The Demon of The North-Chapter 141 - 140. Calm Before Nightmare

Borgia Royal Palace

The nanny placed Seraphyne gently into Vivianne’s arms after finishing her cleaning, then quietly withdrew as Vivianne settled into the chair in the nursery. Behind her, the four Spirit Kings lingered in silence, their immense presences softened as they stared down at the small life cradled against Vivianne’s chest.

Roxanne arrived not long after and sat beside Vivianne, watching as Seraphyne nursed contentedly. The baby’s eyes were closed, her tiny fingers curling instinctively around her mother’s hand as she drank. She was as fair as Vivianne, with the same delicate features and the same softness, only smaller and impossibly fragile.

"You should make one more, demon," Tempest remarked flatly.

Roxanne, unable to hear him, frowned when Vivianne chuckled under her breath and made a small wave with her hand, sharing her senses with her once again. "Repeat what you just said to her, dear Tempest," Vivianne murmured.

"What did he say?" Roxanne asked, suspicion already creeping into her voice.

"I told you to make one more demon," Tempest replied without hesitation.

"Make one more. what?" Roxanne’s eye twitched.

"Another baby," Afrit added calmly. "Like this one. But with purple eyes."

Roxanne stared at the Spirit Kings in disbelief, then instinctively tightened her arm around Vivianne’s shoulders. "And let my wife suffer through that again? Absolutely not."

Undine reached out, her cool fingers brushing Roxanne’s forehead in a soothing gesture. "Not now," she said gently. "Only when this little one can run, and read, and laugh without falling. Then... you may consider another."

"Still," Roxanne tried to protest, but Vivianne’s hand rested gently over hers, stopping the words before they could leave her mouth.

"If we can," Vivianne said softly, "then we will." There’s no hesitation in her voice, only a certainty, because she wanted another child too.

Perhaps they could have a child with Roxanne’s beautiful onyx hair and purple eyes, which would be just as stunning as Vivianne’s. A son or a daughter, it didn’t matter. Either way, they would be loved without restraint, cherished from the moment they took their first breath.

Vivianne lowered her gaze to Seraphyne, who had begun to drift into sleep, her tiny mouth no longer seeking milk. The baby snuggled closer to her chest, releasing a small, contented sound, her warmth seeping into Vivianne’s skin.

She watched her daughter breathe, slow and steady, and something inside her chest tightened, not from pain, but from disbelief. Even now, it still felt unreal.

She had a real family now, with a child of her own. And an alpha who loved her, protected her, and respected her—just one, as she had always dreamed of in her past life.

Vivianne leaned back against the cushions, cradling Seraphyne carefully, her hand brushing over soft silver hair that mirrored her own. The spirit kings remained quiet behind her, their presence unusually gentle, as if even they understood the sanctity of the moment.

In a few months, four more months, Seraphyne would turn one year old, and with that approaching milestone came a quiet, almost reverent anticipation that spread through the empire like a held breath. In Kaelindor, a child’s first year is more than a celebration of life, because it’ll be the moment when their second gender begins to awaken, when fate gently lifts its veil and reveals the path the child might walk.

Whether she would awaken as an alpha, an omega, or a beta, no one could say. Yet for Seraphyne, the weight of expectation is magnified a hundredfold. Because she’s not just another child born beneath the empire’s skies, she’s the first daughter of the emperor and the empress, a life whose very existence carried consequence. From the moment she first cried, the world had leaned closer to listen.

Whispers followed her name through marble halls and the streets alike. Some carried hope, others unease. There were those who prayed she would become an alpha, fierce and unyielding like Roxanne, a future pillar of the empire, born to command and protect.

Others wished just as fervently for an omega, one blessed with rare gifts, gentle yet unfathomably powerful, like Vivianne, a living bridge between spirits and flesh, with harmony and authority intertwined. And then there were the quieter voices, the ones spoken only behind closed doors, wondering if Seraphyne might become something entirely unexpected, something the world had no name for yet.

