Chapter 400: Thoughts, Plans, and Decisions.
"... Only that?" Victor was the one who asked.
"Yes...?" Anna looked at her son with a confused expression.
"I see..."
To be honest, Victor didn't think much about it, he didn't give a damn, he didn't give a damn about the matter at hand.
He just wanted to see how it unfolded, and if possible, he wanted his mother not to bond with Aphrodite again.
'A friendship of over 10 years... And she also helped my mother in her time of need...'
Okay... He was thinking about it.
'Ugh...' Victor at this point was split in half, one side wanted revenge, and the other side wanted to thank Aphrodite.
Because even though he was a Vampire now, he hadn't forgotten the hardships he and his family went through when they ran out of money.
And at the time, he was just a sick kid, so by helping Anna, Aphrodite consequently helped Victor.
And just for that act, he should thank her.
Victor's own dogma that it was an eye for an eye, Tooth for a tooth. Blood for blood.
It was conflicting now.
He believed in simple things, if a person was good to him, he'd be good to that person too.
Now, if a person has harmed him, he'd harm that person 100x more.
This was how he had always acted all his life, and now he was torn in that way.
Although Scathach has affected him a little… especially in regards to Victor's personality, some things like his beliefs haven't really changed, they just grew stronger, or changed into something new, but the essence remained the same.
Did Aphrodite harm Victor?
No, she didn't harm him.
She harmed Adonis, who consequently harmed the family of Violet, his beloved wife.
And all the events related to Adonis and Victor were born.
Victor's hatred of Aphrodite grew out of these events.
In his psychotic mind (which he acknowledges he has), Aphrodite has not harmed him, or harmed Adonis deeply.
...If we're going to talk about the Goddesses... The memories he had of Aphrodite were just intimate moments, and she blessed him with her blessing, and after they had a lot of sex, she got bored and went in search of other 'stimulus' for her long existence.
The only one who remained psychotic and even went so far as to curse him was Persephone.
This was due to a petty little vendetta, an act of revenge against Agnes who'd begged Scathach to capture Adonis for her, and took away Persephone's 'prize'.
... Aphrodite also helped his mother… His dear mother, the woman he respected the most in his life.
And from the conversation he'd seen between the Goddess and his mother, there didn't seem to be any malevolent goals or ulterior motives behind Aphrodite's actions, she just genuinely wanted to help her friend.
And that attitude definitely earned her a lot of good points in Victor's book.
'Woahh, I can't believe I'm seeing the Goddess of Beauty in good eyes here...'
The impression he had of Aphrodite initially was the worst possible; she went from being an extremely beautiful Goddess whom he'd have to maintain his highest guard around, to a target he should merely maintain caution with.
After all, the feeling of having your body being controlled by someone, and you knowing that is not a nice thing... Although because of his quick reaction and decision making, Victor managed to eliminate this effect.
But at that moment, a crack was created there.
'Yes, it wasn't a very good first impression...'
...Honestly...Victor really didn't know what to do now.
In the face of all his wisdom, and self-knowledge, he understood something... He was very inclined to hate Aphrodite because of her psychotic mind...
Something that normally wouldn't be a problem, but became a problem when the target of this potential hatred was a close friend of his mother's.
And not just any close friend, but a friend of over 10 years.
If he took a wrong step, he could hurt his mother a lot, something he would hate himself for his entire existence.
"...I'll go to my room, I'm not in the mood to stay there." Anna spoke after a while.
Finding out that her son was some Vampire with questionable relationship morals was far less impactful than learning that her friend of over 10 years was a Goddess...
...Who was she trying to fool? Both situations were shocking.
Her son had become an uninhibited Vampire who had no problem making Oyakodon. For God's sake, out of all three of his wives, he also has his own Mother-In-Law in his... Hmm... Harem?
A rather disjointed word in light of her current situation, she had already heard these words in period films her husband liked to watch.
... But apparently, that word was a norm in the Supernatural World, even women, if they were powerful enough, could have a harem of only men, or even of women with women.
At least that's what her son's wives said.
Yes... The important word here was not ethics or something that humans love to call it, but something more primitive and that has always been present in society even today.
