Chapter 208: An Innocent Smile.
Currently, Lost Club.
Victor was sitting on an ice throne, resting his head on his hand as he looked at the four people in front of him, while next to him were Kaguya and Eve.
Bruna, his other Maid, was at the door guarding it and preventing any of Esther's employees from entering that place.
Victor was bored, and he really just wanted to go home now and rest. He wasn't tired either mentally or physically; he just wanted to sleep and be lazy after a 'long' day...
But now, he was sitting here looking at this group of four people with an annoyed look.
One man was the 'lost' eldest son of Adam, his college professor, and the father of his childhood friends.
A woman who was a rather suspicious clandestine witch, apparently this woman may be involved in some plan of his wives that Victor doesn't care about figuring out.
After all, if it was something Victor needed to know, his wives would tell him.
The other man was a bartender who was a very peculiar species.
And... The reason Victor was here, the woman who was a mature beauty.
Victor was like a cat, with infinite curiosity, and sometimes because of that curiosity, he would end up in this kind of situation. Was he interested?
Yes, he wanted to know what this weird 'feeling' was. His curiosity was screaming at him to know about it, but at the same time, he wanted to be home with his wives or probably go to sleep until tomorrow.
'Although… I probably wouldn't sleep…' Victor chuckled inwardly when he thought of Violet.
"..." Sensing the silence in the room, Victor started the conversation.
"First." He raised his finger and then looked at Johnny as he wanted to recap what people had told him so far.
After the small event at the bar, Victor called everyone to Esther's office and asked the woman to explain everything that had happened between Johnny and Ruby.
"Did you attack my wife and get beaten?" That's what he'd understood, and he couldn't help but flash a sneer at Johnny while feeling pride for Ruby.
"..." Johnny's eyes twitched a little. He didn't lose! He was just caught off guard because he underestimated her a little.
"Yes, that is correct." Esther replied, "He lost completely."
"..." Woman, why are you confirming so quickly? That was the face Johnny was making now.
'And why can't I be myself when I'm in front of him? What's this oppressive feeling?'
Johnny couldn't understand. Despite being a vampire count, he's a younger vampire, right?
Why does he feel... so oppressive? Why does his gaze make Johnny's instincts trigger like crazy?
Johnny couldn't understand why this man was so scary...
'Maybe it's because of that face?' He thought to himself, but he decided no, he thought it was because of something else he didn't understand.
'It's the same feeling when I was looking at Anderson.' He thought the two men were quite similar.
Johnny didn't like it. He didn't like feeling this helplessness.
He suddenly blinked and found himself surrounded by absurdly strong people, but what the fuck was going on here?
"Oh..." Victor's smile grew. For Victor, that was music to his ears.
'So that's why Ruby didn't tell me anything, he wasn't worth mentioning, huh?'
Internally, Victor was disappointed since he expected the old man's son to be stronger, but if he lost completely to Ruby, he wasn't even worth Victor's time.
What Victor didn't know was that Ruby didn't say anything because she didn't want Victor to turn this place into a sea of ??fire. Just like her mother, Victor tended only to hear the first words and immediately jump to a conclusion.
"And this woman..." Victor looked at Roberta, who all this time had a smile on her face, "I mean, this witch."
"Who is she?"
"Roberta..."
"Hmm?" Victor looked at the woman.
"Don't call me Woman or Witch. I have a name, did you know?" She flashed a gentle smile.
"..." Victor looked at the woman with a look that said, 'I don't care'.
"..." Johnny narrowed his eyes when he saw how Roberta spoke to Victor. It was very different from what he was used to.
'Accustomed? Has Roberta talked to other people besides Jinsei, Judy and Jessica?' Even Johnny didn't seem to fully understand his situation.
His mind was confused, and he was doubting his 'mark', and his memories now, 'who was this woman? He thought as she looked at Johnny.
"Johnny?" Roberta looked at Johnny with a kind look.
'...Oh, she's Roberta.' Johnny seemed to have remembered a lot of things now.
"..." Victor narrowed his eyes when he saw Johnny's reaction.
"That's what I want to know. I've already checked several times with my magic, but is she just a normal human?" Esther was feeling confused, and at the same time, cautious, "And that's impossible; how can a normal human mess with our memories?"
As an ancient witch, Esther knew that this was no feat an ordinary person could do.
"...Hmm, Count Alucard..."
Victor stopped looking at Roberta and looked at Eddy, "What?"
