home

search

71 – Victoria

  “…Do you think she learned her lesson?” Eleanor asks, gncing down at him as she does so.

  Having left The Smiling Horse, they’re currently on their way to Victoria’s house. Unfortunately, since Hanna was so te to show up, so are they, and the sun has already fully disappeared below the horizon, giving start to the city’s lively night life.

  After considering Eleanor’s question, Sincir shrugs. “Hard to say. I think she already knew most of what I told her, but she would rather believe all men to be thrash, than accept she has terrible taste for them... She seems like the type to act first, think never, but hopefully, almost losing her job was enough for her to reconsider the way she has been living her life; If not, then there is little anyone can do to help her at this point.”

  Eleanor sighs, then grins. “Maybe we should’ve made her a part of the harem, locked her in the house with Esme, and called it a day...”

  Sincir groans. “For the st time, there is no harem. Even when I was a… In the past, I didn’t have one.”

  Eleanor throws him a surprised look, raising an eyebrow. “Really? And why not? You must have had the power to.”

  Sincir sighs. “For many reasons... Think what you want of me, but I’ve never had the desire to collect women, only to keep them as some sort of decoration on my shelf. And before you mention Esme again, she is an exception, since she was in danger.”

  Eleanor snorts. “Right; I forgot you abhor any and all form of responsibility, when it comes to women…”

  Sincir grimaces. “Would you rather I build a vil of women I’m the only one who is allowed access to? Have eunuchs attend to them and raise my children? Force vilges to offer me their prettiest women, so that I can take their first time?”

  “…The empire from the north?”

  “I have seen worst, but not by much.”

  “I heard their emperor is turning three-hundred this year…”

  Sincir sighs. “You do know I’d never do something like that, right?”

  Eleanor rises an eyebrow at him. “Isn’t that the ultimate male fantasy?”

  “If you hate women, as well as your fellow men, then sure; Personally, I think taking someone’s bride just because you can is of poor taste, especially when you intend to lock her up among a thousand other women you’ve already forced yourself on…”

  “If you hate their culture so much, are you pnning on doing something about it one day?”

  “Culture…” Sincir murmurs, shaking his head as he does so. “You know, I don’t really consider myself a defender of the weak, much less a women’s one, but I might make an exception this once.”

  Eleanor smiles. “Ena will be thrilled to hear it.”

  “Yeah, right; She’ll think I’m trying to take the women for myself, rather than freeing them.”

  “…Aren’t you?”

  “…Sometimes, I fucking hate you two so much...”

  As Eleanor grins, Sincir throws her a dirty look.

  It is obvious she has been trying to get under his skin with her comments about him making a harem, probably because she feels angry over the possibility of becoming a part of one... Sincir wishes she’d be more honest with herself and just say it to his face she’ll hate him if he ever starts to treat girls that way, instead of pretending she doesn’t care.

  “Say, have you thought about what you want from our retionship yet?”

  Eleanor sighs. “Sincir, it has been half a day…”

  “I know you have put in some thought since this morning. Just tell me your arbitrary rules already, so I know how much of a headache it’d be to keep up with them…”

  Eleanor’s expression sours. “Fine.”

  “And?”

  “I want veto powers.”

  Sincir snorts. “About who I sleep with? Sure. About who I talk or interact with? No.”

  “…Fair enough,” she murmurs.

  “Mary?”

  “…Fine.”

  “Really...? Sira?”

  Eleanor tightens her jaw. “You already promised her you’d come back, didn’t you? I won’t make you break your word.”

  “What about her bothers you so much, anyway?”

  Eleanor gres at him. “Am I really not better than some country girl?”

  Oh… It seems Ena was right, after all.

  Sincir sighs. “It’s not about better or worse… But if I had to choose, I’d choose you in a heartbeat. Happy now?”

  Eleanor smiles. “What about in between me and Esme?”

  “That’s a cruel question and you know it.”