'Power'
She didn't know exactly how Vampire society worked, after all, hearing from someone else and experiencing it were two different things.
But...
'The families of my son's wives come from clans , something that can be considered the highest nobility in the human world, and yet my son got permission from the mothers of these girls for her son to have a relationship with them. .. And not only that, even the mothers of those girls who are leaders of these Clans are willing to share the same man as their daughters...'
Anna could deduce that this was all because of her son's 'power'.
She couldn't tell how powerful he was, but... Glancing at the two new women she hadn't seen before, women who didn't seem to be connected with the group but who seemed to have a distinct purpose, her eyes were the eyes of someone who has come to ask someone for something.
And these same women seemed to be quite skilled in their field, they were quite classy too, the way they talked and sat was proof of that.
And the person these women were looking at, she knew who that person was.
She glanced at her son who had a completely changed appearance, he seemed lost in thought just like her.
It wasn't until she passed in front of her son that her son reacted.
"Mm, if you need anything, call me, mother."
"It is clear." Anna laughed:
"And call your father too, he's probably hiding somewhere your subordinates put him."
"... It is clear." Victor spoke with a small smile, and he looked at Violet.
Violet nodded, getting off Victor's lap, and walked to the corner of the room and picked up her phone.
"Bring him."
"Yes, Lady Violet." The Vampires didn't question it.
Sigh...
Victor took a long breath.
"Complicated situation, huh..." Ruby spoke up.
"For me…Yes. But not for my Violet."
"Indeed."
The couple already knew Violet's opinion on all this, they knew the woman too well to understand that none of this mattered to her, she just did nothing in respect of Victor's own decision and his mother's who was close.
The two understood this.
And Victor wasn't much better, just like his dear and beloved Violet, he was very much in her opinion.
Something he understood could not resolve this situation.
Because of this, he sought advice from someone who always tried to see everything in a cool and neutral way.
"Ruby..." Victor's eyes gleamed slightly as if indicating something.
"...." Ruby's cheeks turned slightly red, but she didn't refuse his request.
Like an approaching toy kitten, she walked with easy steps, and elegantly sat on his lap, and laid her head on his chest.
As she snuggled into Victor's warm body, she couldn't help but feel comfortable with his scent...
Feeling the coldness coming not from Ruby's warm body but from her presence, Victor's mind began to calm down.
He didn't know why, but Ruby always had a calming effect on him.
It was very similar to what he had with Sasha, and surprisingly sometimes Natashia.
Well, the Fulgers weren't related by blood for nothing.
Although if you're going to talk about blood, Ruby was completely different from Scathach.
While one was more intense and almost bordered on insanity, the other was colder.
... At least if we're only going to talk about their superficial characteristics, because Victor knew that the mother and daughter had more in common than meets the eye, and probably only he knew that.
A thought he was very fond of.
"Ahhh, Ruby you sneaky!"
Violet quickly returned to Victor's side.
"Any advice Ruby?" he asked gently in a loving tone.
"....-" The next words Violet was about to speak were swallowed up again and she waited for Ruby's judgment.
"...." Ruby smiled just enough for Victor and Violet to see. She liked it when her husband always came to her for advice when this kind of situation happened.
Something that was becoming quite common after scolding him multiple times for doing things without including them.
Moments like this were reminiscent of the time they spent together, whenever he felt confused and lost, he would come looking for her advice.
... Something that she also started to do when she realized that she could always count on her husband.
'But that's what a married relationship is, I think?'
'Give and take.'
'Just like in bed...' She cursed her last perverted thoughts for a few seconds, thoughts that had become common when she's around Victor.
"Wait, protect, evaluate, and act accordingly as necessary." Her response was instantaneous until it stopped that she'd already thought of a solution, and knowing Ruby, she probably already had.
"Elaborate..." Victor spoke.
While maintaining the same comfortable position she was in, she closed her eyes, and enjoyed Victor's caresses in her long red hair which at some opportune moment began to happen.
"This is obviously a situation you cannot resolve by physical force."
"..." Victor thought the same.
"Regardless of what she's done in the past, Aphrodite is currently in a long time friendship with your mother, and up until the present moment, she has never harmed your mother or anyone else in your family... In fact, she even helped them." The first part of the sentence of Ruby's words was directed at Violet, and consequently also at Victor.
