Chapter 580: We still have problems with vampires.
Sylphie remained lying on Kael for a while longer, listening to the rhythm of his heart with satisfied silence. The magic that had allowed them to hear the distant voices had already faded, taking Yggdrasil’s drunken complaints with it and leaving behind only the quiet sound of the house, the rustle of the vines, and the intimate warmth of the two of them beneath the sheets. She seemed calm, but Kael could feel her mind still working. Sylphie had never been someone who accepted tranquility without looking at what came next.
She slowly raised her face, resting her chin on his chest.
"What do you want to do now?"
Kael ran his fingers through her white hair, thoughtful. The question seemed simple, but the answer was not. For weeks, perhaps months in his own perception, everything had been urgency. Waking up. Understanding the Witch Kingdom. Dealing with Elion. Finding Nidhogg. Entering the Central Realm. Seeing Sylphie. Now that he was finally there, with her in his arms, the emptiness left by the absence of an immediate mission felt strange.
"I still want to see what was happening with the Vampire Kingdom," he answered. "My grandmother left some things for me. Reports, documents, names, maybe proof. But I still have not read them."
Sylphie watched his face attentively.
"Why?"
Kael remained silent for a few seconds. His hand continued stroking her hair, but the movement became slower. The answer had been there since before, trapped somewhere uncomfortable, waiting for him to have enough calm to admit it.
"Because a lot of people died."
Sylphie’s expression changed. The light tone disappeared without her needing to say anything.
Kael looked up at the ceiling covered with small luminous vines.
"Children died. Entire families were massacred. A government treaty was broken, and that almost led humans and vampires into open war. All because someone, some organization, managed to manipulate vampires enough to make them act against any sense of political self-preservation."
He took a deep breath.
"I know I need to read it. I know this will probably fall into my lap one way or another. But the moment I read it, I will not be able to pretend I do not know. I will not be able to say it is someone else’s problem. If I discover there were clues before the massacre, or that someone could have prevented it, I will carry that guilt too."
Sylphie placed one hand on his chest, right above his heart.
"Even if it is not your fault?"
"Especially if it is not."
She frowned slightly.
"That does not make sense."
"I know."
"Then why do you do it?"
Kael let out a low laugh, without humor.
"Because knowing something and not acting always feels like a choice. Even when it was impossible to know beforehand."
Sylphie fell silent, absorbing that. She knew that part of him. Kael could seem cold, ironic, and brutal when necessary, but he carried the dead with dangerous ease. Dead who were his. Dead who were not. Dead he might never have met, but whose existence became tied to his conscience the moment their names reached him.
After a few seconds, Sylphie tilted her head, and her green eyes gained an assessing gleam.
"Is there any woman involved?"
Kael stopped stroking her hair.
Sylphie narrowed her eyes.
"That silence answered a lot."
"I did not say anything."
"Exactly."
Kael looked at her.
"You spent a hundred years training with Yggdrasil, and now you use your divine powers to investigate my love life?"
"Yes."
"Fair."
She raised an eyebrow.
"So is there?"
Kael sighed.
"Maybe there is a relevant woman in the middle of the situation. Maybe more than one. But I do not know enough to confirm anything yet."
Sylphie continued staring at him.
"And is she beautiful?"
"I do not have that information," he lied.
"But if she is?"
"I do not have time for new women anymore."
Sylphie was silent for an instant.
Then she smiled slowly.
"Was that a rehearsed answer?"
"It was a survival answer."
"Good choice."
Kael slid his hand along the side of her face, touching her cheek with his thumb.
"Besides, my life is already complicated enough."
"Complicated how?"
He looked at her with a tired expression.
"Sylphie."
"I want to hear it."
Kael closed his eyes for a second, as if accepting an inevitable sentence.
"I already have you, Amelia, Irelia, Exelia, Eleonor, Elion, and now Nidhogg orbiting my life in ways any normal person would consider politically, emotionally, and spiritually impossible to explain."
Sylphie stared at him.
The silence was not exactly dangerous.
But it was not safe either.
"Even the dragon?" she asked, releasing a long sigh.
Kael opened his eyes.
"You say that as if that is the most absurd part."
"Kael."
"What?"
"She is a primordial dragon who lives beneath the roots of the World Tree and eats parts of Yggdrasil as a snack."
"And?"
"And you are saying that as if she were an eccentric neighbor."
"She is an eccentric neighbor."
Sylphie pressed her forehead to his chest for a few seconds, clearly trying to organize her own patience. When she looked back at him, her expression mixed jealousy, disbelief, and a tired acceptance that had probably been cultivated over a hundred years of spiritual maturation.
"You do not change."
"I changed a little."
"You invaded the Central Realm of the World Tree to see me, threatened Yggdrasil, and now you are trying to convince me that a primordial dragoness naturally entered your life."
"When you summarize it like that, it sounds worse."
"Because it is worse."
