Chapter 281: Vlad problems. "That's still not enough..." Vlad's eyes gleamed dangerously. "... What will you do?" Alexios asked with a neutral look. "...Nothing, for now." Vlad spoke after giving his decision some thought, "It's impossible to break their bond. To do that, I would have to kill the boy, but that would risk the Dryad dying too, and I would earn the grudge of my strongest warrior." 'Losing Scathach is not an option. She's the closest I have to a proper warrior. If I give her some more time, she'll reach a level strong enough to fight those bastards.' "...I see... If you want to complete your plans, that boy cannot be killed anymore." "Tsk." It's not like Vlad wanted to kill Victor, after all, having a Night King as his 'subordinate' was a brilliant piece to have, but... 'The Night King's characteristics are starting to become apparent within him...' What are these characteristics? It's simple, a king would never bow his head to anyone since, the moment he does, he would no longer be a king. 'With great pride, the craving of insubordination is almost certain...' Victor was not just a very proud man. He was very vengeful. Vlad knew that in the future, Victor would point his sword blade at him. After all, the act of being forced away from his wives for a year and six months would never be forgotten. He would challenge Vlad in the future. But... So what? 'It didn't matter if he was a Night King, or someone very talented.' The 5000 year chasm could not be overcome by this alone. For vampires, time was an absolute truth, as they would only increase their power limit as they grew older. An absolute rule that also applied to Victor as well as Vlad himself. Victor was a 'baby' vampire under 23 years old, while Vlad was a 5000+ year old monster. A monster that has been alive longer than civilization itself, something like that can't be defeated with just a little time. The word 'challenge' here is incorrect from the start since Victor never had a chance to challenge Vlad from the start. It's because of this confidence in his strength and in 'time' that Vlad didn't care about Victor. Victor's very existence as the Night King would strengthen his strongest warrior. 'But... to think that he would win the Dryad's approval...' For the first time in many years, Vlad felt something when he looked at an 'opponent'. ... He felt a sense of danger. It was just a small sensation, like a tiny needle stuck in the thick skin of a giant. But it was definitely there. An annoying needle that, in time, would only grow and grow into something he couldn't control. "Hmm…" Vlad touched his chin. 'Should I remove this before it becomes annoying? But... The consequences of removing him are quite severe. He just became someone very important to that little girl, even though she didn't notice it... Should I make him move away from the capital then? Eleanor is in the capital, so she can ask for his help to deal with those monsters... That seems to be-.' Vlad stopped thinking and looked at the entrance to the throne room. "Princess, Stop-." A royal guard tried to hold Ophis, but his hand just passed over the little girl's body. As long as the little girl wanted to, no one could touch her. BAMMM Suddenly a wild little girl entered the throne room and walked in front of Vlad. 'Ophis...' Vlad was a little shocked since he'd never seen that determined of an expression from Ophis before... Ophis arrived in front of Vlad and asked in an innocent child's voice: "Old man, I want to visit my father. Why are you blocking me?" She'd been back at the castle for a long time, and she'd wanted to go back to Victor, but this pesky old man had put up several guards to keep her from leaving. And the castle was also restricted with some kind of magic that prevented her from using her powers. 'Annoying... Annoying... Old man, annoying.' "....." Vlad's entire existence seemed to freeze at Ophis's words. He looked like a man who looked into Medusa's eyes and turned to stone. "Old man?" "OO-Old..." Vlad stuttered a lot. "Lady Ophis." Alexios suddenly spoke. "...?" Ophis looked at Alexios with a curious look. "Who taught you these words?" "???" Question marks appeared around Ophis, she didn't understand what Alexios was talking about. Alexios corrected himself when he saw the little girl's confused look, "I'm talking about the words 'Old man', who taught you that?" "Oh..." Ophis suddenly remembered what Scathach said. "If anyone asks you where you learned these words, say it was your older brothers. If you do, I will completely support you to be alone with your father." Ophis' eyes lit up a little as she remembered what Scathach had said, and she replied: "My older brothers taught me." "...." Another silence fell over the place. Suddenly, a dark pressure left Vlad's body while a vein began bulging on his head. He looked quite annoyed. "Which of your older brothers said that?" "Hmm..." Ophis suddenly remembered something else Scathach said. "If anyone asks which older brother you learned this from, you should just play innocent." "Elder brother, is it the eldest brother?" Ophis replied with her head turned a little confused. "...Ugh, I'm asking which big brother?" Vlad felt quite pressured. "It's the big brother!" Ophis spoke with a confident face. A vein popped in Vlad's head. This wasn't getting anywhere, he knew the little girl wasn't lying, considering she's never lied before. If you asked her something, she'd answer. Now... The art of understanding what she was talking about is something quite complex...𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚 "Master, be patient, you know Ophis, she doesn't care at all about her older brothers. She probably doesn't even remember what they look like." Alexios supported the king. "..." Vlad nodded his head, indicating that he understood what Alexios said, and looked at Ophis. Seeing her neutral gaze, that of which no emotion could be deciphered, the memory of a woman seemed to overlap with Ophis. 'Ugh, she's just like her mother.' Vlad clearly remembered that when the Mother of Ophis spoke to him, he had no chance in trying to decipher what she was saying, the woman was confusing, and her words sometimes made no sense, but they were never lies. 'And it looks like your daughter has inherited these strange traits too.' Vlad thought to himself. "Old man, why are you standing still? I want to visit my father, let me out!" Crack, Crack. "...." A cold sweat broke out on Alexios' face as he saw Vlad shattering the throne with sheer force. Veins were popping all over Vlad's head, he'd never felt this irritated before. "Ophis, I'm not 'Old man', I'm your father." "...Father?" Ophis turned her face confused. "Yes." Ophis fixed Vlad with her neutral gaze. Soon her head began to spin. Old man > Father. Old man promoted! 'Ohhhh.' As if understanding something, her head began to spin again. Goal: See my Good Father. 'But this father is blocking my way.' Father promoted + Father blocking the way = Evil Father! Father promoted to Evil Father! "Evil Father, let me out!" She spoke with her face glowing as if she had just gotten done with a very difficult math question. "Ugh..." Vlad knew that look. It was the look that someone thought a lot about finding an answer and ended up discovering a divine truth. "Fine, you can go." Vlad knew that if he refused now, she would cry, and he couldn't bear to see her crying. Vlad looked at Alexios. "Yes, Master." Alexios snapped his fingers. Suddenly, Ophis felt that her way was clear, thus, wasting no time at all, she promptly went on her way: "Thank you, Evil Father!" She flashed an innocent smile, and soon she faded into a dark power. Vlad looked at this scene with a shocked look all over his face. "Alexios..." "Yes, Master?" "When was my daughter able to smile like that…?" Alexios closed his eyes and responded in a neutral tone, "… from the moment she started interacting with the new Count." "Oh..." A moment of silence fell around them, and then Vlad took a deep breath. "It seems like before I knew it, she started to change... Probably even those words she spoke must have been influenced by someone in that boy's group." "..." Alexios remained silent. '...Looks like I haven't been a good father to Ophis...' He felt a little bad when he saw Ophis's smile that was clearly not aimed at him. 'The daughter of the woman I loved the most, ended up not liking me as a 'father', but someone else, huh?' Feelings cannot be hidden, especially for 'normal' beings like Vlad. He was not a Stalker, Vlad's tastes were normal, and this was also related to his temper. It was inevitable, he was not like Victor, who had a few screws loose in his head from the start. As a normal man who had dated a lot of women over the years, it was pretty obvious that he would have a 'Favorite', someone he loved from the bottom of his heart. And the result of that love was the little girl who had just disappeared. Because of these feelings, he practically didn't care about the current 'wives'. Something changed when he lost the woman he loved most... And that something was reflected today in his actions. But... Even if something had died, he couldn't 'abandon' his first wives that he had from the beginning. Ironically, Vlad Dracul Tepes, was like a dragon, proud, petty, wise, and greedy. He simply couldn't let his 'treasures' that he had accumulated over thousands of years get away from him. And as he didn't know what to do with these treasures, he just kept them in the big vault he called the castle. "Master, what is your decision?" "Hmm...?" Vlad woke up from his thoughts and looked at Alexios. He thought for a few seconds, then said, "Nothing for now, leave it as is." "Even if the girl turns into something terrible in the future, that's something for thousands of years in the future, there's no use worrying about it now." "I will do what you wish, Master." Alexios smiled a little, he liked that decision. "For now... We must take care of an irritating matter." "…The Gathering of Supernatural Beings, huh?" "Yes, the time for the meeting is near, we need to think of a plan for a few months from now... And... I need to take care of a mouse that is walking around the castle and touching something that doesn't belong to it." Vlad's entire being began to distort, and his eyes seemed to focus on something. … In a hidden place, far from the royal capital. Theo visibly shivered, he felt his entire spine tingle, and this caused reactions in the woman who was hugging him. "Theo...?" "It's nothing, Mother... You can take my blood again." Cold sweat broke out on Theo's face. "Yes..." The woman licked Theo's neck, then bit him again. 'Ahh~, that's still not enough, even after drinking this blood thousands of times, I still can't get enough, I need his blood… Not even a drop.' The woman thought with a dreamy look. The woman threw the man on the bed and began to remove her clothes, and soon she was the way she came into the world while her red eyes were dreamy as if she had become lost in time. "Give me more~." "..." Theo's smile grew, "Of course... Mother."