  “Pussy…”

  “…Esme, since I started dating her first.”

  Eleanor grimaces, tightens her jaw, and then takes a deep breath. “…Fine.”

  Sincir chuckles. “Good job.”

  “Shut up.”

  “No?”

  Eleanor shrugs. “Go for it.”

  “So, noble girls are okay, but country ones are vetoed, huh?”

  Once she throws him a dirty look, Sincir decides to move on.

  “Celia?”

  “I doubt it’ll happen, but you’re welcome to try.”

  “…Hanna?”

  Eleanor snorts. “Just make sure I’m there when it happens.”

  He shudders. “You really know how to hold a grudge, don’t you?”

  “Just because I want to see her being fucked doesn’t mean I hate her…”

  “Of course not, my mistake.”

  Did he forget anyone…?

  “…Victoria?”

  Eleanor seems to hesitate. “…No, not her.”

  “Okay, got it. Any other rules?”

  She throws him a look. “Aren’t you going to ask me for a reason?”

  “Naw, I know it already.”

  Eleanor makes a face. “Really…? Why don’t you tell me about it, then?”

  Sincir chuckles. “Your obvious crush for her aside, she is one of the few girls in town as beautiful as you… You have at least two good reasons to veto her.”

  “I don’t-”

  “And now that I know you’ve had multiple run-ins with girls, it all makes sense.”

  Eleanor murmurs something under her breath that’s too low for him to hear, which he doubts was something nice, but wisely, she doesn’t decide to push the subject further.

  “…Any other rules?” he asks again.

  “If we go out together, you’re forbidden from flirting with random girls we might come across.”

  Sincir ughs. “That’s a bit broad… But don’t worry, I won’t pick up anyone in front of you again. I’ve learned my lesson.”

  “That’s all of it, for now, but I reserve the right to make further cuses in the future…”

  Sincir ughs again. “I won’t promise I’ll do whatever you want, but we can always talk about something if it makes you uncomfortable, lo- Eleanor.”

  Throwing him a look, she sighs. “What about you?”

  “Me?”

  “Yes; Your rules for me.”

  “If I don’t like something you’re doing, I’ll let you know… But if you ever end up fucking Victoria, make sure I’m there to watch it, okay?”

  Eleanor rolls her eyes. “What about other men?”

  Sincir considers it for a moment, then shrugs. “Because of your heritage, you’re unlikely to catch a disease, and unable to become pregnant… Just remember to stay away from anyone Hanna might want to date, and we’ll have no problems.”

  “Does that mean I can bring them home?”

  Sincir sighs. “Eleanor, you’ve had every opportunity in your life to find a boyfriend, and yet, the fact you were still single this morning did not escape my attention. Hypothetically, could you bring a guy home if you ever became interested in one? Sure; You pay a third of the rent, and you have your own room.”

  “…I’ll need a bigger bed.”

  “Shut up. Don’t do it just to spite me, or I’ll be angry.”

  “Is that a rule? Not doing things just to spite you?”

  “You know what? Sure.”

  Seeing her victorious grin, Sincir rolls his eyes.

  “What if I said you’re not allowed to see other men?”

  “What if I said I wanted you to watch me getting fucked by other guys?”

  “…Let’s agree not to do things just to spite each other.”

  Eleanor chuckles. “If you say so.”

  Thankfully, the address Victoria gave him is not all that far from The Smiling Horse, being located just at the edge of the city’s rich quadrant. Still, Sincir is worried Victoria might already have left for her nightly activities by the time they’ll arrive, and so he hurries Eleanor to walk faster after a while of talking...

  “…Have you been there before?”

  “No. I wanted to have a pn to deal with her stalker before showing up…”

  At this, Eleanor raises an eyebrow. “Right, the duke’s son… I had nearly forgotten. Does this mean you have come up with a pn to deal with him?”

  Did he never tell her about it?

