Asiva was shocked to hear the news of Regus's death.
When the black letter reached Dombivli, she almost felt like someone was playing a prank on her as there was no way that Regus would die just two days after Vega Titus did.
Unfortunately, it was no joke. Regus really was dead and she was expected to report to Zandar's mourning hall in black clothes within the next two hours.
According to the report, it was Max who brought Regus's body back which meant that he was already present on Zandar, however, what bothered Asiva was not that Max was present on Zandar, however, she knew that because he was there when Regus died, questions were bound to be raised on whether or not he genuinely tried to save the king.
Asiva knew that with Max openly challenging Regus's authority two days ago, and him being present at the scene where Regus died, everyone was going to assume the worst that he betrayed the king.
With Regus dying, a new king was bound to be appointed, and while Max had a good shot at becoming the next vampire king, if his moral integrity was questioned, he might face difficulty convincing the vampire council to rally behind himself.
" Anna! I'm afraid there's some extremely bad news, we need to rush to Zandar at once- " Asiva said as she briefed Anna about the situation and prepared her to leave for Zandar as well.
*********
( Meanwhile Julia Caesar, acting Matriarch of the Caesar clan )
Julia had never received a letter as bold as the one she did yesterday.
Initially, her instinct was to tear the offer letter to merge her clan down to pieces as although Julian was dead, the Caesar military was still as strong as ever.
However, despite her disgust at the very thought of merging her clan, she could not deny the fact that the Caesars were on a path of decline.
Without Julian, their clan was bound to fall to 4th or 5th place in terms of rankings and there were many branch family members vying for the spot of the next clan leader as they felt like Julia wasn't fit to lead them.
It was only a matter of time before she lost her authority as the matriarch and if it wasn't for all the ongoing chaos she might have lost it already by now.
She understood that she did not have what it took to be a leader as she could not command the respect of her underlings like Julian, however, her not being the clan leader did not mean she had any plans of betraying it.
She was born and brought up in the Caesar clan and had lived a fulfilling life alongside Julian, her decisions were always going to be in the best interest of the clan and her child and she understood that there was no room for personal feelings while making such important decisions.
And personal feelings kept aside, Julia did feel like joining forces with Max was the right choice as not only was he a tier7 powerhouse, but with how young he was and how fast he was progressing he was bound to become a monarch.
If he did become monarch, he could eventually become the vampire king, which meant that she could not only see Regus being shrunk down to size, but also make the Caesar clan the ruling royalty.
Naturally, the internal ministry positions and intricate details needed to be pre-negotiated with Max, however, the idea itself was not bad.
However, with the death of Regus Aurelius this whole equation changed!
As Julia read the second most shocking letter in two consecutive days, she felt like the world was spinning out of control.
She hated Regus, she wanted to watch him die almost as badly as Max did, however, just like Max she too did not wish for him to die a noble death.
She wanted him to be humiliated, disgraced and chastised before dying, however, he was now going to be immortalised as a Vampire hero.
" NOO– " Julia shrieked as she absolutely lost her calm.
Her one shot at revenge had been lost forever…
*******
( Meanwhile Severus )
As Severus read the black letter informing him of Regus's death, he knew that the political tides had changed and that this was his opportunity to play kingmaker.
The moment Max had declared his intentions to openly challenge Regus a couple days ago, Severus had been wondering on how he could assist him, as he could think of only one way where he could-
The Saint Maximus registry that was open to only the clans patriarch contained some of the most heinous and dirty secrets of the honourable lords of several clans as it was saved as blackmail material for when the times were the most desperate.
Before now, no clan leader had ever opened this list because just revealing its existence could cause all other clans to single out Saint Maximus, however, Severus knew that this was the right moment to bring that material out.
If the various lords present at the funeral voluntarily supported Max, then Severus did not plan to threaten them, however, should any of them strongly oppose Max, Severus would accompany them to a silent corner and then blackmail them into submission.
It wasn't the cleanest of methods, nor was it the noblest of ways to make Max the next king, however, Severus had decided in his heart, that no matter what the council leaned towards, come voting time he was going to make Max the next vampire king for sure.
Severus truly believed that Max had the necessary moral integrity, the necessary vision and most importantly the necessary might to rule the vampires with an iron fist which could lead them to centuries of progress.
He could become the best vampire king to ever take the throne, far surpassing Regus or Rumi Titus and because of this belief, Severus was ready to support him wholeheartedly.
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/// A/N - Bonus chapter for hitting the GT target, good job everyone! ///