Daughters of the Abyss
"Are Your Majesty pleased with what you've seen?" Heise asked as he took a seat opposite the guest, finding his place in the simulation centered around Ru. He sat right in front of the blackboard.
"Confusing," replied the monarch, his elbow resting on the armrest, his index finger tapping his temple as he pondered. The simulation placed him next to Ru. "Should I call him Ru, Rui, or Lirui?"
"Lirui Xiaolian, though he usually goes by Ru," Heise replied.
"Where did those little girls come from, and why are they calling him 'Dad'?" The monarch asked.
"It's because Ru created them, and he sends them to himself as a warning," Heise explained, as he gave a point to one of the servants dressed in body paint to serve drinks.
"He sends little girls to himself as a warning, huh?" The monarch straightened up and manipulated the simulation with a wave of his hand. "That's truly fascinating."
"What you're watching is Ru's eleventh life. The eleventh life means the eleventh Ru clone," Heise added.
"Is the Ru you presented to me in the glass coffin the same as Ru in this simulation?" The monarch asked, accepting a violet-hued, smoke-tinged drink from a servant who knelt before him.
"No, Your Excellency. I'll spoil it for you, but the eleventh clone unfortunately didn't survive the demon attack. He burned to death, leaving no trace of his body behind."
"I hope his sugar daddy—whoever he was—is also dead," the monarch remarked, taking a sip of his drink.
"His sugar daddy?" Heise raised an eyebrow.
The monarch rewound the simulation with a flick of his finger, zooming in on Ru's phone.
"Ah, yes," Heise said with a smirk. "He was a sixty-year-old wealthy man. Our painter visited him, showed him his latest work, and caused him to have a heart attack." He then took a sip of his own drink.
"That's... irritating," the monarch said, placing his drink on the hand of a nearby human serving as a table. "The man was sixty years old. Even if it's just a clone."
"Even if it's a clone, it's still a Ru, and every Ru loves money, fame, and power," Heise explained.
"It appears he was merely flirting with the man," the monarch observed as he leaned back in his seat and allowed the simulation to continue.
"Are you jealous of the clone?" Heise asked, his gaze piercing.
"Let's just say I find it hard to imagine Ru in such a situation," the monarch replied, his eyes fixed on the simulation. "He is an ancient king after all."
A massive cloud of smoke erupted in the center of the classroom. The smoke quickly took shape, sparks flying as it revealed a towering figure.
It was a demon. Its horned head was so large that it pierced the ceiling when it stood upright.
"Four Masks," the monarch identified the demon. "What's it doing here?"
"Your Highness, the 777 missed calls, and the message on the phone led to this demon attack. And you know who's responsible for these kinds of attacks," Heise explained, his figure shimmering under the sparks emitted by the demon.
"The caller... The other girls called her 'your ugliest daughter,'" the monarch pointed out.
"That's not one of Ru's little girls, Your Majesty. In fact, the one they were referring to is..." Heise paused, took a sip of his drink, and then added with a sly smile, "Ah, that's your daughter."
"How dare Ru's imaginary little girls insult my daughter?" The monarch rose from his seat, his voice thundering with rage.
"Ru's girls aren't imaginary," Heise corrected to him, adding, "They're quite jealous, just like your daughter."
The monarch's terrifying gaze fixed on Heise. His shadow suddenly grew, looming over Heise like a monstrous wave. "If you insult my daughter again, I will destroy you," the monarch's voice boomed, echoing with the screams of souls.
Heise, struggling to breathe under the oppressive shadow, nodded weakly.
The monarch said, "Good," as his shadow retreated and transformed into a cloak that he draped over his shoulders. "So my dear daughter is targeting all the Ru clones with similar attacks."
"Mhm," Heise managed, still clutching his throat.
"My beloved Misha has successfully stopped someone who is disrupting the fabric of time with his clones... That's not surprising," the monarch said, resuming the simulation.
The demon, with its four white-masked heads, spun them 360 degrees three times at high speed. Once all its eyes locked onto Ru, it exclaimed, "Padre!"
"Did it just say, 'Padre'? " The monarch rewound the moment several times to listen again. "Yes, it's saying, 'Father.' Why?"
"Your Excellency, I'm not the one who can answer that," Heise replied, his tone measured but tinged with resentment.
The monarch simply stared at him, then turned back to his seat to continue watching the simulation.
The demon, Four Masks, rampaged through the school, bathing it in blood and fire as it chased Ru. Ru ran toward the fire escape, but a fireball exploded beneath him, reducing him to ashes.
The monarch turned off the simulation, allowing the peaceful beauty of the night garden to return. Fireflies swirled in the calm breeze as he walked down the stone path to the glass coffin.
"The Ru you gifted me... Which clone is he?" The monarch asked.
Shaped like tulle, Heise floated to the monarch's side. "This is the seventh clone," he declared.
His Majesty opened the coffin and pressed two fingers to Ru's neck. "He's breathing," he noted.
"Of course," Heise replied.
The monarch gently grasped Ru and embraced him affectionately. He walked along the small stream, which glistened in the moonlight, carrying Ru tenderly in his arms. He reached the gazebo and laid Ru down on the daybed.
He gazed down at Ru’s serene face, his fingers brushing a strand of dark hair from the young man’s forehead. The moonlight bathed them both in a soft, silvery glow, casting delicate shadows across Ru’s body.
The monarch leaned in closer, his silver eyes softening as they lingered on Ru’s parted lips. “You’ve caused quite a stir, little king,” he murmured, his voice a low, velvety whisper that carried the weight of centuries. “But even in your sleep, you’re still the most captivating creature I’ve ever laid eyes on.”