Chapter 759: The late-night visit of a King to the chambers of a Foreign Queen. 2
"But aren't you afraid of being betrayed..." Tasha asked with her own misgivings in her heart. After all, she knew very well that she didn't have much "free rein" in her Kingdom because Volk feared her betraying him.
That question put a smile on Victor's face: "I'm not!"
"Why?"
"The only possibility of my Wives betraying me is if someone manipulates their memories or controls them through some form of mind control... A problem I already fixed." Thanks to Roxanne, all women who entered Victor's Clan had strong mental and Soul protection. Even someone like Loki wouldn't be able to play with their minds because they would know what was an 'illusion' and what wasn't.
"Other than that, it's impossible for them to betray me; after all, they all love me."
"How arrogant."
"It's not arrogance: it's a fact" Victor smiled neutrally.
A smile that, for some reason, made Tasha cringe.
"When I form a relationship with a woman, I don't merely leave it as is. I go to the ends, as far as I can go, to a place where their love becomes an obsession, overzealous, and oppressive... To the point that they would kill any other woman who looked at me."
"...You turn your women into psychopaths of love, huh."
"I prefer to call them Yanderes, but you're not wrong." Victor laughed lightly.
"... Your relationships seem toxic... Not any man could handle it." Tasha shook her head back and forth in denial. She knew very well that if she started acting with Volk like how Victor described his women to be with him, the Werewolf would eventually leave her.
"It's okay, after all. I'm not just any man." Victor spoke with a smile that bordered on arrogance as he rested his head in his hands.
"The crazier, the more psychotic, the more passionate they are... the happier I'll be." It was at that moment that Tasha realized that Victor definitely had a few screws loose. The type of woman he described sounded like a woman who would make a relationship very toxic, and consequently, that toxicity would spill over to his other Wives. But she knew better; she saw how Leona reacted to Victor. Someone in a bad relationship wouldn't respond like that, and despite
having multiple Wives, they didn't seem to compete with each other.
The reason for this thought was that Tasha knew that the women who came on the day of the meeting with Victor were all his women. She could smell Victor on those women from miles away.
'No... No... I can't judge this too soon... After all, I haven't seen how his relationship works with all his Wives present... Tasha felt it would be foolish to judge something she had only seen once. As a Queen, she understood that understanding the context of everything is essential.
But... But... Despite thinking like that and deciding to observe and judge later... She couldn't help but compare Victor's relationship with his Wives to her relationship with Volk.
Just the part about how he talked about trusting his Wife completely with such conviction made her jealous of their relationship.
Tasha and Volk didn't have a normal man-woman relationship. What the two had was more of an eternal fight to decide who would subjugate the other.
Part of this complicated relationship was due to her being strong. If she weren't strong, she would have already been subjugated by Volk... Something she didn't want either.
She knew very well that once an Alpha subjugated her, she would have to listen to everything he asked, and she didn't want that; she wanted her freedom.
She wanted to be able to choose when to act and make plans of her own, She didn't want to be submissive like females of other Alphas.
Somehow, she felt quite envious of Victor's Wives right now. After all, it was obvious that everything worked because the man in front of her was the glue that held them all together.
"Your Wives are very lucky to have you, Alucard."
A genuine smile appeared on Victor's face, "No, I'm the lucky one to have them in my life."
That genuine smile... That was also why she was jealous of his Wives. She highly doubted that Volk would say anything remotely close to what Victor said with such a genuine smile on his face. She understood her husband too well to know he would never do that.
"Now that I've told you about myself, tell me more about yourself, Tasha Fenrir."
"... What do you want to know about me?"
"Surprise me"
Tasha stared at Victor for long silent minutes until she started to speak.
"Before I became who I am today... I was a Minor Goddess of Egypt." Tasha started to fill her glass with the drink again.
Victor raised an eyebrow when he saw that she was actually going to talk about herself, but he didn't comment. Now, he was just a silent listener.
