The Vampire Prince's Toxic Consort (BL)
Chapter 27 The Quarrels

“Have you heard about the rumor?” Duke of Northcester, Darius Mahmound, remarked as he entered Dorian’s study. He was Dorian’s cousin and shared some similar features with the Ashdown princes, though older in age, and had a refined scholarly look about him.

Duke Darius was Dorian’s most important ally in the court as he was the head of the Mahmound family, one of the oldest and most powerful Bloodlines and always had intricate nuptial relations with the Ashdown family. King Cosmo’s mother was a Mahmound lady, and Darius was the King’s older sister’s only son.

Dorian was still reading the daily brief sent from the cabinet. He raised his eyes and glanced at Darius, “there are hundreds of rumors flying around every day. You need to be more specific.”

“The one that involves your consort whipping Earl Keaton for a slave.“Darius leisurely sat on the chair on the other side of the desk.

Dorian finally raised his head, “what happened?”

“Earl Keaton and his friends decided to test some of the verbal commands on the slave and pissed your consort off majorly. He ordered his guard to whip Keaton fifty times because of his ’insubordination.’” Darius tilted his head, “It has stirred up much gossip and conjectures and will reach the King’s ears sooner or later. Isn’t your consort a bit too fiery for a priest? You may want to consider putting a bridle on him. ”

Dorian’s finger tabbed on the desk a few times, and he chuckled, “Sounds like Keaton deserved it.”

“You cannot consider condone such behavior. How will it reflect on you? A weak Crown Prince who ingratiated himself to the werewolves and couldn’t even manage his own human pet.”

“Weak? Now I have support from both the army and werewolves. Anyone who still thinks I’m weak is a fool whose opinion does not matter to me.“Dorian leaned back into the armchair, “it’s time for them to understand that Julian is my consort. They should treat him with as much respect as they show me. Anyone who offends him is offending me.”

Darius chuckled, “You’ve grown fond of your little human pet, haven’t you.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“You are risking undermining your delicately balanced relationship with your father for him. What other explanation is there?”

“He is my consort and thereby an extension of myself. Of course I need to defend him.”

Darius tabbed his long fingers several times before shrugging, “Suit yourself. Just be prepared that the King will upbraid you.”

“My father is getting weaker and weaker. His body is rejecting blood and starving itself. It won’t be long before he falls into hibernation.“Dorian said slowly, and a glint of iciness flashed across his eyes.

“Maybe, but he still has enough strength to amend the Edict of Succession.“Darius leaned forward and lowered his voice, “You just need to be a little more patient and wait a little longer. Don’t do anything impulsive.”

“I am never impulsive.” Dorian’s eyes fixed on a spot on the desk, and his thought went somewhere far and abysmal, “but letting him fall into hibernation thinking that he had control over who would succeed him is not what I want.” He paused for a second, and his voice tinted with a sinister tone, “I want to take it all from him when he is conscious.”

“I thought we talked about this! Even if you succeed, your legitimacy will be questioned!”

Dorian only grinned, a smile colder and darker than the polar night sky, “They will only question it if they think I am weak and they have a chance. After what I will do to my mother’s murders and their bastard sons, no one will dare to question my ‘legitimacy.’”

Lucius stood in front of the mirror and checked the wound on his shoulder. It was healing well under Florian’s attentive and professional care, and the stitches were almost dissolved, leaving an angrily red scar behind. The redness would take some time to fade, and Lucius hadn’t thought of any viable explanation.

After that night, the chasm between him and Dorian deepened, and the prince always slept on the couch, which gave Lucius a perfect chance to hide the wound. But the strain between them upset him more than he would like to admit.

“Don’t poke it.” Florian’s voice came from behind. He just brought in tea and breakfast.

“I didn’t. But it’s so itchy!”

Florian set everything down on the table and came near, examining the wound closer while quietly saying, “What you did yesterday was too risky. I could have handled those punishments.”

“According to the law, you belong to me. I can’t let them step over me like that.“Lucius pulled his shirt up and glanced at him, “we should get those chips out as soon as possible. Or if it’s too risky, at least disable the public verbal commands.”

“I’ve never heard any slaves being unchipped before.”

