Chapter 551: Shattered Glass
"You are... an interesting individual, Su Xiaotian" staring at the unfamiliar vampire, the only person standing among the group that is inside a reception room within the Sanguinis household’s abode right now, the famed princess of the vampires remarked as she starts scrutinizing that immortal-like figure from head to toe, still trying to figure out whether the stories her closest friend is telling her about this young man is the complete and absolute truth rather than some exaggeration for her to feel at ease with the young man’s presence.
’Well, if Lia’s trying to do the latter, it sure doesn’t help any bit...’ she thought to herself once she finishes trying to search for anything suspicious on the young man’s being, her train of thoughts being reasoned with the fact that there’s just no way someone of his caliber will help her best friend only for some information about the world and a place to stay in.
"Should I take it as a compliment?" feeling this untrusting, suspicious gaze of the princess of the vampires, Su Xiaotian smiles at her remarks, his words, albeit something that can be taken as sounding quite aggressive, appears to be taken in a better light by the lady.
"Who knows?" the princess, Lucille, spoke with a faint smile on her face, feeling quite fascinated at the fact that someone of the same race as her doesn’t even feel an ounce of fear towards her, who is quite literally one of the few who stands at the apex of the entire vampiric bloodline.
’Well, I think such things only applies if one truly has even just a little bit of a vampire’s blood on them, that is...’ she thought to herself as her eyes glow a bright crimson, like a blood ruby seemingly intent on trying to check the depth this young man is hiding.
Unfortunately for her however, the only thing she can see every time she attempts to measure his strength is nothing but emptiness that quite literally creeps her out, the feeling of something in that sheer darkness staring at her something that makes her severely uncomfortable, like the strength, the prowess that this young man possesses is a concept completely peculiar to herself.
’Yeah, I quit, there’s no way of knowing whether he’s truly a vampire or not...’ she thought to herself, the suspicions still in her mind despite her logics, her observations pointing her to the fact that his physique, his appearance, along with the odd sense of being one of the members of her race points out to him truly being someone of their race, yet her intuitions, her instincts just scream otherwise.
"You also have quite the interesting name for a vampire, it sounds, how should I say it... unique? It’s kind of like you’re not from around here" Lucille added as she decided to end scrutinizing this young man in front of her, the conclusion she got by herself being the fact that he might not really have any ill intent towards her best friend, the reason being the fact that if he truly has such intent, then his strength should be more than enough to enact upon it.
Hearing the remarks of the vampire princess, Liliana couldn’t help but take a look at the immortal-like young man, her teacher, seemingly waiting for his answer in interest as she wonders whether he will tell them the truth.
"It’s an honor to allow your highness to learn new things, the continent is a vast place after all, you will only have more interesting encounter as you explore it, far more worthy of discussion than the uniqueness of my name"
Su Xiaotian replied with the same, warm, yet slightly distant smile on his face, his words, void of any lies, made it so that Lucille felt quite relaxed, thinking that his words just make a lot of sense, prompting her not to think too much about it anymore.
"Fufufu~~~ no such thing~ and no need to act so respectful, Lia’s friend is my friend as well~~~" she replied as she waves her fair hands, sounds of metallic footsteps from the Bloodsword Guards who seems to be waiting just right outside the door previously, starts moving farther and farther away, as if to give the people inside this reception room some privacy for themselves.
"Now, onto the other point of interest, why are these three... respectable and noble ladies here?" staring at the trio who separated themselves from the Great Ones who departed, or rather, thwarted, previously, the princess of the vampires asked, her tone sounding quite complicated, a tinge of excitement and reminiscence, but more of disappointment and sadness in her voice.
Within just moments after the princess’ words came out of her mouth, Su Xiaotian felt that the atmosphere in the room shifted, a creeping suspicion starting to appear in the back of his mind as he felt like, or rather, confirmed, that this isn’t the first time these five met.
A suspicion that makes sense given that the five of them are on the highest echelon of each of their respective races, meaning that even if the balance within this Western Continent is nothing but a superficial façade in the surface, they should be meeting with each other in some kind of continental gathering, just like the competitions and secret realm explorations he experienced back in the Eastern Continent.
Yet something feels completely off, something reminding him of the time when he first witnessed the reunion between Hua Xian’er and Hong Lian, the competitive air around the two of them, along with the excitement of facing each other again, that familiar feeling of rivalry is something that he can definitely sense inside this room, and yet also different from that joyful one between the empress-like beauty and her maidenly sworn sister, there doesn’t seem to be a sense of camaraderie here, or even if there is, it is extremely faint.
’Like a shattered glass or something...’ he added to himself as he just remains silent within the awkwardness within the room, knowing that when women talk, there’s just no place for any man, no matter how powerful, influential or charismatic he is, to barge in and intervene.
"Lucil—" seemingly wanting to speak with the vampire princess, Alfia spoke in a small voice, only for her words to be interrupted as a frank, impatient tone comes out of the beastkin beauty’s mouth.
"Why should we even explain? You never listen in the first place..." her words, albeit sounding rash, is only something that she honestly feels, a frustration apparent not only from her voice, but from the way she acts as well, her hands clenched into fists with her nails starting to dig past her skin and inside the flesh.
"Orveus..." sensing that the beastkin lady still wants to add something, Lilith immediately intervened, her voice carrying an odd sense of tranquility that affected even the strong-willed Orveus, her hands previously clenched into a fist bleeding her out now slightly opened up, revealing just how deep her own fingers managed to pierce through her own flesh.
’Mhm, I see what’s happening here’ seeing the interaction between the four, along with the panicked expression on his unofficial student’s face, Su Xiaotian felt like he finally got an accurate read regarding the connections between the five of them, the only thing he thinks he is missing being the reason as to why their relation turned to be like this.
