Pranay's gaze lingered on the Poet of Great Love as though searching for some spiritual solace. As the current leader of the great demons, her judgment would directly determine the ultimate survival of their Demon Realm.
"Luoqi McCarthy can bring us structural advantages within the rules and a voice at the negotiating table, minimizing the chance of our enemies flipping the table. Correspondingly, his problem is that even with us, our armed might may still not be enough to deter our opponents from upending the board... I am quite certain he currently lacks military backing."
Pranay continued speaking to the Poet of Great Love, explaining his prior misgivings.
"Why can you make such an assessment?"
The Poet of Great Love set the glass down on the stone platform and leaned forward slightly.
If everything before had been speculation that no one could prove right or wrong, then that final line—"Luoqi McCarthy currently lacks military backing"—had been hit with absolute precision by Pranay.
The reason Lanqi had come to Herrom Prison in the first place was precisely to obtain the strength needed to confront the Cardinals.
Lanqi was very curious whether Pranay had seen something through his unstable, intermittent Foresight or Clairvoyance, or if there was another reason.
Pranay watched the black-haired, green-eyed figure listening with complete focus and hesitated for a moment.
The new king's gaze looked entirely convinced by his words, carrying not the slightest hint of doubt or suspicion.
He had originally braced himself to be dismissed.
Now, instead, it made him somewhat hesitant to continue.
This trust and respect weighed a little too heavily.
Yet watched by those emerald eyes filled with anticipation, Pranay gritted his teeth and decided to press on:
"If Luoqi McCarthy truly manages to obtain that martial deterrence, giving him the power to keep the Protos Empire's table from being overturned, and given that he genuinely belongs to the empire with such sharp instincts, he will become a major variable against those enemies seeking the empire's downfall... Once the enemies notice the slightest sign of this, Luoqi McCarthy won't have long to live. Someone will soon stop at nothing to eliminate him. Even if killing him comes at a great cost and proves exceedingly difficult, they are bound to make the attempt."
Pranay believed the reason Luoqi McCarthy had survived until now was twofold. On one hand, in the eyes of the enemies lurking in the shadows of the Protos Empire, Luoqi McCarthy's current threat was not yet significant enough, which was why they allowed him to live.
On the other hand, it was because Luoqi McCarthy had risen too quickly—at an unfathomable speed—embodying an unpredictable variable in his own right.
However, once Luoqi McCarthy made further moves to access the Protos Empire's top combat strength, someone would surely rush to eliminate him before he secured that backing.
Such was the current game unfolding within the Protos Empire.
Pranay's voice faded into the cavernous, frostbitten cell, and he waited in silence for the new king's reaction.
He hoped to make the new king understand how vanishingly small their chances were of reaping the spoils as the third party.
Though this might not be what the new king wanted to hear, he had to say it. Not only for his sister and his kin, but also because he did not wish to see this young new king fall so soon.
In contemplation, the black-haired, green-eyed figure picked up the glass and took a sip.
Lanqi realized that drinking was actually quite enjoyable, provided he didn't do it with his own body.
"I'm starting to think," the Poet of Great Love said, a look of profound regret in her eyes and a faint smile gracing her lips, "if the King of the Demon Realm a century ago had listened to you completely, perhaps the outcome would have been different."
Whenever Lanqi recalled his arrival at the station in Herrom, the majestic brass and liturgical strings, the pipe organ, and the endlessly ascending treble had felt like an urgent declaration that war would never cease. It had left him with the illusion of pitch climbing indefinitely, wondering when it would finally plunge into the abyss.
The heavy history of the demon race's Holy War was etched into their very marrow, never once graced by gentle melodies or harmonious chords.
Perhaps Pranay might have had a chance to prevent it all a century ago, but sadly, no demon had listened to him.
Now, however, Lanqi felt things were different. He hoped that the next time he visited Herrom, he would hear this music reach a coda of hope and liberation.
Pranay's eyes flickered, stunned upon hearing the new king's answer.
He stared into the new king's eyes, unable to fathom what she was seeing or what deep thoughts she was contemplating.
That pure emerald gaze naturally carried compassion and contemplation, seemingly reflecting the entire mortal world. Pranay had never seen any demon possess such eyes.
"...I am unworthy of such praise from you, New King. But I think that if the King of the Demon Realm a century ago had been you, even without me, the ending would have been different."
Pranay bowed his head toward the black-haired, green-eyed figure before him, his voice subdued.
If he wasn't mistaken, the subtext of her words had placed him as the second-in-command of the Demon Realm.
Yet his response was also an implicit plea for her to let him go; he could not bear the weight of such expectations.
This caused the Poet of Great Love to gaze at Pranay in bewilderment for a long while.
"Pranay, come with me. Isn't it good for me to protect you?" the Poet of Great Love asked again in a gentle, unhurried voice.
"...Why must Your Majesty fixate on an incompetent, disgraceful demon like me?"
Keeping his head lowered, even without meeting her gaze, Pranay could feel that her eyes were brimming with favoritism, leaving him terrified to look directly upon such blazing radiance.
Only this passion could not be feigned. In fact, for reasons he could not explain, Pranay had an intuition: even if he refused the new king today, she wouldn't do anything to him and would simply respect his choice.
When Pranay had been full of hope in the Demon Realm's heyday, he had failed to find a sovereign who believed in him.
Now that Pranay had cast everything aside, he had run into an ideal sovereign under the worst possible circumstances.
The new king was clearly resolute in not abandoning the Protos Empire. Yet if they pressed forward obstinately, the most probable outcome was complete annihilation once more.
Pranay's mind was in turmoil. Unsure whether the strong liquor had clouded his senses or demonic words had shaken his resolve, he began to feel the conflicting urge to plunge like a moth into the flame alongside the new king.
Not far away.
Antanas, who had been quietly waiting beside the stone platform, pulled a bag of biscuits from her pocket and split half with Sinora. Sinora was left entirely flabbergasted; she had no idea how many things Antanas had filched from the prison, nor why it was all food.
Antanas was already in full spectator mode. She was certain that the new king's talk therapy was about to begin again.
The new king could easily have subjugated Pranay through intimidation and bribery, yet the new king simply had a habitual fondness for conquering people emotionally.
Chapter 447