Chapter 556: It's Not Your Fault.
"Hmm? Have you already returned, Darling? How was the meeting?" Ruby asked, but she already knew the answer from Victor's bad mood.
"I was expecting too much. I thought I would meet some allies… But as expected of the gods."
"..." Ruby sat in the chair and crossed her legs sensually, her sensuality increasing every day since she started consummating her relationship with Victor.
"Can you explain to me what happened?"
"Mm." Victor nodded his head and began to recount the events he had experienced.
After recounting everything, Ruby's face was ugly. She didn't like what she heard.
"Mind control..."
"Thanks to my progenitor physiology, I seem to be immune to that shit."
"Did you acquire this by advancing your seals?"
"It seems so."
"... Do you think this protection extends to people who drink your blood regularly?"
"..." Victor narrowed his eyes, and he could understand where Ruby's question was coming from. She was worried about the possibility of someone controlling their minds.
"I don't know-."
[Yes, they are protected.]
Victor was silent.
"Darling?" Ruby looked at Victor strangely, feeling his shock.
"One minute." Victor closed his eyes and found himself in a red world.
He looked around and didn't see the tree anywhere. Instead, he saw hundreds, if not thousands, of bodies walking back and forth.
"What is this?"
Roxanne appeared at his side and looked around.
"Did you like the new landscape?" the being inside Victor asked.
"Roxanne and I made this landscape so that any being that tried to peek into your soul will only see the souls of people who have been absorbed into you."
Victor looked at Roxanne.
She nodded:
"Mm, my main body is buried in this pile of corpses, in a much deeper place in your soul."
"I see you've taken precautions."
"Since we will meet gods in the future, we need to be careful." The being inside Victor said.
Victor looked at the being and raised his eyebrow. Only now did he realize that the being's hand was missing.
Seeing Victor looking at the space where his hand was, the being opened a big smile full of teeth and said:
"Finally, it's starting. We're becoming one."
"So that's why it felt easier to use that power, huh."
"The answer has always been with you, Victor."
"You are on the right path."
"...." Victor nodded, understanding what that being was saying.
"Explain what you talked about earlier."
"... We are the ones who walk between life and death. The progenitor of vampires is special since we control the souls of the dead and the blood of the living."
"In a sense, we are a kind of 'god', like the 'beginning' of everything. We can use that for the next few years to protect us."
"How do we protect? Our blood is the answer."
"Those who are recognized by us, and drink our blood, are protected by our 'blood'."
"Especially women who are connected by our soul."
"A progenitor's soul is not normal, as you can see." The being looked around, specifically at the thousands of bodies walking around.
All kinds of beings and races were here, even the monsters that Victor killed when he was in Clan Adrastea.
"Only our soul can contain so many other souls, and the only limit is how strong our soul can become."
"For example, if something happens to your wives or the people who drank your blood, they won't 'die'. Their souls will come back to us and be contained in our own souls until we have a way to resurrect them. ."
"..." Victor's face turned ugly when he heard about someone trying to target his wives.
"Don't look at me like that. You know what I'm talking about. Even if you're paranoid and have eyes everywhere to watch your wives, it's always good to have a backup plan for everything."
"I know..."
Victor was silent for a few minutes, and then he spoke as he looked around:
"Can I use these souls?"
"Yes, you can... at least that's the feeling I have, but even I don't know how we can use them, we need to be taught or try to learn through successes and failures... Someone who could help us with that would be Vlad since he is an older progenitor, but..."
""I don't see him trying to help us."" Victor and the being spoke at the same time.
"I wouldn't accept his help either." The two spoke in disdain.
"....." Roxanne just looked at the interaction with a small smile.
"Husband, are you coming back now?" She asked.
"Yes." Victor nodded. He had the answer he needed.
Before he could leave, Roxanne snuck into his arms and kissed his lips.
?? Victor was taken aback, he wasn't expecting that, but he quickly reacted to the woman and kissed her more fervently.
Roxanne wrapped her arms around Victor's neck and fervently engaged in a rather awkward kiss, but one that was full of love.
A few minutes passed, and Roxanne stopped kissing and smirked, "Fufufu~, thanks for the meal, husband~."
"… Roxanne… You-."
"Yeah, I know what I did."
"...." Victor looked at her as if she had grown another head.
"Humpf, I'm older than you, and you treat me like a child."
"... You know that's not it."
"I know… I admit that when I woke up in this form, I was very 'naive', I didn't know things, I was like a child in an adult's body, but…"
"I'm still a world tree, a being that keeps a planet going. I grew up fast."
"Spending a few months understanding common sense, it's an easy thing… And I'm jealous."
"..."
"Despite being my husband, you don't do the same things you do with Scathach and the other girls." She pouted, and her elf-like ears tilted down as if to demonstrate how sad she was.
"… Haaah, you know I was just waiting for you to mature, right?"
"Hmm." She nodded.
"Then…?" She quivered in an anxious and rather sensual way.
"Yeah, now it's okay." Victor pulled her in and hugged her gently as he caressed her cheeks.
"Oh-Oh… Good, umu." She nodded in satisfaction, and especially when she felt that lifeless gaze scanning her entire body, she felt even more satisfied.
"You must go now! Shoo, Shoo, I need to do something."
"...." Victor chuckled softly as he felt Roxanne's emotions.
Closing his eyes, Victor disappeared.
When Victor left, Roxanne couldn't contain herself any longer, and she screamed,
"Yosha!!" It was a strange scream as she waved her fists upwards. Her smile, which always showed her sharp teeth was wide, and her blood-red eyes glittered with a feverish gaze. Her whole existence was excited.
"I'm in front of Kaguya, hahahaha!" She laughed like crazy, not bothering to contain herself since the Maid couldn't hear her in this place.
