VAP - Chapter 73
Chapter 73: The Supreme Sage Hopelessly Obsessed with Beauty (32)
When Nai Yin spoke of these things, her expression was placid and her tone was bored, as if she were recounting a story she had merely overheard.
Nai Yin truly had no particular feelings about her half-blood upbringing, nor any interest in passing judgment on it.
Her indifferent parents, her laissez-faire grandfather, the people who prided themselves on their pure bloodline and sneered at the mixed-blood girl—they were all inconsequential.
Nai Yin had unilaterally sought out the vampire leader for a fight simply because he was the strongest of his kind.
Of all the powerhouses at her level—including the Sea Tribe’s high priest, the Beast Emperor, and the human Saints—who hadn't she beaten up?
The only thing that made the vampire leader special was that he had also received the declaration, “I am your grandmother,” from Nai Yin…
Yue Du didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
“So, you don’t plan to intervene in the matter of the vampire attacks, do you?”
“Who knows? I originally had no intention of doing so.”
She smiled, placing a slight emphasis on the word “originally,” making her meaning quite intriguing.
Sure enough, Nai Yin’s next words were: “However, I’m suddenly feeling a bit nostalgic for the way his face turned ashen with rage back then. Let me see… I’ve choked out the Empire’s emperor and tied up the magical beast Wolf Emperor. It wouldn’t be right to show favoritism, would it?”
Yue Du thought the vampire leader probably wouldn't mind being neglected.
Yet after this conversation, one day, two days, ten days, half a month passed… and Nai Yin showed no signs of leaving the castle. It seemed she had tossed the plan to show special consideration for her blood-related grandfather to the back of her mind.
One day, Yue Du remembered the matter and asked about it casually.
“Oh, him.” Nai Yin narrowed her eyes slightly, the touch of crimson at their corners making her all the more captivating. “Now is not the best time.”
Her good-for-nothing grandfather wasn't nearly as bold as the Silver Wolf Emperor. A few hundred years ago, right after she had utterly defeated him, he had hidden at home in a panic for quite some time, not daring to venture out for a century.
Now, the vampires had taken advantage of the chaos to join the war. Although the humans and magical beasts had been caught off guard, they had not yet had time to join forces.
If Nai Yin were to go “compensate” him now, her dear old grandfather would likely be scared half to death and immediately lead his clan to withdraw from the conflict.
…And that would be no fun at all.
But in front of her lover, she naturally couldn't just blurt out such chaos-loving sentiments.
Nai Yin maintained an enigmatic silence.
Yue Du hadn't been particularly concerned to begin with, so when the explanation trailed off, she simply glanced at Nai Yin and dropped the subject.
Nai Yin, however, decided to tease her. “Bribe me with your beauty, and I’ll tell you what the best time is.”
“No, thank you. I’m not curious.”
Nai Yin was shocked. “What? Have you already lost interest in my body?”
She covered her face and pretended to cry. “How could you find me old and unattractive? At the very least, you should wait until you’ve had your fill before growing tired of me! You’re so heartless!”
Yue Du: “…” What a drama queen.
Although she knew the other woman was just putting on a show, Yue Du patiently played along with her performance and was successfully rewarded with a lingering kiss.
Perhaps this was one of the sweet troubles of being in love.
Yue Du thought, not feeling troubled in the slightest.
That September, a full year after the magical beasts had declared war on the Empire, the two sides finally sat down together.
It was a negotiation, but it was also a plea for peace.
Of course, it was anything but peaceful. Just days ago, they had been at each other’s throats on the battlefield. Now, forced to cooperate temporarily under the threat of the vampires, the humans and magical beasts sat facing each other, the atmosphere taut with tension.
The silver wolf, Musha, sat at the head of the magical beasts in her human form, but she was not the one speaking for her people.
The wolf tribe was not skilled in debate. The one responsible for the negotiations was a red fox woman, a recently ascended Saint.
The red fox woman swayed her tail, a bewitching smile on her charming face that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“I hope you understand that we are the ones with the advantage. Since we’ve decided to cooperate, shouldn’t you show some sincerity?”
The emperor said nothing.
His eldest son, understanding his father’s intent, stood up. “Your statement is truly baffling. My father has already made concessions in the cooperation agreement. What more sincerity do you wish to see?”
“Hee hee… I’ve lived for several hundred years, young man. There’s no need to show off your clever little tricks in front of me. Your so-called concession is to relinquish ownership of ten border cities?”
“Is that not enough? My father has already made the painful decision to cede the Empire’s territory, simply so our two sides can reach a consensus as quickly as possible. You shouldn’t be so greedy—”
“Yours? By sentiment, those lands belonged to the magical beasts hundreds of years ago—to our great Emperor. By logic, we already reclaimed them at the beginning of this year. The facts are indisputable. Who, exactly, is being greedy?”
As the crown prince and the red fox woman continued their war of words, the emperor raised his eyes to meet the gaze of the Silver Wolf Emperor.
Beside her, the golden-haired girl who was the phoenix also looked over, her gaze calm but firm.
Neither side would yield, their eyes burning with a fire woven from hostility and composure.
They knew full well that as they spoke, the vampires were seizing the opportunity to take the lives of their people and plunder their power… but for the greater interests of their respective races, neither could be the first to concede.
