Chapter 900: Set in stone A day had passed since Silver had returned with Leo, and since the fighting at the tenth family’s castle had stopped. Nobody else had come to bother them since. Frustrated about no news, Silver already decided to ask for another meeting with King Bryce. After the information she had given him yesterday, there should have been an announcement or something should have happened, but there was nothing. Were it not for all the strange things that had occured one would have called it a peaceful day in the vampire settlement. However, it was precisely the lack of anything happening that Silver thought it to be strange that such an important matter was moving so slowly, especially given that it was the new King’s problem. Up to this point, Bryce had been rash when deciding to attack the tenth family, but when it was other matters, suddenly things took longer? To her surprise though, Bryce had immediately accepted a meeting with her, which was why she was currently standing outside the door to the King’s throne room. It was a place hardly used, since his predecessor’s health had him remain in his old chambers most of the time, and leaders and knights mostly met up in the council room. But for Bryce, it had become his favourite place as the new King. Opening the door, Kyle and Prima came out. Kyle gave a quick glance at Silver, and she realised that she hadn’t bowed down to show her respect. "He says you can go in to see him." Prima informed her, while walking past. ’These are the new Royal knights? It’s as if they think everyone should give them respect due to their position rather than earn it. I can’t believe Bryce was the one who had been elected as King.’ But walking in those doors, she was wondering if Cindy would have made for a better choice, given everything that was going on, maybe an outsider like Quinn would have been best. Just like last time, Bryce was sitting casually on his throne as if he didn’t have anything to worry about in the world. Even though there was an assassin on the loose, someone working with the Bloodsuckers, and the Absolute blood book had been taken away. ’You seem way too calm.’ Silver wanted to tell him, but she knew it would be counterproductive. "I can guess why you are here, you want to know why I haven’t done anything, correct?" Bryce asked her directly, not mincing words. Silver was on one knee in front of Bryce, paying him the respect a King should deserve but there was something different about him. He had always been a leader exuding a lot of pressure on others, but somehow after his election, he seemed to give off even more pressure than before. "Indeed. With the information I have given you, Your Majesty, we know now that there is an original leader out there somewhere, and we know it to be the ancestor of the eighth family. As such, I highly suspect their current leader Jill to be somehow involved in the matter!" "I brought you back her Vampire knight and thought there would have been some progress by now, or at least some action taken. And due to the other thing we found, it should be safe to assume that neither Quinn nor the Blood fairy he was keeping had been used on Dwight." Bryce started to stroke his long white beard for a while, before finally answering. "Young people always seem to be in a rush these days. The person behind this has been cautious and due to the eighth leader’s ability I’m sure they already know everything that you or I know as well. Which means they are always one step ahead of us." "Think back, when you thought you had discovered an illegal in the Human World, did you capture the illegal and bring them back straight away? No, you went on to search for the one who had created the illegal. I am taking the same steps here, so taking in Jill now will mean nothing. Instead I intend to use her to lead us to the rest." Judging from his words, it seemed like Bryce was making his own moves in the background. He had always been sneaky as the first leader, and now it seemed like he could be even sneaker as king. "And what will you do with Quinn and the tenth family?" Silver asked, concerned for her brother who was a part of the tenth family as well. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖 "There isn’t much I can do. Even if Quinn wasn’t behind the killing of Royal knight Dwight, we now have proof that he had indeed been keeping a Blood fairy. I was thinking of using him. If we plan his execution for plotting against the Vampire council, it will make whoever is behind this feel safe." Although Silver wasn’t particularly close with those in the tenth apart from her brother and Leo, these words angered her, her fist was tensing up as she thought back to that incident that had harmed people unnecessary, yet Bryce didn’t care as long as he got what he wanted. "Are you upset with my decision? The tenth family will become a problem in the future for my plans, do you not think so as well? They are mostly made up of humans, that stupid boy actually shared the ability of the Punisher with many of them. If I simply leave them be I can see a future in which they may be those that wish to bring the Punishers. I won’t get rid of the tenth family altogether, though. They are still needed, except those with the shadow ability, so don’t worry your brother will be safe." "Fine." Silver replied quite aggressively. "But if that punishment is acceptable for him, then an even worse punishment should be dealt to those that are really responsible! I know you do things by the book your majesty, so I have to ask. The knight I brought you earlier, were you able to extract information to prove that Jill is involved?" This was important, just like with Quinn they couldn’t prove he had killed Dwight so they couldn’t execute him. Now they were going to use the fact that he had a Blood fairy as grounds to order his execution. As for Jill, there was no proof she was involved with working with the Bloodsuckers, only that her Vampire knight did. The leader would be punished for not keeping an eye on their knights but nothing serious would happen to them. "The knight you brought back... their information was useless. We weren’t able to get a single thing from them." Bryce answered. "What?!" Silver shouted and nearly stood on her feet. She was so stunned. After all the work her and Leo had gone through to make sure to bring her back alive, they had found nothing. There was one thing Bryce could do to her, and that was use the influence skill to force information out of her, but now he was stating they could find nothing. It would make sense if she had no memories like her brother Fex and Kazz but this didn’t make any sense. "She is under the influence of someone more powerful than I, most likely the original you have mentioned to have found, unless there are more of them awake. It could also be by whoever obtained the Absolute blood book and the blood of all the leaders, which means they could have awoken any of the previous leaders. ... I have told you too much already. It’s time for you to go. Leave matters in my hands, and let this be a warning for you to not get involved." Leaving the room, Silver once again felt dissatisfied with everything she had heard. She wanted to fight for Quinn, after he had saved her brother the last time, and after Leo had helped her, but she had failed to speak up. However, the worst news was yet to come. A few days later a meeting was held, which led to King Bryce making an announcement. A date had been set for both Quinn, and Alex’ execution. *******