Until now, Eve had never fought with any person. She knew a time would come, when she would have to be ready, when she would face the man who had killed her mother. One had to go through the small trials before facing the bigger one.
"Okay," Eve agreed to Vincent's grandmother, taking upon the woman's proposal to have a friendly spar.
If things went out of hand, there was Vincent in the room. When her eyes moved to look at him, she noticed the pride in his eyes for her, which gave her courage.
"Let us fight with each other, Lady Ravette," Eve offered the elderly woman a bow.
"I wonder if it is arrogance or confidence that speaks," Lady Ravette responded to Eve's words and said, "You can pick whatever you want from here to protect yourself against me, while I will not use anything except rely on myself. Do you agree?"
Eve nodded to the vampiress's words, "Agreed."
The vampiress was old and had only woken up from her long slumber, how hard would it be to tackle her? Eve questioned herself. But the woman was a vampiress, and if she gave Eve the upper hand, that only meant the vampiress underestimated her that she was a mere human. What crazy family member tried to fight a new person in the family? Eve realised it was too late to question it, because this was the family she had married into, and now it was hers as much as it was Vincent's.
Vincent said, "Let me take a comfortable position so that I can view it better."
The housekeeper turned surprised by the lack of worry in the young master's words and demeanour as if his human wife would be able to defend against Lady Ravette.
"You know, Vincent. Even your grandfather was in love with a human, and she died," Lady Ravette said to him, while taking her position in front of Eve with five steps distance between them,
"So you weren't his first choice?" Vincent added salt to his grandmother's thoughts.
But Eve noticed that Lady Ravette was unfazed by her grandson's words. She said, "It doesn't matter if you are first or second. What matters is who gets to live and survive. It is only unfortunate that he has to sleep in that coffin, and will never be able to come out." She raised her hand and showed the key, "I will not let him."
Eve wasn't sure if it was good that Lady Ravette insisted on keeping the key with her so that no one would dare to wake her husband, who had put her in the coffin. Vincent leaned against the railing of the stairs and said,
"Who woke you up?"
"I hope it is your happiness of seeing me that speaks now, grandson," Lady Ravette said, "I had a little help from my loyal servant, not like this one here," she looked at Carla in annoyance, "It is amusing that all thought a stake could keep me in the coffin—"
"You were crazy enough to hit Marceline when she was young. And haven't you tried killing mother on several occasions? Poisoning her too?" Vincent asked in a nonchalant tone.
"Marceline needed to be educated about a few things, as she belongs to a pureblooded family. I wanted to see if she was smart or weak. It would have been a painless death. Some people need change, but she died elsewhere…" Lady Ravette said, "What I didn't expect is Carla to join the conspiracy in putting me to sleep," she turned her gaze to look towards the housekeeper, who continued to look down with a frozen expression. "But that's fine. Let bygones be gone, as I am here now." She then turned back to look at Eve and said, "If you win against me, I will forfeit and accept you to be part of the family."
"Nobody is looking for your acceptance, grandmother," Vincent chuckled, and the older vampiress continued staring at the human standing before her.
Lady Ravette spoke her own tune without heeding thoughts to what Vincent said, "Did your father tell you that when they were trying to put me to sleep, someone dear died. Your aunt."
"You don't seem very sorry about her death," Vincent pointed to her.
"I am not," the vampiress said in a dull voice. "The blame goes to your grandfather, who tried to shut his wife in the coffin. Our daughter's death must have hurt him."
Eve slightly tilted her head as the tone of words sounded similar to the person they had left behind in the House of Purgatory. Until now, Eve kept wondering how Marceline had turned out the way she was, because of Viscount Eduard, Vincent and what she had heard about Lady Katherina, it appeared as if Marceline was a mismatch. But looking at Lady Ravette, she finally understood where Marceline got her characteristics.
Her blue eyes looked around the place, searching for water or any liquid that she could use to manipulate. But there were only pillars here.
"Ready for the duel, Genevieve?" Lady Ravette asked Eve, taking a stance. "I would give you three passes, but life isn't fair and this is a battle of pride and keeping yourself in the family. If you leave a scratch on me, I will never come at you."
"That's fine, Lady Ravette. I am thankful for your generosity in using anything here to my advantage," Eve responded politely.
On the far end, Eve's eyes fell upon the sword hooked on the wall, but it was on the vampiress's side. She then heard Vincent remark,
Before they could start, Vincent spoke loudly, "Be careful about not leaving this space. We don't want to damage anything, especially not the fountain at the front. Isn't that right, grandmother?"
"Everything in this place is precious and cannot be replaced," Lady Ravette haughtily replied. "It is why we will finish this duel quickly."
When Eve blinked and opened her eyes, the next moment, Lady Ravette stood right in front of her with her hand raised and claws drawn out.
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