Chapter 235: As If Nothing Happened

A few minutes later, the hall had already returned to something close to normal.

The musicians resumed their interrupted performance, servants replaced the glasses knocked over by Anette’s pressure, and conversations gradually returned between the tables.

Naturally, no one had forgotten what happened.

It was impossible to forget Victor Valentine refusing the Crown Princess in front of practically the entire vampire high society, catching one of her attacks with a single hand, then telling her to her face that she meant nothing to him.

Even so, ancient vampires were particularly talented at pretending absurd events had never happened when social rules demanded it.

Victor seemed to be the best of them at that game.

He simply sat down.

The table reserved for them was relatively close to the central area of the hall.

Rakshasa took the seat beside him, while Serafall sat on his other side, accompanied by Natasha that night.

Chysis occupied one of the chairs across from them, holding a glass and watching the hall as though she had not just stopped the Princess from trying to start another fight.

Victor pulled out Rakshasa’s chair before sitting down himself.

Serafall stared at him for several seconds.

"You didn’t need to do that."

Victor took a glass from a passing tray.

"What?"

Serafall narrowed her eyes.

"Don’t play dumb. Humiliating the Princess in front of everyone."

Rakshasa laughed.

"I think it was better this way."

Serafall turned toward her.

"Of course you do."

"She understood immediately that there is no room for interpretation."

Chysis took a small sip before agreeing.

"Rakshasa is right about that part."

Serafall looked at her mother.

"You too?"

"I’ve known Anette for far too long."

Chysis set her glass down on the table.

"It is much better for Victor to have that girl as an openly declared enemy than as a supposed friend. Anette does not know how to keep relationships simple. If he had agreed to play along with her out of politeness, within a week he would be involved in some royal dispute, within two he would be in the middle of a family war, and within a month he would probably discover he had been promised in marriage without ever agreeing to it."

Rakshasa rested her face on one hand.

"I would kill someone before that."

"Exactly. Another problem."

Victor looked from one to the other.

"I don’t give a shit."

All four women fell silent.

Natasha slowly shifted her eyes toward him.

Serafall raised an eyebrow.

Chysis waited.

Rakshasa was already smiling because she knew that tone.

Victor drank calmly.

"What?"

Serafall pointed her glass at him.

"Continue."

"Continue what?"

"You just said you don’t give a shit about a near-Genesis-Class Vampire, Crown Princess of the Realm, direct daughter of Vlad, and probably one of the most dangerous creatures to awaken in the last few centuries."

Victor briefly looked toward Anette on the other side of the hall.

"And?"

Chysis started laughing quietly.

Victor rested one arm on the table.

"I barely even looked at her properly when she came in. She doesn’t have a single attractive quality that would make me want to tolerate that personality."

Rakshasa raised an eyebrow.

"She is very beautiful."

"So are you."

Rakshasa immediately looked satisfied.

Serafall ran a hand over her face.

"Don’t feed her."

Victor continued:

"And that pressure of hers wasn’t anything impressive either. I’m still trying to understand why so many people froze. To me, it felt like a bad breeze."

Natasha looked at him with a dry expression.

"A bad breeze."

"Yes."

"I felt my blood trying to force me to kneel."

Victor looked at Natasha.

"You need to train more."

She remained silent for several seconds.

"Thank you for the extremely useful analysis."

Rakshasa laughed and slipped an arm through Victor’s.

"The problem isn’t that her pressure is weak."

Victor turned his head.

"Then?"

"Our bodies just don’t react normally."

She touched his chest with the tip of one finger.

"The Body Refinement you are practicing was created specifically to turn the body into an independent structure. When someone directs killing intent, spiritual pressure, blood dominion, or some aura against us, the effect first has to pass through flesh, circulation, organs, bones, and every refined system."

Victor nodded.

"So my body simply ignores it."

"For the most part, yes. The farther you advance, the worse it becomes for anyone trying to bend you using presence alone."

Rakshasa gestured toward herself.

"In my case, that kind of pressure practically stopped working a long time ago. The aura reaches my body and finds nothing willing to obey."

"Makes sense."

Serafall rested her elbow on the table.

"I didn’t feel anything either."

Chysis spoke at the exact same time:

"Neither did I."

The two looked at each other.

Victor turned toward them.

"Then why are you joining the conversation?"

