"Dong, dong, dong."

Suddenly, a knocking sound broke the silence in the room.

"Come in!"

The door was pushed open, and Victor walked into the room.

He was dressed in luxurious clothing, with a sword hanging from his waist. He looked powerful and impressive, exuding an air of majesty like a true king.

Iris sized up Victor, squinting her eyes slightly, thinking to herself, "So this guy usurped the throne. Wasn't Victor's magic sealed by the previous generations of Dawn Knights using the black chain? Did he break the seal?"

As Victor entered the room, wearing a smile, he said, "Mr. Ling Xi, I've come to apologize to you."

"It's alright. I gave Lena three days to study the Qimen chart. I just went back to advance my summoned beasts, which delayed me for a day," Iris shook her head, smiling. "Besides, you are now the Emperor, how could I blame you?"

"No matter what, what I did this time was wrong," Victor apologized.

"If you want to apologize, how about a game of chess?" Iris looked at Victor and suggested.

"Chess?" Victor was momentarily surprised, then smiled and said, "Sure, let's play chess!"

"Let's do it!" Iris extended her slim and white left hand, making a gesture of invitation.

"Please," Victor smiled and sat across from Iris at the table.

With crisp sounds, round and smooth chess pieces were placed on the chessboard. As they played, Victor talked about his history and political philosophy.

Iris listened with great interest and occasionally answered some of Victor's doubts, enlightening him.

Victor felt that this young girl in front of him was an excellent talent for governing. She had profound knowledge, agile thinking, and unique insights into politics and human nature. If such a talent could join the Emperor's court, it would be the luckiest thing for the court.

He secretly made up his mind to keep this talent, no matter the cost.

However, he felt that this girl was somewhat similar to Lilia, not in appearance, but in their policies and methods of governing and protecting the people.

Even when Victor met Lilia five years ago, she had said similar things.

Victor had a feeling that this young girl in front of him was not as simple as she appeared.

In his observation, this girl was very likely to be Lilia's daughter, Iris, who disappeared three years ago.

At this moment, Victor's hand trembled, and a chess piece fell onto the board.

"Your Majesty Victor, losing focus during a game of chess is not a good thing," Iris looked at the fallen black chess piece on the board and calmly reminded him.

"Oh, my apologies, I was careless," Victor collected his thoughts and smiled. "Let's continue playing."

As his gaze fell on the chessboard, the white chess pieces unexpectedly formed the Chinese character "ying."

Victor's face turned serious, but he continued making his moves.

"Is there still a need for more moves, Your Majesty Victor?" Iris looked at Victor indifferently and then said slowly, "I am the person you had in mind, Iris Cecilia."

Victor placed two black chess pieces on the board, looked at Iris, and asked calmly, "Didn't Poqi throw you into the abyss? Why are you still alive?"

"Since you know about Poqi, you should probably be aware of my true identity," Iris smiled faintly and looked at Victor. "You are a clever person, so I don't need to explain too much."

Victor fell silent. Of course, he knew. The young girl in front of him was not only the former princess but also the ruler of the demons, Her Majesty. How could a mere vampire king like him contend against such a figure?

Victor took a deep breath and looked at Iris, saying slowly, "I assume you have already set up the Qimen chart here."

"It's good that you know," Iris said with a smile, "I can easily crush you like squashing an ant."

"I see," Victor sighed and said, "As long as you spare my two daughters, I am willing to abdicate the throne."

"Abdicate the throne?" Iris snorted, "These things were originally mine, weren't they? As a usurper, you dare to say such words."

"As long as you ensure the safety of my two daughters, I will tell you anything you want to know," Victor said with a bitter smile, "If you really kill me, you will never know the true secrets from me."

Victor realized that the other party had no intention of killing him, otherwise, they would have already done so.

"Has Poqi found the key and the magic sword in the past three years?" Iris asked Victor.

Victor shook his head and said, "In the past three years, I have been sending people to search for the key and the magic sword, but there has been no clue. Poqi plans to have you deduce the location of the key and the magic sword through divination and testing using Qimen's layout. The news about you being a wizard genius is known by the whole country."

"Then let's play along. You'll bring me to Poqi. Don't play any tricks. Both of your daughters have had contact with me, and they can die anytime I want," Iris threatened coldly.

"I understand," Victor nodded and said, "I will do as you say, I just hope you keep your promise."

"Don't worry," Iris smiled and looked at Victor, "I am a person who keeps promises. I want to know why you betrayed Lilia, she treated you well as a monarch."

Victor fell silent for a moment, looking at Iris, he said, "I served the country with all my heart. When my magic was sealed by the Dawn Knight using the black chain, she didn't offer any help, not even a word of comfort."

There was a strong resentment in Victor's words.

"Haha," Iris laughed contemptuously, looking at Victor, she said, "Is it because of that? I thought it was something more deep-seated. The answer you seek is in the second drawer on the left in Lilia's study. Don't regret it after reading it."

"I won't regret it," Victor's face suddenly showed a determined look. He stood up and said, "Goodbye!"

Iris looked at Victor's back with a faint mockery on her face.

Inside the drawer were Lilia's diaries. Whenever Lilia was away, Iris would go through them. Of course, Iris had been punished by Lilia for peeking at her diaries. At that time, Iris had a disciplinary imprint on her body, allowing Lilia to investigate what Iris did anytime she wanted.

...

Victor arrived at Lilia's study, opened the drawer, and looked at the diaries and a small white bottle inside.

The diary had been around for some years, the corners of the book had turned yellow and black, it looked a bit old. However, the cover of the diary was painted with a vivid humanoid figure using golden paint, looking lifelike, just like a living person.

He flipped open the diary and looked at its contents, his expression remained plain.

These were things he had personally experienced, nothing special. Victor didn't even understand why Iris asked him to read this diary, but he still followed Iris's instructions and continued reading.

The diary recorded many things, the contents were jumbled, some recorded Lilia's life, some recorded Lilia's cultivation experiences, and some recorded Lilia's emotional experiences, and so on.

When he came to the part about himself, tears involuntarily flowed from his eyes. He didn't wipe them away, but continued reading.

The diary mentioned that the white pills in the bottle were meticulously developed by Lilia, consuming a great amount of time and effort. They could temporarily remove the magical seal in the body, but the side effects were unknown.

There was also a sentence in the diary, wondering how Victor would react when he received this birthday gift? His face would probably be full of wrinkles from smiling, right?

After reading everything, Victor's mind went blank.

He never expected that Lilia would go to such lengths for her subjects.

Three years ago, on the eve of his birthday, he chose to rebel, which is really ridiculous!

He put the diary back into the drawer and picked up the small white bottle. He looked at the pattern on the bottle cap and muttered, "Can this thing really remove the magic seal on me?"

"It's worth a try, at least better than doing nothing."

Victor opened the bottle cap and poured out the pills inside.

An strong smell immediately filled the room, permeating the air.

Victor swallowed the pill in one gulp, then closed his eyes and felt the effect of the pill.

After a while, he opened his eyes, his pupils sparkling with an unusual brilliance. He looked at the changes within his body, his mouth slightly open.

"For Poqi to unlock the magic seal inside me, they need to obtain the Key of the Demon Emperor. But now, this little bottle can actually unlock the magic seal within me." Victor was secretly delighted, but also filled with guilt and apology towards Lilia.

An hour later, Victor gradually lost the ability to feel the flow of magic power within his body. His eyelids grew heavier and heavier until he finally passed out.

......