The battle was over, but the courtyard still could not calm down.
Against the backdrop of the dark night sky, countless demon hunters looked like ghosts in the shadows, searching around every corner of the courtyard.
They were concentrating on searching for the original demon of jealousy that was separated from the second prince.
Claudia was still wearing her well-tailored witcher tights.
The slender waist tilted to one side gracefully, with one hand on the hip.
Half of the face covered by red lines was expressionless, and his eyes were as sharp as a hunting eagle, monitoring the surroundings of the courtyard.
She strictly monitors the progress of the witcher's search while remaining vigilant.
Just in case that cunning demon of jealousy escapes silently from the courtyard.
The eldest prince stood on one side of the courtyard, looking at Claudia with complicated eyes.
The corners of his mouth tightened slightly and his fists were clenched tightly.
The woman in front of him was both familiar and strange to him.
The eldest prince was eager to step forward and ask about his mother's true identity, the second prince's detailed charges, and the second prince's fate.
However, his eyes finally fell on the cracked ground, hesitating.
But suddenly, a warm gaze fell on him. He looked up and saw the queen's eyes looking towards him.
"What do you want to say?"
Upon hearing this, the eldest prince quickly stood up straight and straightened his back.
He looked at his mother, but he still couldn't ask the question in his heart.
Seeing that the eldest prince was still so hesitant, Claudia sighed softly.
The red stripes covering half of her face gradually faded away, revealing her young and beautiful face.
"come on."
A gentle voice sounded.
Seeing his mother's face return to its normal appearance, the eldest prince felt a hint of familiarity and then took a deep breath.
After gradually relaxing, he walked towards Claudia.
"...Mother."
The words fell slowly, and the eldest prince's eyes were fixed on Claudia's young face.
The eldest prince remembered this face very clearly.
My mother's face has not changed for many years, and it is still the same as when we parted.
The two of them stood together, making the eldest prince look older.
But now, his heart is still full of questions, and he wants to ask them all in one breath to the mother in front of him.
The words came to his lips, but he was still extremely confused.
However, Claudia had already seen his thoughts.
She slowly raised her head and looked at the eldest prince helplessly, with a motherly gentleness on her face:
"If you want to ask anything, just ask."
"I'll try to answer your questions."
Hearing this, the eldest prince was slightly startled, and a wry smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Is his intention still too obvious?
Taking a deep breath, the eldest prince still mustered up the courage to ask his mother the question that had been bothering him for a long time:
“Why Owesser is in cahoots with the devil…
"And you...where have you been in these years?"
Why did it become like this?
These questions have been lingering in the heart of the eldest prince for many years, like a lingering haze, yet elusive.
Judging from the mother's behavior, she seemed to have known for a long time what kind of demon lurked in Oweise's body.
Moreover, it seemed that she and Victor had already planned to work together to eliminate the demon hidden in Oweiser's body.
When asked this question, Claudia looked seriously at the eldest prince and sighed.
"I knew you would ask that."
She turned her head, as if she didn't want to meet Albany's eyes, and looked at the witchers who were searching for demons in the courtyard.
They each held mercury sharp weapons in their hands and searched meticulously among the woods and corners of the courtyard.
At the slightest trace of demonic aura, they become like hounds.
Follow the scent throughout the bushes, and even climb tall trees to search.
Claudia's eyes, under the clear night sky, were as deep as an abyss:
"Because the jealous demon was released by me."
Upon hearing this answer, the eldest prince's pupils suddenly widened, and he seemed to have forgotten how to breathe for a moment.
His mind went blank, confused and stunned.
What! ?
Was the jealous demon released by the queen herself?
The eldest prince instinctively didn't want to believe it, but Claudia's voice sounded one after another:
"So I left the royal capital and the empire."
"Just to find a solution to the demon of jealousy."
Her deep eyes were full of memories, as if she was reliving the pain of the past.
The image in my mind is still fresh in my memory.
Lying in a pool of blood was the woman Oberly loved most in his life.
Her whole body was covered with bleeding wounds, and every inch of her skin was in excruciating pain.
But her bent arms still firmly protected the child in her belly.
The woman's eyes gradually lost their luster, and her body collapsed and collapsed.
There are still those protective arms that never let up.
Claudia could only kneel aside, tears streaming down her face.
She watched all of this helplessly, but couldn't stop anything from happening.
All disasters are caused by her jealousy, everything.
"The power of the devil is gradually eroding my body."
It was the demon called jealousy, trying to turn her into a perfect vessel.
She was unable to control the demon and was eventually imprisoned deep within the palace by Aubrey.
Claudia could feel the demon inside her eating away at her existence all the time.
If this continues, her whole person will be completely replaced by the devil, and her body will be completely reduced to the devil's flesh and blood vessel.
Eventually, the Stoker family discovered her condition and brought her back to their family territory.
