Chapter 315 Pride shattered
"N-n-nice to meet you, Teivel. A-as Miss Elysia said, I am N-Novella." I forced myself to speak after staying silent for a solid 10 seconds, unable to speak.
"I'm glad to see she is a vampire. However, she seems quite… aware." Teivel got extremely close to me, examining every part of my body with his eyes, which caused me to blush.
"Aside from being my familiar, she is just a regular vampire, so I wish to treat her like a person rather than a being only meant to be used." My blush disappeared quickly as Elysia's statement made me realise that Teivel probably only saw me as an object. Something for Elysia to use that only exists for her benefit, which isn't the kind of bond I signed up for.
'He really is a rotten guy.' Any attraction I may have had towards Elysia's grandfather disappeared, making me want to hide behind Elysia to avoid his gaze.
"Hmm, kindness can only get you so far, so I hope it does not impede your control over it." Teivel finally shifted his gaze off me, but wait, did he just call me it?
'I'm a fucking person!' I wanted to kill him right then and there, but for Elysia's sake, I needed to play along. It started to make more sense why she wanted to get revenge and, honestly, I was all for this massacre.
'If this is the kind of toxic, self-centered attitude spread across this…' I quickly looked around to see where we were.
'Underground city, then hell yeah, they should be eradicated.'
"It isn't just kindness, there's also a contract in play so do not worry." I noticed Elysia's hand was curled to a fist, its light trembling the only evidence of her growing rage. It was good to see that she felt the same way as I did, but damn, it must be hard not to lash out.
"Seems like you do have common sense... Very well, do what you wish. Let us go home for now. Tomorrow we'll begin training you on how to be a successful ruler of our people." Teivel offered his hand for Elysia, who without much hesitation grabbed onto mine, then Teivel's.
Suddenly we were engulfed in flames. For a second, I thought they'd burn me, but thankfully they proved to be of no harm.
*
We then appeared in some kind of office with weapons hung up all around the room.
"You have the rest of the day to yourself, so go wash up and get some rest while you can." Teivel spared no time letting go of Elysia's hand and sat down behind his desk.
Elysia nodded her head and exited the room while dragging me through the air. A convenient feature of floating in the air is that I can easily be dragged around without much force.
We then went down a luxurious hallway, which was in stark contrast to the cold brick walls of Alucard's home. There were also maids in the hallway dusting off everything, making sure there was not even a speck of dust.
'They are all regular people. I can sense the immense amount of vampires outside, but these maids are just your run of the mill tasty mortals.' It was abundantly clear that there were many vampires outside, as I was sensitive to the presence of my own kin, which also inversely let me know who wasn't one.
'I guess I can't really talk. It's still hard thinking of mortals as anything but livestock and slaves.' The situation here was very similar to how we treated our food. It's not like I was married to slavery as an idea, but there was certainly some fun to be had in playing with your food.
'Maybe I should ask Elysia how she treats her prey first. I saw her eating once, but she was hardly showing me her true self back then.' I was open to hearing a new perspective on mortals. Can I still use them as livestock? Do they have other uses aside from their blood?
"Another thing Novella, I have a personal maid named Yumi. Please try not to scare her, she is just a little girl." As we approached a room, Elysia mentioned her personal servant, who was a child?!
'Okay, I know we didn't shy from slavery but we never aimed for kids.' There were some morals when it came to picking livestock and we were always fair with who we picked.
'Hang on, we mainly took in human criminals as well as those who opposed us, but… could all these people here be innocent?' Hearing of a child being forced to become a servant made me realise that these maids I was seeing were most likely regular people who were captured.
"You alright, Novella?" Elysia turned to see me deep in thought as I was processing everything about this place.
"I am, but just to confirm, all these maids are innocent right?" It didn't hurt to ask. Hell, maybe this child is a serial murderer for all I know.
Elysia looked confused by my question, but she shook her head, confirming the maids were innocent.
'Okay, the picture is becoming more clear now.' It pissed me off knowing that these people were just being used for no fault of their own. Alucard may have been a bastard of a ruler and a psychotic vampire, but he at least had a bottom line.
As long as they offered people to be used as food then they could live peacefully under his rule. It was the easiest way to get livestock as well as incentivize cracking down on criminals.
Hell, I hear some would even give themselves willingly for the sake of their town. It was a good system that provided a middle ground. However, as time went on, human greed for power grew and many groups wanted to overthrow us.
'This is going to be a long year.' After walking a long way down the hall, we finally reached a door that seemed to be Elysia's room.
Entering, I was greeted with a very gothic room all red and black, making Elysia blend in perfectly with the environment. On the other side of the room was a small maid in a red dress, dusting off a drawer.
"Elysia!"
*
<Elysia POV>
Yumi shouted my name and instantly sprinted towards me. She jumped into my chest, elated to see me return, which was a feeling I never thought I would enjoy. Something about coming back home and being greeted like this was the kind of sweetness I liked.
"Hello Yumi, good to see you are alive and well." Even if I had only been gone for a day at most, it was clear Yumi had already missed my presence. With such a strict regime for the maids here, it must come as a relief to see me since she knows she can relax.
"Mhm!" Yumi stayed in my embrace and I couldn't help but pat her head.
However, when Yumi turned her head she noticed a very curious floating vampire next to me.
"W-wait w-who is she?" Yumi quickly moved to my side and hid away from Alice.
"Don't worry, she is a friend of mine that I made while I was out. Her name is Novella." I debated if I should introduce her as Alice, but to make things less complicated, the fewer people knew her real name the better it is. Better to avoid any accidental slip ups outside of this room.
"I-I see." Yumi still hid behind me, cautious about the new person in the room.
"We are in a contract, so if she betrays me, she will be punished, not that it would ever happen." I gave Yumi a wink, hoping that saying we were in a contract was enough for her to trust Alice.
"Hey Yumi." Alice floated down to the ground, only to find out she was actually shorter than Yumi. I instantly saw Alice's pride shattered, which made it hard not to laugh, but I didn't want to crush the shattered pieces into dust.
"H-hey Novella." Yumi came out from hiding behind me and stood in front of Alice. Their similar height made it more comforting for Yumi, but certainly not Alice.
"Good, I have a few things to discuss with Novella now, so you can continue to clean or just relax, Yumi." Now that they were acquainted, I wanted to really sit down with Alice and explain everything. It also seemed like she had a lot of questions for me already, so no better time than now to ask them.
"Okay." Yumi nodded, still nervous about Novella, but it would only be a matter of time until Yumi got comfortable.
"Alright Novella, take a seat. There are a looooot of things I need to tell you. This world is completely different from yours, so I'll need to make sure you are caught up to speed." Besides my plan to kill everyone, I also needed to get Alice accustomed to this world's common knowledge and customs.
"I understand." Alice looked worried, which was fair. I was about to dump the entire world's lore, so it will be quite daunting to remember.
"Don't worry about remembering everything since even I struggle to do so, but there are some key things you need to know." I wanted to reassure her so she could listen to me calmly rather than staying tensed up as if there'll be a quiz at the end.
"Phew, thank you." Alice looked relieved, but there was a determined look in her eyes like she wanted to remember everything.
"Enough wasting our time, let me begin with where we are."
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