Previously...
Just thinking about it made him even more irritated, the position of Duke was practically second to the Royal Family, what more did he need?! He had pretty much everything!
***
'Can I ask for a break?'
That's when it struck him; resigning couldn't work. what about having breaks? It wasn't like he was going to quit, he was just resting. And if even that wouldn't work, he'll just run away with Deceiver and Hana. They would probably find him either way anyway.
"I need a raise."
Deon stretched, which was quite rare of him, who would ever think that the most "laziest" man was stretching? Certainly, not even his ex-family would expect him to stretch.
"A raise? I thought queens had everything."
"Keuk!"
What did he just hear?
Deon choked on his spit after hearing what Hana had to say to him, what did she mean by Queen?! He was no Queen, and if he was, he'd probably run away by now! The more important question was why did she even think of him as a Queen?
"There's no Queen here.."
"But why does father listen to you so much?"
"...That's.. That's because I'm the second person with the highest authority here."
"So are Queens!"
Hana retorted back, at this rate, Deon was almost convinced that she was doing this for fun. And usually, the only way to comply with their needs was to agree...
But there was no way that he'd call himself a Queen.
He looked at Hana, unsure of what to do, does he agree with her? But if he agreed with her, if a demon were roaming around here... That would end up horribly.
Making up his decision, Deon whispered into Hana's ear.
"Yes, but that's a secret between me and His Majesty."
"A secret..."
"That's why you two shouldn't say it recklessly."
Deceiver and Hana's eyes began to twinkle at Deon's statement, it made Deon begin to feel bad for lying to the two. If only he knew how wrong he was, then he wouldn't have such thoughts.
***
"Your Excellency, please don't wander about alone! Our Lord said so..."
"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Don't tell me what to do, I'll do whatever I want."
Creation waved her hand, shooing the worried priest away. She was bored after staying in her room the whole time. Ever since she returned from her outing where she met Shylin, the priests became increasingly alert.
They made up excuses such as being worried for her since she was a Demi-God like anyone could even harm her. Though she was off by one thing, the priests were worried for the victims, they had no chance against her in almost everything, that included looks of course.
There was, however, a reason why. The second time she went out, an aristocrat bumped into her and 'disturbed her peaceful time' as quoted by Creation.
Of course, being a noble with a rather high title as Count, they were quite the obnoxious one. They tried to get Creation to apologize to them. When she refused to due to her pride as a Demi-God, they began to throw insults at her. Slowly, Creation's was increasingly worsening, the priests nearby began to panic.
Being Creation, she began to abhor even more negative feelings upon that said aristocrat. Within a second, that aristocrat was passed out on the ground with multiple bruises.
"They're overreacting, that noble was at fault for trying to control me- hmm?"
Creation looked down from her window, and a hooded man with white hair underneath walked through the gates appeared in her vision. She rose from her seat immediately as soon as the man exited from her vision and ran out of her room.
The priests nearby all stared at Creation in shock, rarely did she come out through the door. Neither did she come out of her room as much, practically known as the Silent Deity in the temple.
She ignored the stares as she felt a warm sensation bubbling up inside her as she went down the stairs. Was this what people called 'yearning for a family'?
"This is the map?"
"Yes Saint-nim."
"I see, thank you."
Deon picked up the map from the Arch-Bishop's hand, he took a look at the location of the artifact, and everything seems fine.
"Y-your Excellency? What brings you here?!"
The Arch-Bishop cowered under the fierce glare coming from Creation who continued walking up to them. Deon who had no idea, turned around to be met by a girl who had the exact same features as him.
"Aww, that makes it three out of five children reunited."
The God of Death chimed in, a laugh could be heard echoing in Deon's head.
'Don't remind me.'
Deon grimaced at the thought of five children being biologically his, well at least they were quite adorable, right?
"You must be... Creation."
"U-uh huh."
Creation nodded her head as she stammered. The priests nearby all had their mouths agape, never would they expect to see a God be nervous in front of someone and it was none other than the Saint of Death.
"Saint-nim do you know Her Excellency...?"
The Arch-Bishop walked up to Deon and lowered his presence. Deon picked up Creation in his hands and looked at the Arch-Bishop for a moment, he had evaluated the Arch-Bishop based on his actions this whole time.