“I’m sure it can be done. We just need to sneak out of this citadel, find a good doctor, crack your head open, and uproot those little things from your brain.”

“Thank you, your highness, that sounds very comforting.” Florian rejoined with deadpan sarcasm, which made Lucius laugh a little. He then whispered, “It’s also our best chance to get the blood out.”

Florian nodded, “is there anyone who will get in touch with you?”

“We just need to leave the blood in a deposit box, and someone will pick it up.”

“Where is that deposit box?”

Just then, the door opened, and Dorian stepped in. He frowned as he spotted Florian and said authoritatively, “Slave, leave us.”

Florian bowed his head and excused himself from the room. Lucius glanced at the prince and remarked, “he has a name, you know.”

“Must you have him around you all the time?“Dorian sat before the table and poured himself some tea. The rich aroma of earl gray was just some blanc hot water on a vampire’s tongue, but he still liked to occasionally savor the tiny hint of redolence.

Lucius slowly put the cufflinks on his sleeves and said half-heartedly, “you don’t like him?” S~ᴇaʀᴄh the FindNøvᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“I don’t.“Dorian said blatantly, “he used to be a vampire hunter who slaughtered several apostles and numerous neophytes. So pardon me if I don’t want to see him in my living quarters.”

“He is harmless now.” Lucius brushed off Dorian’s concern and sat down to have his breakfast as well, adding some milk to his coffee, “in fact, I want to talk to you about taking out the chips in his head. ”

“Why?”

“Some noblemen think they are entitled to other people’s property, apparently. I’m sure you’ve heard what happened yesterday.”

“I did. And I’m surprised that you think I will keep indulging your whims after learning about the farce.”

“Farce? Do you think it is something laughable to watch my people being tortured for no reason?” Lucius stared at him huffishly, “it could have been me, and anyone can force me to do anything regardless of what I want.”

“For no reason?” Dorian put down his tea cup with a bit too much force. His continence darkened with acrimony, “was persecuting vampires for thousands of years a reason good enough? Your Churches had tortured, burnt, drowned and crucified countless vampires throughout history, and those hunters were worse. They did experiments on us, tortured us, chased us to the end of the world and made our teeth trophies. ”

“If vampires didn’t kill so many humans, they wouldn’t have hunted them, would they?! Those vampires could have restrained themselves before it was too late or just fed on animals!”

“It’s easy for you to say! You are not the one tortured by starvation all the time and the overwhelming urge! Can you ask all your human fellows to be vegetarians? How about the animals’ rights?”

“At least we don’t fuck our animals!“Lucius paused for a second and added bluntly, “well, most of us don’t!”

“I’m impressed you just lowered your species to the same level of animals. ” Dorian jibed and stood up abruptly, “and you know what, humans would have persecuted us with the same maliciousness even if we were all vegetarians and only drank animal blood. My mother was a vegetarian and never took a single human life her whole life, and look what they did to her!”

Then the Crown Prince stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

Lucius cursed himself silently. Why did he say those things? Why couldn’t he control his own temper whenever Dorian was close? Aggravation would only damage his relationship with Dorian, on whom he fully depended.

After breakfast and during the late afternoon, Lucius was tasked to visit Concubine Devina like other consorts, concubines and ladies in the court. On the way there, he also had to stop occasionally to have brief conversations with any approaching royal family member. Not many lords or ladies would approach him in the early days after the wedding, and they even ignored him occasionally. Lady Devina also usually dismissed him fairly quickly after a simple greeting. However, today he had to stop every few steps to return greetings and engage in conversations, and people’s manners toward him noticeably improved.

“Julian!“A magnetic voice caught his attention when he exchanged trivial words about the weather with a countess. He turned and saw Silvan approaching him quickly. A charming smile perched on his elegant lips.

Lucius hadn’t seen the prince, who was also his husband’s biggest threat to the crown, since he was back from Durchville’s manor. He plastered a restrained but polite smile, “Prince Silvan. It’s been a while.”

“It is indeed.” Silvan’s eyes scanned him from head to toe and remarked caringly, “I worried about you when I heard that werewolves attacked you. Elder bless that you are unscathed.”

