The Villain's Redemption

"Princess Lucinia…." Prince Gavril uttered slowly as he forced a smile out of his face. She shivered in response as she wondered why was the villain staring at her like this. What is wrong with this man now? She immediately wondered if the Prince was happy to see her because of what she did with the Queen or was angry that she disrespected his mother.

To her surprise, the Prince actually moved next to her, as if shielding her from the other Princes that tried to talk to her. She turned towards Mo Li who had a perpetual smile on his face as he stood on the other side while making small conversations with the people that attempted to talk to her. Lucinia hid her smile.

So the Prince and Mo Li was actually trying to hide her? My… Mo Li was expected to do that, but the Villain was a completely different thing. She wondered if the man was planning something. Slowly, her mind turned alert. For some reason, her habit of overthinking things was at it again.

She could barely remember having this ability in her previous world. But in this world, her mind had been too alert, too smart. It made her wonder if this was her or Lucinia's mind.

"Lately, the deaths of the nobles had increased, especially in the East. My guess is the witches."

"They hated us." Another one agreed.

"What do you think Princess Lucinia? Do you think, the witches were slowly targeting nobles too?"

Lucinia looked at the young woman who asked. This one should be a princess from another kingdom. "I don't concern myself with such things." She answered and smiled when she saw the uncomfortable expression that flashed in the woman's eyes. Lucinia continued. "I am just a newly married woman. I have no intentions in gossiping about such things."

"Understandable." The woman smiled cordially as she quickly darted her gaze towards Mo Li. "To actually marry the Duke… " She giggled and held the arms of the man next to her.

Just like that, the conversations about the current killings continued. Of course, Lucinia pretended to get bored, but inwardly, she was trying to gather all the information that she could. Right now, she actually needed all the information that she could get.

"Do you want to get out of her?"

Her ears reddened at Mo Li's words before she nodded. The Duke wasn't showing interest in the conversation, and she was smart enough to know that he was already aware of this before they even arrived in this place. The duo quickly told them that she was already tired— a lame reason that was obviously made by newlyweds.

Fortunately, sex was nothing special between these people. They have lived long enough to know that this primal need was something that everyone would experience every now and then. And considering that this was the first time the Duke and Lucinia got married, it was understandable that the two would want to spend a lot of time together.

"They should wait until they spend the next hundred years being married." Another one commented before the group started laughing. Of course, Lucinia heard their words but chose not to pay any attention to any of them anymore.

"Hundred years…" Mo Li only chuckled at their words as he shook his head. This, of course, made her want to ask questions again. But she ended up pursing her lips until they arrived on one of the balconies away from the hall.

"Why were you laughing?"

"Hundred years… of living together sounds wonderful. Don't you think?"

She looked at him, suspicion flashed in her eyes as she wondered if she had lived with this man for a hundred years before. Why was his gaze so strange? "I don't know. I believe it would be boring."

"You think so?"

"Absence makes the heart fonder." Lucinia suddenly uttered as she tried to recall where she heard that saying before.

"You don't have to leave just to make my heart fonder of you."

She threw her head back and laughed. The man's ability to make her cringe was surely top-notch. Then her gaze landed on the lawn just below them. Her eyes slowly roamed towards the guests and servants, silently looking for the female lead. Right now, she was certain that she would monopolize the Duke's attention the whole time that they were here.

However, the system didn't inform her that her mission was already completed. She immediately suspected that something was wrong.

Lucinia was certain that the system mentioned stopping a certain Duke from kidnapping the female lead. She had assumed it was Duke Mo was the previous Lucinia knew that the Duke hated Prince Gavril. But what if it was someone else? Lucinia gritted her teeth when she realized that she never thought about this probability.

"Tell me about the killings," she said, her eyes were still on the people on the lawn. She was expecting Mo Li to argue with her again, to tell her that this wasn't her concern. However, the latter only stared at her for a few seconds, staring at her reaction before he answered.

"It wasn't just the witches. It could be some knights working for the witches." He too, looked at the lawn as the soft gust of breeze touched their skin. "The targets were all knights that were turned into vampires. Lower class nobles."

She squinted as she thought of her quest about the flower that could hurt vampires. "Did they use the— "

"Yes and no," he answered as if he already knew what she was thinking. "Using the flower to hurt vampires was common especially if witches use it to torture us. We found two bodies so far, and they have the burn marks, their body was cut into pieces. They were using other weapons that could stop the vampires from healing."

"Why do you think Witches hated us so much?" Lucinia suddenly asked.

"Vampires are ruthless creatures. We needed humans to survive. We are abominations, creatures that weren't supposed to exist. But we do. And we always show that we are dominant, we are above them. On the other hand, witches believe in nature. They are guardians and would always try to preach kindness to everyone. There were some exceptions, but generally, they hated us because of what we are while we hated them because they have capabilities to defeat us."

She nodded. That was always understandable. "But vampires are really good looking people." She muttered. Everyone that she had met so far we're really good looking! Of course, their skins don't sparkle and they don't have a dead heart. They have blood running in their veins, they bled, blush, and they die even without a stake.

"So what are the older vampires planning to do about the witches?"

"Nothing." Mo Li shrugged. "Wars happen to change something. It is a part of history and a part of human nature. We can't do anything about it."

"Sounds fair." She had thought that it was actually Mo Li who would kidnap the protagonist, but right now, she was about eighty percent sure that it wasn't him. First and foremost, Mo Li sounded like he doesn't really care about anything else in this world.

Before this, the Original Lucinia heard about him being someone who just stayed in his mansion and villa and hated socializing. Many vampires don't even know where he was staying. Of course, this changed when Lucinia met him. But still, the pattern doesn't fit at all.

Unless, of course, this man was really good at hiding something.

Her attention landed on the male lead who was helping around while looking at the female lead. The two really looked innocent and sadly… weak. In a world like this, being born weak was such a disadvantage. She wondered if…

Lucinia's thoughts were interrupted when she saw someone suddenly pulled the female lead towards him. She was about to run back when she realized that they are currently a few floors away from the lawn. "Hey… can you jumped?"

"Down?" he asked. Just like her, Mo Li also saw the woman being assaulted by a vampire.

"Yes."

"Of course." He didn't wait for her to say anything as he held her waist and suddenly jumped towards the lawn. His landing attracted the attention of many vampires, and when they recognized the two, they immediately created a pathway, giving them access to the female servant who was now crying on the floor.

"What is going on here?" Lucinia's voice was enough to make the man with a huge belly stopped talking. She immediately sighed when she recognized the man. It was actually a Duke that grew up with Prince Gavril but is now living in another kingdom.

"Princes… Lucinia." The man said her name in the most disgusting way possible as he lowered his gaze towards her cleavage and into her small waist. "May I know why is the Princess trying to intervene in my… personal business? Are you perhaps… here because you are jealous?"