When Erasmus arrived at the Inner Palace, he knocked on the giant gate in an attempt to politely announce his arrival. Official source ıs novelꜰire.net
It was uncharacteristic of the original King of Artem, who wouldn’t have bothered knocking and simply barged into the Queen’s Sanctuary as if he owned the place.
Inside the Inner Palace lived Queen Miriamele, along with the priestesses serving as her attendants.
All of them were also Chandread blooded. They were fiercely loyal and cared for their Saintess so deeply that they had accompanied their Saintess all the way to Artem.
After knocking a few more times, a melodic voice reached his ears.
"You know, since you insist on keeping up the pretense, you might as well act like his usual and save me the trouble of opening the gate."
Taking that as permission, Erasmus no longer hesitated and pressed his hands on the gate, slowly pushing it open.
The gate was very heavy, and only High Archons and above could open it with their strength.
The first thing Erasmus saw after entering the Sanctuary was a floating temple at the center of a lake.
He had already seen this in King Astrion’s memories, but experiencing it for himself felt much more novel.
The air itself felt charged with holy power, and he felt thankful that he didn’t come here with his Undead Body.
Had that been the case, his body would’ve slowly turned into ashes, slowly but surely affected by the power emanating from the surroundings.
With firm steps, Erasmus walked over the water of the lake until he appeared on the temple grounds.
The priestesses serving the Queen were all lined up to welcome him at the entrance, bowing their heads as he walked past them.
Upon entering the temple, he immediately scanned the surroundings to see if there was anyone there aside from the Queen.
Having confirmed that there were only the two of them, he headed straight to her chambers so they could finally talk face to face.
"I’m coming in," Erasmus declared as he parted the silky curtain imbued with something that prevented anyone from scrying or using any means to eavesdrop on any conversations held within.
When his gaze landed on the Queen’s peerless beauty, Erasmus almost forgot how to breathe.
In the memories Erasmus had extracted from King Astrion’s spirit, the image of Queen Miriamele was always blurry.
That said, it was only now that he’d seen her beauty.
As an Undead, his physical reactions had been severely limited. So now that he was once again in a breathing body, he felt his heart skip a beat after seeing the Queen’s face.
"Beautiful beyond words," Erasmus muttered subconsciously.
As someone with memories of two lives, he’d seen his fair share of beauties. But even he had to admit that the Queen was one of a kind.
Her sheer presence and gaze were that of a conqueror, and for a brief moment, Erasmus thought it would be perfectly fine for him to worship this lady.
An amused smile appeared on the Queen’s face as if finding the expression of her "former" husband quite amusing.
"Are you going to stare at me all day?" Queen Miriamele asked in a teasing tone. "I don’t mind, but can you afford to waste your time ?"
At her words, Erasmus snapped out of his trance, coughing lightly to hide his embarrassment.
"Are you sure you and Astrion only had one daughter?" Erasmus asked. "If I were your husband, one kid won’t be enough."
"He doesn’t deserve to be a father." Queen Miriamele’s tone turned icy. "I only bore him a child as part of our contract. Had I known his true intention toward my daughter, I would have killed him in his sleep even at the risk of my life and my kingdom’s destruction."
The unrestrained hatred in her voice was similar to the growl of a tiger, echoing inside the room like a thunderclap.
"Good thing I killed him," Erasmus said with a smile. "No need to thank me."
Queen Miriamele averted her gaze as if looking at the King’s face made her anger boil hotter.
"I hate that face more than anything else in the world," Queen Miriamele said.
"Don’t worry, I’m more handsome than him," Erasmus replied shamelessly. "Once this is all over, I’ll let you see my true face. For now, I’m stuck with this to prevent any future troubles."
Queen Miriamele didn’t bother to reply to Erasmus and simply sat on the couch. She then gestured at her guest to sit on the couch opposite hers so they could have a proper discussion.
"Where’s my son?" Queen Miriamele asked as soon as Erasmus took his seat. "He’s here with you, right? I can sense he’s in this world."
"Your son?" Erasmus blinked. "I thought you said you only have a daughter?"
Queen Miriamele sighed. "I gave birth to a daughter, but she’s now living a happier life than
I can ever give her. Zion fully switched their blood, so she would no longer suffer from the curse of the King of Artem."
"The curse only works on female descendants, so Zion is unaffected by it. Over the years, the curse has fully dispersed. Whatever the case, Chandrean Royal Bloodline runs in his veins, so I consider Zion Leventis one of my own."
Erasmus’ gaze couldn’t help but land on the Queen’s chest before he forcefully raised his gaze to look at her face.
’Well, I’m sure Zion wouldn’t mind being your son,’ Erasmus thought. ’I heard from Erica that he’s a big baby whenever he sleeps.’
After setting aside this thought, Erasmus forced himself to start talking about the important matters that he needed to discuss with her.
The Queen listened and didn’t interject as the "King of Artem" told her about the plans that Thirteen had prepared for this meeting.
In fact, there was a small black egg in Erasmus’ possession, which he placed on his palm.
"Zion, are you there?" Erasmus inquired.
The egg remained silent for nearly half a minute before I started to shake.
"I’m here," Thirteen replied. "Have you met the Queen, Cassiel?"
"Yes," Erasmus answered. "She’s right in front of me right now."
The black egg in Erasmus’ hand was actually one of the demons from Tiona’s black banner.
It was the creature that allowed him and Tiona to communicate with the demons over great distances.