I break out in cold sweat, every cell in my body jumping with fright. The air gets saturated with so much violent magical energy that I fear I might faint any second.
He knows! He has figured out the Blood Bond!
For a second, I contemplate turning back and running away for my life, but I know I cannot outrun this giant bat.
Wait, what if I use the Unnamed skill 01? Will that help?
[As I told you once before, not against someone this powerful. But why are you getting so worked up?]
Can’t you see that the cat’s out of the bag!? He’s gonna imprison me for life!
[Tsk… you and Zakira both are too quick to freak out. Just wait.]
Wait for what…?
“D-Dad, you should calm down. We can talk about this,” Zakira takes a step forward, her voice full of alarm.
“Calm down?” Lucias hisses, turning towards his daughter with eyes full of pain. “Do you even understand what this means for our family!? What it means for you, Zaki?”
“I-I cannot say that I fully do, but it’s not that big of a deal—”
Lucias puts up his hand to stop Zakira from speaking further, as if telling her to not speak of matters she doesn’t understand. The atmosphere in the room does improve a bit as he addresses his daughter, but then he turns back to me, and it all reverts back to square one.
“You. I had my doubts about you,” he spits out coldly. “Especially since that phone call. I cannot claim to have felt no concern, but at the time I chalked it up as one of Zaki’s silly little jokes. But now, I seriously cannot tell…”
… phone call? Jokes? What is he talking about?
“… if you two are just friends or there’s something more going on.”
…
“…”
“Something more? What are you trying to say, Dad?” Zakira asks, frowning a bit. There’s a hint of realisation and heavy doubt in her voice.
“Don’t pretend to be oblivious! You both know exactly what I’m talking about!” Lucias thunders. “Are you two in a… in a romantic relationship or not!?”
He almost chokes on wording out the last question. The agony on his face is quite heart-wrenching.
“…”
…
“Phew…” Zakira breathes out a huge sigh of relief. Even I find myself able to breathe at last.
“Heh,” Marianne, who’s been standing behind silently, finally lets out a faint laugh. She looks quite amused and entertained.
And then it hits me.
It’s because of her— Marianne! Yesterday, I asked her to put a stronger ward on me than Zakira’s. It was to prevent female Vampires from getting attracted to my so-called ‘Origin blood’.
Maybe that ward is also stopping Lucias from seeing through the Blood Bond?
[Bingo! The ward was tweaked to do that as well. And Marianne is obviously stronger than Lucias, so there’s no way he would be able to casually see through her magic. She kinda looked out for you even before becoming your slave.]
… I guess she did, huh.
She may be evil, but not that evil. I can feel my anger for her softening a bit. Just a bit.
[By the way, I don’t get why you are so scared of him at all. He’s the last person you, of all people, should be scared of.]
Huh? Should I not be scared of possible lifelong imprisonment and torture? Or is that not scary in your books?
[Oh, it was valid to be scared of him before, but now? With Marianne as your slave, her ward protecting the Blood Bond, and your status as a primordial magic user? Do you still believe he’ll be able to harm you in any way?]
… if you put it like that.
I hate those hooded-ones, especially Yrathea, but I don’t think they will let Lucias Vondrack just imprison me.
{Can I say something, master?}
Oh, Black? Go on. You speak so rarely that I keep forgetting you are here.
{I do agree with Pink for once, you shouldn’t be afraid of Lucias Vondrack. There’s little he can do to you without facing consequences himself, but please keep in mind that that is only true as long as the Blood Bond is hidden. If anyone aside from your permanent women ever finds out about your Origin Blood, or more importantly, the fact that you’ve enslaved Marianne, all hell would break loose.}
I know, I know.
I straighten myself. The oppressiveness in the room doesn’t disappear, but I find myself increasingly resistant to it. Armed with the assurance of my safety, I no longer feel afraid.
“Why aren’t you both saying anything?” Lucias asks, his face getting darker with each passing second.
“You ordered me to bring Jacob to you— used your authority as the king— just to ask us this!?” Zakira asks, flaring up. No longer tensed, her worry seems to have converted into rage.
“Of course, I did. This is more important to me than anything else. I won’t let my daughter date just any ruffian,” Lucias declares, almost proudly.
Excuse me?
“Okay then, I am NOT telling you anything. What are you going to do if I don’t answer, Mr. King?” Zakira asks savagely, folding her arms and looking at her father haughtily.
I guess if you take the Blood Bond out of the equation, Zakira doesn’t seem to fear her dad at all.
“Does that mean there’s actually something between you two!?” Lucias gets even more worked up.
“Come on, Lucias. Calm down.” Marianne finally decides to intervene. “Zakira’s all grown up. She can date whomsoever she wants. And Jacob seems like a nice guy; they look cute together.”
She’s still smiling amusingly, though, as if she’s not trying to defuse the situation but ignite it further.
“No, they do not!” Lucias barks. “And Zaki’s too young to start dating anyone!”
“She’s a hundred and twenty-seven. And if I remember correctly, you were dating women left and right way before you were anywhere near that age,” Marianne reminds him with a shrug.
“Then she must learn from her father’s mistake and should not date before she’s three hundred at least!” Lucias says sternly.
Marianne just rolls her eyes at him with a sigh.
“But never mind, this conversation may be unnecessary now,” he suddenly says thoughtfully. “Zaki’s back to her normal behavior, I know what she was doing. Acting like she’s scared when I bring up anything about this boy, trying to change the topic, and seeming like she cared if I meet him or not. It’s something similar to what she did on the phone. She’s not really dating this boy. She’s just trying to annoy her dad with her little pranks. That’s her favourite thing to do.”
Zakira stares at her father’s relieved face in utter disbelief.
“I am not trying to annoy you, what the heck!? I never do that!”
“You don’t have to keep up with the act, Zaki. Your prank successfully annoyed me quite a bit, haha,” Lucias says with a small laugh.
…
“I don’t know, Mr. Vondrack. I think we might be able to annoy you just a bit further,” I speak up.
I cannot help but flash him a mischievous grin. He called me a ruffian, so I will show him a ruffian.
“What do you mean by that?” His smile falters.
I don’t reply to him with words. Instead, I simply pull Zakira into my arms and kiss her full on the lips.
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