the biggest problem is to affiliate all of these people somewhere. Even if we take one-third of them into the army, there will still be far too many people to put somewhere. And we must also equip the new army. Arghh what a headache" Karaine muttered to herself before sweeping her gaze across the throne room and placing them upon Eden.

"Eden right?" She asked

"Indeed it is my name" Eden replied simply without showing any appropriate respect to the Empress who began to smile at his attitude.

"Eden, what do you think of all this? How should we deal with our new army and the rest of the slaves?"

"Mother, what's the point of asking a commoner this?" The prince with the two guards behind him asked while having a sarcastic tone.

"Come on Christian, no need to make a big deal out of it, I just ask him his opinion," Karaine said without even looking in the direction of the crown prince.

Hearing it, Eden did not understand the interest of the question of the empress. As the so-called Christian said, he was only a commoner in front of these all-powerful people, whether in terms of status or level. However, he still decided to answer for two reasons.

The first was to be on mutual common ground with the royal family, which would later allow him to have support from them if he needed it. After all, no one was foolish enough to attack someone who had the support of a royal family.

The second reason was simply to nail the beak to this prince which seemed far too pretentious for his taste. He found him even more pretentious than the old Aether.

As for Aether, he knew that Eden would come with a plan given what he had deduced when he was still at the auction. But even knowing this, he didn't want to let him say his ideas. The royal family was much more threatening than they let appear and it was because he didn't want them to have him on their radar that he decided to intervene.

"Mother, we can discuss this later, there is no point in mixing him up in our business-.."

"Before I answer you, will I be able to find out what state the Empire is in now? In crisis? At war? In peace?

"We are currently in peacetime, but we are running out of resources because of the influx of new people into the city" Christian replied instead of his mother's with an annoyed tone. A simple commoner did not have to speak to the Empress of an Empire as great as that of Chronus.

"As Christian has just told you, we are certainly at peace, but we are sorely lacking in resources" Continued Karaine

"If that's the case, then I have the perfect solution," Eden said as he clapped his hands.

"If you plan to divide the slaves in two, it will make 1000 new soldiers and 2000 to put somewhere," Eden continued, recalling the situation. "If that's the case, I have what the soldiers need who will all undoubtedly be low-level. As for the other 2000, there is also a deserted land of monsters that I know quite well" Eden said while having a devilish smile that began to appear on his face that made Aether and the prince without a guard shiver.

"If you have everything you need, what are you waiting for to tell us." The empress asked while leaning forward to listen to what Eden was about to say.

"If you have become the empress of such a great Empire, you probably know that you cannot have something without paying an adequate price," Eden replied this time with a serious look on his face. He felt that the negotiations were going to take a turn which might not be one of the best for him.

"You know I can kill you with a simple movement of my fingers, right?" The Empress asked.

"Of course, I know that. But your son who is here at my side had told me the same thing and yet, I'm still here" Eden replied which made Aether look away. "Especially since you will lose much more than me by killing me. I have the perfect solutions for your problems that you told me earlier"

"Ah, and let's not forget the fact that the person talking to you is not even the real me, but a simple illusion," Eden said before having a smile on his face.

Hearing him speak, none of the people in the room could refute his arguments. If what he said was true, then they will save a lot of time. However, the thing that stunned them the most was the fact that what was in front of them was just a simple illusion and nothing else. No one had succeeded in deceiving the Empress until now, and here, a simple vampire who was not even at level 10 had achieved the impossible.

"Hahahahahaha, Aether you found someone quite interesting" Karaine said after realizing that Eden was much smarter than he let appear.

"So be it, I would offer you the thing you want if you reveal to me everything I need to know. And if that's not enough for you, I'll swear on my life too." The 3 princes who listened to their mother were speechless. Never in their lives had they seen her give in so easily to a person. She was always strong and if a person did not obey her, then she will make their life a living hell. Here, however, she had given in so easily that it was incomprehensible.

When Aether heard the reaction of his mother, he couldn't help but smile at the situation. He knew that Eden was strong in such situations, but he could never have known that he was also good at negotiation. He even started to think if there was even a thing that he didn't know how to do.

"Glad to hear your choice"