-n0vel、com Twenty minutes had passed since Ysabelle began weeping in my arms. Nothing had changed within the depths of the chamber. Neither the Iron Heart nor the vast ceiling that drew a blanket of stars. My magic power was sealed, leaving me with nothing but my physical body. However, I was in no hurry to escape.
I stroked the back of the beauty, doing whatever I could to soothe her sobs. As her tears dried up and her shoulders stopped shaking, I raised my chin from her forehead and raised her eyes to meet mine.
“Have you settled down?”
“Jin…”
Gone were the valiant eyes of the Amazonian. The indomitable warrior that wouldn’t flinch against an army of Outer Demons had turned into a tame kitten. Ysabelle nudged her head against my chest and let out an adorable purr.
“Sorry… I got your shirt wet.”
“Haha, you worry about the weirdest things.”
I chuckled while shaking my head. I didn’t care about a mere suit or two. If I could ease Ysabelle’s tears, I wouldn’t mind sacrificing my entire wardrobe. Laughing with an impish smile, I asked:
“How about you repay me the cost of the shirt with a kiss then?”
“J-Jin! What are you saying at a time like this?!”
Ysabelle furrowed her brows and bowed her head down with blushing cheeks. Surprisingly, this girl was weak to teasing, just like Irina and Lilith. Though, it seems like Ysabelle was far more innocent. She was completely unable to meet my gaze and tilted her head away. However, there were no signs of her leaving my embrace. Rather, her body was still comfortably rested on me, with her chest glued to my own.
“Hehe, have you calmed down?”
“Yeah, I think I’m better now.” Ysabelle sighed and took one deep breath in. She attempted to get off my lap, but my arms were faster. Tightening my grip over her shoulders, I forced the girl to stay.
“No, don’t go.”
“J-Jin?”
“Let’s talk in this position.”
“W-Wouldn’t it be better if…”
“Nope.”
I wasn’t going to budge on this. Ysabelle was currently feeling torn from her emotions. Although I didn’t know what was going on with her internally, I wasn’t going to let her face her sadness herself. Putting more strength into my arms, I made sure that Ysabelle wasn’t going to escape my clutches anytime soon. Only then did she finally relent and sighed:
“You’re quite forceful, you know that Jin?”
“I’ve been told that on occasion,” I recalled the time Lilith mentioned my obsessiveness during our sweet pillow talk. Alas, I just couldn’t help it. I wanted my women to be happy, and if it meant using a little force, I was all for it.
“And since I’m being forceful, would you mind sharing your troubles with me, Ysabelle?”
“…”
The black-haired beauty’s eyes turned sad once more as a forlorn expression overtook her bright, cheerful smile. She closed her eyes and took one deep breath in as if she were reflecting on everything that had happened in her life thus far. And after ten full seconds, the girl finally made up her mind.
“Jin… How much do you remember about the past? Our past?” Ysabelle shot me a question first while her palms tightened into a fist on my lap.
“Truthfully… I can’t remember much. Because I had returned Irina and Lilith’s souls, I unlocked most of the memories I shared with them. I vaguely remember bits and pieces of our interactions, and I remember the great relationship we shared.”
“… Do you remember how we met?”
“No… I’m sorry…”
I shook my head in sombre regret. It seemed unthinkable that I couldn’t remember how I met the four girls. They were the love of my life, after all. If not for the nasty injury I’d gotten, I would have burned every memory I had of them into my mind.
“Even until now? Did Irina and Lilith not tell you?”
“No, they haven’t.”
“What on earth are they thinking?”
Ysabelle spat hatefully and stared into the distance as if trying to burn a hole through the girls who hid the truth from me. The reason they gave me was they feared that remembering my memories would cause irreversible damage to my soul. However, I could read between the lines.
The true reason why Irina and Lilith kept the past from me was because they didn’t want to give their rivals a competitive edge. Whenever I asked them about Ysabelle or Rosalyn, they would always change the subject or give me a long-winded non-answer.
While I found their possessiveness and jealousy adorable, I also wanted to learn more about the other two girls. After all, I was planning to make them all into my bloodmates. It wouldn’t do well if a husband knew nothing about his wives, right?
