“What on earth are we looking for?”
With his tail kept under strict confinement, Huey lacked the mobility to wander far, leaving him with no choice but to hug close to Xavier’s side as he gazed about in curiosity. Yet the chamber was inherently tiny, and after a few rounds of scrutiny, every corner had been thoroughly exhausted with zero traces of anything out of the ordinary.
“Dangerous objects,” Xavier replied calmly, pressing down on Huey’s wandering head to steady it.
“Can you tell me what they are, then? At least that way I can help you search.”
Why is the lord so clingy when he’s drunk?! Huey sighed internally, attempting to carve out a fraction of personal space.
“No.”
Well, a prompt, unhesitating refusal.
Very well, Huey smoothly adopted the trademark sweet succubus smile. Flexibility and resilience are among a succubus’s finest virtues!
Strangely enough, Lances’s quarters looked entirely devoid of personal belongings. While high-grade magical storage artifacts were ubiquitous nowadays, a private bedroom usually bore numerous subtle impressions of its master’s daily life.
Yet this room possessed none of that. It remained as pristine and austere as if it had never been occupied; the desktop was spotless and completely bare, and the bed showed zero indication of having ever been slept in.
Creak—
Pulling open the dark wardrobe, Xavier revealed a scattering of outdated garments hanging loosely within. Leaning in to inspect them, Huey noted they were all antiquated styles dating back a century or two.
“I still maintain this doesn’t resemble Lances’s actual bedroom,” Huey frowned. “Lances’s mother is the current head of the Soren family; how could she possibly relegate her precious son to living in a space like this?”
“Huey.” Glancing down at the little succubus, Xavier met his bewildered gaze and found himself reaching out to give the soft raven locks an affectionate ruffle. “Your family has shielded you wonderfully.”
At the praise, Huey brightened up instantly, puffing out his chest with unbridled pride. “Of course! My older sisters adore me to pieces! Ever since I was little, they loved hauling me around everywhere to play. The Christie family hasn’t produced a male succubus in millennia, so after I was born, my mother and aunts completely remodeled an entire set of rooms just for me…”
As the little succubus chattered away happily about his blissful childhood, Xavier stared at the archaic garments hanging inside the wardrobe, a deep sense of irony washing over him.
“It would appear the Soren family members view Lances as nothing more than a cash cow.” Closing the wardrobe door, Xavier pivoted his search toward the writing desk.
“I don’t understand,” Huey murmured, wrinkling his petite nose in genuine confusion. “Aren’t they family?”
“Do demonic clans in the Underworld engage in fierce competition?” Instead of answering directly, Xavier countered with a query of his own.
“Of course they do fighting over territory, wealth, status…” Huey caught the implicit thread, though he still struggled to accept it. “But we’re succubi! We don’t even need those things.”
“I noticed earlier that the female succubi of the Soren family all wear delicate veils across their faces. Did something happen to them?” Xavier recalled observing that apart from the two brothers, the remaining female members of the household bore facial scars, with lingering dark-element residues preventing their damaged complexions from ever healing.
“Three hundred years ago, the Sea of Oblivion suffered a massive upheaval. The Soren family happened to be hosting a bonfire gathering right along the shoreline, attended by every single female member of the clan apart from Lances and Herman. To this day, they not only conceal their faces behind veils but are forced to wear long-sleeved garments; injuries of that nature cannot be purged by even the greatest wizards in the Underworld.”
Hearing the explanation, Xavier let out a cold, cynical scoff. “It seems we have already uncovered the underlying cause.”
His dark-golden eyes gazed calmly down at the innocent, uninitiated little succubus as he murmured, “They attempted to manipulate Lances and Herman through these very methods. Though it appears Herman managed to retain his clarity.”
Meanwhile, the lucid Herman was currently leaning sideways upon a windowsill, sharing a solitary drink beneath the pale moonlight.
A sudden gust of wind swept past, causing the succubus’s pointed ears to twitch as his sharp eyes snapped open. Even steeped in a lingering haze of alcohol, his gaze remained razor-sharp.
Flicking his wrist, he summoned a shroud of darkness to cloak his frame, tilting his head with amused curiosity as he watched the “demon butler” clumsily scramble his way up onto the window ledge.
The exact second Frank managed to hoist himself onto the sill, a powerful grip seized him by the collar and yanked him flat onto the floorboards.
Towering above him with flamboyant grace, the striking, long-haired succubus let his inky tresses cascade down to brush against Frank’s face. Bending low, he hooked a finger under the assistant’s chin, parting his lips to let out a slow, lingering breath steeped in intimate warmth.
“Sneaking up to my window in the dead of night just what is it you’re hoping to do to me, hmm?”
Naturally, the tragic tribulations befalling Frank remained entirely unknown to the two occupants inside Lances’s chamber.
As the room was systematically combed through from top to bottom, the atmospheric pressure surrounding Xavier dropped steadily, sending the indoor temperature plunging toward a freezing chill.
Puff.
The drop in temperature was abruptly interrupted as the brave, enthusiastic little succubus opened his arms and hurled himself straight into the Grand Archangel’s embrace.
“It’s alright, my lord! We can search at a leisurely pace even if we don’t find anything, Huey will stay right by your side no matter what.”
Huey pressed his soft, warm cheek against Xavier’s solid chest, rubbing against him with practiced, endearing obedience.
The plush, blazing warmth radiating from the little succubus effectively curbed Xavier’s mounting irritation. Slipping an arm around the slim waist to cage him close, the Archangel swept his free hand across the space before them.
“Look.”
Watching as the dim room seemed to plunge deeper into shadow, Huey blinked as a surge of warm energy poured directly into his vision. Following Xavier’s guidance, he focused his gaze and widened his eyes in sheer disbelief. “What on earth is that?”
