Chapter 321: Betrayal.

There was something Aurelia wasn’t telling him and Aurelia, who could see that Lucian had already reached that conclusion, sighed and stopped hiding.

"House Veyr has been investigating House Arcelis. They sent me here to find anything out of the ordinary."

She revealed the truth.

Lucian raised an eyebrow at that.

"House Veyr is investigating House Arcelis?"

Aurelia nodded.

"Since when?"

"Almost a year."

That made Lucian blink.

"What did they do?"

He asked.

Aurelia shook her head at that.

"There is nothing certain. This is the reason we cannot be open about it."

"Still, what made you investigate them in the first place?"

Aurelia looked around, more out of habit than because she thought someone was spying on them. No one here would dare to.

She then looked back at Lucian and—

"House Veyr has been... quite interested in several blood markets these past few years."

"A Vampire House is interested in Blood Markets, surprisingggg."

Lucian spoke with a flat look on his face.

Aurelia looked back at him and he placed a finger on his mouth, silencing himself.

His sarcasm obviously wasn’t needed right now, he understood what Aurelia was trying to say. Vampire Houses poking around in the Blood Market wasn’t uncommon.

But if House Veyr was investigating them, then...

The transaction must be... rather large.

And he was right.

"Donor blood, preserved supernatural blood, blood-refining materials, marrow stimulants, regeneration catalysts. Arcelis House’s purchases in the past few years are easily two times the amount they usually buy."

"Huh..."

That made Lucian raise an eyebrow.

He could see how that was suspicious.

"Not to mention the channels they are using to buy these materials aren’t directly linked to them, they are using black alternatives."

Lucian nodded at that.

That was even more serious.

He didn’t exactly know what black alternatives were, but from the context, he could guess they were channels that couldn’t easily be traced back to them.

"They are definitely hiding something."

Lucian commented.

A Vampire House’s Blood consumption doesn’t just shoot up to two times the usual amount and if they didn’t have something to hide, they would have used official channels.

Something was definitely fishy here.

"Is this why House Veyr is investigating them?"

Lucian asked.

Aurelia nodded and Lucian seemed... impressed.

"You people are... oddly active.

To think you would investigate them just because they bought things."

"It is not about the ’things’ they bought, it’s about what those ’things’ are used for."

"What are they used for?"

Lucian asked curiously and Aurelia—

"Experiments."

She gave a straight answer.

"Experiments...?"

Lucian’s face changed.

"What kind of experiments?"

"We do not know, there are all kinds of experiments, you can’t be certain just by seeing the list of materials they bought."

"Still, you made a move, you must have some guesses, no?"

Aurelia thought about it for a moment, considering whether she should say anything or not, but honestly...

What was the point of hiding it anyway?

If anything, involving him might even prove useful, especially considering it was his investigation that gave her this lead to begin with.

"Artificial bloodline improvement, bloodline transplantation, alteration, genesis, destruction, an entirely new concept, a power we do not understand, an artifact, there could be numerous things."

"Hmm."

Lucian didn’t know what he was supposed to say.

He stared at her, then he stared at the books in front of him. His mind thought of Varek, the Contract he formed and... everything House Arcelis was doing.

"So you came here because..."

"House Veyr wants to know what Arcelis is planning."

"And how are you supposed to do that?"

"I cannot."

Aurelia shrugged.

"I simply need to be here, notice oddities and report back.

The rest will be decided later."

"Is that so..."

"Yes."

Aurelia smiled.

"And now when you connect it all with Neroth’s Heart..."

"My suspicions are even stronger.

House Arcelis is preparing something."

"But if it is linked to Neroth’s Heart in any way, then considering they got their hands on it more than nine hundred years ago..."

"It would mean that whatever they have been planning, they have been planning it for nine centuries."

Aurelia completed that sentence and Lucian—

His eyes shone with intense curiosity.

"This is getting more and more interesting."

"You must be glad I stopped you from leaving, aren’t you?"

Aurelia chuckled.

"I am."

Lucian nodded with a smile.

"Why did you stop me anyway?"

He asked curiously.

"Well, you are certainly interesting."

The Vampire admitted.

"And it did work out, didn’t it? You did point me in a certain direction that I would have otherwise missed."

"I have a feeling I will point you in many more directions."

Lucian muttered.

Thinking about the voice he heard in his ’dream.’

"I’ll look forward to what you will do."

Aurelia chuckled.

For a moment, the two smiled at each other. Then, Lucian’s face changed.

"What are you going to do now?"

He asked.

"I need to confirm our theory regarding Neroth’s Heart."

Aurelia answered almost instantly, as if that’s all she had been thinking about all this while.

"And... if what we think is true...?"

Lucian asked more carefully.

Honestly, he didn’t even want to imagine what that would entail.

An Archdemon’s Heart, the power it held couldn’t be ignored, not even House Arcelis was powerful enough to play around with it.

"If it is true, then perhaps...

Some part of Neroth is still somewhere out there, alive."

Aurelia spoke with a grave look on her face.

Lucian looked down, thinking about all this with a serious look on his face. Aurelia looked at him and laughed.

"And of course, that would also answer the question you had.

The name of the Archdemon who contracted your... friend."

"I do like getting answers to my questions."

Lucian let out an empty laugh, his mind was busy concocting his own thoughts, while Aurelia—

"And if the Heart really did survive."

She spoke again.

Lucian looked at her and...

Her eyes now looked frighteningly cold.

"...then it would mean House Arcelis kept it.

That would be..."

She thought of a proper word.

"Betrayal."

"Betrayal?"

Lucian tilted his head.

Aurelia looked at him and—

"Of every House that fought beside them, every Vampire who died in that campaign and... betrayal of my direct command."

She spoke.

And for the first time since he saw her, the look on Aurelia’s face... scared him.

House Arcelis... might just have acquired a very serious problem.