"Dong dong dong, dong dong dong." Candace knocked on Ling's door.

Due to sleeping late last night, Ling was still fast asleep and didn't hear Candace's knocking at all.

Seeing that Ling didn't respond, Candace gently pushed open the door and walked in.

She lightly nudged Ling.

Ling slowly opened her eyes and saw Candace standing by the bed. She asked in confusion, "What's the matter?"

Candace hesitated for a moment, but finally spoke up, "The Empress Dowager has passed away."

"What?!" Ling's eyes widened instantly, her sleepiness completely gone. She looked at Candace's eyes in astonishment, trying to find any trace of falsehood.

But Candace had a grief-stricken expression and spoke in a serious tone.

Ling sat up abruptly, placing her hand on her chest, feeling as if her heart had been shattered.

"Mother, how could Mother..." Ling murmured, tears streaming down her cheeks. She couldn't believe the Empress Dowager's passing.

Just yesterday, Ling had seen the Empress Dowager watering flowers in the backyard. How could she...?

Choking on her words, Ling asked, "How did the Empress Dowager die?!"

Candace looked at the tearful Ling and also felt great sorrow in her heart. She knew that Your Majesty the Empress Dowager was a pitiable child who had never enjoyed a mother's love in her life.

When the mother and daughter reunited, the Empress Dowager was already suffering from amnesia. She only remembered her eldest daughter and didn't recognize her second daughter.

"According to Princess Baixi, the Empress Dowager was attacked by criminals and tragically died. Princess Lanzu and Princess Baixi are currently preparing the funeral for the Empress Dowager. Princess Baixi asked me to take you to the underground chamber on the east side of the palace to retrieve the coffin and let the Empress Dowager rest in peace." Candace informed Ling truthfully, also relaying Princess Baixi's instructions.

After hearing this, Ling felt her head spinning and her mind went blank. In just one night, the Empress Dowager had passed away. Ling had been waiting for her mother to regain her memory, to spend more time together, and even to get closer to her. But now her mother had left her like this...

Wiping away her tears, Ling said, "Take me to the underground chamber to retrieve the coffin."

Candace nodded and led Ling to the underground chamber.

After a while, they arrived at a secluded area on the east side of the palace. Candace handed Ling a thin needle and said, "Your Majesty, drip a drop of blood onto the bat statue over there, and it will open the entrance to the underground chamber." She pointed to a bat statue on the ground nearby.

Ling took the needle and pricked her finger, letting a drop of blood fall onto the bat statue.

After the blood dripped down, the eyes of the bat statue suddenly emitted red light, and the ground cracked open, revealing a flight of stone steps.

Candace led Ling down the stairs, and they entered a spacious underground space filled with ancient objects. The stone walls were covered in magical runes, emitting a dim yellow light.

Ling was shocked by this underground space; she had never known that such a place existed in the palace.

"Your Majesty, I can only take you here. Inside the chamber, there are many recognition runes. If you make a mistake, you'll be attacked indiscriminately." Candace said to Ling. She had also waited here for the Empress Dowager in the past.

"I understand," Ling nodded.

"Your Majesty, please remember that there is a trigger mechanism five steps ahead and a recognition magic circle seven steps behind. You need to step on the third and sixth steps, awakening the guardian statues on both sides," Candace instructed. "Afterwards, you need to drip three drops of blood on the statues, and a red gemstone will appear. Dripping three drops of blood will turn the gemstone into a guide."

Ling took note of Candace's instructions, took a deep breath, and gently pushed open the stone door, entering the underground chamber.

Inside, it was brightly lit, much brighter than outside the stone door. Strange patterns were carved on the walls on both sides. Ling cautiously took steps, raising his right foot on the third step and his left foot on the sixth step.

After two loud rumbles, the eyes of the statues on both sides emitted red light. Then, a stone chest slid out from the wall, inside of which lay a blood-red gemstone.

Ling cut his finger and let three drops of blood drip onto the gemstone. The gemstone suddenly emitted a dazzling red light, then began to twist and transform into a bat made of gemstone.