“I guess I will have to start from the beginning…”
Ysabelle turned her head down and murmured softly. She laid her head against my chest as her eyes glazed over when the memories returned to her.
“Fifteen years ago, there was a meeting between the Guardian Houses. It was a routine meeting where the ten Guardian Houses came together to discuss matters regarding the Vampire race. Although it was an important meeting, nothing special came out of it.”
Ah, I’m guessing it’s something like a routine partner’s meeting to discuss the fiscal year and the plans the company had going forward.
“However, during that meeting, the four most influential Houses realised one thing. They all had prodigal daughters amid their ranks. Four daughters that would one day grow to become pillars that would lead the Vampire race and perhaps usher in a greater generation and a new dawn for all Vampires.”
The four most influential Guardian Houses, huh? It should be the Everwinter, Moonreaver, Blackburn and Shadowgarden Houses.
Based on what Lilith had told me, the Everwinter House was the sovereign of the North, an untouchable force that no military would ever hold a candle to. The Moonreaver House monopolised Warp Gates and Nightmare realms, making them the most prosperous Vampire House in history. The Blackburn House was the sword of the Vampire race, fighting anything that dared to threaten its hegemony. And finally, the Shadowgarden House specialised in espionage and obtaining information, surpassing any intelligence agency the world had ever seen.
These four Houses were collectively known as the Vampire race’s pillars.
Yes, the other six Guardian Houses were important as well, and they were each as powerful as an individual small country. But, they paled in comparison to the four great Houses.
“And once the four Houses realised that, they decided to form an alliance. They would gather these four young talents together and place them in a training camp for three months. Well, I say training camp, but the real reason why they placed us together was because they needed us to form sisterly bonds.”
As expected, the four Houses brought Irina, Lilith, Ysabelle and Rosalyn together for a good reason.
For an alliance to stick, the four future talents must be friendly with one another, and the best way to nurture a relationship is to start young.
“They brought us to an isolated location in the human world, far from the politics of Vampire society and a place where we wouldn’t be disturbed. A villa in a meadow overlooking a beautiful lake. Truth be told, it was more like a vacation than a training camp.”
I could imagine that. Four young girls that were around the age of ten gathered together to spend three months alone in a villa. It sounded more like a school trip we would all attend in primary school.
“We had supervision, yes. But for the most part, the four of us could do as we pleased.”
Ysabelle’s lips curled into a smile as she recalled the early days of her vacation. However, after a brief moment of jubilance, the young girl’s face turned grim as a shadow was cast over her eyes.
“There was one problem, though… The four Houses sent out the four of us, thinking that we were of similar talents. However, that was farther from the truth.”
Ysabelle’s face turned darker by the second.
“Irina possessed the Winter Sovereign Aspect, the same aspect as Matriarch Innocence, and she was the next hope of the Everwinter House. Lilith was a generational genius, one that could surpass all the Moonreavers that came before her. And Rosa… Rosa was a special talent whose potential far outmatched all three of us. As for me…”
Ysabelle bit on the bottom of her lip, sending a trickle of blood down her mouth.
“I was just the daughter of General Enzo, the current leader of the Blackburn House. I didn’t awaken a special aspect, and I’m not very smart. I was inferior in every way. I was just there… To make connections with the other three.”
The black-haired beauty self-deprecated herself as if she was the worst thing to ever happen to the Vampire race. I had half a heart to stop her right there, but the girl silenced me with her next words.
“I was the weakest amongst the four, I didn’t have the brains, and I sure wasn’t as beautiful as any of them. They were the shining jewels of their Houses while I was nothing more than a crybaby. I couldn’t fight and was weak. Even my father didn’t bother to train me much.”
Ysabelle…
“I didn’t have a place amongst the four. I was just a filler, a mere placeholder for my family to gain influence within the next generation of geniuses. I was nothing more than a stupid girl who wept in her bed all night. Until…”
Ysabelle finally raised her head up, joining our line of sight together. The rich fragrance of a summertime beach permeated from her sweaty complexion, forcing me to bring my face closer to hers. But before I could go any further, the girl broke out with the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen from her as she said.
“I met you, Jin.”
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