Once all the demons had left the throne room, Asteria sank further into the throne and a tired expression could be seen on her face. Xander felt distressed at this and cursed the incompetent demons silently in his heart.

Things had always been difficult for his sister, even when she was young.

This was the demon realm, or it could even be named Hell - as it was so commonly called in the human world - and their family was born to be its rulers. However, the burden of being the queen was brought down onto his sister, and at the time she had no right to refuse: that’s just how it was, and they hadn’t thought to question it.

Even if they wanted to, they didn’t dare to stand up to their father, the most ruthless demon of them all. He had high expectations for his children, but had been doomed to be disappointed by all of them.

Making Asteria queen was only in reluctance on his part, as his two sons were both useless demons, whereas Asteria was the one most capable of ruling over the realm of demons. Even if that was the case, their father was old-fashioned and believed that only males should be king, and the females should stay in the background and show their support in silence.

It became this way because the council had spent countless days reasoning with him and persuading him to make the most competent sibling ruler. So, that was why Asteria was now queen, while one of her brothers spent his days doing as he wished, and the other one was driven out of the castle, never to be seen again.

Xander couldn’t bear to see his sister looking so fragile on the throne, and he took it upon himself to scold the loyal attendant who was supposed to protect the queen while granting all of her wishes.

“Sada, what were you doing last night? When did you become so careless?” His voice boomed out in the silent room, startling the attendant, and also drawing the eyes of his sister. “The queen was almost killed in her bed last night, and you were nowhere to be seen. Care to explain?”

“I’m sorry... I was...” Sada shook where he stood, his eyes reddening as he tried to defend himself. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and tried to calm his nerves. “I was on my way to her highness’ room when I was attacked from behind, and I passed out in the corridor. Forgive me.”

The queen’s strength was known by all, and while her reputation was more profound, Xander wasn’t far behind, and that was what frightened Sada. The prince was unpredictable, and it was said that his methods were even more sinister than his sisters; Sada didn’t want to imagine how he would end up if Xander determined that he was lying, and deemed as unsightly enough to kill.

With these thoughts in mind, he fell to his knees and lowered his head, not daring to look directly at the demon before him. Then, he heard a movement behind him, and he guessed that the queen had gotten to her feet.

His guesses were right. The queen stepped forward and shielded him from her brother’s view, and commanded, “raise your head. As my person, how can you lower yourself to this position in front of others? And you... Even if you’re my brother, you can’t intimidate my people like this.”

“But...” Xander started to object but was silenced by his sister’s raised hand.

“No buts. I trust Sada out of everyone else here. And what happened was not his fault. It just means he needs to train more in the future, to not be caught unawares again. This is my fault for not training my people properly.” The queen helped Sada to stand and turned her head back to her brother. “What you should be doing is finding out how the intruder was able to enter the castle, and what their purpose was. Leave Sada with me and go ask the others to help you look.”

“Sister...” Xander’s features softened and then after listening to his sister’s reassurances, and after giving a short farewell, he exited the throne room.

The moon was high up in the sky later that evening, and it shone down on two figures meeting secretly outside the walls of the castle.

One of the males berated the other. “How could you fail such a simple task? The queen was right in front of you, and you let her go. She should be dead by now, but why is she still able to sit comfortably on the throne today?”

The other male looked sheepish and whined, “it’s not my fault! I was caught and could only run away. Don’t worry, I won’t fail next time. I’ll kill the queen and you can finally be rid of her, Sada. And I’ll be where I’m supposed to be, on the throne as the rightful king.”