Being able to take away Claudia, who is about to completely turn into a demon, already shows that the Stoker family is anything but ordinary.
The Stork family is actually a family of demon hunters hidden in the empire.
Her witcher father is ready to bring out the demon inside her and kill it.
But at that time, Claudia had completely lost consciousness.
Possessed by the devil, she became a pure demonic vessel.
However, when she woke up again.
Everyone in the family was brutally killed, and no one was spared.
"My father, your grandfather, was an excellent demon hunter."
"But he didn't realize the demon lurking in me was called jealousy."
Jealousy among the seven original demons is extremely powerful.
It's definitely not something a simple witcher can solve.
No matter how good this demon hunter is.
In the end, even Claudia, who had no impression or memory, could guess the reason why her family was destroyed.
In their fight against the demon of jealousy, they failed.
Everyone was slaughtered by her, who transformed into a demon, and Claudia became the sinner of the genocide.
Only after waking up, she regained consciousness.
But the reason she regained consciousness was not because the demon was destroyed.
It was because the demon attached to her body was forcibly expelled.
There is an irreconcilable conflict between the power of the witcher and the demons, and the emergence of the jealous demon caused the Stoker family to be destroyed.
In the end, the entire Stoker family legacy was left to Claudia who was still alive.
Claudia gained the power of her dead father, and that powerful demon hunter power forcibly expelled the demons from her body.
"It's just as you see."
Claudia slowly turned her head and faced the eldest prince with deep eyes.
One of her eyes was gradually filled with scarlet color, and a deep light seemed to flow in the red pupils.
Slender red lines appeared from Claudia's neck, and tiny spikes stretched out from the lines.
These lines wrapped around her neck like thorns, climbed up half of her cheeks, and surrounded the red pupils.
"As long as I use this power, the traces of the demon that once remained in my body will appear."
The jealousy demon wasn't completely out of her body.
After it completely occupied Claudia, even the power of the demon hunter drove the demon away.
She is no longer purely human.
But it is precisely because of this demon's remaining power that Claudia has become one of the strongest demon hunters.
"That's why I know the demon of jealousy better than anyone else."
After saying that, Claudia looked at the eldest prince's eyes that were gradually trembling and smiled helplessly.
If only the former Aubrey could give her a little more love, if her jealousy was not so strong.
If Oberly had not confined her and dealt with the demon in her body in time, the demon would not have the chance to corrode her body.
Then will the ending change?
But all "what ifs" cannot change reality.
So, Claudia put on the mask again.
Just to prevent others from being frightened by seeing half of her face covered with lines.
Through the silver-white mask again, her voice slowly sounded:
"In the end, the Stoker family was destroyed."
"But in order to ensure that it does not cause panic among the people, we cannot say more reasons."
The majesty of the royal family cannot be compromised, so the queen must not be declared a sinner.
Therefore, the reason for the collapse of the Stoker family was declared to be the family's collusion with external forces to amass a large amount of money.
In the end, she was killed by the wise Queen Claudia.
Claudia left the Empire soon after, but the true reason for her departure is unknown.
The eldest prince felt a little confused after listening to his mother tell all this.
He could only watch his mother say this calmly.
Every detail of this is heartbreaking.
But at this moment, the eldest prince was speechless, unable to express his inner grief.
In this silence, a faint friction sound suddenly came from the ears of the two of them.
Following the sound, several demon hunters were slowly moving a huge block of ice out of the ruins of the banquet hall.
And above the ice, there was a faint golden light.
When the ice was moved in front of Claudia, the demon hunters bowed deeply to her:
"My lord, we found this in the ruins."
Claudia lowered her head and looked closely, and found that this piece of ice emitting mysterious golden light showed no sign of melting.
The more carefully she looked at the ice cubes, the more her brows wrinkled in confusion.
Because, from this ice cube, she saw a person.
That's a girl.
She has long blond hair that reaches her waist. She is dressed in exquisite and gorgeous clothes and is lying in the ice.
The girl curled up with her arms folded around her body, her eyes closed tightly, and her breathing was steady and even, as if she was asleep.
The eldest prince also squinted his eyes and looked at this somewhat mysterious piece of golden ice carefully.
But suddenly, he opened his mouth wide and widened his eyes full of doubt and shock.
Just as the two of them were focusing on the golden ice, a light footsteps gradually approached them.
A nobleman appeared in front of the golden ice cube and said respectfully to Claudia and the eldest prince:
"Your Highness the First Prince, Your Majesty the Queen."
"It's getting late, everything has been resolved, and we nobles should leave..."
Before he finished speaking, the noble's eyes couldn't help but glance at the huge piece of ice.
What he was about to say suddenly stopped.
Because after seeing the girl in the ice clearly, the noble's eyes widened and he blurted out in a shocked voice:
"Isn't this...isn't this the daughter of Duke Levi!?"
