"Good morning, Mother," Violet spoke as she descended the stairs that led to the second floor.
Anna, who was making lunch, looked towards the stairs:
"Oh, Violet. You woke up?"
"Yes, Mother."
She wore a gentle smile when she heard what Violet said, pondering about what it would have been like to have a daughter.
"Where is my son?" She asked.
"He's still sleeping," Violet spoke in a neutral tone.
"Hmm..." Anna looked at Violet for a few seconds while she seemed to be thinking about something, "Well, he'll wake up soon, he's always been a sleeper."
"I remember I had to wake him up several times to go to school." She spoke with a gentle smile, reminiscing about a nostalgic past.
'He was so little... Now he's a big man.' She laughed amusingly.
Violet flashed a small smile, she could tell that the woman noticed her little lie, but she didn't say anything because she had no need, as Anna herself said in the past, "Victor is an adult."
"Aren't vampires supposed to be sleeping during the day?" Anna asked with a bit of curiosity shining in her eyes.
"Yes, but my husband and I are special." She responded with the same smile on her face.
"It's about walking in sunlight and the power of fire, huh?" She put a hand to her chin like she was thinking about something.
"Yes, my Clan is very different from all other vampires, and Darling has inherited that trait too.." Violet didn't lie this time.
"A clan of vampires that can walk in sunlight, and has the power to eliminate another vampire with just a single ball of fire... And not only that, you are responsible for the domestic and international politics of your world." Anna couldn't help but think that that was something scary; Clan Snow had a lot of power in their hands.
'If Violet wanted to, she could create as many corrupt situations as she pleased and wouldn't be discovered. After all, she has control of all politics in her world.' Anna thought, and in a way, she wasn't wrong.
But it wasn't like the four Vampire Counts didn't have people watching them, considering the king's eyes and ears were everywhere.
But it wasn't like Anna knew that either since she just knew the basics of the vampire world.
They lived in another world called Nightingale.
They needed blood to feed, and they had blood red eyes.
They were a society that still used ancient titles. Put quite simply, plebeian vampires, who were identified as humans who turned into vampires, noble vampires, who were vampires who were born as vampires, and vampire counts, who acted as the pillars of vampire society.
"Where is Leon?" Violet asked as she looked around.
"Oh, he went to work. Apparently, something was going on that needed his attention." As always, she answered honestly.
She felt she had no need to lie to Violet.
"Oh." Violet lost interest in this subject, but:
"What happened...?" Like a good wife, she tried to show that she had an interest in the subject.
"Fufufu~." Anna chuckled a little as she looked at Violet with her sapphire blue eyes, "If you're not interested, you don't have to work hard, Violet. I won't be upset, you know?"
"...Your perception is very keen, Mother..." Violet showed a helpless little smile.
"Hahaha~." Anna laughed amusedly.
"...?" Violet didn't understand Anna's reaction.
"You are like an open book to me Violet," Anna spoke with a gentle smile on her face.
Seeing the strange face on the white-haired woman, Anna said, "...Don't tell me you didn't notice?"
"Notice what?"
"Your expressions are very easy to read," Anna explained.
"Huh?"
Anna elaborated, "When you're bored, you start looking around with a disinterested look."
"When you have an interest in something, you are 100% focused on that 'something'." Anna laughed a little since, in a way, Violet's personality was like a curious cat.
But of course, she didn't say it out loud.
"Take now as an example: When I told you my husband had a little problem at work, you turned your gaze away with a disinterested look, but in less than a few milliseconds, your gaze morphed into a determined look."
"You probably weren't interested in the subject, but since I'm your husband's mother, you tried to show some kind of interest to try to get along with me."
"Your expressions tell a lot about you, Violet."
"..." Violet just stared at Anna with her mouth open, completely stunned, as doubt began to rise inside her heart; 'Am I really like an open book?'
Violet closed her mouth and flashed a gentle smile, "You're a scary person, Mother."
"Hahaha, if you want to be a successful lawyer, you need to do at least that." She laughed amusingly.
"A successful lawyer, huh?" Violet couldn't make any sense of Anna's words.
"Umu! In a way, a lawyer is the same as a politician. After all, for you to be a good politician and a good lawyer, you need to understand people." She explained, "How are politicians going to rob people if they don't know how to deceive them?" She laughed a little at the end.
"I see..." Violet put a hand to her chin; 'Understand people, huh?' For Violet, this was an impossible task. She had no interest in other people to waste her time trying to understand these people, so she casually ignored the last part Anna had said.
"But shouldn't you know that?" Anna suddenly asked.
"What do you mean?" Violet didn't understand.
"I mean, you're from a Count's family, right? As I understand it, vampire counts are like governors, and you were born into a Clan that is responsible for domestic and foreign policy."
"Oh... You're talking about that." Violet flashed a small smile, "Let's say our clan doesn't need this."
Agnes, Violet's mother, always said, 'If they don't accept our orders, just burn them... And if the matter was related to another country, just throw the responsibility on the king.'
The king had his difficulties too...
In a way, in the world of vampires, society was more 'simple', and Clan Snow was quite a feared Clan. Due to that, few noble vampires dared raise their fangs against Clan Snow.
