Chapter 472: The Empress Marked by Demons Creator
The battle had concluded, yet the courtyard remained far from peaceful.
Countless demon hunters moved like phantoms through the shadows—silhouettes against the pitch-black night sky, methodically searching every corner of the devastated grounds.
They concentrated their entire focus on locating that primordial envy demon which had been violently stripped from the Second Prince's corrupted form.
Claudia still wore her impeccably tailored demon hunter bodysuit—the form-fitting garment accentuating her lethal grace.
Her slender waist tilted elegantly to one side, one hand resting confidently upon her hip.
That half of her face concealed beneath crimson markings remained utterly expressionless—her eyes sharp as a predatory eagle's, surveying the courtyard's perimeter with unwavering vigilance.
She maintained strict oversight of the demon hunters' search operations while remaining perpetually alert.
Determined to prevent that cunning envy demon from silently escaping into the night.
The First Prince stood at the courtyard's edge, observing Claudia with profoundly complex emotions reflected in his gaze.
His lips pressed into a tight line, both fists clenched with barely contained tension.
The woman before him existed as both intimately familiar and utterly foreign—a paradox that tormented his understanding.
The First Prince yearned desperately to approach and demand answers about his mother's true identity, the Second Prince's detailed transgressions, and his brother's ultimate fate.
Yet his gaze inevitably fell upon the fractured ground beneath his feet—paralyzed by hesitation and uncertainty.
Suddenly, warmth touched his consciousness as gentle eyes found his own. Looking up, he discovered his mother's gaze directed toward him with unmistakable maternal concern.
"What weighs upon your heart?"
Hearing this tender inquiry, the First Prince immediately straightened—spine rigid with formal respect.
He met his mother's eyes directly, yet the questions burning within his soul remained trapped behind sealed lips.
Observing her son's continued reluctance, Claudia released a soft, understanding sigh.
The crimson striations masking half her features gradually receded—revealing the young, beautiful face that had haunted his memories for years.
"Come here, my son."
Her voice carried the gentle warmth he remembered from childhood.
Witnessing his mother's face return to its natural state—feeling that precious spark of recognition—the First Prince finally drew a deep, steadying breath.
As tension slowly drained from his frame, he approached Claudia's side with measured steps.
"...Mother."
The word fell like a whispered prayer, the First Prince's gaze drinking in every detail of Claudia's eternally youthful countenance.
He remembered this face with crystalline clarity.
His mother's features remained unchanged by time's passage—identical to their final parting years ago.
Standing together now, the First Prince appeared paradoxically older than the woman who had given him life.
Yet his heart overflowed with accumulated questions—a torrent of inquiries he longed to release all at once.
Words balanced precariously on his tongue, though internal conflict held them captive.
However, Claudia had long since perceived his struggle.
She slowly raised her eyes to meet his—maternal understanding softening her expression as she spoke with infinite gentleness:
"Ask what you must, without reservation."
"I shall answer as honestly as circumstances permit."
This permission left the First Prince momentarily stunned—a bitter smile ghosting across his lips.
Had his intentions been so transparently obvious?
Drawing courage from deep within, the First Prince finally voiced the questions that had tormented his soul for countless years:
"Why would Owiser choose to collude with demonic forces..."
"And you... where have you been throughout these lost years?"
Why had she transformed into this haunted figure before him?
These mysteries had lingered like persistent shadows in the First Prince's mind—elusive phantoms that defied comprehension despite their constant presence.
From his mother's earlier behavior, she had clearly possessed advance knowledge of whatever demon lurked within Owiser's corrupted form.
Moreover, she and Viktor appeared to have orchestrated their collaboration—united in purpose to eliminate the evil entity hidden within his brother's body.
Confronted with these inquiries, Claudia's expression grew profoundly grave. She studied the First Prince with penetrating intensity before releasing a weary sigh.
"I anticipated this question would come."