"A Goddess related to Wolves... My Concept itself wasn't that strong, and I wasn't that proficient either... Despite being a Goddess, I wasn't as important as the other Great Gods of my former Pantheon."
"But even though it wasn't that important, I had my own devotees; men and women were devoted only to me, strong Werewolves who were used to doing things that everyone would disapprove of if they had done them in broad daylight."
"A force of deadly Supernatural Beings... That's what we were." Tasha stared into her glass of whiskey with neutral eyes, and for a moment, ancient memories of a burning Kingdom played out in her eyes like a movie she could never forget.
"And that force attracted the attention of the Great Gods. They thought it strange that such a great force had no Faith in them... Consequently, they tried to control me."
Throughout the story, Tasha was never specific. She never mentioned names or pointed fingers and simply referred to those people as "them".
"And just like always, I refused to be controlled... Even if the promised benefits for me bowing my head and accepting their will were great, it wasn't worth trading my free will for it... Even if the consequences were dire."
Tasha took another sip of her drink and looked back at the now-empty glass.
Even though it looked like she was being influenced by Victor, she wasn't. She could think for herself, and a trait that remained strong within her was... Never talking about herself. After all, that could breed weaknesses that everyone could...
Victor's words broke her train of thought.
"You are strong."
"... Huh?" She looked up into Victor's face, and the expression on his face took her by surprise.
Unlike the last few times Victor looked at her, his gaze was much more "warm" than before.
Of course, she'd seen that look before, but those looks were never directed at her specifically but at a woman who wasn't present.
Victor was looking right at her, only her and no one else.
"Choosing not to bow your head is not an easy thing to do, especially when you're weak... Because of that, don't blame yourself for running away. Those left behind definitely don't blame you for it."
Tasha opened her eyes wide when she heard what Victor said.
"How did you-..." The question was interrupted by an action from Victor.
"Hmm?" Victor looked out the window and saw that the sun was already starting to rise. "Looks like I stayed a long time, huh."
Tasha opened her eyes slightly in shock after seeing that the sun had already risen.
"Did our conversation really last that long?" Tasha wondered in shock.
"It was a good talk, Tasha Fenrir. Just as I thought, you are a strong woman."
Tasha looked back to where Victor was sitting, but all she saw was an empty chair.
"Don't forget to read the scroll I gave you. I'll be back tomorrow."
"Please don't come back" She spoke almost instantly.
Suddenly, she heard a seductive voice whispering in her ear:
"That's not for you to decide, My Queen."
She felt her body shiver and quickly got up and looked back, but again, she found nothing but the glass door to the balcony open.
"..." Tasha stared at the balcony with a pointed look, as if a boogeyman or something was going to come out of that place at any moment. But when she waited a while, only for nothing to happen, she sighed in relief and tried to calm her turbulent heart.
"My Queen... Huh?" A genuine smile appeared on Tasha's face, a genuine smile that was replaced moments later by a contemplative frown.
'How does he know about 'that"? That's something only Volk should know; after all, it happened such a long time ago...'
Despite knowing she shouldn't, Tasha felt a small anticipation for Victor's next visit since she could talk without worrying too much about anything.
It had been a while.
Not to mention that she had to find out what that man wanted from her. After all, he wouldn't visit her in the middle of the night if he didn't want something.
"Hmm?" Tasha looked at her bed and saw an old-looking book.
She narrowed her eyes and thought, 'That wasn't here before...' Which meant Victor left it for her.
Approaching the bed, she stopped to look at the book, specifically its title and was surprised to see that it was written in Ancient Egyptian, an extinct language.
"The Fall of The Wolf Goddess and Her Rise..." Tasha started to shiver as she read the name of the author who wrote the book: "Written by Yunct Semet.."
"H-How does he have this book..." Tasha's voice cracked. Her emotions couldn't settle down, especially when she saw a name she thought she'd never see again.
