Netori SSS-Emperor: All Queens Shall Be Mine!-Chapter 57: Kal’el Etza En’ Rule

Kal'el Etza En' Rule, the general of Mermadia-guard, often referred to as Kayla. She was amongst the few handful that carried the blood of the devils and yet served under the divine. Through blood, she was oath-bound to the monarchy, for a long-forgotten promise had her working as a servant even when she was a child.

Half-giant, half devil, she was the reason the king's hall had those colossal doors that went up through the entirety of the castle. And although she could control her height, she preferred to remain tall whenever she wasn't on the choppy waves of the sea.

"A new king," towering before Wolf, her pupils glowed with a silver ring. Staring at him with not a shred of emotion, she knelt on one knee and bowed to him. "While I may not agree with serving such a young king, my duty binds me to be your servant–so allow me to be your shield."

Holding her pale blue hand forward, she shrunk herself until she was only eight feet. Stitches ran through every portion of her skin, making her seem like a doll that had been repaired again and again.

"Please give me your hand so that any attempt at your life has to go through me," she said, her head lowered still.

Unsure of what she meant by the latter part of her statement, Wolf looked to the queen. Noticing his gaze on her in an instant, she nodded right back and explained briefly.

"Her ancestors and now she have been protecting the monarchy for generations. Any blade, any fist, or anything that attempts to harm you, the ending blow would not faze you but rather end up on Kayla's body." Looking back to the paladin, his eyes wide in disbelief, Wolf stared at the countless bruises on her pale body, and now even those stitches everywhere began making sense.

"And what if I don't wanna do this?" Quickly looking back at Astoria, he instantly noticed the frown on her face. She was confused, even slightly concerned that Wolf would say such a thing. The same was the case for Kayla, as in their gaze, the tradition could not be broken.

"Wolf, this isn't a matter of debate." Grabbing Wolf's hand at the armrest, Astoria gave it a tight squeeze. "We've done this for generations; her people have sacrificed everything for the same. Our tradition and our culture, it has value, value that we must uphold!"

Quiet descended on the dark hall, and Kayla also decided to stand up straight. Observing the tense glances between the mother and son–or rather the king and the queen–she folded her arms and observed how they would solve this disagreement.

"Not everything has to be the same, and this should be one of them." As Wolf spoke up, Astoria's shock grew further apparent on her face. Covering her mouth with a gasp, she gulped, her heart racing to the king's words.

Turning his attention to Kayla, Wolf waved his hand sideways to dismiss the tradition altogether.

"If I get hurt, I need to suffer the pain. Pushing it on someone else is cowardly, especially when it could possibly kill them." A bit impressed by his words, Kayla flashed Wolf a weak smile. Staring at him for a while longer, with not a single word, she looked at the queen, who was beyond surprised by his statements.

"Seems like you managed to raise at least one of your sons into a man." Letting her arms fall down, Kayla turned back to Wolf. Looking him in the eye, she cackled behind closed lips for a moment. "And you're right, the last king was a cowardly shut-in. I never got to say that out loud when he was alive, but now I have no reason to hold back, seeing how you actually have a pair of balls to say what you think."

"Kayla!" Offended by what she'd just said, Astoria tried to intimidate her scream. However, her eyes focused only on Wolf; the general refused to play into the queen's emotional outburst.

"How about I test him then?" Changing the subject, she glanced sideways at Astoria. "If he can defeat me in a fight, then I don't see why he would need to go ahead with the ritual..."

"Sounds good to me," Wolf answered before the queen could.

At a loss for words, Astoria glanced between the two, not knowing what to think. Doing so a few times, she shook her head and finally dropped her shoulders. Grunting from the frustration of it all, she gave Wolf one last glance.

Read lat𝙚st chapters at fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓ Only.

"Fine...I guess, but we're gonna do the fight tonight. I don't want anyone else to know that this ever happened!" With an agreement reached, the trio scattered. Astoria went off to finish the last of the preparations for Wolf to completely take over once he'd overcome her tests, and Kayla made for the barracks to pick out potential talents for her fleet.

As for Wolf, he decided to return to Renee and Sola and explain to them what would be necessary for them to know. Some secrets obviously had to lie with him alone, but in general, he wanted them to be in the loop about what was happening with him and the king's title.

While walking down the corridors, Wolf noticed the servants rushing everywhere. Having been invited to the banquet in the castle's main halls, the maids, the butlers and everyone else that lived in the castle were getting themselves ready for the celebration of the new king's overtaking. Nobody else was invited, meaning they wouldn't have to work once the preparations were done. Enjoying the event while it was happening? Something like that was a luxury they couldn't afford to miss out on.

Eerily so, the same people rushing about were also looking at Wolf with a look of surprise on their faces. Once he'd left the servant's quarters earlier that day, none of them expected him to ever come back there. But with the late king's room still being renovated to welcome Wolf, it would take another day before he could move into the more luxurious parts of the castle and even share the same bed with Astoria, his queen.