"And you still haven't found that bastard?"
Ricardus, the King of the Skyfall Kingdom was currently bowing in front of a woman who sitting on his throne with one hand on her chin while the elbow was resting on the armrest of the throne. Her left leg on placed on top of her right, and the pressure she was releasing was… frightening.
Keeve, Reeve, Ricardus, and all these so-called experts were trembling in front of her.
They knew it well, Astaria's mood was anything but good.
For every word they speak today, they had to be extremely careful, one wrong step and they will definitely lose their lives today.
"W-We are still looking for him. The best men of the Shadow Unit are on it."
Reeve reported, he knew that Ricardus wouldn't speak a word, he had to step forward.
Hearing her words, Astaria narrowed her eyes.
Reeve stepped back a little, he clenched his fists, trying to stop his body from trembling, however, the method was not very helpful.
Astaria continued to observe the three men standing in front of her and after a while, she closed her eyes and sighed.
"The First Prince of our countries contacts the enemy Kingdom, plans the murder of his blood Sister, then with two King Stage Cultivators sent by the Kingdom, he kidnaps his brother, blackmails his sister, calls her in a secluded location, and surrounds her…"
She summarized the entire incident, and with each passing word, her tone got even colder. She then finally opened her eyes and glared at Ricardus.
"Heh, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
She may have chuckled, however, from her tone, anyone could tell that she was boiling with anger right now.
Ricardus's body trembled in fear as he recalled a past incident.
"I-I didn't get in contact with Kingdom…" He felt the need to clarify. Who knew what Astaria might do in her anger?
Hearing his words, Astaria chuckled again,
"Indeed, you didn't contact any other Kingdom, you didn't need their help, you directly planned and,
Assassinated all your siblings."
The room turned silent.
This was something no one was allowed to mention, however, rules never applied to Astaria. She only stayed silent because she didn't want to think about this situation, she didn't wish to think about how powerless she felt during that moment.
It was around 100 years ago, At that time, Ricardus was just a Prince and with his mind only filled with women, he wasn't someone who was a favorite to become the next King.
However, Ricardus had one advantage.
His Cultivation Talent.
Even after not focusing on his cultivation compared to others, his growth was shocking.
Using this to his advantage, Ricardus started gaining support from other nobles, slowly, he amassed influence that could be compared to the other Princes who were the Favorites.
Due to this, Ricardus's hunger grew, and his eyes fell on the King's Harem, he noticed how the King held absolute power over all, he noticed how the King could spend time with practically any woman he wanted and this flamed a new feeling in his heart.
He wanted to become the next King.
Ricardus wasn't particularly good at scheming.
His Grandfather, however, was different.
Swordfeck Fulvanius, the King Stage Cultivator of the Fulvanius House, Cyneheard's father, Ricardus's Grandfather, planned everything. Ricardus followed his plans, gained influence, and when the time was ripe,
He killed all the Princes who belonged to Duke Houses, even his own blood brother who belonged to Fulvanius House.
Dekdom Skyfall, Astaria's son also lost his life in this massacre.
At that time, Astaria was still a King Stage Cultivator, to be honest, for her, killing Ricardus was but a simple job.
A man who spent his entire life running after women and an old man who would die within a few years, how hard would it be to kill these two for someone like Astaria who dedicated her entire life to sword and cultivation?
However, even after all that, she still couldn't kill Ricardus.
He was the only Prince left who had a Duke House supporting him, the other Princes and Princess didn't belong to any of the Duke Houses.
The Skyfall Kingdom has a stable foundation that has the Royal Family on the top and 4 Duke Houses right below them, if another Duke House is added into this equation, the entire Kingdom would turn into a mess as the Houses would battle each other in order to gain more influence.
If the King is someone who does not belong to a Duke Family, then there are chances that the situation where another house would rise to power, to avoid this situation, a rule was passed.
The King needs to have the Blood of the Royal Family and the Duke Family running in his vein.
At that moment, only Ricardus was the only prince who satisfied this condition, therefore, killing him was impossible.
Astaria had to calm her anger by just killing Dekdom Skyfall.
After that, she directly entered secluded Cultivation and stopped involving herself with Kingdom Politics.
38 years later, she broke through the King Stage and become an Emperor Stage Cultivator, however, even after gaining absolute power, she didn't kill Ricardus.
Ricardus had already solidified his position, there was no other heir who could replace Ricardus, therefore, Astaria didn't kill the bastard and tried to forget about this incident.
Today, however, she was reminded of this incident again.
A chilling pressure released from her body as she glanced at Ricardus.
"Dekdom had waited long enough."
She spoke in a voice so cold that it felt like it could freeze even the blazing fire.
Hearing what she said, Ricardus's turned pale and he stepped back, Keeve and Reeve stepped forward.
Astaria glanced at the two of them, her eyes unusually dark without a tinge of mercy in them.
Even though she didn't say it, Keeve and Reeve could feel what she wanted to say,
'If you value your life, get away.'
"L-Lady Astaria, you can't!!"