"Yunct... Did you survive" She gently touched on the characters of the woman's name that evoked so many memories in her.
All the questions Tasha had before about why Victor was here were forgotten. What she wanted to know was how he got this book and if he knew anything about the author of that book.
One way or another, she came to have expectations for her next encounter with Victor.
Outside the mansion, floating on top of a very distant tree, Victor was watching everything while he had his arms crossed. His Draconic Eyes could clearly see everything within the room.
"You are a sinful man, Darling... Why are you playing with the Queen's heart?" Roxanne asked.
"I'm not playing with her heart, My Dear."
"Seeing her in a state like that isn't very convicing, you know?" Roxanne pointed as she looked at a trembling Tasha, very different from the Queen she'd seen through Victor's eyes before.
"..." Victor remained silent and didn't say anything.
"Where did you get that book? I don't remember seeing it in Hell."
"In the library of the Snow Clan. As it was written in Ancient Egyptian, they thought it was an Artifact or something, so they kept it among the Ancient Tomes. But little did they know that it was, in fact, just the diary of a faithful Werewolf."
"... Hmm, how did you know that was for Tasha?"
"How else? I read it."
"You can read Ancient Egyptian...? How?"
"My dear, have you forgotten the hundreds of millions of Demons I have absorbed? Some of them are Demons that have been alive since the beginning of time. Learning something like a lost language is very easy."
"Mm... Looks like you've gotten more proficient at organizing your memories." Roxanne said, much to herself as she did to him.
A few seconds later, she asked curiously: "What's the point of all this anyway?"
"... I want her to reach her full potential, My Dear... Her past is preventing that. I'm just helping out."
Roxanne drew a long breath. Somehow, she already expected this answer: "...And when she reaches her full potential, what then?"
"Who knows?"
"... Eh?"
"Will she defeat Volk and become The Strongest Alpha? Will she unite Samar under just one person? Will her Concepts as a Goddess grow stronger? No one can predict what she will become."
"... I just realized that you're simply telling her to take command of everything." Roxanne pointed out astutely.
Victor turned his head to the side and began to whistle.
"Spit it out! What is it you want!? You want another Wife, don't you!? You said you wouldn't pursue a married woman! You deceitful liar!" Roxanne growled possessively.
And this tone of voice only made Victor laugh happily because of her love.
"Don't laugh!" Roxanne shouted, even more irritated. "Tell me what you're going to do!" She insisted.
"My love, it's called character development for a reason. We shouldn't rush to a conclusion; let's just enjoy the ride."
"Grrr..."
"But there's one thing I can promise you; I didn't lie when I said I don't go after married women. After all, I am a man of morals."
Victor turned and began to float toward the ground.
"What I want isn't a Wife... I want a powerful ally. And if I'm going to have an ally, it's better for them to be a woman, right? After all, a woman is more easily influenced by me~."
"Whoa... You're acting like a total scumbag now."
Victor was left speechless by what he had heard. "This woman really wants to get her ass slapped, doesn't she?" He thought he should discipline Roxanne later. After all, she'd been getting pretty rambunctious lately.
"Yes, please discipline me. It's been a while since we played like that~"
Victor facepalmed, He momentarily forgot that she could feel his emotions and read his surface thoughts.
"Ruby was a bad influence on you, my dear."
"Huh? Are you saying you don't like those kinds of jokes?"
"... I didn't say that."
"Mm, you better be honest." She nodded in satisfaction.
Victor's eyes flickered a little, and in the next moment, he disappeared, leaving streaks of red lightning behind, and appeared in his personal room.
With a wave of the hand, the whole room was sealed with ice, and then a woman with long red hair appeared.
"Kyaaa~! Don't summon me so suddenly, Darling!" Though she squealed in disapproval, her eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"You perverted Dryad. I will teach you a lesson today!"
"Yes, please, Darling, teach me a lesson~!" ®
"Ahhh~"
