"FUCK!"
BOOOOOM!
Prince Theo threw his table on the floor.
"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!"
He started breaking his office furniture in a fit of rage.
"How dare he treat me like a child!" To Theo, his father's attitude was inconceivable.
"It's because of that attitude that he treats you like a child." Theo suddenly heard his brother's voice.
He looked back to see Prince Lucas standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.
"Lucas..."
"You should be used to our father's attitude."
"..." Theo was silent.
"Why were you so affected by our father's words? That's not like you, you're usually calmer."
"I..." Theo didn't know how to respond. He just remembered the conversation his parents had after Victor left with Scathach.
...
"Disappointing."
"..." Their father's voice caused them to feel a shiver run down their spines.
"F-Father?" Lucas didn't understand. He didn't understand why his father was disappointed in them. They didn't do anything wrong!
"Silence." The king's eyes glittered dangerously.
"..." A silence fell in the place.
Vlad looked at his children.
"Leaving aside Elizabeth and Ophis, who are babies and have not reached the age of maturity." He looked at the children who were over 500 years old, namely Theo, Lucas, Saul, Adam, and Lilith.
"Did you learn nothing from this demonstration?"
"...Huh?" The children didn't understand. Demonstration? What is he talking about? Wasn't this just a meeting?
"Sigh..." He placed a hand on his brow. He didn't even try to hide how disappointed he was.
'Why do I have such useless children? This way, it will take a few more millennia for me to retire.'
"..." A cold sweat was falling from the foreheads of Vlad's children.
'What is he talking about? Was this a demonstration?' Theo and Lucas, as the eldest children, started using their heads faster and tried to figure out their father's intentions.
Suddenly, a portal appeared, and Alexios exited the portal while holding Ophis in the air with some unknown power.
"Let go of me..." Ophis' eyes were glowing blood red.
"I'm sorry, Princess. But it's the king's orders."
"Evil Father...?"
"..." Vlad's eyes twitched a little when he heard what Ophis said.
"Well..." Alexios didn't know what to say, does he agree? Or does he deny it? Like a good servant, he just looked at the king and said:
"I brought her."
"Where was she?"
"On the way to Countess Scathach's residence."
"..." Vlad's eyes twitched a lot now. It was quite obvious that Ophis ignored his order and headed towards the place where Victor was.
"..." Ophis turned her face and tried to whistle, but nothing came out.
'Has she entered her rebellious phase?' The king thought when he saw what Ophis was doing.
Vlad looks back at his children.
"First, do you think I would gather you all here if it was for a useless reason?" He started to explain.
"..." All the children thought it made sense.
'What happened to that man was a demonstration...' Saul already had doubts about that, but he hadn't thought it through. 'Demonstration of what?'
"..." Vlad clicked his tongue internally, 'They still don't understand?'
"When you saw Victor Alucard's attitude of attacking me, what did you think?"
"He's crazy." All responded simultaneously.
"..." Vlad was a little surprised for a few seconds, then he replied,
"Yes, he is," He smiled.
"..." Vlad's children felt strange when they saw their father's smile.
"Now I ask you, my children. Would you have that courage?"
"..." The answer that crossed everyone's mind was: Of course not. They are not suicidal lunatics.
Suddenly all their eyes widened, and they seemed to have understood something.
"Yes, that's what I wanted to show you. The courage to challenge a stronger force, the courage to always want to test your limits, the courage to stand before me like an enemy." With every word Vlad spoke, the pressure he released from his body increased.
"That's what you don't have!"
"Cowards!" His voice resonated throughout the castle.
"..." The princes and princesses just lowered their heads and didn't dare say anything.
Vlad was disappointed. All his sons didn't have the makings of a good king. They were weak mentally. They were weak against powerful enemies. They would readily submit to a greater force, and thus he couldn't entrust everything he built to his sons.
'If the king of wolves saw my children now, he would probably laugh in my face.'
At the end of the day, Vlad thought the methods of the king of the wolves were correct. Despite using brutal methods, he had strong children, children who would inherit the empire he created.
Even though those kids were as stupid as their father...
"Theo." The King looked at his son.
"Y-Yes?"
"You are a smart man. That, I readily acknowledge you for."
"Father..."
"But you only have this... Your one redeemable trait. Everything else of the person you are, is an utter failure, less than garbage."
"..." Theo clenched his fists tightly.
"Even though you're 3000 thousand years old, you haven't progressed, you haven't gotten stronger. Scathach, despite being younger than you, can easily defeat you, and she wouldn't even need to use her transformation. You are weak."
"..." He wanted to complain and say that Scathach was a training maniac, and he wasn't like that! He was strong! But he knew that would only make his father angry.
"Instead of training and getting stronger, you prefer schemes, acting like a poisonous snake." Vlad's eyes glowed with ridicule.
"..." The only thing that crossed Theo's mind when he heard his father's words now was, 'Does he know? But I hid it perfectly.'
