The favorability notification was a splash of cold, delicious water to the face.
Seraphina, the ambitious viper, was intrigued. Excellent. A rival who respected my cunning was far more useful than a fiancée who pitied my weakness.
But Lyra… negative ten. Suspicious Threat.
The words sent a pleasant shiver down my spine. Gone was the brother she could manipulate, the foolish dandy whose devotion she could use as a tool. In his place was an unknown variable, a predator who had hijacked her carefully laid plans and twisted them to his own benefit. She was suspicious. She was wary.
Good. Fear is a much stronger foundation for obsession than love.
A palace attendant entered, bowing low. "Your Highness, His Majesty has decreed your visit to the Black Moon Vault. The Imperial Chamberlain is waiting to escort you whenever you are ready."
"I am ready now," I said, swinging my legs out of bed. The 'exhaustion' I had feigned was long gone. My body, refined by the elixir and buzzing with the thrill of victory, felt electric.
The Black Moon Vault was located deep beneath the Imperial Palace, in a place of heavy stone and oppressive silence. The air grew colder with every step down the spiraling staircase. The Imperial Chamberlain, a withered old man who looked like he had been born in the shadows, led the way, his key-ring jingling like the chains of a ghost.
We arrived before a massive circular door forged from pure obsidian, etched with glowing silver runes that seemed to drink the light. There were no locks, no handles.
The Chamberlain placed his hand on the door. "State your name and purpose."
"Kaelen Ravencrest," I said, my voice steady. "Here to claim the boon granted by the Emperor."
The runes on the door flared, shifting and reforming as they scanned my bloodline and spiritual signature. After a moment, a deep, grinding sound echoed through the chamber as the colossal stone door slid open.
"One hour, Your Highness," the Chamberlain said, his voice a dry rasp. "The Vault will seal automatically when the time is up. Do not be inside when that happens."
I nodded and stepped through the threshold.
The interior of the vault was not a treasure room filled with gold and jewels. It was a vast, circular library. Shelves upon shelves of ancient scrolls, jade slips, and leather-bound tomes stretched up into the darkness. In the center of the room, floating above a dais, were a dozen or so artifacts, each glowing with a faint, dangerous light.
This was the true heritage of the Ravencrest dynasty.
[Entering a High-Density Energy Zone]
[The Abyssal Shadow Devouring Art is reacting positively.]
[System is now scanning and cataloging all items within range...]
My [Eye of Scrutiny] went into overdrive, feeding me a torrent of information.
[Item: Blazing Sun Halberd (Heaven Grade)] - Requires a pure Yang physique.
[Technique: Imperial Dragon Force Art (Earth Grade)] - Royal bloodline required.
[Artifact: Aegis of the Undying King (Sealed)] - Cursed. Drains user's life force.
Trash. All of it. Powerful, yes, but they were the tools of a 'hero'. They were righteous, restrictive, or cursed in a way that offered no benefit. My forbidden art was superior to any cultivation technique here. My Shadowfang Dagger, once unsealed, would be more lethal than any of these weapons.
I wasn't here for a weapon or a technique. I was here for knowledge. For a secret.
"System," I commanded, "cross-reference everything you're scanning. I'm looking for a specific combination of terms: 'Netherworld', 'Gateways', 'Soul-Tatter Venom', and 'Summoning'."
Lyra's connection to the Netherworld was a glaring anomaly. Regressing gave her knowledge of the future, not a direct line to a higher realm filled with demons. Someone, or something, had to have opened a path for her. I needed to know how.
...QUERY RECEIVED. CROSS-REFERENCING 1,742 ITEMS.
...PROCESSING...
...MATCH FOUND.
A single item on a dusty, forgotten shelf on the far side of the vault glowed with a faint red light on my system's map.
I walked over to it. It wasn't a scroll or a book. It was a small, black iron ledger, bound with what looked like dried sinew. It felt cold to the touch, and there was no title on its cover. It was completely unassuming. Without the system, I would have overlooked it a thousand times.
I opened it.
The pages were not paper, but some kind of thin, preserved skin. The writing was spidery and mad, written in dried blood. It was a diary. A ledger of transactions.
My eyes widened as I read.
This was the personal journal of my great-great-grandfather, Emperor Malakor Ravencrest. Known in the history books as "Malakor the Mad," his reign was a brief, dark period of paranoia and strange rituals before he was quietly deposed.
But this ledger told the real story.
Malakor hadn't been mad. He had been a pioneer. He had discovered a ritual, a way to use the royal bloodline as a key to temporarily thin the veil between the Mortal Realm and the Netherworld. He had made contact. He had made deals.
He offered sacrifices—prisoners, political rivals, even a few disloyal concubines—in exchange for power, for forbidden knowledge, for demonic servants. The ledger detailed every single transaction in chilling detail.
And on the last page, I found it. A detailed list of ingredients and rituals for creating a "Netherworld Beacon"—a device that would allow a demon to pinpoint a specific soul in the mortal realm and offer them a contract.
The final entry gave me pause.
"The Shadow Lord is generous, but his price is steep. He has granted me a familiar, a Soul-Devouring Imp, to serve my line. The creature is bound to our blood. It slumbers, awaiting a master with the will to command it. But I fear what it will ask for in return. It whispers of… destiny. Of a fractured soul from a fallen star."
A fractured soul from a fallen star. Lin Feng.
My blood ran cold. This wasn't Lyra's doing. This was our family's dark legacy. This "Shadow Lord" had planted this seed centuries ago, waiting. Lyra, in her regression, must have discovered this journal and used the ritual to re-awaken the Imp and contact its master. She offered the demon a deal: help her put its chosen vessel, Lin Feng, on the throne, in exchange for… what?
The system pinged, displaying an analysis of the ledger in my hand.
[Item: Malakor's Demonic Ledger (Unique)]
Description: Contains forbidden rituals for contacting the Netherworld and the summoning rites for a 'Soul-Devouring Imp' bound to the Ravencrest bloodline.
[NEW QUEST CHAIN INITIATED: The Devil's Inheritance]
Part 1: The Slumbering Servant
Objective: Locate and awaken the Soul-Devouring Imp that slumbers within the palace grounds. Bind it to your will before your sister can reclaim it.
Reward: A Netherworld Servant, [Map to the Hidden Ritual Chamber], 1000 SP.
I closed the ledger, a slow, predatory smile spreading across my face.
Lyra thought this was her secret weapon. Her hidden ace. She was wrong. She was just borrowing a tool that belonged to our family. A tool that belonged, by rights, to me.
I would not just hijack her plans. I would steal the very source of her power from under her nose.
My hour was almost up. I didn't need anything else. This ledger was the single greatest treasure in the entire vault.
I tucked it securely into my robes, just as the deep, grinding sound of the vault door beginning to close echoed through the chamber.
I walked out of the Black Moon Vault, my step confident, my mind clear. I had entered as a prince who had earned a favor. I left as a warlock who had just inherited his devil's ledger.
But as I stepped back into the torchlit corridor, the Imperial Chamberlain was not alone.
Standing beside him, her expression a perfect porcelain mask of polite curiosity, was Princess Lyra. She had been waiting for me.
"Brother," she said, her voice as sweet and clear as a silver bell. "Father told me of your boon. I am so terribly grateful for what you did. I came to thank you personally."
Her eyes, however, told a different story. They darted for a fraction of a second to the bulge in my robes where the ledger was hidden.
She knew.
The system confirmed it with a chilling final notification.
[Lyra Ravencrest has used a skill: 'Destiny's Whisper'.]
[She has sensed that you have taken an item crucial to her future plans.]
[Her suspicion has been upgraded to: Hostility.]