But within the palace walls, far from the murmurs of the court and the speculations of the capital, Vivianne and Roxanne had already made their stance clear. "It didn’t matter."

From the moment Seraphyne was placed in Vivianne’s arms, warm, crying, and undeniably real, the question of what she would become was overshadowed by Seraphyne’s cries. She’s theirs; the baby is theirs, Vivianne’s and Roxanne’s.

That truth eclipsed everything else. Whether Seraphyne awakened as an alpha, a beta, an omega, or something the empire had no word for yet, she would be loved with the same fierce devotion.

They had told the court as much, their words firm and unyielding. No expectations would be placed upon the child. No future would be forced upon her shoulders before she could even speak. Titles, duties, and power—those could wait. Seraphyne would be allowed to grow first as a child, not as a symbol.

Vivianne held onto that promise especially tightly. She knew too well what it meant to be defined by one’s second gender, to be weighed and measured by expectations that had nothing to do with who she truly is.

She wouldn’t allow that burden to touch her daughter, not if she could help it. Seraphyne would learn kindness before politics, curiosity before obligation, and love before duty.

Roxanne, for her part, has a solid stance against any who dared suggest otherwise. Although she’s the emperor of the empire, her role as the alpha mother took precedence when it came to Seraphyne. A single awakening would swiftly correct anyone who thought to shape her daughter’s worth.

-

Fenclade Grand Duke Estate

It had been a full day since Liselotte received Vivianne’s message, yet the weight of it still pressed heavily on her chest. Yesterday afternoon, the communication orb had flared to life with Vivianne’s familiar presence, calm but edged with anger. From the very first words, Liselotte knew something was terribly wrong.

Vivianne told her everything about the foreign fleets emerging from beyond the known seas, about the Calonian continent and the monsters it bred, and about Aerthysia, a land once rich with life, now being plundered and broken by Calonian hands.

"They take the omegas and the female betas for breeding," Vivianne had said quietly. "They don’t care whether they’re bonded or not."

"That would be a nightmare," Liselotte replied, horror bleeding into her voice as the weight of those words settled in her chest.

Vivianne didn’t soften what came next. She informed Liselotte about the orcs and the warship that had never reached the shore. She described how it had been annihilated in a single strike, split apart as if it were nothing more than rotting wood.

"I did that," Vivianne said plainly. "And I doubt Valdemar has anyone who can do the same."

What horrified Liselotte most isn’t just the nature of the foreign threat but also Valdemar’s audacity in the face of it. Her brother had not misunderstood the emperor’s orders, nor had he delayed in carrying them out. He had outright defied them.

He had dismissed the emperor’s decree as if it were a suggestion rather than law, acting on nothing but arrogance and a gambler’s hunger for profit. Valdemar had sent signals into the dark sea as though the unknown horrors drifting toward their shores were merchants waiting to be greeted, not predators testing the edges of the empire.

Vivianne’s voice had hardened when she spoke of it, stripped of warmth and mercy, warning Liselotte of what that recklessness truly meant. Valdemar had not only endangered House Rothschild but had also invited catastrophe upon their lands, their people, and possibly the empire itself. This time, the consequences would be so severe that even his blood ties might not be enough to protect him.

"What did Mother do to let things go this far?" Liselotte muttered.

She exhaled sharply, frustration and dread tangling in her chest, before turning on her heel and leaving her chambers to look for Leonhart. Her steps echoed through the corridor; she needed to see Leonhart.

She had known Leonhart would move to reinforce the empire’s knights. The empire’s knights were already moving to confront the foreign threat creeping in from beyond the seas.

But she hadn’t known and hadn’t understood how dire it truly was until Vivianne’s words sank in. Until she realized that Valdemar just brought a nightmare into the Rothschild territory, and it’s now becoming a high-risk area.

It’s about to become a battlefield.

Liselotte needed to know where Leonhart was being sent, whether he was marching toward Rothschild lands or deployed elsewhere to reinforce the forces near the Borough’s port. And if Leonhart is heading to Rothschild territory, she would ask him to take her with him, no matter the danger waiting there.