Chapter 225-Consequences of the blood oath

Chapter 225: 225-Consequences of the blood oath

Zissa didn’t appear the least bit troubled by Varitreya’s anger. If anything, her expression remained pleasantly amused, as though the young vampire’s outburst was nothing more than an expected reaction.

Rather than answering her demand, she shifted her attention to the people standing nearby. "Bring me the truth orb," She requested.

A moment later, someone entered the hall carrying a crystal orb in both hands.

Varitreya’s gaze moved toward the newcomer, and her brows drew together. It was Zazen, the blackblood who dropped out and re-enrolled at Veris academy.

The vampire approached without uttering a word. Her movements were strangely stiff and mechanical, each step following the next with unsettling precision. There was no hesitation, no curiosity, and not even the slightest change in her expression.

She looked almost like a puppet being pulled forward by invisible strings rather than someone moving of her own free will.

Zazen stopped before Zissa and lowered her head, presenting the orb.

Zissa accepted it casually. "Thank you, dearest."

She settled the orb on a nearby table, then lifted one finger and pricked its tip with her fang. A single drop of blood welled up before falling onto the crystal surface.

The moment it made contact, the orb lit up. A faint ripple spread through its interior, followed by a scene gradually taking shape within the transparent surface. The image was initially blurred but it soon became clear enough for everyone present to recognize the people in it.

Varitreya’s breathing caught as she watched. Maisa came into focus, Varitreya recognized her immediately.

The scene showed Maisa standing before Zissa. The surroundings was the academy, but there was no mistaking the woman she was speaking to. Varitreya watched as the two exchanged words, though the orb seemed to carry only the images and not their voices.

Then the scene changed. Maisa was standing beside a body. Varitreya narrowed her eyes, trying to make out the woman’s face. It took her a moment, but when she finally recognized the familiar features, her expression stiffened.

Evelyn Loven, the human feeder who had supposedly died.

Varitreya watched as Maisa turned toward Zissa. Her expression was unusually serious, and there was an unmistakable desperation in her eyes. She reached out, offering her hand to the ancient vampire.

Zissa accepted it. A drop of blood fell from each of their fingertips. The two drops intertwined, forming a strange symbol that hovered between them before sinking into their joined hands.

Maisa hadn’t seen the symbol at the time but the orb revealed it. Varitreya’s eyes widened as she recognized the blood oath.

She knew that symbol. Every vampire raised within the nation family knew what it meant. It was one of the oldest forms of binding magic, a promise sealed with blood and recognized by the laws that governed their kind.

The memory continued. The image of Evelyn’s lifeless body appeared again. Then Maisa’s expression shifted as she looked toward Zissa, seemingly confirming the terms of their agreement.

The blood symbol flared once more before disappearing. Varitreya stared at the orb. What had Maisa promised?

"Do you understand what you’re looking at?" Zissa asked pleasantly.

Varitreya slowly turned toward her. "What was that agreement?"

Zissa smiled. "Maisa asked me to suppress the flower of fate and bring her aunt back to life. In exchange, she promised me the rights to her firstborn child."

For a moment, Varitreya couldn’t understand what she had heard. Her firstborn child?

She looked back at the orb but the image had already begun to fade. What was clear was that Maisa had made a deal with Zissa.

She had willingly promised away her firstborn child in exchange for saving Evelyn and suppressing the flower of fate. Varitreya felt something inside her break.

She understood why Maisa might have wanted to save her aunt. She could even understand why she would have been desperate enough to seek help from someone as powerful as Zissa.

But why had she agreed to give away their child? Why hadn’t she discussed it with the rest of them?

Had she not considered that the child belonged to all five of them? That Varitreya, Addessa, Lumi, and Zolani had just as much right to decide what happened to their firstborn?

And why had Maisa never told them?

A blood oath was not an ordinary promise. Among vampires, blood was the foundation of everything. Their existence, their bonds, their lineage, and even the way they recognized family were governed by blood.

