I barely get any sleep during the night as I continue to wrestle with my own thoughts. I find myself shivering while I am sweating under a pile of blankets and while fully clothed. My heart continues to pound in my chest as I try to sleep but it continues to race. I eventually crash and wake up with the sun shining brightly through my window, and in intense pain.

My entire body aches, both sharp pulling in all my muscles and throbbing pain in my bones. My everything hurts. Looking at my exposed skin I see deep black bruises on every part of my body. I try to move but find sharp pains shoot across my entire being every time I attempt to do so. I groan out desperately through bad pain as it hurts to even breathe,

"Mekare... help..."

Mekare enters my room with her usual grace and sees me struggling to move while I groan in extreme pain. She looks at me in concerned confusion before she lifts me up with her surprising strength. She sits me up and I cry out in pain as she does. She removes my shirt to inspect my torso and it's horrible.

My ribs are visible through the bruising and my entire torso is black and blue, with spots of horrible red and yellow showing just how deep and terrible the injuries are. Mekare touches one of my ribs and tries to move it. I again cry out in pain as the rib freely moves in her hands showing it's not just bruising.

She then helps me remove my pants and my legs are the same story. The same dark coloration with extreme pain even in my bones. Mekare clicks her tongue while thinking and looking me up and down. My eyes are watering from even the slightest movements. She then says,

"I think I know what the problem is."

I groan out,

"What is it?"

She replies,

"I think that armor fucked you up.

Also your fall."

I give a half nod as even my neck is bruised.

I understand what she means. The armor enhanced my strength and speed beyond natural means. I think it halfway worked by having my body push far beyond its own limits. This resulted in me breaking almost every bone my muscles pulled against and most likely tore everything. I didn't feel it last night because I was in either a constant adrenaline rush, a state of shock, or drunk. I need to research this later because the armor was incredibly useful. I ask Mekare,

"Can you heal me?"

She shakes her head and replies,

"All I can do is flame magic and illusion magic."

I sigh through much pain and ask,

"Go please find me a healer or a potion or something."

She nods and leaves me alone. My vision goes foggy as I stare forward at the wall trying my hardest to avoid thinking. I try to focus on the pain as much as possible. I don't want to think about last night... what I did was horrible... I hurt so many people...but I did make sure those not targeted survived if possible... but does that makeup for those I killed or abused? I do not regret killing Margeret... but at the same time... it doesn't make me feel better. I then remember the other "slave" girl I had in the throne room. She wasn't a target and she was leashed to the throne... she was never released... so during the massive explosion... What have I done?

I feel my heart begin racing once more and real tears of regret begin welling up but quickly I stop them as the door opens. I am pleasantly surprised to see Aelia. The small elf woman approaches me and seems pleased to see me. While she always has had this strange stoicism about her where I can't read her emotions, but her big ol' eyes tell the full story. She looks me up and down once and nods to herself. She holds up her hand and says,

"Superior Cure Wounds...

Greater Revitalization..."

My body glows with the dull lime green color I recognize as healing magic. I feel a comfortable warm spread across my entire body as the pain quickly begins subsiding. After a few moments, all the pain is gone and the bruises slowly fade back to my normal skin tone. The scars of the past are back on display, but at least I don't feel like death.

Aelia then says to me,

"You have been healed. Due to your injuries being quite deep the revitalization will continue to heal you over the course of the next few hours. You can move around as you wish, but no hard work as it will only make the healing process longer and could result in permanent damage. Im sure you are tired from... the events of last night... so try to do nothing physical."

I nod and thank the elf who gives me a short curtsy before walking out of the room shooting absolute daggers at Mekare as she passes. I don't know what that's about, but it looks like a massive pile of not my problem.

I stand up and do some little stretching as I am quite stiff. I no longer feel any pain, but I will take Aelias' recommendations if possible as I trust her authority on healing magic.

I get dressed for the day in some soft clothes and head into the main room of the villa as I am very hungry, especially after vacating my guts last night and the healing magic.

The main area is filled with the smell of cooking meat of some kind and I feel almost like a cartoon character being drawn in by the smell. I take a seat at the dining table and await my breakfast. It takes me longer than I'd like to admit to noticing Violet and Duke Hasslerouge also sitting at the table, and are staring right at me. When I do manage to notice them from my somewhat hazy state I manage to startle myself.

