After recounting everything that had happened, and once Lucien had left Selene's house, a heavy silence fell over the room.
Roxana and Selene kept their brows furrowed, both with serious expressions of concern.
"This is much more complicated than I initially thought." Roxana was the first to break the silence, and she was fortunate that the Inquisition hunter was that bald man and not D.
Selene, who had regained her noble bearing, sighed. "Those dogs from the Inquisition must be plotting something big." She could smell trouble a mile away. "And you, you business bitch, you belong to the Vânt family, don't you? Why don't you send someone to investigate?"
A vein popped out on Roxana's forehead. "I told you not to call me a bitch…" she growled through gritted teeth. "Besides, I don't have that much influence in the Vânt family. I'm just an outsider, not even a principal."
Then she points at her, as if accusing a criminal: "Why don't you do it, huh? You're the heir to your family, right? And not just anyone: one with a count's title."
"You belong to a family of Counts!? And you're their heiress!?" Lucien stares at her, surprised, his eyes wide open. Didn't that basically make her a princess? For God's sake, he married a vampire princess!
'Oh my God, I have four vampire wives.' Maybe... maybe all his luck in this life had gone with that simple mistake in the ritual... but suddenly, he realizes something he overlooked. 'Wait... if she's an heiress... then she has parents.'
And that's when he got really scared.
He's more worried about facing Selene's parents than the current dangerous situation with the Inquisition.
He couldn't help imagining a situation in which he meets Selene's parents.
"Hello, nice to meet you, I'm the husband of your beautiful daughter."
And before he can finish his sentence, Selene's father flies out of the shadows with a blessed stake.
PUM!
End of the protagonist.
'Here lies Lucien, murdered by love… and an overprotective father-in-law.'
Rest in peace, hero of love (and of the damned lucky one who married beautiful vampires).
What a dignified ending... and so stupidly tragic.
But hey, no one said vampire love was safe, right?
Roxana looks at him and tilts her head. "Didn't I tell you?" She thinks she already told him, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
"You didn't tell me," Lucien shakes his head in denial. "I just assumed you were a noblewoman because of the way Loic reacted. It never crossed my mind that you were from a family of counts."
"Well, now you know." Selene shrugs, not giving it much thought.
"That's it? Already? What if your father drives a stake through my heart?" He looked at her with an absurdly serious expression; this was a life-or-death situation.
"A stake through the heart? What are you talking about, darling?" She doesn't understand what he's talking about. Why did the conversation go from counts to stakes through the heart? "Besides, my father is very affectionate toward me. I don't think he would be capable of attacking you in the slightest."
"Oh no, I'm a dead vampire." For Lucien, this was the worst news he could hear. A father who is affectionate with his daughter can only mean one thing... Danger! Yes, danger! And this has been proven in many manga and anime.
Roxana, who finds the whole interaction amusing, suddenly frowns in annoyance. "Ahem, we've strayed from the main topic," she says, looking at her husband, and her discomfort disappears.
"..." Lucien, who noticed Roxana's mood swings, couldn't help but shake his head; women were truly incomprehensible. "Well... I've told you everything that happened. What are the next steps?" He looks at them and sniffs their collarbones, which seem to be seducing him to bite them.
"Hmm..." Selene puts her hand on her chin. "We have to prepare ourselves so they don't catch us off guard."
"That's right," Roxana nods in agreement and adds with a frown. "But there's something that worries me..."
"Loic, right?" Lucien adds.
"Yes, that bastard is very problematic, and now that he's working with the Inquisition, he's very unpredictable." She pauses briefly and becomes thoughtful. "Since that son of a bitch knows our locations, he's probably already sold us out."
"Well, this is very problematic." He understands the situation, and it never hurts to be prepared against a possible attack. "Luna," he calls to her.
"Yes, Lord Lucien." She steps out of his shadow, keeping her expression neutral, and adjusts her glasses.
"Inform Sesha and Scarlet about the current situation so they can prepare themselves." Even though he didn't know them yet, he wasn't going to neglect their safety; they were his wives, and it was the least he could do for now.
"Yes, sir." Luna disappears into the shadows.
"Darling, how long has Luna been in your shadow?" Selene looks at him with lifeless eyes and crosses her arms.
He smiles broadly and says in a playful tone, "Who knows~"
"Tsk." She clicks her lips in annoyance, saying nothing.
Roxana shook her head, slowly approached him, and gently bit his collarbone.
"Bitch! Don't get ahead of me," Selene hugged him possessively, inhaled his scent, and licked his neck before biting it too.
Lucien just smiles, unable to help thinking about how chaotic it would be once his other wives show up.
...
October 7. Three days after Kael took his mother out of the hospital, and confronted the group of hunters.
Current location... England, one of the headquarters of the Inquisition organization.
"Let me see if I understand..." A woman with olive skin, long blonde hair, green eyes, and a cigar in her mouth speaks with a tired expression. She raises her hand to her forehead, exhales a cloud of smoke, and says, "I gave an order to search for and capture the vampire who stole the blood of Christ, right?"
"Yes," replies Sypha, who had been called. She had reported on her cooperation with the vampire who stole Christ's blood and on a vampire who is immune to sunlight.
"..." The woman's expression crumbles, she sighs deeply, and leans back in her chair. "Where did it all go wrong... I just had to capture that vampire, and that would be it, not cooperate with him."
"But that vampire didn't give any information about the vampires from noble houses. It was an opportunity to finish them off," Sypha tried to justify herself, but deep down she knew she was wrong.
"…" The woman looks at her, exhaling smoke from her cigar. "Well, did you manage to kill one of them?"
"…No."
Suddenly, someone opens the door and enters.
"Mrs. Esther, it's true that a vampire immune to the sun has appeared." The man who entered spoke in an extremely respectful tone.
Esther, the woman with olive skin, long blonde hair, and green eyes, looked at the man who had just entered: he appeared to be 30 years old, with black hair, brown eyes, 1.75 meters tall, and wearing a white priest's robe.
"Oh, David, yeah, I just realized, plus some generals are in contact with the vampire thief."
David looked at Esther with an expression and, without asking any questions, said, "Do you want me to report this to the Vatican?"
"Yes, and haven't you had any reports from D?" Esther asked.
"Yes, he's in New York, and he's already reported several dead vampires and a small clan that was in hiding has been destroyed," David said without the slightest surprise. "Even though D is very solitary, he's very efficient at his job."
"Yes, now go and inform the Vatican about the appearance of an anomaly."
David nods and leaves the room.
Esther turned her face toward Sypha and let out a tired sigh. "Go retrieve the blood of Christ... and capture that vampire. Now that you have contact with him, don't let him escape," she said, pulling a new cigar from one of the desk drawers.
"Yes, Mrs. Esther." Sypha bowed her head slightly and turned around, disappearing down the hallway.
When the door closed, silence filled the room. Esther took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, massaging her forehead with her fingers.
She couldn't help but wonder at what point everything had gone to hell.
"Who would think of working with a vampire who stole something so important...?" she muttered, more to herself than to anyone else.
She shook her head, and her gaze drifted to the window overlooking the illuminated city. In her eyes, the reflection of the lights seemed to burn with the same concern she felt in her chest.