Devouring Monarch: Rebirth of the Profane Phoenix - Chapter 437

Chapter 437: The Prince and the Merchant!
Meanwhile, in the capital, a certain prince sat in a dirty room while drinking from a sparkling golden cup of tea. The walls looked dreary, covered in moss and dirt, yet Shang Luo seemed to be oblivious to the horrible conditions, unlike his usual self.

Beside him, Mu Yue stood against the wall, a short blade at her waist while she guarded him.

“I wonder how long that damn merchant will make me wait! He claimed to have information about my sister!” Shang Luo’s voice was loud, filled with irritation and a slight tinge of hope as he sipped on the tea prepared by Mu Yue.

‘Though this tea is delicious, I have no intention of praising this Mu Clan bitch. I will make sure she dies when we return to the empire.’

“Mu Yue, when was the meeting time?”

“Master Shang, the meeting time is roughly five minutes away.” Mu Yue’s voice always sounded empty and cold when around the Shang family.

However, she must make him pleased in order to survive. After meeting her sister and learning the truth, her heart became frozen and covered in spikes for anyone outside that warm mansion.

‘I heard sister’s fiancé went to the east—please don’t let him get hurt and make Mu Xue cry. Sister really loves him deeply. Though, what should I do if she discovers the feelings inside me that keep growing…. since our kiss?’

Mu Yue was originally a kind girl. She would follow her sister like a little black cat, always helping her sister or the servants despite sometimes being mischievous.

However, being the guard of this dirtbag made her feel sick. In the beginning, she could force herself and even believed some lies Shang Luo told her about the Mu Clan and how they were the ones to rebel.

After all, her memories of that night seemed to be vague.

Little did she know the Shang family were using drugs and medicine to make her memories distant and foggy while training her to be an assassin.

‘Once I developed poison resistance… The memories returned, and my self-hatred grew.’

“I see… these damn Silvaran dogs, why don’t they come sooner when dealing with true royalty? Not some doll created with dark, twisted magic.”

The Shang Dynasty knew of how the Silvaran kingdom created their heirs and Valkyrie troops.

However, they didn’t understand the full method, that they weren’t real humans, and the Emerald Empire treated them worse because they believed the world to be made only for humans!

***

A quiet click sounded before the wall to Shang Luo’s right began to shudder, dust and mechanical cogs sounding as the wall vanished into the ground, revealing a male wearing a mask. He might have been familiar to other merchants as he was a member of the Seven Masks.

“Oh my, the prince is already here. Forgive this lowly merchant, I did not know you would be here. I am know as Ace, please forgive my late arrival your majesty.”

‘Who is this man?’ Mu Yue thought to herself because she could feel it. ‘Which noble can call themselves a mere merchant? Their aura and strength is more than Prince Shand Luo!’

Ace was one of the seven merchants that tried to control Silvara in the past; for hundreds of years, the merchants formed a secret alliance. Sometimes, nobles would join in, and thus, the meeting of the seven masks became a tradition in the dark side of society.

The Ace mask was for the strongest and most influential, while the one beside him wore a bear mask, and his body was huge.

“Six, let’s sit down. You don’t need to be on guard.” Ace spoke to the enormous male beside him with a noble capital accent.

“Understood, Ace.” Six also held a deep capital accent but seemed subservient to Ace.

Shang Luo spent this time observing the two men and considering which of them was more trustworthy because today, the information he wanted was from none other than his sister.

‘My beloved sister should have been hidden in the academy as a maid of Amalia Fenix! Yet I heard she went missing almost six months ago…’

“Tell me, Ace. You claimed to have information about my sister. The First Princess Shang Mei!”

‘So that’s why he was so desperate…. this incestuous freak.’ Mu Yue shook her head.

Although there were no physical acts of incest, the female Shang Mei was actually born to a maid; thus, it made her status low compared to the two princes. Yet both of them held a strange infatuation with her beauty and hated that their father trained her in the arts of seduction.

It was a common rumour that anyone she tricked or came into contact with would soon die because of the two brothers’ twisted idea of love and affection.

Ace leaned back on the wooden chair, his neck cracking as he rolled it, the slight glimpse of his face avoiding Mu Yue’s gaze before he looked back at Shang Luo.

