Demon King of the Royal Class

Chapter 378

Lucinil wasn’t the type to interfere much. She did not seem to mind if I did something unrelated to the reconstruction of the Demon Realm. She wasn’t particularly interested in what I was doing, but offered as much help as she could. In this case, though...

“Well, in this situation, wouldn’t it be normal to talk about resurrecting your father or something? I mean, isn’t that the duty of a child, Archdemon? Even a homunculus vampire knows that much,” Lucinil said, seemingly unable to comprehend my stance.

The idea of wanting to destroy the part of his soul that had merged with someone else’s soul was indeed a rebellious thought.

Lucinil stared at me as if trying to read something unreadable.

‘Do I have to tell her unbelievable stories like I did with Eleris?’

“It seems like it’s not because you’re worried you won’t be the leader if the Demon King is resurrected... Well, you must have your reasons,” Lucinil said, crossing her arms as if she wasn’t going to pry further.

“Anyway, I don’t know whose soul he implanted part of his soul into, but my opinion remains the same. If you try to split the soul apart again, they’ll end up as two mixed entities, and will not return to their original state. Of course, I can’t guarantee that the two resulting entities will be sane.”

Returning a soul to its original state would be impossible. Did that mean coexistence was the only answer?

“Then, who becomes the master of the body, or rather, the soul? Is there no way to determine that?”

“Hmm... I don’t know what you’re talking about, but are you curious about whether the person with the mixed soul has control over the body, or if the Demon King’s soul has control?”

“Yes.”

I wondered if there was any way to prevent Charlotte’s body from being occasionally overwhelmed and possessed by the Demon King’s power, which caused her to lose her rationality.

“There will inevitably be conflicts. It’s like a side effect. Over time, though, things will gradually get better. When two different souls merge, such symptoms would naturally occur.”

It got better with time. But was that really the right way to put it?

“I’m not sure if that’s the right way to express it, but once it reaches a stable phase, those symptoms will gradually improve, then disappear. And it’s not about who has control in the first place. It’s just that they become one. It’s like two beings, but one identity... something like that.”

Charlotte and the Demon King’s souls had already become one. Only time would resolve it.

“Over time, the Demon King’s ego and the other person’s ego will fully merge. As you already know, it’s impossible to eliminate the Demon King’s soul and ego.”

It was impossible to stop the complete fusion of Charlotte’s soul with the Demon King’s. Unless Charlotte died, the Demon King would still be alive.

The symptoms Charlotte was experiencing were a result of the merging of her soul with the Demon King’s. Now that they had started to fuse, it would be impossible to separate.

“But it seems like you know that someone quite well. It looks like you’ve witnessed such a power struggle process.”

“Yes... sort of.”

“Hmm, then have you ever tried speaking directly with the Demon King?”

I hadn’t. I’d fought with it, but clearly, that day, it had been in a completely maddened state.

“I attempted to communicate, but it didn’t work. It didn’t recognize me.”

Indeed, I had shown the Demon King, who at that time had possessed Charlotte’s body, my true appearance as Baalier, but it hadn’t recognized me at all. That left me no choice but to fight.

Lucinil tilted her head at my words.

“Hmm, so the separated portion of the soul has completely lost its intellect. You couldn’t communicate at all?”

“No.”

“Then that means the portion of the Demon King’s soul that had been separated has gone mad.”

It wasn’t as if the original soul had been split into two equal parts; a portion of the soul had been implanted in Charlotte, but only a small part. Therefore, the Demon King had been able to maintain his intellect, but the portion of the soul that had been implanted in Charlotte went mad.

‘Is that how it happened? Then what happens next?’

“So what happens then?”

“Hmm...”

“Over time, it will get better. Souls adapt to survive, after all. The madness will gradually subside.”

Charlotte couldn’t be reverted to her original state, but things would get better with time. Surprisingly, a simple solution presented itself. Charlotte would have to realize that she could no longer try to live as though she were just herself. She would have to embrace becoming an entity that was both Charlotte and the previous Demon King, Baalier.

Lucinil tilted her head. “But if those seizures are becoming more frequent, it means the complete fusion is nearing its end, and she’ll start to have the Demon King’s self-awareness. Is there any sign of that? Like acting in a Demon King-like manner, recognizing you... anything like that?”

Becoming one with the Demon King meant becoming one with the Demon King’s ego. As the madness caused by the soul split subsided and the fusion entered a stable phase, Charlotte would also absorb the Demon King’s self-awareness. Very soon, she would also begin to have the Demon King’s memories.

“Not at all... there was nothing like that.”

From what I’d seen, though, Charlotte showed no signs of that at all.

If Charlotte had regained the memories and ego of the Demon King, she wouldn’t have tried to resolve this situation in the first place. The tears, anger, and sadness she had shown me were all genuine.

I couldn’t believe that Charlotte could hide everything while possessing the memories and ego of the previous Demon King.

Lucinil crossed her arms and frowned. “Well, it’s a common occurrence. Sometimes the split soul goes mad, and the ego disappears entirely... Hmm. But the Demon King’s soul shouldn’t be that weak.”

So there were cases where, despite the fusion of souls, one part was so weak that its ego completely vanished. Seeing Lucinil’s reaction, though, I realized something.

Incantation...

I had definitely used Incantation. Incantation wasn’t magic. It was clear that the Incantation I’d used had somehow affected Charlotte’s condition and the Demon King’s soul that had merged with hers.

“Recently, there was a seizure, but... there was no madness.”

“Really? Did you try talking? Was it the Demon King?”

“No. The original owner of the body managed to maintain her identity.”

Charlotte’s power had caused her to suffer a seizure recently, and when her power had acted up, she’d come to me in fear. But she hadn’t shown any signs of madness, nor had she seemed to be possessed by someone else’s ego.