  “More or less? Collin was supposed to handle most of the details, and he’ll report tonight… Oh, there he is. I guess he arrived before us. How does he manage to move about so fast just after sundown, anyway?”

  Victoria’s house is quite short of a mansion, but it does have a nice, well-cared for yard, as well as brick walls on all sides of it and a stylized metal gate... Leaning against the wall by the gate, Collin holds a pocket-sized book in his hand, looking as stern and composed as usual.

  Once she spots him, Eleanor immediately grimaces… Well, considering their st meeting, Sincir is not exactly surprised.

  Collin raises his gaze as they approach him, pushing away from the wall while pcing his small book back into a pocket, and then lowering his head slightly toward the two of them .

  “Mister Sincir… Miss Eleanor, good evening.”

  “I hope you didn’t have to wait for long… I know we are a bit te,” Sincir says, nodding at him as he does so.

  “No, I have just arrived, myself.”

  It is obvious Collin is being careful to keep his eyes away from Eleanor this time, and having noticed as much, Sincir elbows her, causing the nephilim to grimace further.

  “…Evening,” she murmurs, sounding as though she had to force the word out.

  Sincir sighs. He could try to force an apology out of her, but…

  “We should go in, lest Victoria comes out to go do one of her shows, and we miss our chance to talk to her.”

  “She has a show scheduled two hours from now,” Collin supplies, “We should have enough time… But Mister Sincir is right in that our time is limited.”

  “I guess she has more than one stalker, after all,” Eleanor murmurs under her breath, looking away from the both of them.

  Sincir grimaces. “You know he can hear you, right?”

  Collin sighs. “I apologize for what happened st time, Miss Eleanor… I allowed my desire to overcome my judgment, when I should’ve refused to interfere in what was clearly a domestic dispute. As for Victoria… In spite of her rebellious attitude, she is still one of our people, and were her true nature to become public, all of us would suffer; As such, keeping track of her actions is an unfortunate necessity.”

  Still looking away from them, Eleanor rolls her eyes.

  Seeing her reaction, Sincir sighs again. “Don’t mind her, Collin. Let’s go in.”

  Collin seems to hesitate for a moment, but then he nods. “As I expined-”

  “Don’t worry, I remember. Take it easy on her, okay? I still need her cooperation after you’re done.”

  “…I’ll try,” Collin murmurs.

  “What?” Eleanor asks, now gncing in between the two of them.

  Sincir ignores her. “Let’s go, then.”

  As their trio approaches the gate, with Eleanor still having a questioning expression on her face, Sincir spots a man walking through the house’s yard toward them.

  The man’s posture is tense, and his expression closed off; He is also tall and muscur, wearing the type of casual clothes which indicate he is not merely a servant working at the house.

  “Mister Collin!” the man greets, with obviously forced enthusiasm, “I’m sorry, but my Mistress-”

  “Spare me, Thomas; I know she is inside. Open the gate,” Collin orders coldly, causing the man’s face to pale.

  “Mistress,” Sincir repeats, elbowing Eleanor as he chuckles and shakes his head.

  She rolls her eyes.

  “Well, I… I can’t let you in without her permission, Mr. Collin, and I’m afraid she has told me explicitly-”

  “Thomas, I abhor violence as a solution to a problem… Do you understand me?”

  Faced by Collin’s cold, gray eyes, Thomas swallows, though for his credit, he doesn’t avert his gaze away from the vampire’s.

  “…I understand, Mr. Collin. I’ll open the gate… But please, wait outside while I inform her of your presence.”

  “Oh, tell her Sincir has come as well,” Sincir butts in, causing Thomas to gnce at him as though only now noticing his presence.

  “…Very well, Mr. Sincir.”

  Once Thomas walks away, Sincir throws Collin a teasing smirk, who shifts uncomfortably under his gaze.

  “W-what?”

  “You know, had you the same attitude with women…”

  Collin sighs. “I don’t like being rude, and I doubt any woman would enjoy being treated as I treated Thomas just now.”

