Gianna's Game (I)

Seeing Gianna's reaction, Silas and Willow were quite surprised. They turned to each other immediately after that.

"You've met him before?" Josiah asked The Princess.

"Yeah… and I always knew there's something different in him that I can't explain, but this is beyond my expectation," Gianna answered. She was silent afterwards and kept staring at each other with Roman pretty intensely.

"So, you also know his name?" Willow broke the silence a few moments later by giving The Princess a question.

"Roman. Just Roman, no surname," The Princess answered while standing up.

"That's what he said when he introduced himself to me," she added.

"Oh, you truly know him then. That's surprising," Willow replied.

"You can confirm he is a slave from that ranch?" Josiah made sure to Gianna.

"Yes. But the fact that he survived and looks just fine is shocking. Though I said I always knew there's something different in him, I'd never imagine he's not just a regular human like I thought. What kind of powers exactly has he been hiding from us all this time?" Gianna responded, still in disbelief. She looked at Roman once again as she finished her words.

[Now, what the fuck? These people look like they have been knowing each other for a long time with the Princess; they're not a group of criminals then?] Mia said. The Devil was confused by this interaction between Gianna, Josiah, Silas, and Willow.

[I was also confused for a second. But then, I remember Gianna once told me that her sister has a couple of friends that she sees as a solid team to support her. She said they're more or less like her right hands, so now I assume those people are actually Josiah, Willow, and Silas] Roman explained.

[Wait- how many siblings does Gianna have?] Mia asked.

[One, officially] Roman answered casually.

[Officially?!] but the Devil was shocked to hear that one word.

[It is common knowledge that The King has a lot of mistresses, even I, who almost have never been to the Main Region my entire life, know this thing. But The King's harem is a sensitive topic; no one dares to discuss it openly.

Also, as far as I know, no one really knows who those mistresses are. Their identities have never been revealed either, so generally, people would only know that The King has two children, Layla and Gianna. Layla is the first-born, so she's The Crown Princess] the boy gave a further explanation.

[Did Gianna ever talk about her father's mistresses with you?]

[Of course. She said it is also a sensitive topic for The Royals. She never talked about it with her family, but she's still The King's daughter anyway, so she knows better than others would ever]

[What do you mean?]

[Estimation of The King's mistresses and children total. She estimated that her father has sixty-nine mistresses; eighteen being his official mistresses, and fifty-one are the ones that he'd only seen and had sex with once every year]

Gulp.

Mia was speechless upon hearing it.

[This all would resulting an estimated fourteen children, excluding her and Layla] Roman continued.

[Damn, fourteen from sixty-nine. His seeds must be bad, huh?] the Devil said.

[Not really. Gianna told me that majority of those women should be the Vampires since it would lower The King's dignity if he likes slaves a lot more, so the ratio actually makes sense] Roman responded.

[But how about his wife? Is she a slave?]

[Yes, for the purpose of having children only. Vampires' reproduction systems are functionless since immortality makes them not that different from Zombies, which were mindless living corpses, in case you have no idea about them. Vampire and Vampire sex can't be resulting a baby, but Vampire and human sex can, so in order to have offspring, a King or a Queen should marry a human]

[So basically, The Princesses are human?]

[They're called half-blooded Vampires. Half-blooded were born like regular humans; they were humans in their entire childhood. However, between the age of seventeen to twenty-one, they would slowly turn into a Vampire, and usually, by the time they hit twenty-one, they are wholly a Vampire and immortal, so you can imagine how young The King looks compared to The Queen]

[Must be like a young man and his stepmother, huh?]

[Yeah, but she's dead anyway, so you can't see the comparison]

[Oh… may she rest in peace]

Roman was surprised to hear what Mia had just said, [That's like the last thing I could expect a Devil would say. Great words, by the way] he stated.

[Thanks. But why is she dead, though?] Mia replied by giving a new question.

[Before I met Gianna, like everyone else, I thought she died due to illness because that was the rumor that circulated; there has never been an official announcement about her reason for death. But Gianna told me that The Queen was actually murdered by a guy named Li Wei Song; a serial killer who is also suspected as the one who had killed sixty-nine women, nine teenagers, and five kids in the span of only three months]

[Wait…]

[You're connecting the dots, huh?]

[I've heard about this guy before Gianna told me that he also murdered the Queen. The fact that he is a human and has that large number of victims would obviously make him being talked about all over the kingdom, even by those in the Ranch Districts.

Li Wei killed both Vampires and humans, but his motive is still a huge mystery as far as I know. People called him cold-blooded because they said he never showed emotion on his face, not to mention the Officers said he wasn't cooperative as he never said a single word either] Roman added a moment later.

[So, All The King's mistresses and children except for the official ones were wiped out almost simultaneously? Then, it peaked with The Queen's death?] Mia connected the puzzle.

[Yeah. All murdered by one guy. Seems fishy, right?]

[Yes, but… Li Wei sounds like a fun guy, honestly. If eventually, they're going to imprison you, ask them to put you in the same cell as him; I'd like to have a good talk with this guy Li Wei]

[You really think he's still alive? All that mess happened around half a year ago] Roman told Mia.

[What?! No way!]

[Well, I've never heard about him again since the last time I met Gianna, at the time, he was still alive, but I doubt they would let him live longer than that] the boy stated.

[Besides, it seems that Gianna won't imprison me, or at least these three people won't let her if she tries to do that; they have Layla as their backup after all] he continued.