"Why is your Maid staring at me with a look that can crucify my body? To be honest, it's scary." Eddy looked cautiously at Kaguya.
"...?" Victor looked at Kaguya, who was staring at Eddy with a death glare, as she seemed to be watching the man's every move.
"... Hmm... Just forget about her." Victor didn't know what to say either, so he ignored it.
"... Okay." Eddy was silent again and just let himself be watched by this Maid...
Victor looked at the muscular man again:
"Jonathan Lykos, son of Adam Lykos."
"...?" Johnny looked at Victor.
"What is she to you?" Victor directly asked a personal question.
"She is my wife, I marked her." He spoke in a neutral tone, but unlike before, his voice was filled with affection, however, his voice sounded more…artificial?
"..." Victor narrowed his eyes sternly. He wasn't enjoying this at all.
"Jonathan, what is she to you?" This time, he asked, his eyes glowing blood red.
"..." Johnny seemed to freeze for a few seconds, "I don't know."
"..." Everyone fell silent again and looked at the woman with a wary look, except for Victor, who had a neutral face, and Johnny, who woke up from his stupor now.
"Ara, why are you looking at me like that?" She asked with the same gentleness but at the same time had a lifeless look.
"..." Victor's smile widened a little when he saw the woman's chaotic aura leave her body and quickly come back.
"…Johnny, just what kind of trouble have you brought to this place?" Esther spoke in an annoyed tone.
"What are you talking about, Woman? I didn't bring anything."
"..." Does he still have the courage to misunderstand? Veins started popping in Esther's head.
"Witch, why did you approach Johnny?" Victor asked.
Hearing Victor's voice, the woman looked at Victor:
"I didn't approach him, he saved me from an incident in the past." She spoke in a gentle and completely honest tone.
"..." Victor looked at Johnny to confirm this story.
"Is the story she told true?" he asked with his charm.
"... I do not know."
"..." Silence descended on the room again.
'As expected...' Victor seemed to have learned something, and a feeling of impatience grew inside him.
"Tsk, annoying."
Suddenly, a frightening pressure fell around everyone, and Victor appeared in front of Roberta. If he couldn't understand the woman, he would kill her!
That's what it looked like on Victor's face.
"This madman!" Magic circles glowed in Esther's hand, but she wasn't fast enough, and in the end, she just used her power to protect the building.
"Stop-." Before Johnny could do anything, Victor hit the woman in the face.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
An explosion of air happened that threw everyone away, except for Kaguya and Eve, who remained in the same place.
"... Pfft..." Unconsciously, Victor almost laughed.
"..." A sight that shocked everyone was seen.
An invisible barrier stopped Victor's punch inches from the woman's face.
"Crazy bastard-." Esther was going to complain that Victor was going to damage her establishment, but she stopped when she saw that the woman was okay.
Victor withdrew his fist from the small invisible barrier and looked at the woman. For a moment, the woman's eyes seemed to be glowing violet, but soon that gaze died, and she returned to her gentle expression.
"Ara? That was a little rude… But it's okay… I liked it a little…" She spoke in a low voice to the final part.
"...HAHAHAHAHA." He couldn't take it anymore!
"..." Everyone felt a chill down their spines when they heard Victor's laugh, except his Maids, of course. Why was he laughing like he's having so much fun? What's the fun!?
Why was Victor laughing? It's simple, the moment he attacked the woman, a spirit left the woman's body, and that spirit created a barrier in front of the woman and protected her.
It was just a few seconds, but with Victor's reaction time, those few seconds felt like an eternity.
The spirit didn't have very distinctive features yet, as it appeared to be incomplete, but Victor could see that it was the spirit of a woman, and that spirit had violet colored eyes.
Yes, the only visible feature of this spirit was the violet eyes.
"Alucard, you madman, what are you doing!?"
"Stop being a pussy, Johnny. Do you even understand what is happening now?"
"Huh?"
"...No wonder you were so easily deceived." Victor sighed, was this really that man's son?
"You, Woman." Victor pointed at Roberta.
"Me?" Roberta pointed to herself.
"You are coming with me."
"Huh!?" Johnny and Eddy didn't understand this sudden decision.
"Hmm… If you guarantee my safety, I'll go with you." She didn't deny Victor's invitation.
"...Woman, please. If you're not safe by my side, you're not safe anywhere." Victor rolled his eyes. He could more or less understand what happened now, he actually attacked to kill the woman, but something powerful protected the woman.
For a brief second, Victor felt the same sensation as he looked at the old man in Mizuki's body.
