"...Huh?" Kaguya was sure she had misheard, and her world began to spin as she put her hand on her head as if she had a bad headache, while she took a deep breath and asked:
"What did you say...?" She even forgot to call Victor 'Master' for a moment, because she was just so shocked by what she had just heard!
"You've slept for 700 years, my Maid." He repeated in the same tone of voice.
"..." Kaguya opened her mouth wide. She couldn't believe she had wasted 700 years of her life sleeping! Even for a 700-year-old vampire, that was a long time!
She could have done so many things! She could have trained! She could have gotten stronger! She could have witnessed her master's progress!
She couldn't believe she wasted all that time sleeping like a vegetable!
She could not accept this cruel fate!
"..." As if a supernatural entity had cut off all sound, the surrounding environment fell into pure silence.
"... Pfft...Hahahahaha, your face is priceless, my Maid." Finally, Victor couldn't take it anymore and laughed.
Seeing Victor laughing a lot in her face, Kaguya understood that he was joking, and somehow she couldn't help but feel irritated and embarrassed.
"M-Master!"
"Hahahahahah!" Victor laughed even harder when he saw Kaguya's troubled face.
"Do not laugh!" She really wanted to hit Victor right now! How dare he play this kind of joke on her! For a moment, she actually thought she had wasted 700 years of her life!
She almost had a heart attack!
"You only slept for 7 days, my Maid," Victor spoke the truth now.
Sigh.
Kaguya sighed in relief.
Kaguya lowered her arms to her side in an attempt to sit up, but Victor spoke in a serious tone:
"Stay down." It was a tone that did not allow for refusal.
"...Yes." She was pretty tame when Victor spoke seriously.
She wasn't used to seeing her master like this since he usually talked to her while he had a small, amused smile on his face.
"We need to talk." Victor's voice was so serious that it caused Kaguya a bit of discomfort.
"..." Kaguya remained silent and waited for Victor's next words. Her heart was beating so fast, she wanted to know if she had done something wrong for Victor to act so seriously.
'I didn't make a mistake, right? I'm not getting fired, right!?' She was very worried.
"Kaguya...-" Victor was going to say something to Kaguya, but suddenly something caught his attention.
'Hmm?' Victor looked to the side towards a wall; 'this feeling...' Victor's eyes start to glow blood red, turning his world to shades of red, and soon he can see beyond the wall.
His vision widened as he caught sight of four women with silhouettes he recognized well. Strangely, these women seemed to be carrying various types of weapons like swords, spears, shields, axes.
One of the women turned her face and looked at him, and the woman didn't seem to be in a good mood.
"... Fuck." Victor couldn't help but mumble while facepalming. He was so worried about Kaguya that he completely forgot about this 'little' misunderstanding he caused.
Victor looked at Ruby like he was trying to say something really hard.
Ruby raised her eyebrow, "Do you want me to leave?" She completely misunderstood Victor's look and thought that Victor wanted her to leave the room so he could talk to Kaguya alone.
"Scathach just arrived." Victor dropped the bomb.
"...Huh?" Ruby opened her mouth and didn't seem to register Victor's words.
When Victor's words register in Ruby's brain:
"What-." She was about to say something, but Victor interrupted, saying:
"And she didn't come alone." He spoke in a neutral tone as if that wasn't his problem:
"She brought all your sisters, and if that wasn't enough, she also brought a lot of weapons. It looks like she's prepared to go to war."
"... Eh?" This time Ruby was very shocked since she knew Victor wasn't lying. After all, he wouldn't joke about something like that.
Or would he? In fact, she didn't know! Her husband's personality was so random at times!
Sometimes she just wanted a book that had the title: 'Read This and Understand Your Husband.'
She thought that no matter the price, she would definitely buy this book.
... In fact, all the men wanted this book too, but with a slightly different title: 'Read This to Understand Women'... This book would definitely be over 10,000 pages long.
"She is probably furious." Victor felt that with Scathach's current mood, the woman would really burn the world down this time.
Ruby narrowed her eyes, "...Darling, what did you do?"
"Hmm..." Victor turned his face and scratched his cheek a little, "I kind of got in touch with her, and I told her my wife was being hunted by the hunters..."
"..." An uncomfortable silence fell around, the silence so uncomfortable that Victor really wanted to leave this room right now.
"...Question..." Ruby put her finger to her brow like she was having a migraine now, "Did you specify which wife you were talking about?"
After all, he had three wives, and if he just says, 'Hey, Mother-in-law. My wife is being hunted by hunters! Let's kill them!'
Scathach could get it wrong, right?
He definitely didn't speak in a way that would cause misunderstandings, right?
Right?
"..." Victor didn't answer Ruby's question, he just stayed silent, and that was all the answer Ruby needed to know.
"Darling..." Ruby really felt like strangling Victor now. Just what kind of trouble did he cause!
An angry Scathach is far worse than causing an international incident!
