When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 1237 Happiness Potion
Even in May, the sailing hall remains as dim as in winter.

Behind the lace curtains woven from spider silk and white gauze, only the blood-red clouds in the distance could be seen.

On the silver candlestick, three white candles illuminated the dim room, revealing a dozen or so menacing, gleaming red eyes.

Inside the spindle-shaped sailboat hall, there was an oval table made of ivory wood, and Serfaye naturally sat in the seat of honor.

From front to back on both sides were vampire generals, governors, ogre overseers, and a very small number of vampire servants and human generals.

"I have summoned you all here today to discuss the offensive that will continue throughout the year," Serfaye said, resting his arms on the armrests of his throne. "Our goal remains unchanged: to conquer the entire empire."

All the high-ranking officials and nobles in the royal court nodded and were about to speak, but when they saw Serfaye's lips twitch slightly, they immediately stopped talking.

"You all did a great job this year, taking Roaring Corridor and Windmill Land. You achieved all the goals I set for you."

Despite signing a ceasefire agreement, the attack on Golden Horn Bay will not stop.

As for the attack plan, it remains the same: use the happiness potion.

At this point, Serfaye suddenly looked at a governor sitting to one side: "Governor Slanrica, have all the happiness potions transported from your port been successfully sold?"

"Sold out! It was a great success. Citizens, farmers, and nobles were all scrambling to buy it," Governor Slanrica said, bowing repeatedly.

"Sold to whom?"

"Of course, it's sold to the humans of Golden Horn Bay."

"What? I didn't hear you. Say it again." Serfaye had a faint smile on his lips.

“I said, I sold myself to the humans of Golden Horn Bay, Your Majesty… uh, uh… Your Majesty, what do you mean by that?”

Governor Slanica's body suddenly rose up, his buttocks leaving his seat and flying upwards.

On his neck, there was a clear indentation of a handprint.

Cataloni stood behind the throne of Serfaye, slowly walked out, and looked at him coldly.

"What do I mean? Do you think I won't see it just because you send those blood servants to do it?"

Serfaye's former compassionate and benevolent demeanor vanished, replaced by anger and ferocity.

"It must have been really hard on you, choosing to conduct the transaction and give instructions under the scorching sun. Did you think I was sleeping at that time?"

"No, no, Your Majesty."

"Back then, you were just the head of a small clan, a mere supervisor. I brought you to the position of governor-general, and this is how you repay me?"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." Blood flowed from Slanika's eyes, nose, and ears.

"Do you think I can't take back what I've given you?"

Amid the silence and indifference of the other high-ranking members of the royal court, Slanrica, whose body was being controlled by Catarenni, struggled violently.

Blood was seeping from his eyes, nasal cavity, cochlea, and even every pore of his body.

He looked at Serfaye pleadingly, his mouth opening and closing silently, uttering words of mercy.

Kersefair remained unmoved, and in the end, all of the Governor's Lilith blood flowed out.

As for the governor, he had become a dried-up corpse, lying on the ground.

The blood, like a small snake, circled around Serfaye's fingertip and eventually turned into a sparkling ruby.

Serfaye's gaze swept over the assembled officials before finally settling on Catalani: "Your men have suffered considerable losses; use them to replenish your ranks with new recruits."

Respectfully accepting the ruby, Catalani knelt on one knee: "Thank you for the gift, High Priest King."

“I’ll say it again.” Serfaye didn’t open his mouth, but his cold voice resonated in everyone’s hearts, “The potion of happiness is to be administered to humans; this is a matter of great importance.”

"Selling them privately, as long as they're sold to humans, I don't care. What good is internal consumption, hmm?"

Silence fell over the entire sailboat hall, and time flowed slowly and stagnantly.

The vampires looked at each other, unsure of what to say.

In fact, these vampires weren't fools; they had already figured things out by this point.

The potion of happiness isn't actually the key issue; the key issue is that some vampires don't want to see the growth and expansion of the central army.

