Chapter 578: The lady of the lake. 2
Several hours later.
Even though Natashia had summarized several incidents, it still took a long time to bring Viviane up to speed.
Shock and disbelief. That was the only sensation Viviane was feeling right now.
'To think I've missed out on so many things.' She thought wistfully.
'Carmila, my Friend... To think that you died, and I didn't even know about it.' Even though her face remained neutral, sadness could be felt in her gaze. Despite looking like a young teenager, Viviane was old, very old.
The Fairy and God heritage gave her an almost infinite lifespan, her longevity would last until someone killed her or the nature of the planet died.
She was used to loss... It wasn't a good feeling. It wasn't a feeling she wanted to feel again, and because of that, she'd isolated herself, both to protect her endangered species from the greed of Mortals and Gods and also to protect herself.
By making bonds, she was bound to feel loss; after all, Mortals didn't have her lifespan.
But... As a Vampire, things were different. With the woman named Carmilla, that had the scent of her kind, she thought she would smell it again; after all, Vampires like her were a species with great longevity, but to think she was killed.
Viviane listened to everything in silence; she never interrupted Natasha; from the death of Carmilla, she had no interest in listening anymore, but she thought that would be a foolish attitude; after all, from what she realized, it had been several centuries since she was in seclusion, so she just kept silent and listened to everything.
And as expected, everything was irrelevant; it was the same old things, the conflicts of interest, the greed, blah, blah; as long as beings existed and had desires, history was doomed to repeat itself.
But even if she thought so, when it came to the story where Natashia met her husband for the first time, things started to get interesting.
'Oh, at that time, she was not the Natasha I knew, but another personality born out of that incident.'
The Elder Vampire recounted all the incidents she had had with her husband, and the more she spoke of her husband and her obsession with him, the more Viviane understood what had happened.
'So this man Victor fought Natasha and awakened her true self, and as she had two personalities now inside her body, she decided to call herself Natashia.' It was worth mentioning that Viviane was quite interested in the story now.
She wasn't interested in Victor per se but in his very existence.
The Second Progenitor of vampires, one who has the Powers of The Three Strongest Clan Bloodlines of Vampire Counts, and more importantly, the man who achieved the impossible feat of bonding with the aforementioned three Clans.
It was worth mentioning that the personalities of the Leaders of these Clans were eccentric and dominant. Few beings could deal with just one of them; imagine three at the same time!
Viviane remembered how Carmilla would mumble about Clan Snow and Scarlett as if it were yesterday.
Not even she, who had the attitude of an honorable knight, could handle the group's eccentricity.
But apparently, this man had accomplished the impossible feat of making everyone get along.
It was something so absurd that Viviane doubted if the women had not been brainwashed or something. As a Fairy and their Queen, she had a way of 'purifying' any negative influence on a being's body.
Yet when using that power on Natashia, she was surprised that she didn't find anything... She wasn't being controlled mentally or through some God who could manipulate 'Charm' like Aphrodite.
It was genuinely her feelings.
Natashia noticed what Viviane did, but she didn't comment on it. She knew the Faerie itself was harmless as long as one didn't harm her bottom line, which was the nature of where she lived, the Faeries under her control, and herself.
Overall, she was an easygoing woman as long as you ignored her brooding ways.
Continuing the story, Natashia began to explain what was happening outside. She explained about Diablo, his power move, what Vlad did, and the reason that led her to look for the Fairy.
When Natashia finished explaining everything, Viviane had a frown on her face.
"Those vile creatures have definitely grown arrogant over time… And to think that he would make such a large-scale move, what are the Pantheons doing?" The last part sounded more like questioning in general than it did to Natashia.
But even knowing this, Natashia replied:
"From what Aphrodite has reported, all the Pantheons are busy dealing with their respective Hells. Apparently, Diablo is not alone; all the Lords of the Seven Hells are moving along with him."
Upon learning this information, Viviane's frown only deepened, and a sense of danger began to wash over her. She wasn't a fool; she might be a little taciturn, but she was definitely not a fool. She could see the bigger picture of things with just that information.
'This wasn't an invasion of pure brute force; this was a planned attack on multiple locations at once... Just how long has this Demon been planning this?' Viviane didn't fear mindless fools who just ran forward and destroyed everything. Instead, she feared sneaky snakes that no one could ever understand their purpose.
