Villain: The Play of Destiny

“Ummmm!!!”

Keith chuckled when he heard a cute voice and glanced to his side, catching Celine stretching her arms after a nap.

“Why are we still on the road?” She unhappily said as she looked at the dark sky and then turned her attention to the GPS. “We are heading towards the Tyrrhenian Sea?”

“No. But our destination is only half an hour away from the sea. We are almost there.” He assured her.

“Okay.” She nodded her head and then picked up her cell phone, and then giggled as she replied to the texts of the girls to whom she had sent images of their road trip through the Alps.

She was just like a young girl, and perhaps even more energetic and joyful than any young girl out there.

“Aww… My Yue is jealous that I have her Love all to myself for a few days!” She teased and then showed him the text where Qingyue was asking her to behave. It was right under the image where Keith was giving a piggyback ride to Celine with a scenic view of the snow-capped mountains behind them. They took this picture back in Switzerland.

“Nice.” He smiled and then focused back on the road.

Half an hour later, Celine finally heard the words that she had been longing to hear.

“We are here,” Keith said as they got off the freeway and drove onto a private road.

They saw a signboard that prohibited the public from taking this road and warned them of a fine in case of a violation. All of this area was in the custody of the Italian Crown, and Celine could not help but frown as the place was a little too dark.

The tall dark trees that surrounded the road on both sides were a little too silent, and since they covered the sky too, all they could see was the distance that the headlights of the car illuminated.

“Little Keith, this place is scary.” She honestly voiced out her feeling and felt chills run up her spine when they exited the woods.

In the distance, right under the bright moon and starry sky, was a haunting Castle on top of a hill. It was a scene straight out of some horror movie about Vampires or Werewolves, and since there were no lights, she was even more scared.

“Little Keith, I don’t want to meet ghosts…” She fearfully said.

“Oh. There are no ghosts here. Don’t worry.” He assured her and then silently drove towards the Castle.

“Ghost!!!” Celine yelled out when they arrived at the gate of the castle, where an unusually tall man in black clothes was standing under the only street lamp that was on.

“It’s not a ghost, Aunty. He’s the caretaker of the Castle, and he is waiting for us at the gate.”

“No, Keith. It’s a ghost!” She adamantly shook her head and grabbed his arms. “Let’s go back. We will come here in the daytime…”

“Don’t worry. If he really turns out to be a ghost, I will end its existence.” He playfully said and then parked the car on the side.

“Master Demiliore!” A gruff and eerie voice greeted him as soon as he stepped out of the car, making the grey-eyed lady yelp in fear.

“Good Evening, Romeo.” He smiled at the tall man who even towered over him.

“Welcome Home!” Romeo politely bowed to him and then glanced at Celine, who was hiding behind Yingying. “Dinner is ready to be served.” He informed them and then turned to look at Keith. “Please come this way.”

Keith nodded to him and then grabbed Celine’s hand as he pulled her with him inside the Castle.

Celine nervously followed him, keeping her eyes on the back of Romeo. But then, to her sheer horror, the seven-foot-tall man suddenly disappeared from right in front of her.

“Ahhhhh!!!!” Celine screamed the life out of her lungs and only stopped when Keith tightly hugged her and comfortingly soothed her back.

“It’s okay!”

He laughed heartily at her terrified expression and then planted a kiss on her forehead.

“Calm down, Aunty.” He gently said. “I asked Romeo to scare you. He’s a Cultivator and so he managed to disappear at a fast speed.”

His explanation finally managed to calm her down and then she looked at him with misty eyes.

“You are bad, little Keith!” She chastised him. “What if I had a heart attack?”

“So? I am here. I would not have let anything happen to you.” He mischievously said, which made the grey-eyed woman glare at him.

“Hmph!” She stomped her foot and then started walking ahead of him to go inside the Castle.

“My apologies, Madame.” Romeo who was waiting inside bowed to her. “It was Master Keith who asked me to do it.”

Somehow, seeing the tall man so respectfully bow to her lessened her fear of him.

“It’s okay, Mister Romeo.” She lightly said. “What’s in the dinner tonight?”

“Arancini for starters. Roasted Lamb Shanks and Chops with Hot Sauce and Polenta. And then we have Tiramisu in the dessert.”

