( Zandar, at the funeral ceremony )
The atmosphere at the funeral was tense.
Once all the lord's had paid their final respects to King Regus, it was time for the family members to say a farewell speech as it was the opportunity for Felix Aurelius to make his case to become the next king.
Since Felix was a mortal, the chances of him being appointed as the next lord were next to none, however, that did not change the fact that his words held a lot of sway amongst the Vampire Lord's and that he was now the de-facto leader of the Aurelius clan.
" Firstly, I would like to thank all the lord's who have gathered here in these tumultuous times to pay their final respects to my father.
My father was undoubtedly a great man, and I'm sure that he could not have lost the battle against Dracula in a fair fight.
It was either a lowly trick that killed him, or it was the betrayal by one of our own...
I won't sit here and lie about my ambitions to not be appointed as the next king, however, I also acknowledge the fact that I don't have the necessary strength yet to lead our people.
However, what I do understand is that REGARDLESS of whether I become the next king or not, MAX RAJPUT cannot be allowed to become our king either.
THAT MAN, has done nothing but oppose and accuse my father, WHEN time and time again he has fought for our species with his very life on the line.
I find it incredibly convenient that Lord Max was the only one present to witness the scene when my father died and that he was just a few seconds late to save him.
I don't know if he helped Dracula in killing my father or he just purposefully arrived a ' few ' seconds late.
However, his side of the story is nothing but suspicious and I am not fooled one bit by his pretence of being innocent.
EVERYONE here knows that he covets the throne and now that my father is dead, he might actually get it!
My father always talked about unity and integrity in these trying times.
Despite everything, he wanted to keep the vampire society intact and he wanted to keep all the vampire lords united in spirit and in practice.
As the leader of the Aurelius clan, and as my father's son, I want to only make one thing clear today and that's the fact that IF THAT DESPICABLE MAN is appointed the next king, the Aurelius clan is going to walk out of the vampire society.
I'm never accepting him as the next ruler and in my opinion neither should any of you!
As I stand above my father's cold body here today, I swear on his grave that I, FELIX AURELIUS, THE FIRST OF MY NAME, will join him in the grave before kneeling before Max Rajput and his tyranny even if it goes against my father's wishes of integrity and one'ness " Felix said as a rowdy ruckus erupted in the mourning halls of Zandar.
Instead of giving Regus a heartfelt farewell like Sabrina gave Vega, Felix chose to give the most scathing and polarising speech using his own father's dead body to deliver maximum emotional impact.
So far, the discussion about the next king had not even started, yet before the council of lord's even convened, Felix laid the groundwork and stacked the odds against Max by painting him in a scandalous picture.
It really was odd that Max reached Regus's aid only a few seconds after he died and that he was the only one who witnessed him die.
If one overlapped this ' co-incidence ' with Max's declaration a few days ago to become the next King and how the vampire leadership needed a reform, it wasn't hard to think that he purposefully let him die even though that wasn't actually the case.
People tended to assume the worst in one another as if they felt like they could commit the same crime if they were put in the criminals place, they automatically assumed that the other party was ' Guilty '
Unfortunately for Max, his word over the matter while being good enough for the vampire lords to not openly persecute him, was not good enough for them to not form a negative opinion of him.
Right before the voting for the next king, such a negative image meant that Max would find it even more difficult to rally support, which was only made worse by Felix declaring that the Aurelius clan would rather break away from the vampire society than bend the knee to him.
Left in an impossible position Max could do nothing but take all the hate he was receiving with a smile on his face as he knew that arguing with a hurt child was going to achieve nothing.
Felix Aurelius had just lost his dad and his delirious head made him blame Max for his loss.
If Max scolded him or berated him here, it would only make him appear even lesser of a man than being an opportunist as there was no way that Max got out of this situation without taking a loss.
' I bet you are smiling in your grave, King Regus, you are creating problems for me even though you are dead- ' Max thought as he slapped his head and wondered about his next move.
All around him, the various vampire lords were discussing if he was really a traitor? If he really killed Regus or whether or not the vampire society still had a reason to stay intact?
Amongst the chaos, Severus desperately tried to rally support for Max, however, it was like trying to hold back the ocean tide with a bucket.
Felix's speech had already riled up the crowd and a comeback from here seemed unlikely for Max today.
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/// A/N - Bonus chapter for hitting the GT target, thank-you so much for all your support. ///