  Sincir clicks his tongue, shaking his head. “No, I mean your coolness, kid. Why is it that you’re unable to keep it, unless you’re faced with an enemy?”

  Collin grimaces. “I’m not-”

  “C’mon, try it with Eleanor; Tell her to shove her shitty attitude.”

  Once Collin’s cheeks grow redder, and he immediately averts his gaze, Sincir ughs out loud.

  “Lords, you’re so hopeless!”

  “S-shut up. I thought you were supposed to help me?!”

  “I’m trying! Unfortunately, Eleanor isn’t going to suck you off just because I told her to, like Esme… Damn it, there’s Thomas. We’ll talk about your women problems ter.”

  Somehow, Collin doesn’t seem particurly thrilled by the perspective, and as Sincir ignores the dirty look Eleanor is throwing him, their group falls silent while they wait for Thomas to approach.

  “…This way, gentlemen.”

  The tall man looks significantly more composed this time around, though there is still visible tension in his movements as he opens the gate and gestures toward the house’s front door.

  It also didn’t escape Sincir’s attention that he deliberately ignored Eleanor this whole time, maintaining his gaze firmly pointed ahead even as she walks by him on her way to the house.

  Heh… Victoria is the jealous type, huh?

  Once they are through, Thomas closes the gate and hurriedly catches up to them, walking ahead in order to also open the door.

  Since Collin is going to do his vampire thing first, Sincir falls behind him as they enter Victoria’s admittedly lovely lobby, and Thomas once more takes the lead in order to guide them through the house.

  “Our Mistress has a show scheduled soon, so I’d be thankful if the gentleman could keep their-”

  “Thomas, does it seem like I care about Victoria’s stupid shows?” Collin interrupts coldly. From his face, it is clear what happened outside put him in a terrible mood.

  …Oops?

  Taking a gnce over his shoulder toward the vampire and seeing his grumpy expression, Thomas clears his throat. “I meant no insult. Anyhow… Here we are. Mistress, I have brought the guests.”

  Thomas reaches a set of double doors and steps aside, giving way for them to enter as he reveals a rge room containing several couches, potted pnts, and a small pool…

  Sincir blinks.

  However many fws she may have, he has to admit Victoria has good taste…

  Speaking of which, the mistress of the house is immediately noticeable within the spacious room, sitting upon a couch facing the door in a robe which hints at the fact she might have recently come out of the bath.

  A second man, much leaner than Thomas, holds one of Victoria’s feet in his hand, carefully brushing some sort of dark substance over her nails, while has she her head leaned back against the couch, staring toward the ceiling...

  Sincir might have chucked over the scene... If not for the instant growl it evokes from Collin.

  “…Victoria, am I a joke to you?” the male vampire murmurs, causing the man below Victoria to freeze.

  Like Thomas, and unlike Victoria, his posture is tense as he throws a wary gnce toward Collin, then one toward his mistress, making it obvious this is not the way he would’ve handled the situation.

  As, Victoria is clearly the one calling the shots, and she merely smiles lightly as she lowers her chin, facing Collin’s gaze with undeniable mockery in her dark blue eyes.

  “Look, I’m hardly the only one who thinks you’re a joke, so spare me the lecture, okay?”

  In a moment, Victoria is sitting against the couch; The next, her body is hitting the opposite wall with a nauseating crunch as Collin steps over the now fallen piece of furniture, eyes red and fangs fully extended.

  “Fuck!” Thomas scream, running down the corridor as he does so.

  Eleanor also curses, her eyes having widened slightly. “Are we supposed to…?”

  Sincir pces one hand over her arm, stopping her from moving. “Let’s just watch, for now.”

