The Vampire Empress.

After we finished cooking, Helesta left for a bit together with her shadow knights. I was worried whether something had happened to Ayaka, my heart couldn’t keep itself calm as Leo and the others watched over me. It was the first time in this world where I truly felt hopeless and weak. Yet amidst my worries, the door soon opened to my surprise as I immediately ran over to the living room.

There stood Helesta carrying Ayaka in her arms with several shadow guards that soon vanished after arriving inside. Ayaka looked a bit wounded, but it wasn’t that much. Her clothes were a bit torn which could have been from the engagement between Iona and Felice with the kidnappers. Other than those, she looked okay except for being a bit pale.

My body rushed towards them as I took a closer look at the little girl. Adrenaline rushed towards my heart. I didn’t know what this feeling was. It was similar to anger, but it carried a faint sensation that made you feel weak and hopeless. After seeing her one more time, my legs became jelly and my body came crumbling to the floor.

“She’s okay…?” I looked at Helesta who reassured me with a firm nod.

“She’s just asleep for now. I made sure to erase any memories that could cause trauma to her and replaced the gaps with her simply falling asleep on the bed. I hope you don’t mind me doing that without your permission,” she looked at me with a seriously apologetic gaze.

I could understand her reasoning, especially for a little girl like Ayaka who had been sold to slavery in the past. If ever she came to know about the situation at her current mental age and health... I don’t know what will happen. Even if it means she will hate me in the future, I won’t tell her for now.

“It’s fine… it is for the best,” I sighed in relief before she looked at Leo and the others who quickly understood her gaze that which I didn’t understand. The three suddenly walked up to me and grabbed me from the shoulders.

“It’s not good if the little girl wakes up to see you crying on your knees like this. She will undoubtedly question stuff, let’s place her on her bed for now so it won’t add suspicion to her memories,” she spoke as I nodded before the four of us followed her to my room where Ayaka was placed gently on the bed, covered in a blanket.

After making sure that everything looked fine, we soon left the room to the living room where a tense atmosphere covered the room as Leo suddenly spoke up, “Do you possibly know which person or group organized the kidnapping?”

“I do. But I won’t tell you, the only person who I will tell will be to Aya,” Helesta answered without a single bit of hesitation as she looked at me with a smile, “After all, the person who should hear about this more is not you but the person who has the responsibility of a parent to the child.”

Leo paused for a second before nodding as he added, “I understand. Do you want us to leave the two of you alone for now?”

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“Aren’t you afraid I will take this opportunity to pounce on your cute little master, after all, you know that I come from a race that derives from a succubus,” she showed a smirk.

“Even if we were here, we wouldn’t be able to stop you regardless. It’s better to trust the devil more than to trust the one who seems like an angel,” he spoke before looking at Iona and Felice who were both a bit depressed over the situation, “Let’s leave the lady and her majesty alone, for now, we can talk outside.”

The two nodded to his words before they soon left the room as I looked at Helesta who I know wouldn’t talk to them like this if it wasn’t this serious. I was curious. I wanted to know which person organized this entire thing and the only person who could tell me here is her.

“Do you want to hear the truth or do you want to hear the angelic truth?” she looked at me and asked.

“I’d rather hear the truth…” I answered.

“Even if it means that your perspective of the kingdom you are serving will change?” she asked.

I froze for a minute. What did she mean by that…?! Did that mean that it wasn’t the works of another kingdom but this kingdom?! But why…?! I don’t understand. I don’t see a reason why they would do that to me. Am I not already doing them good by doing my work?!

“I know what you are thinking but I am not joking a single bit. To understand this entire situation, we have to go back to before you were summoned and also how you were summoned to this world which is the works of possibly the greatest sage in this continent who was misled to evil,” she spoke before taking a deep breath as she continued.

“Long ago, a man who had great powers as a sage existed in this land. He was a person who lived for magic and dedicated his entire life to researching magic with his immense magical capacity. You could say that his knowledge of magic even surpassed the likes of me who has natural talent.”

“Amidst his journey of researching magic, he became curious of one thing and that was: What did the people on the other side looked like and so he did what any ‘sane’ person would do and started his research on it. He inevitably came to summon different creatures from other universes after reaching his hundredth year of existence.”

“He was a genius. No… it was more than a genius but like any story of a genius, tragedy can happen. Despite being called crazed for research, he had one thing that he always kept in his heart and that was the village that he lived on.”

“He liked the people and the people liked him. He cared for them for decades and even invented new lifestyle magic that which we use now but everything changed when one of the largest dark organizations took notice of him.”

“They burned the village. Kidnapped the women and threatened to kill the men unless he would be willing to hand over his secrets and invent a spell to summon a great being from another world. He feared for the lives of his people and without hesitation, agreed.”

I was a bit surprised to hear this story. If the story she is saying is true then this man must be self-less while also being selfish. He wanted to learn something that shouldn’t be learned but also sacrificed himself for the sake of others. What do you call these kinds of people?

“Are you curious what happened to him?” she asked to which I nodded.

“His work wasn’t complete and so they tortured him to finish his work or else they would come knocking over the village again. He didn’t want that to happen but he also didn’t want the world to crumble apart because of him and so he did what he had to do and completed the spell.”

“But that spell had one exact downfall that he intentionally planted at the risk of his life and that was it would only become a spell that could only be used once. How to use the spell and every piece of it would vanish into thin air, he created that downfall to give the land a chance to repent if ever what comes out of it were to be something that would be tragedy…” she took a deep breath.

“What happened to the sage after that?” I looked at her curiously.

“He died. The creation of that binding downfall of the spell was done by taking his soul and planting it into the spell as a tribute. He used all his magic powers at once in a single risky move to attempt to beg the world to bring the downfall of the spell to which succeeded and that was the last part of his diary,” she replied.

I felt a cold breeze hitting my body upon hearing that.

“I understand the part that he created the spell and gave it to a dark organization but what does it have to do with my summoning here… wait, in the first place, how did the kingdom manage to acquire the spell… wai—t?!” I soon realized something before she nodded.

“The kingdom colluded with the dark organization to summon you here… not to make you their hero but to make you a killing machine to take over the continent,” she took a big gulp and looked at me seriously.