Serafall shrugged.

"Because you were talking like only you two resisted."

Chysis added:

"I only knelt because she is the Princess. Manners."

Rakshasa looked at Chysis.

"You could have stayed standing."

"I could."

"And you didn’t."

"Because I was raised properly."

Serafall let out a small laugh.

Natasha, who had remained quiet for a few seconds, took a drink before muttering:

"So I’m the only one who actually felt intimidated."

Everyone looked at her.

Natasha became serious.

"You can stop."

Victor opened his mouth.

"Especially you."

He closed it.

Rakshasa burst out laughing.

The conversation continued as though the earlier aggression had never happened.

That was exactly what made the table so strange to anyone watching from outside.

Several nobles were still casting discreet glances in their direction, expecting some sign of concern or fear after the confrontation with Anette.

Instead, they found Victor drinking calmly, Rakshasa leaning against him, Serafall discussing security, and Chysis complaining about the quality of the blood being served.

Victor looked toward the Princess again.

This time more carefully.

Anette was seated in another part of the hall, surrounded by royal representatives and several figures Victor did not recognize.

Despite the distance, she seemed to participate little in the conversations.

Her eyes moved across the room with an artificial calm that did not completely hide the irritation still present.

Victor frowned.

"As far as I know, this is an internal event."

Chysis looked at him.

"It is."

"Then why is the Princess here?"

Serafall took another glass.

"Because she wanted to be."

Victor waited.

Nothing else came.

"That’s the explanation?"

"Basically."

Chysis decided to add:

"The Valentine Ball traditionally accepts a few external guests of extreme importance, but normally the Royal Family only sends representatives. Anette heard about the event shortly after waking up and decided she wanted to attend personally."

Victor kept looking at her.

"Why?"

Chysis smiled faintly.

"Probably because of you."

Victor slowly turned his face back.

"I didn’t even know her."

"She knew you."

"That does not make it better."

Rakshasa rested her head against his shoulder.

"At least now you know her."

Victor looked at her.

"And I immediately regretted it."

Rakshasa laughed.

Chysis slowly moved her glass.

"Besides, Vlad is here."

Victor instinctively searched for the King.

He did not find him.

"Where?"

"Invisible."

Victor stopped.

Serafall gave a small smile.

"He is accompanying Anette without officially appearing."

"Why?"

"Because he knows his daughter."

Chysis answered with the naturalness of someone who considered that perfectly reasonable.

"He came to make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid."

Victor stayed silent for several seconds before looking toward Anette again.

"That worked very well."

"He was probably waiting to see how far you would go."

"And if she had tried to kill me?"

Chysis shrugged.

"I was here."

Serafall added:

"So was I."

Rakshasa raised one hand.

"And me."

Natasha drank in silence before adding:

"I would probably try to help."

Victor looked at her.

"Thanks for the confidence."

"I’m being realistic. Against Anette, my job would probably be to get in her way for a few seconds."

"A few seconds are useful."

Natasha seemed to accept that.

Victor went back to watching the other side of the hall.

This time, Anette noticed.

Their eyes met.

Even separated by dozens of meters, neither looked away immediately.

Anette was different from before.

The anger still remained hidden behind her eyes, but now there was attention.

She was studying him.

Not merely as an offended woman watching the man who rejected her, but as someone trying to understand something that did not fit inside her expectations.

Victor held that gaze for several seconds.

Then sighed.

"I hate arrogant people."

Serafall shrugged.

"You’re pretty arrogant."

Victor slowly turned toward his mother.

"I have a reason."

Serafall blinked.

Rakshasa started laughing before anyone else could answer.

Chysis set her glass on the table.

"That is exactly what an arrogant person would say."

"But it is still true."

"Anette probably thinks the same thing."

Victor remained silent for several seconds.

Then made a small grimace.

"Now you’ve offended me."

Natasha turned her face away to hide a smile.

Serafall did not try.

"My son finally found someone he can relate to."

"Don’t even joke about that."

Rakshasa tightened her grip on his arm.

"I agree."

Victor looked toward Anette again, who still seemed irritatingly interested in their table.

He raised his glass in the slightest greeting, almost provocative.

Across the hall, the Princess’s expression hardened.

Victor drank.

"It’s going to be a long night."

Chysis smiled.

"You haven’t seen anything yet."