So far, Deon came to the conclusion that the Arch-Bishop here wasn't greedy like the one in the Roan Kingdom. He seemed to be like almost every other Arch-Bishop in novels he had read.
"My kid."
"Pardon...?"
The Arch-Bishop stood there frozen as Deon walked out of the door with Creation in his arms, he turned around and opened his mouth one last time.
"Thank you again for the map, Arch-Bishop."
***
"You are not permitted to enter!"
"On whose rules?"
Sheri blocked the entrance of the estate from the hooded man in front of her. The hooded man getting agitated by the second was about to take out his sword.
But just as he was about to strike Sheri down, a voice was heard from behind them.
"Stop. What are you doing to her?"
"My Lord!"
Sheri's eyes lit up at the sight of Deon, she almost felt like killing the hooded man in front of her with her own hands if it weren't for the fact that he was royalty.
Deon stared at the hooded man who quickly sheathed his sword, his eyes shook got a moment when he realized who the person in front of him was.
"Your Highness the Second Prince..."
Great, just great. Deon felt like crying, why was every troublesome person specifically going after him? His grip around Creation's wrist tightened as he greeted the Second Prince. However, the grip was not strong enough to harm her or any other ordinary child.
The Second Prince looked at Deon, his eyes then trailed off to Creation in his arms.
Creation shot a glare back at the Second Prince, who did this man think he was; staring at her with such repulsive eyes? Openly glaring at her?
Deon seemed to have noticed this and walked past the Second Prince, giving him the cold shoulder. He turned back once more with cold eyes and opened his mouth.
"To show up unannounced is quite disrespectful, even if you're the Second Prince, even His Highness the Crown Prince asks me a day prior. And, at least send a notice a few days prior, and don't stare at my child like that."
And with that, Deon entered his home with Sheri trailing behind him. The Second Prince stood in front of the house for a moment, his eyes sharpened on Creation who scoffed at him.
She mouthed a few words to the Prince with a bright grin on her face.
It must suck to be you.
Bang!
The door to the estate closed in front of the enraged Prince's face.
***
"What an annoying bastard..."
Deon sighed, one annoying person after another, when will they stop flowing in like water?
"That's right! He was pestering me and Mister Remember to let him in the house for the past hour, I was starting to give up and decide to become a wanted fugitive."
"...There's no need to exaggerate that much Sheri."
"No, it's the truth."
Sheri flashed a bright and relieved smile, it unsettled Deon. Where did he even find such a person as one of his people? Do they also tend to be... That violent?
"Well, then My Lord, I must get back to my duties. Please excuse me."
"You're free to go Sheri."
Sheri took one last bow after receiving approval from Deon and left. Although she had multiple questions along with theories, she decided to keep it to herself out of courtesy and respect.
Once Sheri left, Deon made his way back to his room. Creation looked around the room as if it was a museum, well, technically it used to be one.
"Oh boy, I wonder what Hyung-nim will say after I bring in another kid home..."
Deon muttered under his breath as he opened the door, he placed Creation on the ground as he took off his cloak.
Now thinking about it, he never told Cruel about anything. He just buried the fact that he had biological children in the back of his head, as he always did whenever he didn't want to think of something. Just thinking about it seems like a hassle, he wasn't going to explain everything, and neither did he know how to explain it.
"Right, the map..."
Deon took the map out of his pocket and unfolded it, there was a mark near the.. Ileon Kingdom. It was astonishing, was he just fated to encounter that Prince no matter how much he tried to avoid him like the plague? Creation seemed to have noticed this and tried to console Deon, she patted Deon's knee.
He sighed as he patted Creation's head. He'll just head over there discreetly to not alert the Second Prince of his arrival, maybe he could ask Karina to help him. It's also been some time since he's seen her, by now she should've fully healed, right?
Knock! Knock!
"...Whose there?"
"My Lord, Her Highness the Princess has come to see you."
"What...?"
Deon flinched, Allethea was here to see him? What business could she possibly have with him?
No, there was one thing she could've gone here for. It was definitely something about the Duke, there was only one reason as to why she could be here and that was to discuss something about the Duke. He was the only one that threatened the Emperor's position and she seemed to have noticed that.
***
Sorry for late upd and very short chapter.. someone broke into my house and we're fixing the windows and replacing everything that was broken...