“It was a thrilling experience for sure. I thank you for your solicitude.”

“Are you going to see my mother? We can walk together.”

It was impossible to refuse a man as courteous and charismatic as Silvan, so Lucius acquiesced. On their way there, Silvan inquired more about what had happened when they were with The Guardians and the well-spread tale about the miracle. Lucius related everything in the most simplified way.

“You are truly a wonder!” Silvan looked at him intensively as if he were a precious being, which was especially disarming to someone like him. Lucius couldn’t help but feel flattered, even though that so-called “miracle” unnerved him. He tittered, “You are too kind.”

“And I heard you also received an unusual gift from Lady Durchville.” The prince glanced at Florian, who followed quietly behind Lucius and grinned, “Seems like you have adapted to vampire’s more... sensual lifestyle?”

Lucius laughed, “Buck is only my servant.”

“Really? Too bad, I thought you and Dorian are having a more open arrangement now.”

“How is that too bad?”

“Well.” As they stood before the door to Lady Devina’s chamber, Silvan’s gaze lingered on Lucius with non-dissimulated desire: “When I see someone possesses a beautiful gem but hasn’t been taking good care of it. I would like to borrow it some time and give it some proper care myself.”

And before Lucius could fully comprehend the meaning behind the metaphor, the page announced their arrival. Silvan winked at him and entered first.

Lucius blinked...Did Silvan just hit on him?

And how did he know Dorian and Lucius were not as enthusiastic about each other as they presented themselves before the public?

The room was already half-full. King Cosmo had two other concubines, Lady Anastasia and Lord Mathias, who were both present. Several other court ladies and lords were laughing over something Lord Mathias had just said, and all of them ceased laughing as Lucius entered the room.

“Good evening, my lady.“Lucius bowed to Devina.

The famous concubine smiled at him alluringly, “Julian! We were just talking about how you gave Earl Keaton a memorable lesson yesterday. Bravo!”

Silvan stood next to his mother and chimed, “It’s about time someone did something about Earl Keaton’s questionable behaviors. Marquis Keaton had spoiled him.”

“Exactly!” Lady Anastasia agreed, “That little bastard didn’t even bow to me when he saw me, and the other day, he killed Earl Louis’s favorite slave when he decided to have some fun with that poor thing without Louis’s permission. He didn’t even apologize about it!”

Lucius smirked, “Happy to be your services, my ladies and lords.” He felt relieved that the court received his audacious move relatively well, and he was lucky that Earl Keaton happened to be a notorious brat. It was almost like a windfall to him when he needed to establish his authority in court.

They proceeded to chat about rumors and news around the court. From some fragmental talks, Lucius pieced together that the King was suffering some ailments, which had caused him to be unable to attend many engagements, though no one mentioned anything specific. Silvan seemed to get to see him regularly, possibly even more frequently than Dorian.

“Julian, your birthday is approaching, isn’t it?” Silvan suddenly remarked in between the topics, “Has Dorian prepared anything special for the day?”

And that shifted all the attention back to Lucius, making him feel like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Um...we haven’t discussed it yet.” Lucius tried to play it off casually, “and I don’t really celebrate birthdays since I was no longer a child.”

“Nonsense! Birthday celebrations are not just for children.” Silvan fixed his captivating eyes on his brother-in-law, “it is a chance for us to appreciate the people we care about, showering them with love.”

Birthday...Lucius never liked it. He never had a birthday that belonged to him alone since he and Julian were twins and shared the same birthday, and Lord and Lady Rosenfield often set everything to Julian’s liking. Since childhood, he always felt like an outsider at their birthday parties, and he stopped celebrating it once Julian entered the seminary.

Interestingly, Lucius’s father and mother also seemed to forget about the whole birthday celebration traditions after Julian left home. They often just sent Lucius a curt “happy birthday” message, and that was about it.

“It is a chance for us to appreciate the people we care about, showering them with love.”

Obviously, Lucius’s father and mother didn’t feel the need to shower him with anything. And he doubted Dorian would feel anything as well.

And so Lucius forced a wide smile on his face and said as cheerfully and lightheartedly as possible, “I’m sure Dorian has something in mind. He likes to surprise me.”

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