After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

"Yes, thank you, Your Majesty."

Even now, when forces like the Noble Church mention Aize, they still regard him as the God-chosen hero and give him titles like "Brave Lord Aize".

For Aize, who is striving to establish his own power, this is not a good thing in the long run.

Inexplicably, people will think that they and the church are still in the same group.

You will be bound to the church unconsciously.

Therefore, before in Tafia, when Heidi asked Aize for help because of the incident in the royal capital, Aize asked Heidi to promise him something after the matter was over.

This matter was to ask her to give herself a title, position, and the corresponding legitimacy and legality in the name of the royal family to facilitate her actions.

After experiencing what happened later, there was no need for the two to negotiate any more conditions.

Aize asked for these three positions without any hesitation, just like ordering dishes.

Heidi agreed immediately.

The oath of allegiance, which was originally required during the appointment, was also waived.

Because at this point, asking Aize to swear allegiance or something, even if it was just an act, Heidi's heart couldn't bear it.

In short, after this, Aize can openly develop cities, recruit troops, and even establish a new knightly order in Tafia in the name of the royal family.

He can also serve as regent, consul, and marshal of the kingdom, and be on equal footing with the church and other countries.

You don't have to worry about being naturally inferior to others in this disgusting system, which can save you a lot of trouble.

With the conferment of Aize's position, the ceremony, which had been simplified to the extreme, soon ended.

The guests then moved into the banquet hall and the party began as the sun set.

Amidst the clinking of glasses and lively conversation, the guests, with smiles that were either real or fake, expressed their congratulations to Eze and Heidi one after another.

of course there are exceptions.

"Long time no see, Princess... No, Your Majesty the Queen."

An old man dressed in a smart military-style uniform, with half of his arm replaced by a prosthesis, one blind eye and one lame leg, came straight to Heidi with a menacing look, shaking a red wine glass.

As he approached, the crowd, which had been lively just a moment ago, suddenly fell silent.

Duke Bertram, once one of the three great dukes, is also considered the most radical fighter in the kingdom, a country that values martial arts.

When he first arrived in the royal capital, Aize passed through his territory before entering the city.

In the past few days, he had left the capital to compete with the Trenchard family, who were also dukes, for Brian's inheritance, so he had not been present.

As a result, he suddenly learned that Heidi had ascended the throne.

He had a bad temper to begin with, so naturally he flew into a rage.

So much so that now, when others were saying polite words like respect and blessings, he no longer tried to hide the gunpowder in his tone.

"Even if you're eager to inherit the throne, wasn't that coronation ceremony just now excessive? It was so crude, and the guests weren't even properly invited. If word gets out, it'll become a problem for the entire kingdom. Wasn't your Majesty's first job a little too crude?"

Bertram spent his entire life in the military, achieved countless military exploits, and his swordsmanship was superb.

Therefore, extremely arrogant.

Except for some people who acknowledge Aize's cunning, basically no one is convinced.

Although he was not very interested in the throne, he firmly believed that Heidi was just a little brat, so he completely refused to obey him and was even happy to contradict and ridicule her in person.

Moreover, there was an unusually murderous aura in his words, actions, and every gesture.

His radical personality left Heidi with a lot of psychological trauma from childhood to adulthood.

It can be said that this is one of the people she fears the most.

Before, when Aize took Heidi to negotiate with Bertram, Heidi kept her head down the whole time and didn't even dare to breathe.

So, seeing him coming to this occasion and causing trouble for Heidi so blatantly and directly, Aize quickly stepped forward to deal with him.

Then, Heidi smiled slightly and saluted without any emotion.

"That's wrong. Choosing this time to ascend the throne is to appease and dispel the anxiety and panic of the people in the capital. It's also a pledge that the royal family will shoulder corresponding responsibilities. Otherwise, haha, I really want to enjoy myself for a few more years before ascending the throne."

"you……"

"As for the simplicity of the ceremony, isn't that par for the course? The coronation ceremonies of past kings would take over half a year to prepare, costing staggering sums and lasting a full month. Not only did they involve summoning the dignitaries of the realm, but they also included grand parades."

"But the capital is still under reconstruction. Does Your Excellency expect the capital and its people to support a month-long, extravagant ceremony? Do you expect to summon all the important figures of humanity to witness a parade and ceremony amidst the ruins?"

Heidi said, picked up the wine glass and took a sip slowly, revealing a slightly sarcastic smile:

"If you really do that, you'll become a laughing stock, Lord Bertram. Haven't you thought about that?"

"I--"

The old man who was bitten back was so angry that he almost crushed the cup in his hand.

But this is still a public social occasion. Sarcasm and sarcasm are one thing, but breaking down and swearing directly is another.

So, he just held back the content that was about to come out of his mouth, causing his old cheeks to become red and hot.

“…Excuse me.”

He angrily threw these words and turned away.

And Heidi, after pretending to look in the mirror, said to the people around her:

"Everyone, please make yourselves at ease. I'm going to touch up my makeup."

After saying that, he left the hall through the side door.

Aize followed closely behind and came to a rather deserted corridor with no other guests.

"Humph, I spent so much time with him before, and I didn't even dare to look him in the face. Now, it seems like just a small touch? It's no big deal at all."

The moment the door to the banquet hall closed behind her, Heidi immediately put away her fake business smile and said this to Aize beside her in a smug manner.

