……The Khaos Brigade probably helped them, but I never thought that they were doing things like this at places where we can’t check. No, since this is the base of Vampires that distanced themselves from the other forces, they were able to progress this far with their plan without any interference. I’m already feeling disgusted at the act of the terrorist organisations, but I fix my posture due to being in front of the throne. The one sitting on the throne is a woman with a strong trait of sand colour in her blonde hair and has her hair tied—. She’s wearing a dress which isn’t luxurious at all and she has a gentle smile on her face. She appears to be three or four years older than me. A shapely face. You may call her a beauty. Instead of having a crafted beauty of that of a complete doll like Elmenhilde, she has a beauty of a human appearance. ……She probably carries both the beauty of a Vampire and a human since she’s a half-blood. Except—. I may have shown a lecherous face in joy if she was simply a beautiful woman. However……
Her two red eyes—are shallow. Eyes that lost light……
The woman with shallow eyes greets us. “How do you do, everyone. My name is Valerie Tepes.”
Her smile—carries emptiness and pitifulness. “Ah, umm, it’s been decided that I would be the current Head of the House of Tepes as well as the Queen. Pleased to make your acquaintance from now on.”
……Her voice is very light. However……Her gaze isn’t so clear that she’s not looking at a particular person properly. She then catches the sight of someone she knows and directs her gaze at him. “Gasper, you have grown bigger.”
Valerie who gives her words to Gasper. Gasper……puts on a sad expression seeing her like that. But Gasper forcefully puts on a smile. “Valerie…… I wanted to see you.”
“Me too. I really wanted to see you. Please come a bit closer to me.”
Valerie makes him come closer to her. Gasper approaches her. The soldiers and Vampires around her aren’t even trying to stop Gasper coming close to her. Valerie mutters while hugging Gasper. “……I’m glad you are doing okay.”
“Yup, even though I became a Devil……I’m doing fine.”
“Yes, I have heard. It seems like they are taking good care of you over there.”
“Yup, I also made friends and seniors. I’m not alone anymore.”
Gasper looks towards us. Valerie also smiles when she looks at us. “Oh my……so all of you are Gasper’s friends. ……Ara?”
When Valerie looks towards a different direction,
“————.————.”
She speaks in a language I never heard before and is talking to the space where there’s no one present. ……I, who have reincarnated to a Devil, can grasp hold of every language and hear them in a same language. But that’s not happening right now. She’s speaking in a language that I cannot think comes from this world. The other members are also narrowing their eyebrows at the language being used. They probably can’t understand what she’s saying just like me. She suddenly makes a bright face. “Yes, you’re right. I also have the same opinion. Eh? …………But that’s still not…… ————. ————Is that true? Yes, you’re right…… ————.”
Gasper is showing a very worried face due to seeing his saviour talking to a space where there is nothing and no one present. Sensei says it quietly. “……Everyone, don’t look at that directly. You’ll get pulled away by the Holy Grail. Especially Asia, Xenovia, and Irina who come from the Church must look away.”
Maybe they realised what Sensei is trying to say immediately, so Asia and the other two look down to the floor. I ask Sensei. “What’s happening……?”
“……That’s the outcome of those being possessed by the Holy Grail. You’ll come to see things you should never see. I’ll explain it in detail afterwards.”
Then there’s a clap. The one who claps his hand is the young Vampire who is standing near Valerie. “Valerie, it’s rude to be talking only to “those people”, you know? You must act as a Queen in a proper manner.”
Hearing the man say that, Valerie responds by saying “You are right” with a smile. Valerie continues with a smile despite having shallow eyes. “Ufufu, I’m very sorry, everyone. But it seems like I’ll be able to create a peaceful society for the Vampires as long as I reign as the Queen. I’m so looking forward to it. Even Gasper will be able to live here. No one will bully us ever again.”
……Regardless of whose perspective it is, you can clearly tell her words aren’t coming from the bottom of her heart and is being controlled by someone else’s favour. ……Valerie is definitely being used by the ones that started the coup d’état. Both her heart and Sacred Gear have been—. “……Valerie……”
Gasper can only shed tears at seeing the sight of his saviour. Azazel-sensei glares at the young Vampire man. “You sure did train her well. And you have a bad hobby to show that to us so boldly. What do you want to achieve by using her? Judging from how it looks, you must be the ringleader for this incident, right?”
The young man makes an evil grin with his doll-like face. “If you are saying that I’m the ringleader, then I possibly may be. Oh, I still haven’t introduced myself. I come from the royal family of Tepes and am the fifth candidate to succeed the throne, Marius Tepes is my name. I am the mayor of the temporal government as well as the chief advisor for the Sacred Gear Research. Though the later one would be my main occupation……but I was asked by my uncle. So I’m acting as the mayor temporarily. I’m also Valerie’s brother in terms of pedigree and I want to see how my cute little sister who is saddened about the future of the Tepes would change the world of the Vampires by standing next to her.”
He says that in a light manner. So he’s from a royal family! I can understand that the thing he said about Valerie is a lie. That’s how much evil his cold smile carries. Sensei then says. “……You do know that we have been in contact with the Carmilla’s side? Was it okay for you to invite us here?”
Marius shrugs his shoulder. “The new government has the new slogan of wanting to form friendly negotiations whether it’s Carmilla or the governor of the Fallen Angels—. Well, half of that was a joke. No, to be honest I don’t actually care that much about politics. I will leave those to my comrades that agreed with starting the coup d’état. Except, Queen Valerie wished to meet all of you, and I’m also interested in all of you as well. After all, I heard lots of rumours about all of you from the ones who supported us.”
“Well, let’s leave those things to the side for now. –Then I’ll ask you this question since you are the one behind all of this. Why did you start a coup d’état? Was it that bastard’s idea?”
Sensei moves to the main topic. He sure does ask lots of things without mercy…… Even the Vampires that are present here are panicking due to their discussion. Marius answers Sensei’s question normally. “I want to prepare an environment where I can do whatever I want with the Holy Grail.