Lucinil seemed completely baffled by my words. “Hmm... What’s going on? Did the Demon King’s ego really disappear? Could someone capable of soul fusion somehow not pay attention to such details?” she wondered aloud.

Lucinil could not believe that the previous Demon King’s magical skills and understanding of soul absorption were so lacking. Her only conclusion was that the Demon King had somehow mishandled the process of soul transfer, resulting in this outcome.

But no—the Demon King had used soul magic correctly. Charlotte might have had seizures, but that was the process of gradually merging with Charlotte’s soul and becoming one.

On the day I first awakened Incantation, the first incantation I had used was to order the Demon King’s soul to leave Charlotte’s body. I had definitely said that. After that, Charlotte’s power had acted up once, but she hadn’t been overwhelmed by madness.

The Demon King’s soul and Charlotte’s soul could not be separated. In that case, did my supernatural power erase the Demon King’s ego rather than the soul itself?

“That’s strange...”

If that was the case, there was no need to save Charlotte any more. I had already saved her at that moment. The Demon King’s mad ego had disappeared, leaving only his power behind. What Charlotte needed to do was not to separate the souls, but to adapt to the power of the Demon King that was left within her. That was all that needed to be done.

“Anyway, you seem more concerned about the one with the mixed soul than the Demon King,” Lucinil said, shaking her head as if she couldn’t understand. “You’re really a strange one.”

Of course, Lucinil, being who she was, didn’t press me further. Instead, it was I who was curious.

“How do you know so much about this?” I asked.

“About soul absorption?”

“Yes.”

Lucinil shrugged her shoulders.

“Do you think I haven’t conducted a few experiments?” Lucinil replied.

‘Ah...’

Despite her appearance, I forgot that the Vampire Lords were, in fact, mad scientists.

***

When Lucinil first told me that the mixed souls couldn’t be separated, it felt like the sky had fallen. However, as we talked further, I realized that Charlotte no longer needed any intervention.

She had come to me that night, overwhelmed by her power but without losing her sanity. That itself was evidence enough. The fact that the Demon King’s ego no longer existed meant that while the power itself might influence Charlotte, her mind remained intact. That situation was proof that Charlotte was okay.

Soul absorption wasn’t the clue I needed, but it didn’t matter. Charlotte would be fine going forward. However, even if I knew Charlotte was okay, it was uncertain whether others would accept it that way.

Ultimately, the issue was whether Charlotte could accept that her power was no longer a threat, and how the imperial family would react once she fully adapted to it.

Having a power that appeared ominous at first glance was already a mark against Charlotte. Vertus could use that as a means of attack any time.

Lucinil was a master of soul manipulation. She seemed to have conducted many experiments involving souls to explore the possibilities. Imagining Lucinil conducting magical experiments that manipulated souls while wearing that innocent expression sent chills down my spine. Perhaps the openly sinister Antirianus was the nicer vampire?

During my chat with Lunicil, we had exchanged various thoughts, and during that time, Eleris emerged from the library with several books.

“There are so many unfamiliar magic tomes that it took quite a while to choose,” Eleris said, placing the books down.

She explained that because many spells couldn’t be identified by name alone, she’d had to open each book to understand the magic and determine whether it was worth taking. Even so, I thought she’d managed to work at an impressive speed.

It seemed Eleris had been focused on her work and hadn’t heard the conversation about Charlotte.

“These must be the secrets accumulated over the long history of the Dark Land,” Eleris said.

They were the secret books that Demon Kings or demon mages had compiled over countless ages.

Lucinil looked around the library.

“But from your perspective, wouldn’t it be better to either retrieve all of these or burn them? Didn’t you say you came here with the prin...” Lucinil trailed off, looking at me.

I had told Lucinil that I had been here with the princess, and that we were the ones who had discovered the bunker beneath the Demon King’s Castle.

‘Why would you come here with the princess?’

After the conversation we just had... The secret magic tomes of the Demon Realm and the discussions about soul absorption and such...

Whether or not Lucinil had heard about the princess being kidnapped to the Dark Land, she seemed to have pieced it together.

“Oh. Don’t tell me the thing about the Demon King’s soul was about the princess.”

“... Yes, you’re right.”

“You really have no interest in the reconstruction of the Demon Realm, do you?”

Lucinil realized from what I’d told her that I was trying to save the princess, which didn’t align with the purposes I had outwardly expressed.

Lucinil sighed as if a mystery had been solved. “I can see why Eleris is helping you now.”

Eleris looked slightly embarrassed, as if she had expected Lucinil to figure it out eventually.

I had no intention of trying to explain away my actions by saying that there were reasons for this and that, or claiming that I was ultimately dreaming of the reconstruction of the Demon Realm.

There was no way she would believe it at this point anyway.

“So, what are you trying to do? What do you actually want?” Lucinil asked.

“World peace,” I replied.

Lucinil furrowed her brow.

“... Are you expecting me to believe that?”

“Well, it’s true.”

Lucinil looked at me as if she didn’t even want to engage in conversation with someone spouting such nonsense, then turned to Eleris.

“It’s true, Lucinil,” Eleris said with a bright smile.

“Now it’s really scary when even Eleris says it,” Lucinil said, looking back and forth between Eleris and me as if imploring us to quit joking about.

Seeing that neither Eleris nor I seemed to be joking, Lucinil muttered in bewilderment, “No. What does world peace have to do with any of this? I’m even more confused now.”

“Just go along with it,” I said.

It was something Lucinil had once told me.

“Alright, I’ll just go along with it,” Lucinil said, nodding readily, as if deciding not to try to understand the incomprehensible.