On the other hand, Aize was not so relaxed and even sighed softly:

"Be careful, what happened today is almost like a declaration of war."

"I know, don't worry."

In the past, Heidi was able to maintain the situation largely by relying on cowardice and balance.

But now it's different. One of the reasons why Heidi ascended the throne was that she was determined to reorganize the kingdom's aristocratic system. For this purpose, there was no other option except head-on confrontation.

Tonight's confrontation with the Duke is just the beginning. In the future, there will be all kinds of high-intensity confrontations, and there may even be direct assassinations or even conflicts.

Heidi was ready to face these troubles alone without relying on Aize.

Of course, that was later.

There's one more thing to do tonight.

The two walked through the corridor and came to the door of a small room with light coming through the crack in the door.

Push open, walk in, and then—

"So slow? Why are you here so late?"

Charlotte held a small plate filled with cake.

While talking, he kept scooping food with a spoon and putting it into his mouth. His hand movements almost left afterimages.

Laura, dressed as a housekeeper, was speechless:

"Master, this is very rude. Please eat a little more slowly. Also, I just told you not to pile so much on the plate! It's almost falling over!"

"Emmmm... Is there anything I can do? I'm going back to the City of Eternal Night tomorrow, and there won't be any cakes as delicious as this one there... emmmm..."

"Actually, you can, and... that's why! Don't talk while eating regular food!"

This is another small banquet hall.

In addition to Charlotte and her high-level vampires, the two leaders of the Knights, Elena and Constantine, Villian, Alicia, Hecate and others are all here.

In this incident, from Villian and Charlotte who are the leaders or former leaders, to the high-level vampires who directly study the blood plague, to Hecate, Constantine, Alicia and others who help maintain order.

There are many people who have played a huge role but are not convenient to appear in the public eye.

Everyone gathered here at this moment, and Heidi specially arranged and held a more secret small banquet.

While celebrating the victory of the event, we also bid farewell to the vampires who have stayed and worked here until now, as a token of our hospitality.

As she spoke, Charlotte had already swept away the cake on the plate in front of her at the speed of light. After licking her lips with satisfaction, she seamlessly looked at Aize with interest.

This made Aize feel terrified that he would be bitten at any time.

“…Wha, what?”

"I just think that your clothes are quite novel."

What Charlotte was referring to was the luxurious dress that Aize borrowed from the royal family's inventory to attend the party.

It was a far cry from his usual casual and even unremarkable attire.

It feels like unlocking a new skin.

So, the True Ancestor girl didn't think much about it and just smiled and stretched out her hand to Aize:

"It's a rare opportunity, can you dance with me?"

Chapter 127 The night before departure

Although Charlotte's request surprised and caught Aize off guard, there was no particular reason to refuse, and there was no need to spoil anyone's fun.

After a very standard bow with his hands pressed against his chest, Aize gently took the other person's hand, and with the sound of music coming from the banquet hall not far away, the two began to dance.

As everyone consciously made room for each other, they rotated and converged, then gradually moved outwards and arrived at the balcony bathed in moonlight.

The wine-red-haired vampire girl smiled softly:

"You're quite skilled, huh? I thought the Brave Lord Aize wasn't used to this kind of thing... Ah, should I call you Regent Lord Aize now?"

"Don't make it sound so disgusting. It's just part of the job."

While maintaining his dance steps, Aize sighed helplessly.

When I was still in the team, I attended many noisy, lengthy, hypocritical and boring parties in order to win over and coordinate various forces.

Before crossing over, Aize, an ordinary student who was completely isolated from these social activities, had to squeeze out time to practice social skills including ballroom dancing in the midst of his busy logistics and intelligence work.

Looking back, it’s all blood and tears.

In response to this, the vampire girl deliberately put on an unhappy expression:

"What? Dancing with me now, just for work?"

"No, that's not what I meant..."

"I'm going back tomorrow, and I was thinking of taking advantage of this rare opportunity to leave some memorable memories before I leave. I didn't expect you to have such an attitude. Tsk—how about I take another big bite of you tonight while you're asleep?"

As she spoke, she even bared her fangs threateningly.

The reason why Charlotte participated in this incident was to recover or destroy the blood sample left by the previous generation of vampire ancestor, that is, his brother before his death.

This will press the lid of his coffin shut and completely eliminate the possibility of this annoying guy coming back to life.

When George died and all the research evidence and information were destroyed and erased, her goal was achieved and she could have left at that time.

However, based on the principle of helping others to the end, and also for Aize's sake, she led her subordinates and stayed for nearly ten more days.

Assisted the Knights, who were severely short of manpower, to deal with some of the remaining blood plague infection threats.

Aize and Heidi were both very grateful for this.

But her current attitude is indeed quite difficult to deal with.

"Don't keep joking about this kind of thing, it's really scary!"

Aize took a deep breath and tried hard to control his body and recall the movements to ensure that there were no problems with the dance steps.

Then, he put on a serious expression and said:

"There's still a lot to figure out about this incident. When you go back, you must be careful... No, why don't you just not go back?"

Charlotte is Aize's informant and partner. If this identity is exposed, she will undoubtedly be regarded as a traitor by the demon clan and executed.

Therefore, throughout the entire blood plague incident in the royal capital, Aize was very careful not to expose her to the public or the army from beginning to end.