'Throughout the conversation, Natashia never claimed to know Diablo's goals. Why did he start the war? Why is he doing this? Is it about revenge against humanity? An attempt to harm The Heavenly Father's favorite creation? It doesn't seem to be that; something else is happening.'
Viviane's thoughts were simple. If Natashia didn't mention Diablo's reasons for doing this, it was because she didn't know.
'A war is not started when an attack happens; a war is started long before that, huh?' Remembering the advice of that hateful old man named Merlin.
Viviane couldn't help but think that that was what was happening now.
'This is bad... this is very bad; I can't stand still!' Viviane knew that her realm couldn't be reached through normal means, and only she could allow people to enter it, but... This was not 100% secure.
If the Kings of Hell were on Diablo's side, it was only a matter of time before her realm was reached. She definitely didn't think she could protect herself from these forces alone.
Yes, her Kingdom was hidden; even a God-King could not find this place so easily, but... What if corruption entered these lands? What if Diablo had some way of finding her?
From what she'd learned so far, this Demon could be quite unpredictable, and she was not going to bet her chips on it. She was not going to risk the last of her kind on guesswork.
The only logical conclusion she came to when thinking about it all was,
'I need to get off this planet.'
She needed to get away... Run from all this meaningless conflict started by someone else; she needed to ensure the survival of her species.
During the entire moment that Viviane remained silent, Natashia never interrupted the woman. She may not have known Viviane like her mother, but she knew that Viviane was a wise woman; she was a woman who preferred peace.
The descriptors of a pure, kind-hearted maiden seemed to have been made exclusively for her. Time and loss may have matured the woman, but she would always put her Race first.
"... You came to invite me to this Faction you're a part of?" Viviane asked with narrowed eyes.
"Wrong."
"… Huh?" The answer took her entirely by surprise.
Natashia narrowed her eyes, "Stop being defensive, Viviane."
"You are my mother's friend, a friend my mother always came to vent her frustrations and complaints to, a side of her that she never showed even to her daughters."
Imagine the face of surprise Natashia had shown when she saw her mother complaining about all her problems to Viviane, the woman who usually always had an expressionless and noble face that carried immense frustrations in her heart.
To be honest, Natashia was initially jealous and envious of Viviane; after all, her mother never showed that side to her... But the more she grew and learned about the world itself and the politics of Noble Vampires, the more she came to understand why the woman kept the stoic facade.
It took a while to happen, but she understood... She understood everything... But... But... Did that mean she was going to act like her mother?
Hell no! Living like this was very frustrating, and because of that, Natashia always followed her desires. She went in the opposite direction that her mother went.
'If my daughter hadn't met Victor, she could have followed the same path as my mother.' It was frightening how much Sasha looked like her mother.
"... I didn't come here to invite you into my Faction. I came here to ensure a safe haven for the Fairies in Nightingale."
Viviane looked at Natashia for a long time, looking for any deception. Fairies had a special gift of seeing if someone was lying to them or not.
She could look into someone's heart to detect whether that person was evil or had malicious intentions. Fairies were quite sensitive to impurities and would see any kind of stain on the being.
And imagine her disappointment when she saw Natashia lying to her.
"You are lying."
Natashia's face tightened, and she sighed:
"Haaah, I hate that ability of yours."
Viviane's face changed, two pairs of transparent wings appeared behind her, and a feeling of 'purity' emanated from her body; she was irritated even if her calm tone didn't convey it:
"Out of respect for Carmilla, I won't kick you out... Tell me the truth, why did you come here?"
"… Do you really want to hear this?"
"Yes, I want the truth, now!"
Natasha looked at Viviane for a few seconds and sighed again, and soon she began to speak the truth.
And nothing but the truth:
"Honestly? I came here to ensure the safety of my mother's friend; that was no lie."
Viviane nodded; she saw that she hadn't lied about that.
"But my secondary goals were to get you closer to my husband and to see the pure, innocent Fairy being completely devastated by him…." She twitched her legs a little and wholly ignored Viviane's shocked face.
Her face became feverish, and hot air was coming out of her panting breaths: "Haha~, just imagining the scene of a pure Fairy falling into debauchery makes me shudder!"
