In the early hours of the next morning, Krul kicked the door outside Luke's room.
"Get up and rolling, I'm heading over first."
Then, regardless of whether Luke had woken up or not, she left the palace.
Luke was indeed woken by the commotion from the kick. He tossed and turned in bed a few times, realized he couldn't fall back asleep, and reluctantly got up.
"Krul, you're so noisy! You disturbed my sleep!"
Luke cursed, but hearing no response, he sat on the bed in a daze for a moment, momentarily forgetting what he needed to do.
After a while, his brain finally booted up, and he remembered the war declaration speech scheduled for early this morning at the theater.
"What a hassle!"
Luke grumbled, casually threw on his clothes—not even bothering with his cloak—did a quick wash-up, and prepared to hurry to the theater.
After running a few steps, Luke slowed his pace, pursing his lips.
"I'm hungry, no energy. Whatever, I'll walk. Doesn't matter if I'm late or not."
As Luke left Krul's palace, he saw two Vampires blocking the entrance.
It was Lacus and René.
Lacus stepped forward enthusiastically to greet him.
"Hey, Lord Luke."
Luke glanced at the two. Though he didn't know why these guys were here, he couldn't be bothered to ask and responded dismissively.
"Hmm."
Watching Luke, whose shirt buttons weren't even fastened properly and who was ignoring them to walk ahead on his own, Lacus sensed something was off.
Lacus nudged René with his elbow and whispered.
"Hey, don't you think Luke is acting a bit strange today?"
René nodded in agreement; he felt the same way.
"Should we still ask him?"
"You go."
Lacus and René quickly caught up to Luke. Lacus tentatively asked.
"Lord Luke, we heard you were looking for us yesterday?"
Luke thought for a moment and replied.
"Yesterday, Krul told me to go find those..."
Luke suddenly froze, remembering something. He summoned a light screen only he could see. Seeing the 'Mission Failed' notation in the mission log, he felt as if struck by lightning.
"Hey, Lacus, when did you guys get back?"
Thinking Luke was concerned about their defense team's mission progress, Lacus didn't notice his mood and answered honestly.
"About seven hours ago. This mission..."
René felt Luke's aura change completely after hearing that. His fingers twitched involuntarily, and René quickly stepped back a bit.
"Heh."
Lacus was still thinking about the mission details when he suddenly felt the temperature around him drop. A cold laugh sounded beside him. Before he could react, Luke kicked him flying.
"Whew~"
Luke took a deep breath, smiled at René, and said.
"You have a count of three. Otherwise, it'll be time for subtraction within a thousand."
René was so scared by Luke's smile that cold sweat broke out on his back. He hurriedly ran over, grabbed the still-disoriented Lacus, and vanished from Luke's sight.
Luke adjusted his emotions.
No! The more I think about it, the angrier I get!
Luke kicked the wall, leaving a large crater, venting his frustration.
"Unlucky!"
He muttered, still intending to head to the theater. But after walking a couple of steps, he stopped again.
"Which way is the theater again?"
In his eight years here, Luke had never been to the theater, and the miku map didn't have place names.
After wandering aimlessly for a long time without even seeing a patrol, when he neared the Upper-ranking Vampire residential area, he suddenly spotted Guren, who was also running late for the theater.
"Heh, got my map."
Guren was also in no hurry. She didn't even want to attend the gathering organized by Krul, but hearing that Lord Ferid would be there, she couldn't afford not to show up.
When Guren left home, she inexplicably had a bad premonition, putting her in a foul mood.
Bang!
A blurry figure flashed by. Guren vanished from her spot. A few meters away, her head was completely embedded in a wall, half her body stuck inside.
Luke stood beside Guren, covering a yawn with his right hand, left hand in his pocket, right foot pressing against Guren's head. He greeted her.
"Ah, hello. Could you tell me how to get to the theater?"
...Lacus and René ran to the theater. Lacus felt like he'd survived a disaster. Luke seemed to be in a very bad mood.
"René, should we believe what Guren said? The Cute King just now was terrifying! He didn't even add 'Your Highness' when referring to Lord Krul!"