The negotiations, held on the current border between the two races, involved Saints and other important figures from both sides and lasted for two days.
After the negotiations, they “shook hands and made peace.”
The vampires soon received the news.
“Father, the news has arrived. They’ve joined forces.”
A young-looking man pushed open the door, his expression and movements unhurried, reporting the latest intelligence to the vampire leader with an air of elegance.
If one ignored the dark red, curved horns and the menacing fangs faintly visible beneath his lips, he looked exactly like an ordinary human.
The vampire leader, the one he called Father, bore a strong resemblance to him. The agelessness and longevity of the vampires made them look more like a pair of brothers.
“I thought it would drag on longer. It seems their reaction wasn’t bad.”
The leader closed his eyes and pondered for a moment before asking, “How is the progress on your end?”
“Everything is proceeding as expected. The resources we’ve harvested will certainly be to your satisfaction. Even if they come to their senses now, it will be very difficult for them to recover.”
“And the others?”
The young man smiled. “We have all found suitable blood slaves, a few of whom are of rather high quality. They will be sent to you later.”
“Mm, very good. Remember to send one to your brother.”
They discussed other matters, and finally, the leader waved his hand. “You may go. Do your job well. Wait for my signal to know when to stop.”
“Yes.”
The young man bowed lightly.
He seemed about to turn and leave but hesitated.
“Is there something else you wish to say?”
“I wanted to ask… Father, do you remember Misana?”
Misana Walter. They hadn’t spoken that name in a very long time. It was a disgrace, a past that should have been sealed away.
The leader sneered. “I remember. What, are you going to treat me to another tale of cross-species love, abandoning your family and honor for a woman?”
“You misunderstand. I would never do something so foolish again,” the man said, bowing his head deeply.
The leader stared at him for a moment before recalling faintly, “That human woman. She should have been dead for several hundred years. For you to bring her up so suddenly, did something happen?”
“I had a dream.”
Vampires did not usually dream. They were nocturnal, but that didn’t mean they fell into a deep sleep during the day—only that their energy was less abundant than at night.
Sleep was not a necessity; an occasional nap was enough to satisfy their physical needs.
But there were exceptions.
When they were about to face a terrible crisis, or when they had invested too much thought and emotion into something, they would sink into a related dreamscape.
“…It was a dream about Misana. She was standing there, expressionless, holding a child.”
“The child had pure black horns growing from its head, and it was looking at me with a strange smile. I can’t describe it. It wasn’t the kind of smile a young child should have.”
The leader narrowed his eyes.
The young man continued, “Misana told me to die. She wanted to curse me, and the child just kept smiling… That’s all I remember, Father.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’m just confused. I haven’t thought about them in a very long time. Why would I dream of this? It’s too strange.”
The leader tapped the armrest of the high-backed chair with his knuckles.
“Go and investigate the current state of the Walter family. If you can, take advantage of the chaos among the humans and eliminate them.”
“But,” the man took a deep breath, “Father, do you think it’s possible that…?”
“Who? That mixed-blood brat?”
“Yes.”
“Impossible. Even with the gift of our clan’s powerful bloodline, Nine’s aptitude was far too poor.”
At most, she would have lived a little longer than her human mother. There’s no way she could have survived until now.
“I understand.”
The man nodded deeply and withdrew, a faint unease lingering in his heart.
He had once gone through a period of youthful folly, ignoring the warnings of his father and brothers to be with a woman of another race.
Of course, he soon returned to the proper path, realizing just how mistaken his self-righteous ideas had been.
However, this accident had left behind a small problem.
A baby girl of mixed human blood.
No one had bothered to give her a name.
Whenever they had to mention her, they simply called her “Nine,” because his older brothers already had eight descendants among them.
Nine. It was like a symbol of a shameful past, a cocklebur that stuck to him, impossible to shake off, pricking him every now and then.
Finally, one day, he managed to shake that burr off.
He heard Misana had married a human?
It was about time that woman who had led him astray got stuck with a burr of her own.
After that, he never heard any more news about the mixed-blood girl.
Later, on a trip to human territory to find blood slaves, he happened to run into Misana. He discovered that her daughter with another human was quite suitable as a blood slave, so he took the girl away right in front of her.
What did it matter? The Walter family’s power was in decline, and the human Empire certainly wouldn’t come calling over such a trivial matter.
Had he bothered to ask about Nine’s whereabouts at the time?
He couldn’t remember. Probably not.
It didn’t matter whether he asked or not.
The vampire leader’s youngest son walked down the blood-red carpeted corridor. When he came to his senses, he realized he had been reminiscing about things from so many years ago.
Shaking his head with a private laugh at his own nostalgia, he glanced down at his pocket watch.
Ah, he had to pick the highest quality one from this batch of blood slaves. He hoped his father would be pleased.
If Nai Yin had her black-feathered crows monitoring the situation over there, she might have sincerely remarked:
“You two old gentlemen really ought to pay more attention to your own race’s physiological traits.”
Knowing full well what dreaming means for a vampire, yet you don’t immediately think of how to avert disaster. Who else would I target but you?
Of course, it’s not as if they could have avoided it even if they tried.
Shrugs.
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