It was a terrible accident.

Either that or it a grave miscalculation on the Great One's part.

Either way, Conrad upon his return to his home to assure the others that his mission had been successful, and their new Demon King had the soul of Suzanna Julia von Wincott, as promised. But once he had returned home again, he had been informed by the priestess of the Great One's tomb that their king would no longer be a boy with black hair and black eyes.

But instead, a young girl. One with daylily colored strawberry blond hair and honey amber colored eyes.

To say that Conrad was surprised by this information. Especially when he had personally given the soul entrusted to him to the Shibuya woman who had birthed the child meant to be their future demon king, would be an understatement.

He couldn't help but wonder what had gone so terribly awry that this could even had happened. Especially underneath his nose. After all, he had been right there!

So why hadn't he noticed anything strange happening?

Thankfully, Ulrike was able to answer his questions. Though he didn't particularly like her answers any.

"To begin with, the child chosen to be our future king was born dead due to complications." She stated and then paused while Conrad took several seconds to digest the horrible news.

"He's dead?"

Ulrike nodded sagely before saying. "He was," Conrad's head snapped up so that he could look her in the eyes. His expression incredulous as she went on to say. "But the humans were able to resuscitate him after several minutes."

"Oh..." Was all that he could think to say to that information as the priestess then began to speak again.

"However, by this time Suzanna Julia von Wincott's soul had already found another vessel- And while not an infant. Said child is still young enough to allow her soul to entwine itself with their own without complications or rejecting it."

Conrad took a deep shuddering breath as he nodded his head in understanding before asking, "May I ask the name of this child? The one who will be our king now?"

Ulrike gave him a kind smile, "Of course, Lord Weller. Her name is Ichigo Kurosaki." She paused for a second as if silently debating with herself about something before asking him almost hesitantly. "Would you like to see her face too?"

To be honest, he wasn't sure if he wanted to see her. Part of him was upset greatly by the events that had shifted the balance of power to the hands of a total stranger and yet...he also wished to see the fact of the child that carried his beloved Julia's soul as well if only to commit it to memory.

So, after a second or so of careful thought, he nodded his head and said in a tone that brooked no argument. "Yes, I do."

Ulrike smiled at him brightly, obviously pleased by his answer. Though for the life of him he couldn't figure out why as he slowly stood up from his kneeling position on the floor. As she wasted no time at all to pull the orb that she used to see things far and wide, from its place. And also removed the red piece of cloth from it so that she could take a moment to search for the girl that would one day be their king.

And then once she had found her, she quickly waved Conrad over while jumping a bit in place from excitement. "Here! Here! Come see!"

Conrad walked over to the priestess and the orb and took a moment to let his gaze flicker down at the image into it. He wasn't sure what he was expecting exactly. A child that was still a baby, maybe. A toddler at best. But not this as his eyes widened a little bit in startled shock.

The face in the orb was definitely not a baby or toddler.

The face that he was seeing was...about five or six years of age. And strangely lovely to be that of a child.

Conrad narrowed his eyes a little bit and took a step closer to the orb and asked Ulrike to let him see what she was doing a bit closer. He wanted to know what sort of king she was going to grow up to be.

The priestess obliged his request without asking questions and let the orb show him her surroundings and everything in it. Conrad cocked his head a little bit when he saw two small children, little more than babies clinging to his future king's body- looking afraid.

The two had tears streaming down their faces and were shaking in fright while some other, older looking kids stood a few feet away laughing at them.

He and Ulrike both saw the girl gently place both of the smaller kids behind her and then step forward and cock her arm back, and punch one of the laughing kids in the face. The boy went down screaming while pressing his hand to his bleeding nose and his friends abruptly stopped laughing and launched themselves at her, roaring.

The fight wasn't a very long one. And could barely be considered more than a scuffle between young ones. And yet Conrad was impressed by how determined his future queen was to protect the smaller kids who were both screaming their heads off right then.

The girl took several blows to the face, stomach and chest and yet despite the fact that such blows would typically take someone so young time and a bit of medical care to recover from- but she not only stayed on her feet but gave as good as she got.

Then once she had knocked the last of the older kids down, she stood there and used the back of her hand to wipe the blood from her face and glared at the children that she'd just beat the crap out of and growled out in warning.

"Don't you ever make my little sister's cry again. Now get!" She yelled as she pointed her arm away. The older kids all shook in fright and pain from their injuries as they scrambled to get up and run away.

But what really stuck out in Conrad's mind was the fact that the older kids yelled and spat out the word, 'Demon!' and 'Kurosaki's a demon!' hatefully. And instead of being upset by the word the girl merely grinned at their backs while they ran and muttered,

"Yeah I am." And then turned and walked back to the smaller kids and began to calm them down by talking to them in soft tones, and then eventually picked the youngest of the two up and took hold of the other child's small hand and started walking.

After that the image of the girl that would be their ruler vanished, and Conrad turned to Ulrike to ask her something and paused when he saw her body practically vibrate in place with a peculiar gleam in her eyes. It took him a second or so to recognize the look in the priestess's eyes, but once he did, he supposed that he couldn't blame her any.

After all, the bloodlust that she was feeling at present was simply a small part of being one of the Demon Tribe. It was simply a part of them and could sometimes be very difficult to hide.

"Can I check in on her highness again... Periodically, that is?" He finally asked.

Ulrike started for a second, his voice obviously cutting through her bloodlust and she quickly scrambled to recompose herself before replying with a nervous sounding, "Oh! Yes, of course."

Conrad merely nodded his head and then bid her a good day and left the Great One's tomb immediately after that. He had to inform his mother and his brothers of the changes they needed to make to accommodate a new Queen.

And while he was fairly certain that his mother, the former Demon Queen, would be absolutely tickled pink by the fact that they were going to have another Queen so soon after her own reign. He was also sure that his two brothers wouldn't be very happy at all.

Yet even so...he had a duty to inform them of what was happening and to make any changes necessary. Not only that, but he needed to prepare himself as well. Now that his mission had sort of failed and Suzanna Julia von Wincott's soul was now a part of a little girl... He would have to swear a new oath of fealty to the girl and resign himself to protecting and championing her for the rest of her life.

He had no idea what the next eighteen or so years had in store for those of the Demon Kingdom, but he could only hope that by the time he actually met the girl- she would be a lovely young woman with a good head on her shoulders and be someone fit to rule them.

Otherwise, they were screwed.