“I love them!” She brightly said and then excitedly held Keith’s hand, dragging him behind her as she asked Romeo to lead them to the dining room.

On their way, Keith, Celine, and Yingying curiously looked around the place. It was not an extravagant place, but it had a majestic vibe to it. It was a place that smelled of rich heritage, and when they entered the main hallway, where portraits of former Heads of the Demiliore Family were hanging, the grey-eyed girl forgot about the dinner and took her time looking at each one of them.

“She’s the last daughter of the main line?” She curiously looked at the portrait of the beautiful lady with trademark Demiliore hair and eyes.

“Yes, Madame. This is the portrait of the late Madame Arianne Cirrila Demiliore. She was a wonderful lady, had quite a strong will, and she was a survivor. She returned to the Castle in her last days, and she and her husband, Ezario August Demiliore, both took their last breaths here.” Romeo informed them.

Celine felt as if Romeo was reminiscing about the time gone as if he had watched and known the two people in question. .

“Romeo, how old are you?” She curiously asked.

“I will be having my 240th Birthday in December, Madame.” He truthfully said, and Celine’s mouth dropped open in shock.

Romeo looked like a person in his mid-thirties, and she was finding it hard to understand how even a Cultivator could live for that long.

“You are joking, right?” She giggled and asked. “You are good!”

However, Romeo only politely smiled at her.

“Let’s have dinner. I am famished!” Keith interjected before Celine’s mind could run wild.

“This way, Master Keith!” The tall man respectfully said and then led them towards the dining room, which was illuminated by lamps and candles on the table.

There were two more servants present inside the room, a maid and a butler, who politely bowed to them and then helped them take their seats.

They washed their hands in the warm water that was given to them in bowls and then dried them off with hand towels.

The maid then served them their dinner.

“It’s delicious!” Celine happily said when she took the first bite of the lamb shank and swallowed it.

“Thank you, Madame!” The maid, who was an aged lady in her mid-fifties, politely bowed to her.

The dinner was just a little too delicious. Perhaps it was because they had only had breakfast in the morning, back in Regensburg, and after having a long and fun day, they were starving.

Later, the butler showed them the rooms they had prepared for them. And after taking a quick tour of the section they were going to stay in, they sat down in Keith’s bedroom where he was going through some documents about the Demiliore Family’s properties in the Kingdom of Italia.

“Keith, can a Cultivator live for several centuries?” Celine could not help her curiosity and ask.

“Yes, but not in this world.” He nodded to her. “The maximum a strong Auror in Spirit Profound Realm can live for is 1.5x the average human lifespan. So, around 130 to 150 years.”

“Oh…” She nodded to him and then lost herself in her thoughts. “So, Romeo was joking, right?”

“No.” He shook his head. “He has indeed lived for 240 years.”

“How?” She had a very bad premonition about it as the usually pale face of Romeo appeared in her mind.

“He’s not human.” He simply said.

“What is he then?” She subconsciously asked.

“A Vampire.”

There was silence in the room as Celine dumbly looked at him and then at Yingying. She kept looking at the two of them, and only after Yingying nodded to her did she regain her wits.

“You can sleep with us tonight.” Keith gently said, still looking at the file.

He knew exactly what Celine was most fearful of right now.

“Let’s get out of this place, little Keith…” She pleaded with misty eyes but found him shaking his head.

“There’s nothing to worry about, Aunty. He won’t hurt you or any of us.” He closed the file and then smiled at her. “Besides, I am way stronger than him.” He winked at her.

“Really?”

“Yes.” He nodded his head.

“I will go get changed.” She nodded back to him and stood up, but then halted.

“Yingying.”

“Yes, Master.” His ever-so-obedient shadow nodded to him and then accompanied Celine to her room to get changed.

The two ladies returned half an hour later and found Keith already sleeping on the bed.

Yingying silently took the couch, but Celine kept looking back and forth between the bed and the other couch. Finally, she decided to head to the bed and lay down on the other side, turning to look at his handsome sleeping profile.

A sweet smile crept on her face as she found him sleeping a little too adorable, and then she closed her eyes, deciding to enter her own dreamland.