Violet touches my shoulder gently which is a surprising feeling from her. She firmly grips my shoulder and asks me in a gentle tone,

"Hey... are you alright?"

I decided to answer truthfully,

"Physically... yes... but overall... I don't know. Is it obvious?"

She nods and replies,

"Yeah. You look deflated. Your shoulders are slouching and that fucking smirk you always have is gone."

I never realized I am constantly giving a little grin, but that's beside the point. She then continues,

"I know you nearly died during that attack. That's a pretty bad situation, not gonna lie, but I gotta commend your toughness to not die from a fall like that. I don't know how much you know... but I have more bad news..."

I look over at the Duke who is nonchalantly drinking a cup of tea. We meet eyes and he gives me a, "She is not part of our deal" look, so I won't spill the beans. I ask her pretending to be both confused and greatly concerned,

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"What happened? What did I miss?"

She grimaces and says calmly,

"Last night while you were assumed dead a group claiming legitimacy to the throne attacked the royal building on campus. Over one hundred and five people, all of which are of noble or knightly families, were killed along with the destruction of the royal building... The princess was attacked savagely by the leader of this group and was left with grave injuries.

All the heads of the high noble houses are here right now. They are going to meet with the king later today. Father and Duke Donnerstein managed to run the enemies off when they arrived with the 2nd aerial naval squadron. Only one of the enemies' corpses was recovered revealing something even more horrible... the attack was committed by the demon race."

I nearly fall out of my chair as a spell of dizziness overtakes me when I learn how many were killed... there were entire families in there... consorts and children among them. Violet helps keep me upright but I manage to find a question and ask it,

"Who... who are the demon race? I have not met any."

She nods understanding my upbringing and replies,

"The demon race is an individually powerful race that lives in the northern continent. Hundreds of years ago their empire was destroyed by the hero sent by the goddess Serena.

If they are coordinated enough now to stage an attack like this, that means a new demon lord has risen. That means our kingdom will have its hero revealed soon. A time of holy war may be upon us soon..."

I frown while I think about this. I'll have to ask Mekare and Duke Hasslerouge about this whole demon thing. I know Mekare is a succubus, but what the hell is going on?

I nod in understanding and then Violet replies,

"I have been called to service due to this. I will no longer be teaching here at the college. I will be in charge of helping train soldiers and upon their reveal, the hero."

I nod and reply in a choked voice,

"Well... good luck... I will miss you..."

She smiles at me warmly before standing and leaving without saying goodbye. I am left alone in the room with only Mekare, Aelia who is cooking, and Duke Hasslerouge. He is calmly drinking and I look toward him. He ignores my stare for a time before he sets down his cup and takes a deep breath. He then explains to me in a calm and uninterested tone,

"I know what you're going to ask, and I'm going to answer you since you actually went above and beyond my expectations once again.

There is no demon lord at the moment as far as I know, the demon race is currently in a majorly fractured state and is a state of constant war. I simply brought some into my employ for the low price of hiding them from their own countrymen. Mekare has informed me you figured out her true nature, which was unplanned, but it did help with your task so there is no issue as far as I am concerned.

All those men I lent you were of the succubus clan of the demon race, focussing on fire and illusion magic as well as their own special flavor of succubus magic which I am sure you have seen or been a victim of it.

No, I have no intention to serve a demon lord, nor do I have the intention to become some sort of king or demon lord or whatever. My goal, or as much as I am willing to share with you, is to retain my independent power as the Duke of my lands. I want a king or queen that answers to me and the other high nobles, not the other way around which the past two rulers have been pushing toward. The current one is the absolute worst and is also paranoid of me and the other dukes so getting rid of him is... well difficult.

Your mission removed all but four family heads who were leaders of the royalist faction of the kingdom. Well, of noble families, there are many major merchant families as well as heads of the church who support them, but that can come later.

I know this mission took its toll on you, and I won't ask you to kill anyone or anything for me for a good while. I admit I asked far too much of any one person this time around and from the bottom of my heart you have my condolences and sympathy. I should have asked you to take a longer more thoughtful approach that would take years to finish, but the royal family... is well, making moves that require allies, and those allies needed to be removed. This last mission was one out of desperation as all my years of hard work will have been for nothing.

