When the baby started to open his eyes, Esther was in bed, resting with the newborn prince in her arms.

Beautiful eyes as red as rubies.

As the one holding him, she was first to notice that his eyes were red, causing her breaths to turn shallow. But she wasn’t alone in the room. There was the midwife, the royal physicians and the newly assigned nanny waiting by her side.

Gasps could be heard within the Queen’s chamber.

‘I should have expected this.’

To Esther, those were the prettiest eyes of a baby she had ever seen. She knew the reason why his eyes were red, and it was because he took after his biological father. Now that she studied her son, she realized that those tiny tufts of soft hair on his head were too dark to be brown. It wasn’t quite obvious yet because he’s covered in cloth right now, but his hair was jet black, different from Esther and Theron’s. She had honey blond hair while Theron, like all the direct descendants of the Ivanov bloodline, had greyish brown hair.

Gossip was quick to spread within the palace.

As the Second Prince was the King and Queen’s son, no one dared say anything on their faces but behind their backs, people talked about the peculiarities of the Second Prince.

‘Why does he have red eyes when none of his parents had irises of such colour?’

That question badgered everyone’s minds. Red was such a chilling ominous colour—it was the colour of blood and warfare, and it was impossible for any human to have red-coloured eyes.

The more scholarly people could not help but question whether the Second Prince was visually impaired or suffering from a rare disease, but the nobles and common folk had taken a more religious take, especially since the Second Prince was born after the kingdom suffered from disasters one after another.

In folklore, only devils were known to have red eyes. A devil’s spawn.

“I heard the Second Prince’s eyes are red?”

“Indeed, I am among those servants who helped clean the blood from Her Majesty’s chamber. I swear I saw it!”

“I overheard the prince’s nanny and according to her, His Highness the Second Prince’shair is pure black as well.”

“Did the Queen, perhaps—”

“Shush! Do you want to be hanged for slandering royalty?”

It had reached the point that the rumours reached King Theron’s ears as well. He had not gone back to visit Esther after she gave birth, handling the work he had put off for the past couple of days.

He needed to do something to resolve it before the rumours took a worse turn for Esther and her son, and as he checked the calendar, he issued a decree to the Queen and the high nobles to start preparing for a royal event.

A grand naming ceremony would be held for the newborn prince within three days.

King Theron had decided to address the rumors in a  way that was most believable for the people. Prior to the ceremony, King Theron personally called for the High Priest to his study, none aware that he had some other reason behind it.

Prince Drayce Ivanov, the second heir of the King of Megaris and the only son of his first wife, Queen Esther.

When the High Priest saw the little prince, he brought him to the altar to have him blessed, and all the guests listened to his prayers to the ancient gods, thanking them for giving such a precious gift to the Kingdom of Megaris.

Many of the guests felt that the current naming ceremony was different from that with Prince Keiran.

At the end of the ceremony, the High Priest declared, “The Ivanovs are truly the beloved children protected by the Divine. As a symbol of the Black Dragon’s eternal pledge to protect Megaris, the Black Dragon has blessed His Highness Prince Drayce with his own divine powers. This child will be the future of this kingdom! This is a message from the gods!”

Those words caused an uproar in the crowd.

The High Priest had no qualms with his announcement, as he felt that in fact, it wasn’t a lie. He was a clergyman who had read ancient records and dedicated his life to the gods since young. Despite being human, he was aware of many things about the world beyond the mortal world.

Since the Devil himself had decided to put his own son on the throne of the kingdom, the High Priest believed it was a given that this was an act that would benefit the world.

That was why when King Theron had asked for him, he also agreed with the plan he proposed. It would be unfair for the husband and wife to suffer more after making a great sacrifice to save this kingdom and its people. As a High Priest, he should protect that truth for the sake of the royal family and the kingdom.

‘Your Highness Prince Drayce, I hope you will grow up well,’ that was his only wish as he concluded the grand naming ceremony and returned to the temple.

Because the High Priest declared it in front of the public, the doubts about the newborn prince being a Devil’s spawn started to disappear. They revered the Black Dragon that protected the Ivanovs.

It was an easy feat for them to be convinced; after all, wasn’t it the King and Queen’s act of praying in the temple that saved the kingdom from the plague?

The people realized that the Second Prince was special and they rejoiced that this meant the entire kingdom had received the blessing from the Black Dragon himself. His red eyes and jet black hair were evidence of a divine blessing from the gods.

‘The future of this kingdom? You dare say that despite my Little Keiran being the firstborn?’

However, that announcement of the High Priest raised the vigilance to a certain blue-eyed woman living in Vermillion Palace.

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