She averted her gaze—as if unable to bear direct eye contact with Aubrey—focusing instead upon the demon hunters conducting their methodical search throughout the grounds.
Each warrior wielded gleaming mercury weapons, examining every grove and shadowed corner with meticulous precision.
Should they detect even the faintest trace of demonic essence, they would pursue it with bloodhound determination—scouring entire thickets and scaling towering trees in their relentless hunt.
Claudia's eyes, beneath the clear night sky, held depths as profound as oceanic abysses:
"Because I was the one who released the envy demon."
This revelation struck the First Prince like a physical blow—his pupils dilating with shock as breathing became momentarily impossible.
His thoughts fragmented into chaos, overwhelmed by disbelief and horror.
What!?
His mother had personally unleashed the envy demon?
Every instinct rebelled against accepting this truth, yet Claudia's voice continued with relentless honesty:
"That is why I abandoned the capital—fled the empire entirely."
"I sought only to discover some method of defeating the envy demon I had foolishly set free."
Her profound gaze filled with the weight of painful memories—as if reliving every moment of past anguish.
The scenes within her mind remained devastatingly vivid.
A woman lay dying in an expanding pool of crimson—the one person Aubrey had loved above all others in this world.
Her entire form was covered with grievous wounds that bled without cessation—every inch of flesh enduring agony beyond description.
Yet her trembling arms maintained their protective embrace around the precious life growing within her womb.
The woman's eyes gradually dimmed as vitality ebbed away—her body collapsing in powerless surrender.
Still, those guardian arms never wavered in their sacred duty.
Claudia could only kneel helplessly beside her—tears streaming down her face in rivers of guilt and despair.
She witnessed every horrific detail while remaining utterly powerless to prevent the tragedy unfolding.
All this devastation had sprung from her own jealous heart—every drop of blood, every moment of suffering.
"The demon's corruption spread through my body like poison."
That entity of pure envy had sought to transform her into its perfect vessel—a living prison of flesh and bone.
She possessed no means of controlling this malevolent force, ultimately leading Aubrey to imprison her within the palace's deepest chambers.
Claudia could feel that demon constantly devouring her essence from within—consuming her humanity piece by piece.
Had this process continued unchecked, the demon would have achieved complete replacement—her body becoming nothing more than a demonic shell animated by alien malice.
Eventually, the Stork family discovered her deteriorating condition and spirited her away to their ancestral territories.
Their ability to extract Claudia—already teetering on the brink of complete demonic transformation—revealed the Stork family's extraordinary nature.
The Stork lineage represented a clan of demon hunters who had operated in secret within the empire's borders for generations.
Her demon hunter father prepared to forcibly extract the entity from her body and destroy it completely.
But by that time, Claudia had already lost all conscious awareness.
Completely possessed by the demon, she had become a pure vessel of malevolent will.
When consciousness finally returned—
She awakened to discover her entire family slaughtered—not a single soul had survived the carnage.
"My father—your grandfather—was among the most skilled demon hunters of his generation."
"Yet he failed to recognize that the entity inhabiting my body was Envy itself."
Envy, among the seven primordial demons, wielded power beyond mortal comprehension.
No ordinary demon hunter—regardless of skill or experience—could hope to face such an ancient evil and survive.
Even without clear memories of those events, Claudia could deduce the reason for her family's destruction.
In their confrontation with the envy demon, they had been utterly defeated.
Every member was butchered by her possessed form—making Claudia the architect of her own bloodline's extinction.
Yet upon awakening, her consciousness had somehow been restored.
This return to awareness hadn't occurred because the demon was destroyed.
Rather, the entity attached to her body had been forcibly expelled through other means.
Irreconcilable conflict existed between demon hunter power and demonic essence—the envy demon's presence had brought catastrophe upon the Stork family.
In the end, the entire family's accumulated knowledge and power remained only within the still-living Claudia.
She had inherited her deceased father's abilities—that incredibly potent demon hunter force violently expelling the demon from her corrupted form.
"However, as you can plainly observe..."