"Fufufufu, this will be a little revenge for you having my mother's attention for a long time too!"
A hush fell over the place.
The only thing heard was the heavy breathing of Natashia, who was beginning to control herself.
Viviane lowered her face, and her long black hair covered her face; her body was visibly shaking, her hands were gripping her dress tightly, and she seemed to be very shaken.
When she looked up, Natashia saw the woman's face completely red.
"Pervert! Degenerate! Scum! How can you think that of me?!" She floated up so she was inches away from the water, and now, Natashia could see how tall she was; she was 165CM tall.
"Hey, you were the one who wanted to hear the truth." Natashia rolled her eyes.
"I thought it was something important! Don't you dare blame me! And how can you offer your husband so easily!? Have you no pride!?"
Natashia's face became serious: "... What are you talking about?"
"Huh!?"
"Any whore who dares to approach my husband will die; only those we agree on will be privileged to accept his affection. Pride? I have a lot of that, I have the best husband in the world, and I will protect him from bitches with ulterior motives to the best of my efforts."
"Although I talk about seeing you being devastated, that was just my perverted desire to see my mother's friend in such a state. I won't force you or anything like that. The very thought disgusts me." She completely ignored the part where she desired to take a little revenge on Viviane.
As expected of a woman who was the wife of the man with the thickest skin in the world! She was just like him!
'Although, I won't let her get close to him, even if I had those desires. After the recent Blessings he has received, this Puritan Maiden will fall into an endless abyss if she receives his love. She better stay the way she is and leave everything to me! I will shoulder these responsibilities! Me and my Family!'
Viviane just looked at Natashia as if she had grown a second head or something; literal question marks could be seen forming in the Faerie's head.
She was bewildered because that didn't make sense! The explanation she gave made no sense at all!
Viviane's pure mind could not reason Natashia's words as a possible reason for seeing her being 'devastated'.
Therefore, she said:
"You're completely crazy! That reasoning doesn't make sense!"
"Hey, in my head, that makes sense; that's what matters, and… Honestly, the kind of life you're living isn't healthy."
"Huh!?"
"Viviane, how long will you isolate yourself from the world?" Natashia was completely serious now.
"....."
"Thousands of years? Hundreds of thousands of years?"
"What guarantees that if you stay hidden, you'll stay safe? You've stayed here all these years, but has your strength increased? It honestly feels as though you've gotten weaker."
"I can guarantee that my current self could kill you in the blink of an eye, and that's without using my Vampire Count form."
In a somewhat twisted way, Natashia was worried about Viviane.
Seeing the Fairy looking at her as a threat, Natashia sighed again:
"Don't look at me like that; I'm not threatening you or anything like that, I wouldn't dare lift a finger to harm my mother's friend, and I understand that increasing your strength is complicated; after all, even if its only half, you are a Fairy, and Faerie only get stronger if they reside near a World Tree to nurture its strength."
"And knowing that leads to my other reason for inviting you."
"...Victor, my husband,"
"He is the husband of a World Tree."
"... Huh?"
Natashia was delighted to see the Fairy completely lose her composure, a composure that was never completely broken from the beginning, even when she spoke of her lustful desires.
The Fairy was looking at Natashia entirely in shock, it was as if she had heard the biggest bullshit of the millennium, but worst of all, she couldn't deny what Natashia said.
After all, she felt it was true; the woman hadn't lied to her.
"That is-."
"Impossible?" Natasha asked, smiling. She reached into her pocket and withdrew a small vial, a vial that had several seals to keep the contents from showing.
Natashia bit her finger a little and dropped a drop of blood onto the vial, and as she did so, the Magic that concealed the vial and its contents became visible.
What was inside the vial was...
A simple blood-red leaf given to her by Roxanne.
Viviane's body trembled visibly when she looked at the leaf; even though the energy was sealed off, she could see it, she could feel it! That was the leaf of a World Tree!
The moment Natashia opened the vial's lid, the entire Fairy Kingdom shook. Soon, thousands of points of light approached Viviane's lake and looked at the contents in Natashia's hand with reverence and nostalgia.
Small tears fell from Viviane's face, that feeling, that sense of peace, it was like she was home again, and it all came from a single leaf!
Natashia flashed a smile as if everything was going according to plan:
"... When are you going to pack your bags?"
....