No matter how Serfaye tries to check and balance, establish central authority, unite the vampires, or engage in political maneuvering, he cannot solve one problem.

Factional issues. Serfaye's time unifying the royal court was too short, and she usurped the throne.

She encountered the same problem as Horn had: a lack of manpower.

However, Horn was able to enjoy Juano's legacy and his territory was smaller than Serfaye's, so he was able to quickly consolidate power.

Even so, they still had to make peace with the noble faction of Thousand River Valley for a period of time.

Even though she has the ability to remotely monitor high-ranking vampires, she can only monitor one at a time.

The entire process of unifying the country through bribery, military suppression, and political compromise did not change the fundamental nature of the royal court.

Its foundation still rests on the large and small vampire clans.

Serfaye dismantled several clans, merely replacing the old ones with new ones; they remained large landowners.

Thus, based on region, clan, and economy, they automatically formed vague factions.

The Southern faction, needless to say, consisted of large southern clans unified by Serfaye through military suppression and political compromise, and thus had the lowest loyalty.

The northern faction was relatively more loyal, consisting of members from the upper-class lower clans. However, a clan is a clan, and they still had to grapple with the conflict between the interests of the royal court and those of their own clan.

The Dark Side, or the Steppe Side, were actually the followers of Serfaye when he returned from the Empire and recruited ogres as mercenaries on the steppes.

These vampires, including the current royal guards, are the only ones without a clan origin.

Of course, after taking over the City of No Light and dividing it among the seven major clans, these vampires also transformed from frontier barbarians into nobles.

Like the previous Catalans and Samuel, they received tens of thousands of gold pounds as a reward and extremely vast territories.

They are mainly distributed in the vicinity of Wuguang City, so they are also known as the Wuguang faction.

The vampire counts of the Northern faction followed Schrüan to attack the Roaring Corridor.

The vampire nobles of the Lightless faction followed Serfaye in attacking Zealand Island and then captured Windmill Land.

Next, as planned, the vampire nobles from the Southern faction will use the potion of happiness to consume the bountiful Golden Horn Bay.

Would the Northern faction agree to that?

They ventured into the barren Roaring Corridor, spending money and losing soldiers, but gained nothing.

Why should the Southern faction be allowed to directly seize the most fertile Golden Horn Bay right from the start?

To put it more bluntly, the High Priest King was even more biased towards the Dark Side.

This made the northern clans feel like stepchildren, getting nothing in return.

They eat grass but produce gold; who could stand that?

Therefore, many Northerners believe that Golden Horn Bay should have been a reward from the Northern faction.

As for the Southern faction, go eat shit.

However, from the perspective of the royal court, or rather, from the perspective of Serfaye himself, the Southern faction was not interested in the imperial conquest itself.

After the Southern faction of vampires joined, they only gave blood transfusions to the royal court and didn't eat a single bite of meat, which is inappropriate.

We need to give them a taste of success first. Besides, didn't we leave the gold mine in Thorn Garden and the northern part of Dawn Island to the Northern Route Army?

Once summer is over and the days are shorter, the royal court will launch another attack. Wouldn't that be more effective than attacking Golden Horn Bay?
Why can't any of you consider the bigger picture?
Serfaye knew about the vampires' greedy nature, but it was a mark etched into their souls that could not be eradicated.

"Clara," Serfaye called out a name, "From now on, you'll be in charge of overseeing the happiness potion project."

"Yes."

A bald, dark-skinned woman stepped forward, knelt slightly before Serfaye, and received the order.

Like Nigesar, the Dark One was born a Sandman.

However, what is rare is that she was personally transformed from a human into a vampire by Serfaye, making her a true descendant of Serfaye.

As for her status in the royal court, it was similar to that of René in the Holy Alliance.

"Alright, that's all for the miscellaneous matters. Let's begin our discussion."

(End of this chapter)