Chapter 36: A thrive for revenge.

Inside the lavishly decorated bedroom, the air was still incredibly thick, carrying the lingering, intoxicating scent of heavy magic, nervous sweat, and the undeniable musk of the intense, punishing encounter they had just shared to break her divine curse.

Guinevere sat rigidly on the edge of the large, feather-stuffed bed.

She was fully dressed in her dark traveling clothes once again, but her pale face was flushed with a profound, undeniable embarrassment. She kept her gaze glued firmly to the polished hardwood floor, her trembling fingers nervously rubbing through her tangled purple hair as she tried to process the sheer magnitude of what she had just submitted herself to.

Across the lit room, Lucius stood perfectly still.

His broad back rested casually against the velvet-lined wall, his pale arms folded neatly across his chest. He kept his eyes fixed directly on her, maintaining a cold, deeply apathetic expression that gave away absolutely nothing of his internal thoughts.

Right beside him stood Dori.

The feral vampire girl had her slender arms crossed as well, her posture radiating pure, unfiltered hostility. She glared daggers at the noblewoman sitting on the bed, clearly not happy in the slightest that her master had just shared such an incredibly intimate, physically demanding moment with the new girl, even if it was technically required to save her mind from shattering.

The suffocating silence settled over the room for a long while. The tension was palpable, a heavy weight that pressed down on Guinevere’s shoulders until she simply could not bear the quiet any longer.

Finally, Guinevere decided to speak.

She dragged a shaky, exhausted breath into her lungs and slowly raised her head to look at the monster she had willingly sworn her eternal loyalty to.

"I am sorry," she whispered, her voice still carrying a slight, rough hoarseness from her earlier desperate pleading. "You gave me exactly what I asked for, you saved me, and this is what I end up doing to repay you."

Lucius did not react to her apology. He kept a perfectly straight face the entire time, his glowing red eyes unblinking in the shadows.

"And what exactly would that be?" he asked, his deep voice slicing through the tense atmosphere.

His blunt question caught her completely off guard.

He was the one who had just ruthlessly punished her mind and body into total submission; he possessed magic that practically saw through her soul, so he should, of course, already know exactly what she had been secretly planning to do the moment the dark mark was placed on her skin.

Then, the very next second, the cold realization hit her. He was not asking because he was ignorant. He was deliberately forcing her to say it out loud. It was his calculated way of making her take absolute accountability for her treacherous, fleeting thoughts.

She let out a long, defeated sigh, dropping her hands into her lap.

"I intended to go out and find the people who murdered my father all by myself, have my revenge, and then simply run away with the incredible power you gave me," Guinevere confessed, the heavy shame evident on her tongue. "It sounded... smart at the time. I thought I could use you as a stepping stone."

Lucius blinked slowly.

’She wants to do this that badly,’ Lucius thought, his highly analytical mind processing her broken posture. ’But then again, considering she just watched her father get brutally slaughtered right in front of her, I do understand exactly where she is coming from.’

He uncrossed his arms and leaned away from the velvet wall, his heavy boots making a soft thud against the floorboards as he took a single step closer to the bed.

"Very well," Lucius declared smoothly, leaving absolutely no room for argument. "In as much as I hate to indulge reckless, insubordinate behavior, you are officially one of mine now. I cannot have you walking around thinking I am incapable of fighting your battles. So, tell me exactly what we are dealing with so we can get it done."

Hearing his surprisingly supportive response, Dori’s hostile glare softened just a fraction. A small, proud smile tugged at the corner of her pale lips as she looked up at him.

"That is master’s way of saying he wants to help with your revenge," Dori chimed in, her raspy voice echoing in the quiet room.

"Is that so?" Guinevere managed a weak, genuinely soft smile, the heavy burden of her grief lifting just an inch. "Then I am incredibly grateful."

With another deep breath to steady her frayed nerves, she proceeded to explain the entire political and bloody situation to him in detail.