The heads of the families you removed are being replaced as we speak by the remaining, surviving heirs. All of which are either incompetent or aligned with me. This greatly takes away from the royal family's plans, but then you went and did your little show... which absolutely put me and Duke Donnerstein in positions we could not have reached even with years of hard work. I know it was a by-product of your actions, but you helped us greatly.

As far as anyone knows me and Donnerstein came in and saved the day, not just the remaining nobles and their families, but the princess herself. You made the enemy out to be from a branch of the royal family that I personally have confirmed is extinct, and then accidentally even put the blame internationally as well. This meeting in the capitol with the king and his advisors will most likely place me and Donnerstein as the closest allies the king has. Thus any moves I make will be backed by the royal family as well as reduce the power my opponents have.

Now... I explained everything I am willing to explain to you, but I also have another mission for you... and you are really going to hate it."

I give Duke Hasslerouge a stern look and steel my nerves. I nod toward him and he sighs before explaining,

"You have proven that you are quite loyal... that is good, you will now have a little more freedom to fulfill my tasks as you see fit.

I want you to put your official duties on hold, I am in no hurry to have one of my daughters inherit my title and fortune, and I am in good health, so you do not need to court any of them. That can wait. I want you to get closer to the princess. I've heard you already have some minor friendship with her, or are at least closer than most with her. I want you to expand on that relationship, hell make it romantic even if you have to, I want her to become another pawn. She will inherit the throne, and I want the next crown to be on a string. Do you understand?"

I grit my teeth a little and then reply,

"I understand. You want me to groom the princess, or at least sway her opinions to be in favor of whatever you want. "

He smiles at me with a very malicious gleam in his eye. He then replies,

"That is correct, but I tried to use a little more tact in my choice of words. That is your task, and it can take however long you want it to. This part of my plans requires much less bloodshed, and much more... how do I put it... politicking."

I nod and rub my face with both of my hands while groaning. The Duke then seemingly remembers something and tells me,

"Oh yeah, I know about your little deal with Karl Donnerstein."

My blood runs cold and I feel the color drain from my face. The Duke sees this and raises a hand while laughing. He then responds,

"Don't worry about it. That boy is way too far up his own ass to do anything on his lonesome. Lemme guess he wants you to do the physical work while he does all the smooth-talking.

Here's a hint, that means he wants to sit back while you do literally everything. He will be the heir to the Donnerstein family, I will make sure of that... after all... he is already my pawn."

Duke Hasslerouge looks over at Mekare with a devious grin. Mekare licks her lips and gives me a wink, her eyes two pitch-black voids. I can't help but give a nervous laugh and respond,

"Well shit... That plan fell through pretty quick."

Duke Hasslerouge chuckles and seemingly relaxes some. He then responds,

"It is forgiven. It's only natural you would try something like that, I would think less of you if you didn't. He is such a non-issue that you won't have to do anything about it, Mekare has already done so. "

I shake my head sighing. This is a little much, everything is so crazy right now. The Duke then stands up and starts heading to the door, Aelia accompanying him. He then turns to me as he's leaving and tells me,

"Your reward for such a good job is going to be quite large... and very important, so be prepared to receive it."

With those absolutely unsettling words her leaves the villa, most likely heading to the docks to attend his meeting this afternoon in the capitol.

I lean back in my chair while taking a long breath, distracted from my mental anguish for a hot minute. I am reeling from all the behind-the-scenes bullshit I just got wrapped up in. I try to find something to hold onto in my mind as it swirls and changes direction constantly. I finally center myself on a single question and ask Mekare,

"Where is everyone else?"

She raises her eyebrows and then responds,

"Well after the attack, almost everyone has been sent home for a while in order to complete investigations and rebuild some of the damaged parts of campus. Also for mourning periods, I guess. Your... sisters are most likely almost home now as they took a flying ship. You are one of the very few people remaining on this island. It is required you stay here so... find something to do while classes are out... I always can be of help... to spend your time."

She pulls at the top of her clothes slowly exposing herself but I raise my hand and reply,

"Well considering that Karl is now a "pawn" due to something you did, I am guessing doing anything with you will result in bad things."

She laughs while shaking her head and fixing her clothes. She then says,

"I'm going to do laundry, so eat up."

I look in front of me and see a plate of food. It's now cold. How long has that been there?