Claudia slowly turned to face him directly—her gaze meeting the First Prince's with profound intensity.
One eye gradually filled with crimson radiance—the scarlet pupil seeming to swirl with otherworldly luminescence.
Delicate red markings emerged from her throat—extending tiny thorn-like projections in all directions.
These patterns wound around her neck like living vines, ascending to claim half her face while framing that burning crimson orb.
"Whenever I draw upon this inherited power, the demon's lingering traces manifest themselves."
The envy demon had never completely separated from her being.
After achieving total possession of Claudia's form, even the forcible expulsion by demon hunter power couldn't erase all traces of its presence.
She was no longer purely human—forever marked by that ancient corruption.
Yet precisely because of this residual demonic essence, Claudia had ascended to become one of the most formidable demon hunters in existence.
"This connection grants me understanding of the envy demon beyond any living soul."
Having delivered this explanation, Claudia observed the First Prince's increasingly tremulous expression and smiled with profound sadness.
If only Aubrey could have shared more of his love with her in those distant days—if her jealousy hadn't burned with such consuming intensity.
If Aubrey hadn't resorted to imprisonment and had addressed the demon within her body before it could complete its corruption—
Would the outcome have been different?
But all such speculation remained futile against immutable reality.
Thus Claudia had donned the mask once more.
A necessary barrier to spare others the shock of witnessing her demon-marked visage.
Through that silvered facade, her voice emerged with quiet resignation:
"The Stork family was ultimately annihilated."
"Yet to prevent widespread panic among the populace, the true circumstances could never be revealed."
Royal dignity demanded preservation—the Empress could never be branded a criminal in the public consciousness.
Therefore, the Stork family's destruction was officially attributed to treasonous collaboration with foreign powers for financial gain.
They were supposedly eliminated through the righteous judgment of the wise Empress Claudia herself.
Shortly thereafter, Claudia departed the empire—though none knew the genuine reasons behind her exile.
The First Prince absorbed his mother's complete account with growing bewilderment.
He could only watch as she recounted these devastating events with apparent composure.
Any single detail within this narrative contained sufficient tragedy to shatter hearts.
Yet the First Prince found himself speechless—unable to articulate the grief overwhelming his soul.
Within this heavy silence, faint scraping sounds suddenly reached their ears.
Following the disturbance, several demon hunters carefully extracted an enormous ice formation from the banquet hall's ruins.
From within this crystalline prison, subtle golden radiance pulsed with mysterious energy.
When the ice block was positioned before Claudia, the demon hunters offered deep, respectful bows:
"My Lady, we discovered this artifact within the debris."
Claudia examined the object with intense scrutiny—noting that despite its mysterious golden emanations, the ice showed absolutely no signs of melting.
The more carefully she studied this formation, the deeper her confusion grew.
Because within the crystalline depths, she could discern a human figure.
A young woman.
She possessed lustrous golden hair cascading to her waist—her form draped in exquisitely crafted garments as she lay suspended within the ice.
The maiden had curled into a protective position, arms crossed over her body in defensive embrace, eyes sealed in peaceful slumber, breathing steady and rhythmic—as if merely enjoying tranquil rest.
The First Prince similarly narrowed his eyes, studying this enigmatic golden prison with growing intensity.
Suddenly, his mouth fell open in shock—eyes widening with recognition and disbelief.
As both figures focused upon the mysterious ice formation, light footsteps approached their position.
A noble materialized before the crystalline artifact, addressing Claudia and the First Prince with profound respect:
"Your Highness the First Prince, Your Majesty the Empress."
"The hour grows late, all matters have been resolved—we nobles should take our leave..."
Before completing his statement, the noble's gaze inevitably drifted toward the massive ice formation.
His intended words died abruptly in his throat.
Upon clearly perceiving the young woman trapped within the crystal, the noble's eyes widened in absolute shock—stunned recognition escaping his lips:
"This... isn't this Duke Levi's daughter!?"
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