She is very grateful to Kaguya and the girls who helped her understand common sense and grow mentally, but... This and that are different things! He's already her husband! Therefore, she and Victor can skip the whole process and go to the end!
'I can't wait~' She twitched a little as her insides were burning.
Roxanne felt very frustrated, only she understood how frustrating it was to see Victor treating Scathach like that, and she didn't get anything!
She wanted it too! Because of this, she took this drastic move. She knew her master was always watching her and the Maids, but he needed to understand that she was not a child.
"Humpf, I'm the age of a planet, and he treats me like that, the jerk." She smiled gently.
She wouldn't lie to herself. She approved Victor's decision to wait and ask her to acquire knowledge, she was ashamed to say, but she didn't understand anything about how people related to each other. After all, everything she felt in her life was hostility from her enemies and the protection of her guardian.
Interacting with Victor for the first time when she was just a tree was like a breath of relief. The man was very different, he acted strangely, and he treated her like she was anyone else, and the best part!?
Her guardian had accepted him! That taciturn gorilla accepted someone!
Just that left her with confidence that he was someone right for her to put her trust and hopes in.
Looking at the ground in a place that wasn't filled with corpses, she smiled gently when she saw her main body, a tree even bigger than before, with big blood-red leaves.
The tree's roots seemed to be penetrating throughout Victor's soul and consequently changing him, just as they were changing Roxanne.
"..." Roxanne's smile only grew when she saw the state of her main body.
"I need nutrients."
"Ask Victor to kill the demons and eat their souls." The being that was nearby spoke:
"As a tree that feeds on sin, they are the best ingredients."
"Ohh, you're right. I'll ask him."
Opening his eyes again, Victor was once more in the real world.
"According to that being inside me, my 'blood' will protect you from those abilities and also protect your souls should something go wrong."
"Tell me more about it." Ruby spoke in a serious tone.
As Victor was explaining to Ruby again, the two felt someone appear out of nowhere.
They stopped talking and looked at Aphrodite.
Different than usual the goddess seemed quite restrained and was no longer that bubbling ball of joy.
"Darling… I'm sorry-."
"Shhh." Victor prevented her from speaking and hugged Aphrodite, the goddess melted in Victor's arm, and she felt all the emotions like a tsunami invading her body.
He never blamed her for anything.
"Darling-."
Victor moved away from Aphrodite and held the goddess's face with both of his hands.
"It's not your fault."
??
"The gods don't have an ounce of 'humility' in them."
"They don't know how to treat any normal 'mortal'."
The goddess unintentionally received critical damage from that sentence. After all, she was one of those goddesses in the past.
"…But I should have warned them to act normal. I should-."
"Shhh, if they only act normal just because someone warned them, they can't be trusted from the start. I'd rather see who they really are."
"...." Aphrodite pouted and nodded. She was slightly frustrated that Victor wasn't letting her speak! He seemed to be throwing her around.
Sensing Aphrodite's emotions, he laughed softly:
"I said that so you don't think about nonsense... I know how women are, right?" He looked at Ruby.
And the vampire just turned her face away and ignored Victor.
"Goddess, vampire, werewolf, it doesn't matter what race they are. Since they're female, they tend to think about bullshit."
"... Whoaa, talked to like a real Playboy." Ruby snorted in disdain.
While Aphrodite nodded in agreement with Ruby.
"In a sense, I am a playboy, I have the memories of a true playboy, after all." Victor bragged.
"..." The two just stared at Victor in silence since it was a rare sight for Victor to brag about it.
A silence fell around, and that silence was broken by Aphrodite.
"Darling, at least try to talk to Freya."
"It's always beneficial to have someone like the Queen of Valkyries as an ally."
"...I'll try..." Victor wasn't unreasonable. He knew that the goddess didn't do too much, and he just reacted badly because he was angry with Loki and because they were trying to spy on his secrets.
"But I don't want to see Loki even if he's painted gold."
"As long as he doesn't get his dick out of his ass and act like a decent person, I want him to go fuck himself."
"... That is fair enough." Aphrodite didn't hide her smile.
"I will call Kali and Susanoo. They are gods who are like-minded with you, so maybe they can be your friend."
"… I will keep my expectations low." Victor spoke.
"...." Aphrodite just nodded. It was understandable since Victor never had a decent encounter with the gods.
"Ahh, I will teach you to protect your souls from the divine senses."
"Mm." Victor nodded.
"…Can I learn too?" Ruby asked in shock.
"Yeah, I made sure to bless all the women close to Victor."
Ruby raised an eyebrow:
"... This is new. What boon did you give us?"
Aphrodite gave a perverted smile and said:
"Sexuality."
"......" Ruby and Victor were silent.
"Now, I understand why the blessing of sexuality is not as great as the others..." Victor spoke as if a mystery had been solved.
After getting over her shock, Ruby understood why she was given the blessing of sexuality, and she could see the goddess' 'hidden' motives KM away. She looked at the goddess with a smile of her own that caught the goddess off guard:
"Did I ever tell you that you are the best goddess?"
"... Eh? Thanks? Hehehe..." She became a little shy with a bashful smile.
"You should smile more, Ruby." She couldn't help but say as she genuinely found Ruby's smile quite cute.
"My smile is only for my husband." Ruby said as she turned her face away and returned to her 'cold' expression.
"Ugh, I wasn't saying that. I just thought that if you smile more, you'll look prettier, and I love beauty!" She nodded to herself with a snort.
"I know." Ruby displayed a small smile:
"My friends always say I should smile more, but... I refuse."
"Only my husband and mother have that privilege."
Victor smiled gently as he felt his heart melt, and all of his bad mood disappeared. This cold woman sure was sweet inside.
"...." Ruby just turned her head and hid her red face as she did her best to ignore the feelings of Victor that were flooding her body.
...