René thought for a moment and countered.
"What do you think?"
Lacus recalled the feeling Luke gave him earlier, reminding him of the previous experience of having his fingers bent while being quizzed on math problems.
"Maybe we should do it. It's not that embarrassing anyway. What if the Cute King really makes us do it and we don't? Wouldn't we get chopped up?"
René was a man of few words.
"Okay."
Lacus and the others arrived at the control room, familiarized themselves with the console, and watched as Upper-ranking Vampires, even several progenitors, filed in, knowing it would start soon.
The lights were already on, all beams focused on the center of the stage.
"This feels pre-set."
"Then let's not touch anything."
"Okay."
The Upper-ranking Vampires took their seats. Ferid and Crowley also entered together but, to avoid suspicion, chose to sit separately.
Lacus suddenly thought of Mika.
"Hey, René, does Mika know?"
René shook his head.
"Probably not. We only know because of our connection to Guren. Mika doesn't know any other Upper-ranking Vampires either. It's fine. We can just relay any important information to him."
In the VIP seats, Krul sat alone, propping her head up as she watched the Vampires taking their places below, but Luke was conspicuously absent.
Krul frowned displeasedly and muttered.
"That idiot! He didn't get lost, did he?"
Soon, no more Vampires entered the theater. They were probably all here. Whether all the Upper-ranking Vampires had arrived wasn't important; the focus was on the nobles.
The theater buzzed with the sound of Vampires conversing.
The Lady who had previously discussed matters with Krul stepped onto the stage, approached the microphone, glanced at the assembled Vampires, and began her speech under the spotlight.
"Today, we have gathered all nobles who have inherited progenitor bloodlines for one purpose only..."
The Vampires' attention began to focus on the Lady's speech, but Krul's mind was elsewhere.
Why isn't that guy here yet?!
Suddenly, Krul noticed a figure at the entrance corridor.
Luke slowly walked out from the corridor, calmly glanced around, then noticed Krul's gaze and met her eyes, completely forgetting the Guren he was holding, who looked like a dead dog.
In the control room, Lacus also noticed Luke and patted the sleeping René beside him.
"Hey, wake up! The Cute King is here!"
René was jolted awake by Lacus, propped himself up on the console, and tried to see where Luke was.
"Initiating search for moving target for tracking."
"René, what are you doing?!"
René raised his hand, realizing he'd accidentally hit some button, but it was too late.
"...They have even restarted the 'Seraph' experiments..."
The Lady was still passionately speaking when suddenly, the beams of light illuminating her all swiveled to shine on the entrance corridor.
The seated Vampires' gazes were drawn by the lights. Following the beams, they saw Luke illuminated as he descended the steps one by one.
Luke found the sudden spotlight odd, then suddenly felt hundreds of eyes on him. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, casually threw the barely-alive Guren to the ground, kicked her aside, and spoke up.
"Sorry, got lost. This tour guide couldn't speak clearly. I'm late. No one has a problem with that, right?"
His Deterrence skill activated simultaneously.
Except for a few progenitors, all the other Vampires instinctively averted their gazes, a bead of cold sweat appearing on each of their foreheads.
Feeling the stares disappear, Luke nodded in satisfaction.
Then, instead of taking the normal path, he took a short run-up, leaped into the air, and landed in Krul's VIP seat.
Krul's expression was grim.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?"
Luke answered a question with another.
"Krul, I'm hungry."
"Huh?"
Krul was dumbfounded by Luke's statement. Do you know what's happening right now?
Luke walked straight towards Krul, stopping right in front of her.
Krul frowned.
"What do you want?"
Luke didn't speak. He examined the breathtakingly beautiful Vampire before him, considering where to bite.
"You better not..."
"Krul, you're so noisy!"
Under the watchful eyes of all the Upper-ranking Vampires, Luke kissed Krul on the lips, silencing her!
Luke grabbed Krul's hands, pinned her to the seat, bit through her lower lip, and let the blood flow into his mouth.
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