Children born of vampire blood were not simply connected to their parents by affection or the circumstances of their birth. Their blood recognized its origin. It carried an instinctive understanding of belonging, creating bonds that could not be undone by distance or even death.

A child whose existence had been promised through a blood oath was bound by something even deeper.

The person who received the promise became the child’s recognized mother. Not merely in name, but in every sense that mattered to the child’s blood, heart, and soul.

Varitreya’s eyes slowly moved toward the baby in Zissa’s arms. Vassa, her daughter. Or at least, the child she had believed she could claim as her own.

She had thought that once she found her, she would simply take her into her arms and never let anyone separate them again. She had imagined holding her, feeling her tiny fingers wrap around hers, and making up for all the time they had lost. But now she understood that things were not so simple.

"Vassalissa is mine," Zissa smiled at the child and touched it’s nose. "You share a relationship as you also are a Vancrest but that is as far as your relationship with her goes."

Vassalissa’s blood recognized Zissa as her mother. Her heart and mind would instinctively turn toward the woman who had received her through the oath. Even if Varitreya took her away, the child would not understand why she had been separated from the only mother she knew.

Worse still, the child was currently dependent on Zissa’s blood. She had already refused every other blood offered to her. Until she grew old enough for her blood to mature and her diet to specialize, Zissa’s blood was the only nourishment she could properly accept.

Taking her away would not simply mean separating a baby from the woman holding her. It could mean starving her.

Varitreya’s fingers trembled. She felt as though she were drowning, sinking beneath an ocean of revelations with no way to reach the surface.

What was she supposed to do now?

She had come here believing that Vonvaki had stolen her daughter and that all she needed to do was demand her return. But the truth was far more complicated.

Maisa had willingly handed the child over before she had even been born, binding her to another woman through an oath that could not simply be ignored and Varitreya hadn’t even known.

She had been robbed of the memories of her pregnancy, the birth, and the first moments of her daughter’s life. She had awakened with an emptiness she couldn’t explain, only to discover that her child was somewhere beyond her reach.

Now she knew why, Maisa had given her away. Varitreya’s chest tightened painfully as another wave of anger swept through her.

First, Maisa was an Everheart. A vampire hunter whose family had spent generations hunting her kind. She had concealed her identity, lied to them, and allowed them to believe she was someone entirely different. Then there was the blood oath.

Maisa had not only hidden the truth about her family. She had also given away their child before Varitreya had even known she existed and afterward, she had continued living beside them as though nothing was wrong.

She had looked Varitreya in the eyes, accepted her affection, and allowed her to believe they were building something together. All the while, she had known that their child had been promised to someone else.

How many things had Maisa concealed from them? How many sins had she committed while pretending to be innocent?

Varitreya couldn’t tell anymore. Her hands curled tightly at her sides, her nails pressing into her palms. She wanted to scream, to break something, to demand an explanation from Maisa herself but even that felt insufficient.

The betrayal had reached somewhere too deep. She looked at Vassalissa again. The little girl was resting comfortably against Zissa, her tiny fingers curled into the fabric of the woman’s dress. She looked peaceful, completely unaware of the storm gathering around her.

Varitreya’s heart ached. She wanted to hold her. She wanted to be the one Vassa reached for when she was hungry, frightened, or sleepy. She wanted to hear her call her mother someday.

But what if the child rejected her? What if taking her away only caused her pain? The thought was unbearable.

Zissa watched her quietly, allowing the realization to settle before finally speaking. "So you see," she said, her voice as gentle as before, "I took away your memories not to taunt you or cause you unnecessary suffering. I simply wanted to make the parting easier."

Varitreya slowly raised her eyes.

Zissa adjusted Vassa in her arms, gently brushing a few strands of purplish-brown hair away from the child’s forehead.

"I knew how attached all of you would become once you learned about her. I wouldn’t want every one of you coming after my child now, would I?"