Asher tried to keep his exterior self as calm as possible, but inwardly his thoughts were racing as he was trying to think of ways to destroy his own decapitated head before Rowena went through his memories.
If she saw his interaction with the Demon King, she might put two and two together and at least realize he was bluffing since he told her the half-truth before.
Lord Veron Valentine's daughter, Silvia Valentina, spoke up in a sweet, friendly tone, "Prince Oberon, how is that possible? That head belonged to a corpse that was at least a year old. Any remnant memories only last for a few hours after death or a day at most. Am I not right? Or am I missing something here?" Silva asked as if she was deeply pondering about it.
Oberon smirked as he said, "Lady Silvia, you are right, but that is only in a normal scenario. But the body of the Golden Prince was secured by the humans right away and stored in a place where it would least get rotten. It is only with my careful planning over the past year that I managed to get the head of his corpse. And with Young Lord Edmund's help, this head was infused with his magic which would allow anyone, or Her Majesty, in this case, to go through the final few minutes worth of memories before he died. But it could only be seen once, and that is why I never went through his memories despite how tempted I was."
"You sly little…When did you and Oberon get together on this?" Sabina Thorne asked with a inscrutable smile as she looked at Edmund.
Edmund curved his lips and said, "Elder sister, you know me. This was just a fun hobby, and since it was a gift for our queen, how could I refuse?"
"You did the right thing, son. Oberon played the right card, and the queen would definitely be interested," Lady Esther Thorne said with a nod of approval.
"Thank you, mother," Edmund said with a smile.
Almost all the people gathered in the hall were impressed once they learned how Oberon managed to pick the best gift for the queen, especially since today was the day of the Demon King's death. But since she ordered that there couldn't be any public mourning, everybody had no choice but to act as if today was no different than any other day.
But Prince Oberon managed to circumvent her order while offering her a gift that could possibly grant her some solace.
Asher knew Rowena would definitely check out the memories in his severed head and was still maintaining a steady breath despite being unable to think of a way to get rid of the head right now. Even if he can transform into Hellbringer, not only would he get stopped immediately, but he would also expose himself. There was no way out of this. Was he going to get caught red-handed?
No! He can't just give up like that and let this asshole get away with it.
"Heh…I can't believe this…" Asher let out a loud enough sarcastic chuckle followed by a mumble.
But how could this go unnoticed by others, especially Oberon, who was standing closer to the platform and clearly heard what Asher mumbled as well. And the moment he heard this, Oberon's eyes twitched as he looked at Asher with a gaze that contained pure shock. It was as if he never expected to hear anything from his mouth, "Is there anything Your Highness might want to say?" Oberon asked as his gaze hardened, though there was still a cold smile on his face.
Ceti frowned, seeing how this guy was disrupting a good moment for the queen. Couldn't he at least sit quietly if he can't be of use to anybody else?
Rowena's eyes flickered as if she finally emerged out of her thoughts upon sensing the sudden change in the atmosphere of this hall.
Asher smiled as he said, "Thank you for asking, Prince Oberon. No offense but…are you trying to insult the queen by offering such a ugly gift?"
Some gasps echoed in the hall as all of them couldn't believe what they had just heard. They didn't even expect the royal consort to even speak anything in the first place. They had always considered him to be a figurehead who only existed for the sole purpose of warming his seat.
"This will be fun…" Sabina Thorne smiled with a chuckle as she licked her nails.
Kookus gulped and couldn't help but think if the royal consort had gone mad again. Not only him but most of the others wondered the same thing since Oberon's gift couldn't get better than this, and the queen would surely be eager to know how her most hated enemy died at the hands of her father.
Ceti inwardly harrumphed, thinking that, finally, he would be punished by the queen for butting in and causing trouble for no reason. Maybe then he would learn his place.
But Oberon's expression became taut as he asked with a forced smile, "I am afraid I do not understand, Your Highness."
"How dare this cripple speak to my son like that?" Rebecca Drake fumed to her husband in a low seething voice. She couldn't believe her precious son had to hear such words from that cripple.
Seron nodded with a disgruntled look in his eyes. But he pressed on her hand and said, "Don't say anything now. He is making a fool of himself. This will only turn in our favor."
"I didn't expect an accomplished prince like you to not understand such a simple matter," Asher clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed for expecting too much from Oberon, making Oberon's expression turn slightly contorted.
However, Asher wasn't finished as he added, "Did you forget the order my queen passed last year? Her words clearly were to hold no ceremony, event, or anything in public that would remotely remind the death of our late Demon King. Yet, you brought a disgusting gift of a severed head that belonged to a Hunter who was the main villain who brought about the downfall of our king. Do you really think my queen wouldn't get reminded of things she doesn't want to remember? Do you really think my queen would want to see that ugly head?" Asher felt as if he was stabbing himself each time he called his old head 'ugly'. But he had to press on.
Rowena's gaze finally shifted towards Asher with an inscrutable expression while the rest of the people in the hall had stupefied expressions, hearing the royal consort talk like this to Prince Oberon.
Never in their dreams did they imagine the crippled useless royal consort rebuking such a powerful prince before everyone else.
Ceti couldn't help but wonder why her queen was not saying anything. Did she really want to see what more this pervert had to say?
Oberon's eyes almost widened as he clenched his hands behind his back.
Yet he took a deep breath and said in a calm yet hard voice, "Your Highness misunderstands. The purpose of my gift was to let Her Majesty witness the final glorious moments of our late king. I had no other intentions other than believing that this would be something Her Majesty would want. It is my belief that watching our most hated enemy die would give us the greatest peace of mind. We all hated the Golden Prince to our core, and I am sure all of us here wished we could watch him die, even if it was just a memory. But I believe Her Majesty deserves the chance more than we do. Or does Your Highness not share the same sentiments as us?"
Seron subtly smiled and said to his wife, "I told you. Our son won't let that cripple get away after trying to humiliate our son. But where did he find the guts to do so even in the first place?"
"Ohoh, the poor royal consort is in trouble. Mother, will the queen spank him now?" Lady Silvia Valentina asked with a pure look of curiosity, to which Naida Valentina softly chuckled and patted her head lovingly, "Maybe or maybe not. But it doesn't seem like the royal consort became dull again to rebuke Oberon."
"Probably. I feel he is up to something we do not yet know of," Lord Vernon Valentine said with a subtle squint of his eyes.
"Oooohhh…." Silvia's lips made an 'O' as she leaned back on her chair.
Ceti shook her head, thinking that this pervert had brought this upon himself.
Asher subtly smiled, knowing that Oberon was trying to corner him and make him embarrass himself or possibly gain bad faith from Rowena.
Still, he sat up straight and said, as his tone became harsh yet calm, "You are just a prince of this house, and yet you claim to know how my queen feels or wants? She is the lord of this entire kingdom, and nobody is qualified to lay such an arrogant and disrespectful claim. Her thoughts can only be known by her but since you asked about my sentiments, let me tell you, as her husband, that my queen is capable enough of finding solace on her own. Besides, no Hunter, no matter how strong, dead, or alive, deserves to have any worth to her, let alone as an ugly gift. Now…do you finally get it, Prince Oberon?" Asher said as his tone became lower yet maintained the same intensity.
A/N - Sabina and Silvia official character art in comments ;)
