Chapter 54: I Am Not Letting Anyone Take My Position
Eiren’s POV
The Prince was changing.
Eiren knew it, and he had just used Seraphel’s family to test the absolute limits of that change. He had intentionally tracked them down and brought them back to the Asmodeus Palace, completely keeping them in the dark about the true nature of their crimes.
All he had told them when he found them was a single, misleading sentence: "Seraphel has committed a great crime against the Prince."
That was the exact trigger they needed to seal their own fates, and Eiren had gotten precisely what he wanted to see. The Prince truly did care about Seraphel. He cared enough to ruthlessly end the boy’s family without a single blink of his eyes.
Standing there in the court, watching the carnage, a cold realization had settled deep in Eiren’s chest—if he wasn’t careful enough, he could easily be next.
"Eiren," his aunt, Lady Mireth, called out sharply.
The Grand Council meeting had just ended, and Eiren was already heading out of the throne room. He said absolutely nothing to her, maintaining a stoic, unbothered expression as they walked out of the main hall and began heading down the long, winding corridor toward the harem.
The moment they turned a corner, well away from the prying eyes and ears of the royal guards and passing servants, Lady Mireth aggressively grabbed his hand and pulled him into a secluded alcove.
"What are you doing, Aunt Mireth?" Eiren hissed through gritted teeth as his back met the cold stone wall.
Lady Mireth frantically looked around, searching the shadows to ensure no one was watching them. Once she was certain they were truly alone, she let out a deep, anxious sigh and faced her nephew, her expression twisted in a mix of fury and panic.
"I thought you said you had the Prince completely under your control!" she demanded, her voice a harsh, low whisper. "So why the hell am I finding out that someone is pregnant with his child? How the hell did that happen? We were already making chess moves to ensure you would ascend the throne alongside the Crown Prince, but now it seems everything has gone to ruin! He just introduced that low-life omega as his Crown Princess, and the boy is carrying his heir!"
Eiren remained silent, staring blankly at his aunt. Beneath his calm mask, his own mind was a chaotic mess of conflicted emotions. Azriel was a creature of absolute finality; there was no way he would change his mind about Seraphel now that he had formally announced the wedding directly to the Grand Council.
"Are you seriously going to remain silent and just let some nobody take over what is rightfully yours, Eiren?" Mireth pressed, her fingers digging into his sleeve. "You have faithfully served the Prince for years! So why the hell is this happening to you? Why the hell are you unable to fight for yourself?"
Eiren heaved a heavy sigh, rubbing his aching forehead.
The exhausting trip to the lower district had already left him drained and weary, and this sudden onslaught of disastrous news only made the pounding in his skull worse. Yet, deep down, he knew his aunt was entirely correct.
"I don’t know what to say, Aunt," Eiren lied smoothly.
In reality, a dark plan was already forming in his mind. The mysterious letter he had received earlier that day while traveling back from the district was the only thing that could save him now. It was a dangerous piece of leverage—the only thing left that could prove the position of Crown Princess belonged strictly to him.
If Azriel hadn’t brutally executed those commoners, and if he hadn’t made that grand declaration to the court, Eiren might have hesitated to use it. But now, he had no other options. The letter was his absolute last resort.
Whatever it took, he refused to let the crown he had been coveting for years vanish right in front of his eyes.
"What are you thinking, Eiren?" Mireth asked, her eyes narrowing with desperate ambition. "If you need my help, I can immediately contact the fastest dark magic wielder in the capital. We can find a way to quietly get rid of that boy and—"
Before she could finish the treacherous sentence, Eiren snapped his hand forward, firmly covering Mireth’s mouth. He cast a sharp glance around the corridor, ensuring no shadows were lingering too close.
When he met his aunt’s wide, startled eyes, he leaned in close to her ear.
"You have to be incredibly careful about what you say regarding that boy, Aunt," he warned in a fierce whisper. "The Prince is absolutely crazy about him. His spiritual senses could be listening to every single conversation in this palace, so do not go about uttering those words out loud."
Mireth exhaled a hot breath against his palm. The moment Eiren lowered his hand, she spoke again, her voice shaking with residual fear. "I am just furious that after all your years of devotion, you are being cast aside like trash. And besides... I almost died in that room today. Every single minister almost died. We would be corpses right now if that boy hadn’t done something. He actually controlled the Prince. It is unlike anything I have ever witnessed before—the Prince actually obeyed a common omega and stopped. But it is deeply unfortunate about Gerald. He was a close relative of Lady Lydia, and now he is nothing but dust."
She reached out, tightly grasping Eiren’s hands in hers. "What do we do? Is this truly the end for us? If we lose the favor of the Prince, and if we let that peasant take the crown, our family is finished. It will be completely over for us, and—"
"Calm down, Aunt Mireth," Eiren interrupted, cutting her panic short. "You need to relax and leave this entirely to me. No matter what happens from this moment on, promise me you won’t do anything reckless."
Eiren knew his aunt’s overwhelming anxiety could drive her to do something incredibly stupid just to push Seraphel out of the way. But he also knew she lacked the subtlety required for a play this dangerous; she would undoubtedly leave a trail of evidence, and that would get her executed.
The absolute last thing Eiren wanted was to lose his final living relative.
"Promise me that you won’t touch him," he insisted, his gaze locking onto hers with intensity.
Mireth sighed bitterly, shaking her head. "I can’t promise you anything, Eiren. Especially not when I have to watch you be treated this way. There is no way in hell I am going to just sit back and—"
"Promise me!"
"You—"
"Just promise me, Aunt Mireth!"
Lady Mireth finally crumbled under his intense gaze. She nodded reluctantly, placing a reassuring hand on Eiren’s shoulder. "Alright. I promise you. But what the hell are you planning to do about this?"
Eiren let out a slow, controlled breath.
A wicked, calculated grin spread across his flawless features as he looked past her toward the open sky framing the corridor.
"Don’t worry about that, Aunt," he murmured softly, his eyes flashing with a dangerous resolve. "But there is one thing you can be absolutely certain of—I am not going to let anyone take my position."