The Crown's Obsession

Music Recommendation: Latent dream- Mattia Vlad Morleo

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A lone castle was built on a mountain, hidden away from the mortal and immortal eyes. The sun shone brightly while the rays of it passed through to touch the castle's walls.

With a crackle of a fire, the Devil appeared in front of the cave that led towards the castle entrance. His steps were firm on the ground, his posture straight and his eyes sharply looking ahead of him. The ends of the cloak that he wore gently swayed behind him without touching the ground.

"Welcome back, Master," Odin bowed his head before he quickly came to stand behind the Devil. He removed the cloak that his Master wore before placing it on the nearby stand. "Did you visit Heaven, Master?" asked the servant with a curious expression on his face.

"Hm," came the short answer from Vladimir as he continued to walk inside the castle, to be followed by his faithful servant. "Get the bath prepared and I need blood. Lots of it."

Odin bowed his head, "I will get them prepared right away, Master," and the servant disappeared from Vladimir's sight.

Even when Harriet had passed away, Vladimir had felt little pain, and it had bothered him just a little as he was a heartless man. He enjoyed her company the most until Constance had come into this world. It had taken him quite a while before he had got used to his daughter's presence as she became a part of his life.

When he received his daughter's memories from Calhoun, he knew he was going to see the worst of all, and the memories didn't disappoint him. Right now, there was a grim expression on his face, and as much as he wanted to steal Constance away from Heaven by reminding her about him and her son, he now questioned if she would be able to deal with it if her memories were restored. To go through those memories all over again.

'Papa!' he could hear his precious daughter's voice in his mind, echoing in the empty castle now. 'Welcome back home!'

"How strange," Vladimir murmured under his breath. "It feels like it was only a while ago since she had been following me."

His cat appeared in the hall, where he stood. It walked towards him before the cat rubbed its head against his leg.

The Devil bent down, picking up Lucy Fur in his arms and he pet its head.

"Do you miss her too?" asked Vladimir to the cat, his voice calm as he scratched the cat's ear.

Lucy Fur was not an ordinary cat that belonged to the mortal realm. When Constance was small, she had no other company apart from him and some of the servants in the big castle. Thanks to the boring books about animals, she had continuously pleaded with him before he got a creature from the underworld that was faithful to him.

'Thank you, papa!' Vladimir remembered how ecstatic his daughter was on seeing the white-furred cat in his arms.

"Master, the bath is ready with bubbling acid," said Odin, who had returned from the bathing room.

Vladimir let go of Lucy Fur, and the cat was quick to jump out of his hands.

Reaching the bath, his clothes were quick to come off, and he stepped into the bath. His skin and muscle started to dissolve except for his bones. It was like a skeleton had been laid in the wide bath.

"It feels like so much time has passed," murmured Vladimir. "And at the same time, it feels like it has slowed down."

"Is Lady Constance doing well, Master?" asked Odin, eager to know about the Lady whom he had looked after since she was a baby.

"Yes, she is. I brought the painting that she made in Heaven. To hang it here," said Vladimir. "Have the painting nailed in the hall so that I can see it clearly," he ordered.

"I will do that today," Odin obliged his master's words.

Vladimir's long nails tapped on the surface of the floor as he rested his arm. "What I don't understand is how she ended up in Heaven. I checked the status of her afterlife and she was supposed to end up either in the inbetween world or in Hell. I know it has something to do with that shady Heaven," his eyes narrowed at the possibility.

"Why not ask them to send Lady Constance to you, so that she can live with us, Master?"

"Because it seems more complicated than it first appeared to be," came the grim words from the Devil. "You think I would not do that. Every time I have visited her, I have tried to break the surface, the walls that protect her memories from being revealed…"

Odin wondered what his Master meant as the Devil had turned quiet.

Just thinking about the memories that Calhoun had given of his daughter, it made Vladimir grit his teeth. While Calhoun had sat on the roof, going through the memories, it had taken less than a few seconds for Vladimir to consume those memories before his eyes filled themselves in rage.

One of the memories was of the time that took place in Winter when Calhoun was around twelve. He had been waiting for his mother to return, and the night had passed its time where men and women had gotten back inside their houses.

Calhoun had stayed in the house, waiting for Constance but seeing she hadn't, he stepped out of the house to see where she was.

The snowflakes continued to fall from the sky, the ground cold and white.

Calhoun had frantically looked for his mother, sprinting from one place to another until he found his mother lying on the ground.

"Mother!" Calhoun called her, running towards her. "Mother? Mother!" he called her.

"Cal?" Constance uttered his name. She appeared to be exhausted, and a red handprint on one side of her cheek.

"What happened?!" asked Calhoun in shock when his eyes fell on the ground near her legs where blood had spread on the nearby snow. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"I am fine," assured Constance, trying to get up and stand on her feet. But for some reason, it seemed like it was the hardest thing to do as she struggled with it. Calhoun quickly put her hand around his shoulder. "You shouldn't have come out. It is snowing. I don't want you catching a fever."

Calhoun frowned because he was a vampire while his mother wasn't. The cold would affect him less while it could spoil her health. When they reached their house, his mother said, "I will take it from here, my son. Why don't you heat up some water?"

The boy nodded his head, watching his mother go inside the room, and he caught the small drops of blood that trailed behind her.

Calhoun placed the water to heat up. He picked up the knife in the kitchen, closing the door of the house behind him as he stepped outside.

He made his way to the man's house who had hurt his mother. He had seen the man who had earlier come to the house to pick his mother up. Reaching the man's house, he sneaked inside the place before slitting the man's throat, who was alone in the room.