They understood what she meant by the first sentence.
"From what I could gather from the conversation, Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty, has no enmity with us for one simple reason."
"Anna, your mother."
"...." Before Victor or Violet could say anything, Ruby continued:
"Darling, think with me."
"Imagine that day when you went to ask for Aphrodite's help, a reckless gesture that I disapprove of to this day…" She didn't fail to snipe at Victor for his recklessness.
Something that made Victor just smile wryly as he tried to ignore her glittering eyes.
"Continuing…" Leaving that matter aside for now, she continued:
"If that day, Aphrodite didn't know Anna and didn't have any bond with you, what do you think she would do?"
"...control me, at worst turn me into a puppet and satisfy her lust." Victor didn't need to think too much about his answer, he had Adonis' memories after all.
"Correct."
"We should thank Anna for indirectly saving your ass."
"....." That phrase really made Victor think about it.
An attitude Ruby appreciated:
"For better or for worse, Aphrodite is a Goddess, she's a Titan on top of that, a second-generation Goddess. The concept of morality does not exist for the Gods, they are beings that were alive before these words even existed."
"What is seen to us 'mortals' as offensive, to the Gods, can be something small and even futile."
"But-".
"...Yes, I know that doesn't change what they did, Jeanne."
"...But I haven't said anything yet." She pouted at the end, was she so predictable?
"Puhi" The succubus next to Jeanne just made a gesture as if to laugh at her friend, her gaze was clearly saying, 'You were predicted by a younger Vampire, wow.'
"..." Veins bulged in Jeanne's head.
"Moving on… Upon contacting Anna, Aphrodite changed, the Goddess mentality is still there, that is something that will never change, but… She has become more tolerant."
"I bet if it was another God, and we had treated him or her like we treated Aphrodite today, he would have said something like:"
"Arrogant mortal, I'm a God, I do what I want!"
"......" Now that Ruby made that point, everyone understood that what she said was correct.
If it had been another God, things wouldn't have ended so…peacefully.
Ruby nodded in satisfaction when she saw everyone impressed by her acting as an arrogant young master.
"So what I propose is, protect Anna, keep an eye on Aphrodite, and try not to meddle as much as possible while the two are talking, and act as necessary."
"Wait, protect, evaluate, and act accordingly as necessary, huh?"
"…." Ruby smiled when she heard what Victor said.
"I've given my opinion, whether you follow it or not is up to you~."
"Mm." Victor nodded, he seemed to be thinking about it.
What Ruby didn't tell Victor is that she had one more plan:
'Make her an ally... The power to control all beings like a puppet is very useful.' It may be cold to say this, but she didn't care one bit about Adonis' feelings.
She cared about Violet, and her friend was doing better than ever.
She understood her husband's feelings, how could she not? She knew he would always put his family before himself.
That's what she loved about him, and that's what she liked about his love. His affection for his family was the main characteristic that made Ruby give herself to him both emotionally and physically.
Victor had Ruby's icy heart in the palm of his hand, and from the moment he received her heart, he'd always treated her with the greatest affection and respect she ever thought to receive from a Noble Vampire.
... After all, she knew the nature of Vampires.
A nature like hers...
Greedy.
Aphrodite's power was simply too useful to let go of, and having a Titan Goddess as an ally was something that was quite necessary for her future plan.
'But not yet... I need to find a way to deal with her powers.' Although the idea of having Aphrodite as an ally was a wet dream for Ruby,
She was not so stupid as to put this into action without countermeasures to the Goddess herself. She knew that if she bit off more than she could chew, it'd come back to bite her ass later, just like with Esther, she learned her lesson that day.
Unlike Roberta in which a contract served to keep the woman in line... A contract that proved useless with time, after all, Roberta couldn't live without Victor anymore,
The Goddess wasn't bound by those rules. She needed something stronger, something more substantive, something more… Divine.
But... That was something more for the future. Now she just wanted to enjoy the hot body and scent of her husband while she basked in Violet's envious gaze, surprisingly, but not so much from Kaguya's either.
.......