Floating aimlessly throughout the previously empty chamber were wisps of inky black vapor. Lacking any discernible pattern, they drifted haphazardly across the air.
“Th—isn’t that identical to the dark aura we saw on Helen… and that pitch-black creature lurking within the elven floral sea!”
Recalling the memory instantly, Huey pointed excitedly at the swirling dark tendrils.
“Who’s there?”
At that exact moment, a sharp female voice rang out from beyond the threshold, followed immediately by the rhythmic clack-clack of high heels striking the floorboards outside.
Before Huey’s brain could process the unfolding situation, Xavier scooped him up and dove straight into the depths of the wardrobe.
As the heavy wooden doors clicked shut, the cramped, shadowy interior enclosed them completely, leaving only the sound of their intertwined breathing echoing in the dark.
“Hush.” Xavier pressed a slender finger gently against Huey’s trembling lips.
Due to the confines of the wardrobe, Huey found himself seated squarely across Xavier’s lap, pressed intimately flush against him. The tall man leaned in close, resting the bridge of his high nose right against the crown of Huey’s head, generating a soft, tickling friction that sent shivers of electric warmth rippling outward.
The door swung open, allowing hallway light to flood into the room and filter through the slats of the wardrobe doors. Catching the illumination, Huey instinctively buried his face deeper against Xavier’s chest.
“Did I imagine things?”
Footsteps paced restlessly across the bedchamber. The sound of heels didn’t merely echo against the floor; it felt as though they were stepping directly upon Huey’s frantically racing heartbeat.
We’re done for, we’re completely done for! Huey curled into a tight ball, acting like a frightened ostrich burrowing into the safest haven available. Based on the vocal timbre, the intruder was none other than Lances’s mother the notoriously formidable and severe matriarch of the Soren family.
Sensing the trembling young demon in his arms, Xavier lifted him slightly, shifting him higher into his embrace. Turning his head, he breathed his next words directly against Huey’s delicate ear, the warm current of his breath turning the pristine, jade-like auricles a vivid crimson.
“Do not be afraid,” he promised softly. “I am here.”
Within the absolute darkness, the gentle, nurturing Grand Archangel had returned.
“You’ve finally sobered up,” Huey murmured, wrapping his arms around the man’s neck and pressing his cheek affectionately against his jawline. “I’ve missed your gentle self so much.”
“My apologies.” Turning his head, Xavier pressed a tender kiss to the young demon’s brow. “Did I frighten you?”
“Not really.” Bathed in Xavier’s gentle warmth, Huey felt an immense surge of liquid courage rush through him, prompting him to flush red and whisper softly, “Regardless of which side of you I see… I like you just the same.”
“Hn.” A low chuckle rumbled within the man’s chest, the harmonious vibration sending sympathetic ripples through the little succubus pressed against him.
Though the pair conversed freely, Xavier had erected a soundproofing barrier the moment they slipped into the wardrobe. The Soren matriarch out in the bedchamber remained entirely oblivious to their presence, pacing about casually for a couple of minutes before wandering back out into the corridor while humming a cheerful tune, unable to conceal her buoyant mood.
Once she departed, Xavier emerged from the wardrobe, setting the young succubus down beside him.
“Those dark wisps weren’t carried out with her; they remain anchored entirely within this room,” Xavier observed, sweeping his gaze across the space to formulate a conclusion.
“Are those things evil spirits as well?”
Huey cowered closer to Xavier, keeping a cautious distance from the drifting black wisps. He remembered vividly how the dark elves had lost consciousness the moment they made contact with this miasma; had it not been for the World Tree’s intervention, recovery wouldn’t have come easily.
“Uncertain,” Xavier shook his head. “We cannot determine whether they are the spawn of evil spirits or… the incubation matrix that breeds them.”
“My lord,” Huey noted the specific trajectory of the drifting wisps, tugging gently at the hem of Xavier’s sleeve. “Look aren’t all those dark trails originating directly from beneath the bed?”
Stepping forward, Xavier flipped back the heavy mattress, revealing a recessed handle embedded into the wooden frame beneath.
“This kind of bed usually conceals a storage compartment underneath the mattress,” Huey murmured, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “When I was little, I used to hide down in spaces like that to play hide-and-seek with my sisters.”
With a flick of his wrist, Xavier channeled a burst of magic to lift the platform, instantly exposing a solitary, deceptively familiar envelope resting inside.
“Isn’t—isn’t this an invitation letter?” Huey gasped in astonishment. “It looks identical to the one I won a few days ago.”
Indeed, the item recovered was an auction invitation originating fifty years in the past, bearing the signature of none other than Caron himself.
“This implies Lances received an invitation fifty years ago as well, serving as a live-stream host for the auction banquet hosted by Lord Caron.”
Huey furrowed his brow. “And now, those miasmic dark trails linked to evil spirits are emanating directly from this antique invitation.”
“Wait!” Seized by sudden panic, the little succubus hastily fished out the invitation he had secured and stashed away in the deepest recesses of his storage ring, dropping it hastily onto the floor without daring to touch it.
“Could my invitation be tainted with problems as well?!”
Suspending the letter in mid-air using magic, Xavier subjected it to a thorough, meticulous scan before shaking his head. “There are no anomalies here.”
“Then what on earth is the explanation?” Though reassured, Huey still shoved the suspicious item back into the farthest corner of his ring with visible disgust. “Did something horrific happen to Lances during that banquet, or is this all just an elaborate coincidence?”
“Regardless of the truth,” Xavier pocketed the peculiar invitation, channeling a surge of destructive magic that instantly incinerated every remaining wisp of dark vapor lingering in the room. “Caron is indisputably compromised. I shall accompany you to that auction banquet.”