A delicate floral fragrance wafted in with Queen Maria's footsteps, its scent gentle and soothing.
This is Norton's favorite perfume scent, which requires a Vampire to work day and night to refine and extract. It takes at least a dozen bouquets of flowers and two full days to complete the entire process.
However, Vampire are not valuable, and their labor costs are also low.
Maria knew that the Pale God Norton loved this soft floral scent the most, so she never changed her perfume.
Maria smiled sweetly, her dress exquisite and elegant. At twenty years old, she had blossomed into a stunning beauty, a first-rate beauty, and was hailed as the most beautiful woman in the Southern Continent, as well as the most beautiful queen in the Southern Continent.
Its followers are now numerous and extremely fanatical.
In order to give their idealized queen a lofty status, they even went so far as to use various literary and artistic means to shape Queen Maria into a symbol of the Southern Continent and a benchmark of the Holy Empire.
Therefore, some people call this era the Maria Carey.
All the achievements of today are attributed to Queen Maria's reign.
As for Maria's actual skill level, only she knows.
Queen Maria, feeling her face already slightly stiff from smiling, dared not relax for a moment.
Although her behavior remained very casual, rushing into the Pale Holy See without even reporting it, the pressure she felt inside was immense.
She's a fool. From childhood, Norton instilled class ideology in her, and now her values are all geared towards serving class.
In her mind, the Pale God who raised and nurtured her was the first class in this world. And she, Queen Maria, as the Queen of the Holy Empire, was the second class, and everything else was slavery.
Everything she has is a gift from that Pale God, and can also be taken away at will.
So although Maria usually acts like a normal person, she is actually suppressing her inner feelings to an extreme degree.
She feared being stripped of her queenly status by that Pale God, yet she held the concept of class in high esteem, for it was the very foundation of her current exalted position. Consequently, her feelings toward the nurturing of that Pale God unconsciously changed.
Of course, it couldn't develop into romantic feelings; after all, this isn't a romance novel.
Rather, it's a slightly perverse mentality, similar to that of a eunuch towards the emperor—wanting to flatter him while simultaneously fearing the loss of power.
Queen Maria touched her face, sniffed the faint fragrance that clung to her hands, then lifted her dress, making her smile even brighter, before quickly running into the Holy See Palace.
"Aunt Elizabeth, does His Majesty have time now?"
Elizabeth, who had been waiting at the pale doors of His Majesty's bedchamber, stood expressionless, her behavior now markedly different from that of Abraham.
Pale God Norton is no longer afraid of being betrayed, so the old separation of power is no longer in effect.
With Norton's neglect of state affairs, all power in the Holy Empire of the Southern Continent is now in the hands of Abraham, and Elizabeth has become Norton's maid, responsible for managing all of Norton's affairs.
"His Majesty is already waiting for you." Elizabeth led Maria slowly upstairs.
Maria gazed at the graceful figure before her, her slender hands clutching the hem of her skirt, her silver teeth gently biting her lower lip.
She envied Elizabeth immensely, for Elizabeth had no worries whatsoever, sitting securely as God's first among men, just like Abraham. Such a carefree and favored position filled her with jealousy, which was why she was so obsessed with becoming Vampire.
Because she felt that after becoming Vampire, she would no longer need to worry about the instability of her status, and she could truly become the queen of this Holy Empire!
"Your Majesty!" As the tower doors opened, Queen Maria, like a butterfly fluttering her dress, rushed toward the pale figure.
Norton had just blasphemed God, was still savoring the moment and was in an exceptionally good mood.
"Oh, it's little Maria. Why aren't you back as the Queen of your empire? Why did you decide to come here instead?"
Norton can now be considered a centenarian. He has lived for over a hundred years, and regardless of whether his knowledge has grown or not, he is certainly old enough.
This also allowed him to see Maria, whom he had raised from childhood, showing a rare look of kindness in her eyes.
"I'm already twenty years old, Your Majesty! You promised to turn me into Vampire when I turned twenty, I want to stay young forever!" Maria stretched out her hands and could barely grasp one of Norton's pale, slender, yet large hands, shaking it in her own, like a girl's coquettish plea.
Such an intimate gesture was truly comforting; at the very least, it slightly touched Norton's century-long loneliness, causing him to reveal a gentle smile.
"Alright, alright, little Maria is getting old enough. But Vampire from the True Ancestor to the fourth generation are all ugly, with long, narrow fangs and strange eyes. How about she become Fifth-Generation Vampire? Human-like yet beautiful, it's the best way to preserve her beauty." Norton was indeed understanding. He grinned, revealing his white teeth, which on his exquisite face actually had a slightly creepy feel that made one's teeth ache.
But the words he uttered sent a chill down Maria's spine.
Fifth-Generation Vampire?
She was a queen, the only queen of the Holy Empire's unified empire, yet His Majesty only granted her the identity of Fifth-Generation Vampire?
This is utter contempt for her!
"No, Your Majesty, I don't want to become Fifth-Generation Vampire! Fifth-Generation Vampire are all slaves! You said I am the queen of everyone in this Southern Continent. If I'm going to be one, I want to be True Ancestor- level Vampire, Your Majesty!"
Maria's heart tightened, but she pouted and kept shaking Norton's hand, trying to win him over.
Norton's pure white, delicate face turned to her, and a sinister smile appeared on his face as well. His gleaming white teeth parted slightly, radiating a chilling aura.
"Yes, you are the queen of everyone in the Southern Continent, so why did you become Vampire?"
Norton's ancient language was still beautiful to hear, but to Queen Maria, it felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
"No... Your Majesty, have you forgotten? You promised me, I am royalty, I am royalty!" Maria cried out in panic, desperately reaching for Norton's hand.
"Everyone knows I never keep my word." Norton moved his hand away, preventing her from grasping it.
She stared blankly at the Pale God before her, whose face was smiling but whose eyes held no joy, and finally realized her true status.
Queen Maria was nothing but a puppet.