Clan Snow had no conflict with domestic politics... Now, international politics was an entirely different matter.
Violet's mother, Agnes, was just very irresponsible when she wasn't interested in a particular subject.
"...?" Anna didn't understand what Violet meant, but as Violet herself didn't explain further, she didn't go too deep.
Anna turned her face away and went back to making lunch, but so as not to keep the room silent, she asked, "Where are the other girls?"
"Oh, they are sleeping underground," Violet replied without thinking.
"..." Anna suddenly stopped what she was doing and looked at Violet.
"Underground...?" She believed she'd misheard.
"...shit." Violet facepalmed, realizing what she had just said.
"Well, whatever. You would've found out eventually, come with me." Violet suddenly turned and walked towards the basement.
"... Okay." Anna had her doubts, but she was also curious about what Violet was talking about.
Arriving in front of the door leading to the basement, Violet opened the door, and the appearance of an ordinary basement appeared.
"...?" Anna was a little disappointed, she thought she was going to see something interesting, but it was just a normal basement, right?
Those thoughts quickly died as Violet stepped on the first basement step. Several magic circles started to appear, and soon the whole place changed.
"Holy fuck..." Anna just looked at everything with her mouth agape, as she was evidently very shocked.
"I talked about witches, right? This is their job." Violet spoke in a neutral tone.
"..." Anna didn't seem to register Violet's words.
Violet exhibited a kind little smile and said, "Come with me, I'll take you on a tour of the place."
"... Okay."
...
Sasha was walking through the basement hallways while she seemed to be thinking about something.
'This whole situation stinks, this is obviously a trap. Now the real question is why would they tell this to Maria?' She couldn't understand it.
'They should know that anything Maria knows, she'd tell me... Ah...' Sasha stopped walking, her eyes filled with annoyance.
'This isn't a trap for Maria, it's a trap for me.' Sasha knew very well that she was being hunted. Apparently, a general wished to experiment with her body.
Rumble, Rumble.
Golden lightning began to crackle around Sasha.
'Those motherfuckers, just wait, I will send you to hell!' She clenched her fist angrily.
"Why is this place ridiculously huge? A better question, when was this place built!? How does physics work in this place? If this were built by humans, I'm sure my house would have sunk underground long ago! This makes no sense!"
She was like a machine gun of questions.
"Magic bullshit," Violet said.
"So you don't know either, huh?"
"..." Violet remained silent, but her own silence was the answer to Anna's inquiry.
Hearing the familiar voices, Sasha snapped out of her thoughts.
"That's Anna's voice..." Sasha's eyes widened as she realized Violet had told Anna about the basement.
Sasha walked towards the voice, arriving in the room where she heard the voice. She leaned against the wall and peeked into the place, and soon the image of Anna looking around like a curious cat was seen by her.
"Where are the coffins? Or the blood!? Where is the torture room!?"
"...Just what kind of image do you have of us vampires?" Violet didn't know how to react to Anna's questions.
Anna looked at Violet, "Ridiculously cute beings who suck blood in a sexual way?"
"..." Violet just remained silent.
'I mean, she's not wrong...' Sasha thought. When she remembered the things she had been doing with Victor, her face turned a little red.
"We are not like that, we are respectable beings," Violet spoke with a noble smile.
Anna looked at Violet with a suspicious face and said,
"I doubt it."
"..." Violet was silent again.
"From what you said, vampires have amplified their emotions, right? They feel things more intensely than humans, is that correct?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"Now think with me. You are a jealous woman, and you see your husband walking down the street with another woman." Anna began to explain things to Violet with a serious look:
"If you were an ordinary human, you would just have a fit of jealousy and ask your husband to explain."
"But if you're a vampire, I'm sure all of this won't end with just one argument, considering you feel things more intensely, then your jealousy will be multiplied, and tragedy will ensue. Am I correct?"
"Well..." Violet didn't deny Anna's words.
"See? You are not respectable beings, fufufu," She made the face of someone who has just discovered the truth of the world.
'Again, she's not wrong.' Sasha knew that a scenario like the one Anna had just invented would end in tragedy if it happened to vampires, especially if it happened to the women of the four houses of vampire counts.
'What did she say this time?'
Somehow Sasha was having fun too...
Cough.
Violet coughed in an attempt to change the subject, then she spoke in a noble voice:
"Let's continue our tour."
"Yes, yes!" Anna was very excited.
"Are you coming too, Sasha?" Violet looked toward Sasha.
"Eh?" Sasha made a surprised face as she appeared in front of the girls, "How did you see me?"
"Your golden hair is very flashy, and you're bad at hiding."
"... I'm not that bad." Sasha pouted.
"Yes, you are." Violet had no mercy.
"Ugh."
"Hahaha, I'm glad to see your relationships are good." Anna was honest again because, initially, she thought there was going to be carnage when three women shared the same man.
After all, she was well aware of how jealous women can be.
'But I think they get along well because they're childhood friends?' Anna thought it was quite possible.
Little did she know that Violet initially tried to kill Sasha and Ruby... Ignorance is bliss.
Violet and Sasha looked at each other, and right after they looked at Anna, they smiled gently, "We've known each other for a long time." The two spoke at the same time.
.......