"A few days back, my father met up with a famous merchant right here in this border city," Guinevere began, her bright purple eyes clouding over with fresh sorrow.

"He told my father that he wanted him to pick up a highly classified, rare item for a certain duke back at the central capital. My father was selected specifically amongst the other available nobles to carry out this transport task.

Because of that sudden, lucrative favor, he was deeply hated by his rivals. Even more so, because of the sheer value of this artifact, people were more than willing to kill just to get their hands on it."

She sighed again, her fingernails digging anxiously into the fabric of her pants.

"I explicitly told my father to hire more heavy security after we had gotten closer to the capital," she continued, her voice trembling with lingering regret.

"But he brushed me off. He mentioned how no one would be able to track us to do such a thing, not if he simply settles in, drives a standard carriage, and acts like a lowly commoner on the road. But he was entirely wrong. Amongst those who threatened to kill my father, only one specific faction would do it in such a violent, public way, wearing all red garments."

This was where she raised her head, locking her gaze directly onto Lucius’s predatory eyes.

"The House of Gregory," Guinevere stated, the noble name dripping with absolute venom.

"Their house is widely known to harbor deadly assassins. They employ the absolute best of the best, so incredibly skilled that the King of Eldia himself often requests their dark services from time to time. And since it is a direct lineage of a dukedom, their massive political influence allows them to get away with a lot of terrible things. Things such as slaughtering my own father in the middle of a plaza, just to get a hold of that velvet box."

"What exactly does the item do, if I may ask?" Dori spoke up, taking a curious step forward. "If these human assassins are willing to take a life just because of this thing, then it has to be something really good, right?"

Lucius said absolutely nothing, but Dori’s blunt question mirrored the exact tactical thought currently running through his own mind.

"Well, I do not fully know the intricate magical details of the item," Guinevere winced, closing her eyes tightly and trying her absolute hardest to remember the hushed conversations her father had. "But I know it has something to do with a chance of granting immortality. Or something closely related to extending a human lifespan indefinitely."

Lucius slowly closed his eyes for a brief second.

’Immortality,’ he thought, a cold, dark sense of irony washing over him. ’Even in the old fictional stories back on Earth, humans would go absolutely insane for that kind of power. As a True Vampire now, I guess I am somewhat like that myself, possessing eternal youth, even if I still have my own undead weaknesses to deal with.’

He opened his eyes and looked down at the grieving noblewoman.

"So, you now want to attack the heavily fortified House of Gregory to get your stolen artifact back?" Lucius asked.

"Yes," Guinevere nodded firmly. "Duke Gregory is his name. I know for an absolute fact he was the one who sent those red-clad assassins. I do not know how he tracked us so perfectly, but he did. His cruel wife was probably in on the plot as well."

"Okay then," Lucius said, a dangerous, calculating calmness settling over his tall frame. "If you say Duke Gregory is the one responsible, then we will gladly pay him a bloody visit in the capital. But first, before we wage a shadow war on a noble house, do you have any idea how your new physical powers actually work now?"

Guinevere paused, entirely confused by the sudden shift in topic. She tilted her head to the side, her bright eyes blinking in sheer bewilderment.

"I have powers?" she blurted out, looking down at her pale, flawless hands as if seeing them for the very first time.

...

(Capital, main palace.)

Far away from the damp, shadowed streets of the outer cities, the towering stone walls of the Eldia royal castle reached high into the bright sky.

Deep within the heavily fortified heart of the estate, the grand throne room was currently bustling with tense, organized activity.

The old king was seated heavily upon his ornate throne, a golden crown resting upon his silver hair, his face lined with the immense stress of ruling a fractured kingdom.

Along his side stood the beautiful, blonde-haired princess, who had chosen to stand tall and regal beside him rather than sit, her layered silken gown pooling elegantly across the polished stone floor.

And not too far away, standing in organized ranks right before the elevated dais, were the summoned heroes from another world.