Monarch of Darkness

There were various palaces behind the Sword palace and Brianna stopped Infront of a beautiful palace. 'Moon palace', the name of the palace was written in bold calligraphy and Evan liked the beautiful surrounding spread across the Moon palace.

"It is the palace where queens and concubines of reigning king lived. Now I am also living in this palace", Brianna introduced the palace to Evan. There were other palaces for prince and princess but Brianna decided to keep Evan with her.

Evan had no problem with the arrangement of his aunt. So, he stayed with Brianna in the palace. A lavish room was arranged for him and he felt speechless as soon as he entered his room. There was a gigantic bed in the middle of his room. Alice became excited after entering the room. She quickly removed her shoes and jumped to bed to claim it as her own.

Evan sat cross-legged and started his cultivation. He could feel the richness of essence energy in the atmosphere. It was almost double compared to the Sylvia clan. It was already night. So, he had no problem in absorbing darkness energy from surrounding.

He woke up from his cultivation after two hours. He felt completely refreshed after two hours of cultivation. Evan looked around and found Alice missing. "This sneaky girl", he shook his head. It was impossible to track someone like Alice. He stretched his body for a bit and walked out.

A maid could be seen waiting before his door. As soon as Evan walked out, she bowed towards him. "What is the matter?", Evan asked in a calm voice. "Prince, her majesty is waiting for you". "Lead the way", Evan commanded after listening to her reply. He knew her aunt must be waiting for him for dinner. Along the way Evan asked the maid about Alice and it seemed she didn't come across the little girl.

There was a large dining hall in the Moon palace. Palace maids were standing in a orderly fashion across the vast dining room. Everyone bowed towards him after seeing his arrival in the dining hall. "Prince, please wait a minute. I will go and inform her majesty about your arrival", a maid bowed and said to Evan. Evan nodded and sat down on a chair.

Brianna didn't take much time to come. She was wearing a loose cloth when she came. It was a red gown and she looked gorgeous in this outfit. It was the first time Evan saw her aunt wearing something nice except her battle suit. "Aunt, you are looking beautiful today", Evan praised her sincerely. A smile bloomed on Brianna's face after hearing Evan. "Where is Alice?", Brianna asked after not seeing the little girl. Evan shook his head. Brianna frowned slightly but soon her face turned normal again. She knew some secrets of Alice and knew how mischievous she was. So, she quickly threw her worry to back of her mind and joined Evan in dinner.

After dinner, Evan chatted with Brianna for a bit and left after wishing her good night. He was smiling when Brianna left but as soon as she got out of his eyesight, his eyes darkened. "Damn it, who is she? No wonder mother got poisoned in palace before my birth", Evan thought to himself. He recalled a gorgeous looking maid following Brianna to the dining room. He felt a malicious intent coming from her. She had well hidden her intent but who is he? Nothing could be hidden Infront of the royal devil soul.

A glint appeared in the eyes of Evan when he thought about the maid who was following her aunt. It was nearly twelve years since that incident where his mother got poisoned and both of the queen faced assasination attempt while leaving the capital. In these long years, no one could find out the culprit behind it but Evan was determined to catch the culprit since a long time ago. Now that he had a lead, he wouldn't let this opportunity pass. He was not entirely sure but he still decided to keep an eye on this maid.

A little girl entered his room and Evan's thought process got interrupted. There were many random things with Alice and Evan felt helpless about this little girl. She quickly greeted him and it didn't take long for her to dripping saliva on bed while sleeping.

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The next day an announcement came from royal palace. "Evan, the son of second queen will be announced as the crown prince of Thousand swords kingdom after his visit to ancestoral palace on his twelveth birthday". This news made a huge uproar in the capital. Many felt startled by the news but it quickly turned to excitement among crowd. Many prominent families wracked their brains to think about the best gift for the crown prince.

The person in question, Evan was silently cultivating in the palace. Many tried to met him but Evan didn't come out to greet anyone. Later it was announced that the crown prince would meet everyone on the day of his title conferrement. 

This news which made such a huge uproar among crowd, didn't manage to make a single ripple in the heart of Evan. His entire focus was on the maid. By now, he had already found out the identity of the said maid. She was begging outside the palace when Brianna noticed her. From that time, she was working in palace. She managed to become close with Brianna after frequently coming in contact with her.

Evan didn't alert anyone about her. It was not that he didn't trust his aunt but he still decided to not tell her about his doubt. He kept an eye on the movement of the said maid. Three days passed by without any incident. Evan couldn't find anything against her in this period.

It was only in the night of fourth day that Evan was alerted about the suspicious movement of her. That said maid passed through a back gate from the royal palace complex. She was very cautious about her movement after leaving through the back gate but she didn't notice the small butterfly behind her. 

The guards on the duty acted like both of them knew her since a long time ago. It could be seen from the knowing smile that appeared on the face of one of the guard after seeing her. Her face was covered but the guard still threw her a knowing smile. After she left, both of the guards checked their surrounding and quick positioned themselves as if nothing happened now. They were surely cautious but a tiny butterfly still witnessed everything that happened here. There were not one single butterfly in the dark sky tonight, it was a lot of them. They couldn't be noticed easily as each of them was flying separately.