"Take me to the location where the coffin is stored," Ling spoke.

The gemstone bat received the command and began to lead Ling. Ling passed through layer after layer of obstacles, arriving at a massive inner chamber. In the center, there was a black stone coffin with carvings and the number "29" in the center of the carvings.

"29" symbolized that Lilia was the twenty-ninth generation vampire queen, representing her identity. Beside the 29th coffin, there was another coffin with the number "28" carved on it.

This coffin is so big! How can I move it?

Ling looked at the gemstone bat and asked, "Can you help me move it?"

In an instant, the gemstone bat grew in size and followed the command, moving the coffin out of the underground chamber.

As Ling and Candace walked out of the underground chamber, the ground automatically closed up, returning to its normal appearance.

At the same time, Lilia's body was finally prepared for burial. Baixi saw that the coffin hadn't arrived yet and walked towards the east side of the palace.

"Candace, I saw a coffin with the number '28' in the underground chamber. Does that mean my grandmother didn't pass away? Will she come?" Ling asked innocently.

"The twenty-eighth generation Your Majesty perished ten months before your birth. It was a significant event, and there was not enough time to use the coffin," Candace gently explained the news of Lilia's passing to Ling, without going into detail about what happened at the time, as it would have negative implications. "If Your Majesty wants to know the details, please ask the Empress."

Just then, Baixi arrived at the east side of the palace and immediately spotted the coffin and the two individuals beside it.

"No wonder you're so slow, turns out you couldn't move it," Baixi walked over and effortlessly lifted the coffin onto his shoulder. "Quickly, let's go to the ancestral hall and pay our final respects to Grandmother."

In no time, the three of them arrived outside the ancestral hall, where Baixi placed the coffin outside and entered the hall together with Ling, while Candace waited outside.

Ling looked at the body of the deceased, feeling an endless wave of sorrow in his heart. Baixi also tightly held Ling's hand, trying to ease his little niece's grief.

"Grandmother..." Ling knelt beside Lilia's body, tears flowing like rain.

Baixi also knelt down and sobbed softly. Lanzu stood by the side, watching Lilia's body, lost in thought.

For a long time, the two wiped away their tears but remained kneeling on the ground.

"When will Iris come?" suddenly, Lili Lanzu, who was standing on the side, spoke.

Ling, who was immersed in sadness, only then realized that her elder sister had not come to the funeral of their mother! Such behavior from her sister was unfilial, how could she not come to send their mother on her final journey?

"Mother is weak and even standing up is a problem," Baixi said.

"Baixi, use the Consciousness Space to ask Iris for an accurate answer," Lili Lanzu instructed.

"Yes, Aunt Grandmother," Baixi replied.

Soon after, through the Consciousness Space, Baixi communicated with Iris, "Mother, are you coming to our grandmother's funeral? I can carry you on my back."

In the sleeping chambers, Iris fell into a deep sleep, without any response.

"What did Iris say?" Lili Lanzu asked, crossing her arms.

"Mother did not respond," Baixi answered.

As Baixi finished speaking, Lili Lanzu lifted Lilia's body and spoke indifferently, "Since Iris does not wish to come, let's proceed with the burial."

Lili Lanzu placed Lilia's body into the coffin, and she and Baixi carried the coffin towards the imperial tomb.

Moments later, Dugu and the vampire soldiers stationed in the palace all arrived, bowing their heads in silence.

Merice's cheeks were filled with grief as she slowly approached the coffin and knelt on both knees.

With the solemn funeral march playing, Baixi stood up and lit the incense in front of her grandmother's coffin, on behalf of the future Iris. Baixi watched the winding smoke rise and tears rolled down uncontrollably.

Baixi gently wiped away her tears and looked at the portrait of her grandmother embedded on the coffin. She knew she would never see that face again.

Baixi, Ling, and Merice once again knelt before Lilia's coffin, paying their sincerest respects and deepest mourning to her...

As the funeral march neared its end, the coffin was lifted and taken towards the imperial tomb...

Everyone was enveloped in the sadness of Lilia's passing, only Iris and Chaos knew that she had not truly died.