“I can tell you, but the money will be high and you cannot take your anger out on me.”

“Who would act like a commoner and show their anger so easily, just tell me what you have on my sister, here is your money!”

Shang Luo threw a small sack on the table, a clinking sound erupting as coins fell on the desk. Yet they were all made from wood.

“Don’t you have enough?” Shang Luo shouted when seeing the two men inspecting the contents.

Inside the wooden coins were circles of pure gold, not coins or currency but a chunk of gold as if taken before the golden coins could be made and mixed with other metals. Their worth was astronomical, likely stolen from the empire’s treasury before being made into the empire’s currency!

Ace tested them and, using a strange magic spell, four runic circles formed as he chanted to identify they were, in fact, real gold. He then leaned back, placing both hands together. He cracked his knuckles before pulling an envelope from the air before him.

“Shang Mei, aged 26, number of sexual partners 50, ordered by the emperor to sneak into Silvara and steal secrets from their nobles in the Magical academy. Chose to become the maid of Amalia Fenix, the future successor to the sword saintess. Do you trust me information gathering now, Prince?”

Shang Luo gritted his teeth, his fists shaking on the table.

“My father… what did he need in Silvara? There is nothing there apart from a few talented mages and martial artists. Though they have some knights they are useless in the east. So tell me! Where is she, dead, kidnapped or a traitor?”

Ace stayed silent, though his eyes were looking directly at Shang Luo’s clenched fist as if wanting the prince to try something.

“Oh? The location of your sister? To be honest, there is no chance of you ever meeting her again.”

Shang Luo slammed his palm down on the table, shattering the wood to bits before he leapt over the debris.

“You bastard, tell me where she is, or I’ll make you suffer. Even if you are a noble, I will crush this kingdom into dust! You must tell me whatever you know!”

Ace looked uninterested, turning away from Shang Luo and facing the giant male called Six. “I never thought I would get so much fun at these meetings. I have already decided to leave the capital, so don’t chase me. That prince Asura seems to have figured out my identity and sent people to watch me.”

“Yes, Master.” Six replied while Shang Luo continued to hold Ace by the collar, with an angry face, his lips drooling with saliva as his mind lost itself in anger.

“She’s dead, killed four months ago. The method is unknown, but the last person who saw her alive was Asura Phoenix the current prince and earl of the Phoenix Galde.”

“How can you lie to me like this, bastard? Why would she die so quickly? Tell me the truth or I’ll kill you!”

Ace slapped the prince’s hand away and brushed his clothes.

“I don’t care what you believe. Your sister went to his room with the intention to seduce him and make him her doll. However, she failed and instead was killed without ever leaving that room. I only learned this recently: there was a maid in the halls who didn’t return from home and heard the lady Mei crying out in what seemed to be both a pleasant and painful voice before it ended… Then Asura appeared with bloody hands.”

‘Well, he didn’t, but if I don’t cause trouble for that little bastard, how will I escape Silvara without death… A world where the saintess of light doesn’t appear, huh…. how convenient.’

Ace laughed under his breath, thinking about this foolish prince and how he looked overwhelmed by anger and fury.

There was no chance that Shang Luo could take on Asura Phoenix, not with the intel that Ace found in the past few days. It seemed the queen used all her means to blank out the information that Shang Luo would receive, including his letters.

“What are you laughing about, tell me, bastard!”

“My prince, please calm down. The lady Mei died, but we kept our end of the bargain, right? So how about you pay something extra before you flee like a rat?” Ace’s voice changed, the noble accent vanishing.

“Extra payment, what the hell do you want? I’ll give you whatever you want, as long as I get revenge on anyone who harmed her! I’ll even let my father know about the efforts of the merchant group who hide behind masks!” Shang Luo sounded confident, thinking he could get the pair to join him, though he really expected little.

The anger at his sister’s death just made him more competent than usual.

“I will make sure you can come to the empire and never suffer any needs. Help the empire and crush this little demon bastard!”

These words got Ace, who turned to leave, to stop, his head turning back, revealing his cold smile filled with a strange radiance. “Oh? Prince do tell me more!”