"Do you think schemes will help against enemies who can wipe you out of existence with just one breath?"
"..." He was silent.
"You saw my fight against that being, do you think schemes would be enough to stop him?" He was talking about the Elder Gods.
"..."
"Answer me." His voice was neutral, but it still sent shivers down Theo's spine.
"N-Noo."
"As my eldest son, you should be the strongest. You should be an example to follow, you should inherit everything I've built, but... You're just that..." He didn't even have the words to describe how disappointed he was.
Vlad Tepes had two grandchildren too, who were the children of Theo and Lucas... But their grandchildren were even greater disappointments.
As the king's grandson, they believed themselves the center of the world and were always causing trouble.
Because of that, Vlad didn't even consider those flaws as grandchildren.
"..." Theo just fell silent as his body shook a lot like a child being scolded by his father.
"Lucas." He looked at his second son.
"You are strong, much stronger than my first child. Unlike Theo, you never faltered in your training, and you are not a complete coward." But, despite having praised his son, Vlad knew it was still not enough. He still didn't have the makings to become a good king.
"..." Lucas was silent and just waited for his father's reprimand.
"You just have to use your head more and stop depending on your big brother, grow up! You are already an older vampire."
"...Yes, Father." Surprisingly, he didn't get many complaints.
"Saul..."
"Y-Yes..."
"You are perceptive at times, but you're too dumb."
"D-Dumb?"
"You look like a horse that just walks forward, and you easily forget things. Do you have a chicken's brain?"
"...Huh?"
"Example: A few years ago, a maid tried to murder you, and, despite noticing her intentions, you neglected to do anything. Why?"
"W-Well... I was too Lazy..."
"And the consequences of that were your little sister being hurt." Vlad looked at Elizabeth, who unconsciously touched her arms.
"..." Saul was silent, but he understood his problem.
"Adam..."
"Yes?"
"You are good."
"Huh?"
"Just never stop training. You have the best trainers available, don't go soft." Of all his sons, Adam had the potential to be king... for now. After all, only time will tell if he would change in the future.
"Y-Yes, Father!" Adam was somehow feeling very happy that his father recognized him.
"Lilith."
"Yes, Father," Lilith responded so gracefully, she was sure there was no flaw her father would notice.
"Stop being lazy."
"... Eh?"
"You think I don't know? You're constantly running away from your duties because you're 'bored'."
"W-Well..." How did he know!? Is it those damn shadows!?
"And most importantly, don't go after the new Count."
"W-What" She looked like a cat that had its tail stepped on, "I won't!"
"..." Vlad just stared at his daughter with a dry look.
"I swear I won't!"
"It's better that you don't. I don't want to have to bury my daughter's body." Vlad knew very well the personalities of Victor's wives. He didn't need to be a genius to figure out that all women are equal or worse than Scathach.
Although Vlad only said this to cause fear in Lilith, he would never let his daughters be harmed.
Gulp.
She swallowed in fear. 'Going after that man is my death sentence?' Somehow, she became even more interested in the new Vampire Count.
It was a strange feeling. She was more attracted to the danger, 'The charm of a Bad Boy...'
"Elizabeth."
"Yes, Father?"
"Just don't follow your big brother's example, and you'll be fine. Despite being very spoiled, you've got your head in the right place. You're smart, but don't forget about your training."
"Yes, Father!" As one of the youngest daughters, she was very happy to hear her father's words.
"Ophis..."
"...." Ophis turned her face and ignored Vlad.
"..." Vlad's eyes twitched a lot.
Vlad looked at his youngest daughter, who, despite being very young, had an unearthly beauty that none of his daughters had.
'She certainly inherited the characteristics of that woman... And my blood too... Although not completely.'
Of all Vlad's children, Ophis was the only one who inherited their father's special blood, albeit incompletely.
If Vlad and Victor had 100% of the Blood of the Night King, Ophis had only 50%.
'She's the one with the most potential just because she has my blood and her mother's blood in her body, but... She's too young...' Vlad felt it an irony of fate. The son he'd been hoping for to inherit his blood turned out to be a daughter and the youngest of them all.
"Ophis, I forbid you to see Victor-" He didn't even finish speaking, and Ophis already reacted badly to his words.
"Sniff..." Small tears threatened to fall from Ophis' face.
"..." A small drop of sweat fell from Vlad's face. He just wanted to test his daughter's feelings towards Victor.
'That boy... I promise myself that if he lays a finger on one of my daughters, Count or not, he will die.' Vlad's eyes twitched a lot and held a small killing intent.
Then he flashed a small smile, "I'm kidding, you can go see him anytime you want, but don't overdo it. He's very busy after all." At the end of the day, the king was a doting father, especially to his youngest daughter.
Ophis wiped her eyes. "Mm." And nodded, looking very happy.
"Thanks, evil Father."
"Ugh..." Vlad put his hand on his face, he raised his hand and made a gesture like he was kicking his kids out:
"Dismissed. Get back to work, or whatever it was you were doing."
....