'A heroic spirit or something like that...' That was the only conclusion he could come to.
Initially, he'd thought the woman's situation was similar to Eve's, but it wasn't. The situation is completely different; the feeling was completely different.
"Ara, I like that confidence."
"Wait, Roberta-." Johnny was going to say something, but suddenly he felt something disappearing from Roberta.
Johnny's werewolf mark faded, and slowly all existing 'feelings', and Johnny's existing memories of Roberta faded away as if it were all an illusion.
Roberta walked up to Victor and flashed a gentle smile.
"Please take care of me, Count Alucard."
"Sure." Victor undid his throne and walked towards the exit.
"W-Wait, Alucard."
"Hmm?"
"Why are you taking this unknown woman with you? Is she not dangerous?"
"..." Victor's smile grew.
"Isn't that the best part?"
Roberta's smile seemed to grow a little in satisfaction.
"..." Esther was speechless.
"If she's at least 10% of what I think she is, she could be a good opponent in the future, and I can't wait for that."
'She can become a Maid too, but… I need to think a little before making this decision.'
"..." Esther's brain stopped working since she just couldn't understand Victor's thought process.
"But-."
"Bitch, please. You're not my mother, and I do what I want. If I want her, I'll take her." Victor looked at Roberta:
"She doesn't seem to be going against her wishes either."
"..." Roberta only displayed a kind face.
Isn't that stupid!! Ruby will kill me if she finds out you took this woman from this place!! She really wanted to scream it, but she couldn't.
"Anyway, I'll see you later."
Suddenly Victor stopped walking and looked at Johnny, "Oh Johnny, say hello to your father for me... Oya?" Victor looked at Johnny, who seemed to be in a catatonic state, and then he fell to the ground unconscious.
"Johnny!?" Eddy quickly went to help his friend.
"What happened to him?"
"He is in a coma." She spoke in a neutral tone with an uncaring look.
"Huh?"
"It's a side effect of implanting false memories. His soul will recover soon, I think in two weeks, he's as new as a sheet of paper that just came out of the store."
"Oh..." Victor's eyes seemed to twitch a little.
Noticing Victor's concern, the woman said,
"Ara, that doesn't work on you, Alucard."
"..."
"Your soul is... Incredibly strong, your willpower is unyielding." She continued with the same gentle smile.
"Kaguya, Eve, and Bruna return to my shadow." Victor spoke aloud without looking away from the woman.
"Yes, Master." The two closest spoke at the same time, and soon they entered Victor's shadow, while a shadow that was behind the door seemed to enter Victor's shadow.
"Kaguya, do you have any magic contracts yet?"
[I do not have any yet.]
"Buy a golden contract, we will put a collar on this Witch."
[That's a good idea.] Kaguya smiled, and soon she used her dark power to go somewhere.
"..." Roberta's face grew a little annoyed.
"Why are you going to do this?"
"Huh? You're stupid, of course, because I don't trust you." Victor had thought of doing this before when he decided to take the woman with him, but now that he's seen the woman's power and she's explained it herself, he was going to do it sooner. That was his top priority.
"I will make a simple contract. If you use these powers on people who I identify as 'forbidden', you will die. Simple, right?"
Despite being a petty man who liked to do whatever he wanted, he would never waver in the safety of those close to him.
He was aware that bringing in a being who could implant false memories in other people was extremely risky.
Because of that, he would take preemptive action.
First, he would make a strict contract with this woman, so if she dared to use her power on anyone that Victor identifies as forbidden, she would die.
Second, he'll assign someone to watch over her.
And third, most importantly, he would look for a way to awaken whatever is inside this woman.
'I will plant a seed now, and in the future, I will reap… I can't wait for the future.' Victor's smile grew wider.
"Hmm, that's true." Roberta shivered a little when she saw Victor's smile, but it wasn't out of fear…
"Come on, we've got somewhere to stop by first." Victor wouldn't go straight home just yet, since he would wait for Kaguya.
"Yes…" Roberta looked at the group that was looking at her with a dumbfounded look and said,
"See you later, little fox, and your lover… Oh, and you too, little wolf." She flashed a small innocent smile and then followed after Victor.
What Victor didn't know is that this little careless action in 'hoarding' this woman with the intention of fighting her in the future caused a terrible fate for a certain group of beings.
Beings who spent their entire lives cursing Alucard's name, beings who feared the name of Alucard, the one who harbored the witch of envy.
But that was a story for another time.
...
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