"..." Kaguya was silent, she remembered hearing something like that when she was in Victor's shadow, but at the time, she was so weak that she didn't really care.
"RUBY, COME HERE!!!" Scathach's booming voice echoed throughout the basement.
"...Oh, Shit." Ruby was sweating a little cold now, she knew that tone of voice from her mother.
"...Yes, she is definitely furious." Victor displayed a small smile.
"Stop laughing! This is your fault! Why did you say that kind of thing to her!?" Ruby screamed in frustration. She knew damn well that when Scathach was angry, she was just like Victor!
In fact, she might even be worse than him!
"I needed some advice from my master." Victor spoke the truth, "I was hesitating, and her advice opened my eyes."
"..." Ruby looked at Victor in silence and seemed to be thinking about several things.
Sigh
Ruby visibly sighed and could now understand Victor's drastic change in attitude. If it was the Victor she'd known a few days before the incident, he definitely wouldn't have done what he did in Sasha's old mansion.
'...But maybe that's a nice change.' Ruby understood that Victor couldn't retain his 'human' mentality for long.
"Okay." She made a decision, "I will try to calm my mother... Probably when she sees me well, she will calm down." Ruby turned and walked towards the bedroom exit.
"..." Victor remained silent the entire time, and when Ruby left the room, he looked at Kaguya.
"My Maid." Victor's entire mood shifted to a more serious tone.
"..." Kaguya was silent and waited for Victor's next words.
"Why?" Victor's eyes glowed blood red.
"...Huh?" Kaguya didn't seem to understand.
"Remember the contract, my Maid."
"I remember saying it, right? Your safety comes first."
"...Oh." Kaguya opened her mouth and understood what Victor was talking about now.
"...Master, are you angry?" She asked in a cautious tone.
"Yes." Victor's response was instantaneous!
"..." Kaguya was silent.
"I am angry at the hunters for hurting my precious Maid. I'm mad at you for not prioritizing your safety. I'm mad at myself for hesitating about something."
"I'm very angry right now, and the reasons are many, but that's not the important thing... The important thing is about your breach of contract."
"But...Lady Sasha."
"Was Sasha in danger at the time?" Victor asked.
"She wasn't..."
"See? So why did you put yourself in danger?"
"..." Kaguya lowered her head and felt she had done something bad.
"..." Victor's face slowly started to change to a gentle one when he saw Kaguya's expression:
"My Maid..." Victor reached out his arm to pat Kaguya's head.
"Despite being angry, I am also very grateful."
"..." Kaguya looked at Victor.
"I know you did what you did because you were thinking about my wife's safety."
"And I really appreciate that." He spoke with such a gentle smile that Kaguya thought even the atmosphere around her seemed to be warmer.
"Master..." Kaguya exhibited a small smile.
Victor suddenly shook Kaguya's head.
"Ouch, M-Master."
"Don't show that happy smile, I'm still pissed." Victor let go of Kaguya's head.
Kaguya pouted. Why was her master being so mean to her!? She was a good maid! She worked hard! She deserved to be rewarded!
"My Maid... Do you know what my biggest fear is?" Victor suddenly spoke in a serious voice that sent shivers down Kaguya's spine.
"..." Kaguya looked at Victor.
"My biggest fear is losing someone important to me..." Slowly Victor's eyes began to become hollow and lifeless, "Do you know why I have this fear?"
"...I don't know..." Kaguya was honest.
"Because if someone important to me disappeared, I don't know what I would do..." Just imagining the people close to him disappearing, something inside Victor started to turn dark.
Unconsciously, half of Victor's face turned as dark as darkness itself, and the only thing Kaguya could see was a red power that appeared to be Victor's blood, Victor's eye, and the teeth of his mouth.
"I'd probably torture and kill those responsible while simultaneously burning the world in a fiery rage, but... then what?"
Gulp.
Kaguya gulped and tried her best not to look at the other half of Victor's face. She felt she could be swallowed if she stared too long!
"Just imagining it... I can't help but feel an emptiness engulf my heart." He squeezed his chest tightly.
"Because of that, my Maid. I'd rather die than let the people close to me die, do you know why?"
"W-Why?" Kaguya stuttered a little.
Victor's smile grew disproportionately on his face:
"Because I'm pretty sure the devil wouldn't want me for company, and he would definitely send me back to life."
"...." Kaguya opened her mouth in shock. Where did this confidence come from? He didn't have proof that he could come back to life, right? But why does he talk as if it were an absolute certainty?'
'Ah...' Kaguya seemed to understand something; 'It's not about trust or having proof... Is it something more like an unshakable faith in yourself?'
Kaguya felt that maybe that was it. He had so much faith in himself that he believed he could do anything?
'Master... is weird.' She couldn't help but think about it, and, In the end, she couldn't understand anything!
Victor's smile faded, his face returned to normal, and he spoke with a small laugh:
"That's if the devil exists, of course."
......