Kael smiled faintly, and Sylphie, despite trying to keep a serious expression, ended up looking away so she would not smile too.
"Does she like you?" Sylphie asked.
"Nidhogg?"
"No, the kitchen table. Of course Nidhogg."
Kael thought for a few seconds.
"Yes."
"And do you like her?"
"Yes."
Sylphie did not seem surprised, but the answer still struck her somehow. Kael noticed and brought his hand to her chin, making her look at him again.
"But that does not change anything about us."
"I know."
"Are you sure?"
Sylphie took a deep breath.
"I am. I just needed a second to feel jealous like a normal person."
"You are a goddess."
"Goddesses feel jealousy too."
"Yggdrasil would probably prove that right now."
Sylphie tried to stay serious, but failed with a small laugh.
"She is jealous of the idea that I grew up and chose you instead of divine composure."
"A sensible choice."
"Do not say that near her."
"I will definitely say that near her."
"Kael."
"She needs to learn."
Sylphie shook her head, but there was affection in her expression. She lay down on him again, resting her face on his chest while her fingers traced lazy lines over his skin. The matter of the vampires was still there, heavy, waiting outside that house like a patient shadow. Even so, for a few minutes, neither of them tried to return to it.
Kael was the first to break the silence.
"I am going to read the reports."
Sylphie did not raise her face.
"Today?"
"No."
"Good."
He looked at her.
"You are not going to insist?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because you just came back to me." Her voice grew lower. "And because, when you read them, I want to be by your side. Not to stop your guilt, since you are too stubborn for that, but to remind you that you do not need to carry everything alone."
Kael fell silent.
Sylphie lightly tightened her fingers over his chest.
"I became strong for many reasons. That was one of them."
"To stop me from doing stupid things?"
"To survive your stupid things with you."
Kael let out a low laugh.
"That is romantic in a worrying way."
"I learned from you."
He resumed stroking her hair, more slowly.
"Then tomorrow I read them."
"Tomorrow," Sylphie agreed.
"And if there is a serious conspiracy involving the vampires?"
"Then we solve it."
"You say that as if it were simple."
Sylphie raised her face, her green eyes shining softly in the low light of the room.
"I am a nature goddess, you are the King of Witches, your family is a walking political disaster, and apparently we have a primordial dragoness on our side."
Kael thought for an instant.
"When you put it that way, it sounds manageable."
"It does not, but I will pretend it does."
He smiled.
Sylphie moved closer and kissed him calmly, without haste, as if sealing a silent promise between them. When she pulled away, she remained close enough for her breath to touch his lips.
"But no new women for now."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"For now?"
"I am being realistic. You attract problems with pretty hair."
"Was that an accusation?"
"It was a historical analysis."
Kael laughed, and Sylphie smiled against his chest, satisfied to hear that sound again.
Outside, the Central Realm remained immense and ancient.
Inside the house, however, the future would wait until tomorrow.
...
The garden of the Ainsworth mansion remained peaceful, as if the outside world were not accumulating problems at absurd speed. Afternoon light passed through the crowns of ancient trees, spreading soft shadows over the pale stone paths and perfectly tended flowerbeds. Irelia and Amelia were sitting on a bench near the central fountain, speaking quietly about Kael, Sylphie, and the increasingly likely possibility that he would return with some diplomatic disaster trailing behind him.
Amelia held a cup of tea between her hands, but it had been some time since she had drunk from it. Irelia, for her part, distractedly watched the ripples in the fountain’s water, though her mind was clearly far from there. The two were trying to enjoy that brief moment of calm, but both knew calm never remained for long when Kael was involved.
That was when a servant appeared at the beginning of the stone path.
He was not an ordinary servant of the mansion. His rigid posture, dark uniform with silver details, and the Ainsworth family brooch pinned to his chest made it clear that he belonged to Irelia’s grandfather’s direct circle. The man walked toward them with firm steps, stopped at a respectful distance, and bowed his head in greeting.
"Lady Irelia. Lady Amelia."
Irelia immediately raised her gaze.
"You came on behalf of my grandfather?"
"Yes, my lady."
Amelia placed the cup on the small table beside the bench, her expression becoming more attentive. If Irelia’s grandfather had sent someone directly to the garden, then this was not a simple social matter. The Ainsworth family did not waste formalities on small affairs.
Irelia straightened her posture.
"What happened?"
The subordinate removed a sealed envelope from inside his coat. The wax seal was dark red, marked with the Ainsworth crest and a second insignia neither of them had seen for a long time on recent documents. A crowned bat, surrounded by a circle of black thorns.
Amelia recognized it first.
"Vampires."
The man nodded.
"Yes, Lady Amelia."
Irelia took the envelope, but did not open it immediately.
"Speak."
The subordinate kept his head slightly bowed.
"The Queen of the Vampires has returned to the throne, and she wishes to meet Kael Scarlet."
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