  As she rises, slowly and shakily, Victoria ughs, seeming to disregard her bloodied face while showcasing the approaching vampire a smile full of reddened teeth. “Wow... And here was I thinking you were incapable of showing aggression in front of a wo-”

  This time, as Collin throws Victoria against the wall, he breaks it, revealing the house’s backyard and garden... Under the moonlight, Sincir catches a glimpse of the Victoria’s extended fangs as she rushes toward Collin, only to be easily swatted aside once more…

  Unfortunately, the battle quickly develops outside of viewing range as both vampires become blurred figures, crashing into each other while producing loud, growling noises...

  Seeing that the danger is more or less passed, at least for them, Sincir finally releases of Eleanor’s arm, stepping into the room and throwing the remaining human servant a look.

  Compared to Thomas, he is small, but not exactly frail, and Sincir can see the muscles underneath his clothes as he hurriedly moves to gather the mess it has become of the substance he was using to paint Victoria’s nails.

  “I don’t think that’ll make much of a difference at this point,” Sincir says as he approaches the man, causing him to throw a surprise look in his direction, “At this rate, by the time Collin is done with her, I doubt she’ll be performing anytime soon.”

  The man tightens his jaw, showcasing his obvious frustration; Also, it has so Sincir realizes how handsome he is. “Victoria knows how to handle herself,” he says, sounding as though he desperately wants to believe his own words.

  Shaking his head, Sincir snaps his fingers, casting a wind spell with has so the couch destroyed by Collin is tossed out of the way, before sitting on a second one, turned toward the small pool, and patting his side.

  Mercifully, Eleanor doesn’t argue with him before sitting.

  “Shame about the furniture… I liked it,” he comments, crossing his legs.

  “W-who are you?” the man asks, his previous task seemingly forgotten as he rises and steps back, staring at Sincir with suspicion.

  Sincir cocks his head. “Did Victoria not tell you about me…?”

  At this moment, Thomas rushes into the room, now carrying a sword and looking ready for a fight, as he runs toward the hole created by Collin…

  Except, Sincir figures the man will only make things worse, and so he casts a shock-wave of wind which sends him straight into the pool of water once he tries to run past them.

  As the second servant stares at him with wide eyes, Sincir smiles at him.

  “Be a good boy, will you? You don’t look like the fighter type, and I’d hate to hurt another of Victoria’s pets tonight.”

  The man steps back again, palling, then runs toward a coughing Thomas, in order to help him out of the water.

  “What is happening…?” Eleanor murmurs.

  She doesn’t seem happy, but then again, nobody likes to be left in the dark.

  “Our friend Victoria fucked up bad when she approached the duke’s son,” Sincir expins, “It’d have been fine if she managed to solve the problem on her own, but she looked for my help, and I, in turn, looked for Collin’s… Which lead to him learning about the whole thing. Well, had Victoria treated dear Collin with a modicum of respect, I doubt things would’ve gotten so out of hand, but… You saw what happened, yourself.”

  Eleanor frowns. “What now?”

  Sincir shrugs. “I don’t know. Vampire politics is not exactly my area of expertise, but I wager that nobody will die tonight… Collin would’ve told us if he was pnning on going that far.”

  As if on cue, the vampire suddenly shows through the gap he created in the wall, now dragging a screaming and cursing Victoria by her hair behind him...

  Since her robe is nowhere to be seen, having been lost at some point during the fight, the scene makes for quite the sight, freezing both of Victoria’s servants with their eyes wide…

  Seemingly unbothered by the woman’s struggles to free herself, Collin walks across the room one steady step at a time, until he is standing by Sincir and Eleanor, expression one of barely controlled fury.

  Once she spots Sincir, Victoria pauses for a brief second to gre daggers at him, before resuming her fruitless struggles.

  “Collin, let me go right this instant, or I swear I-!”

  “Sincir,” Collin murmurs through clenched teeth, “If this goes on any longer, I’m afraid I will truly kill her…”

  The vampire’s gray eyes make it obvious he is in desperate need of advice; Knowing what he knows of Collin’s master, Sincir feels bad for the poor guy… It is obvious he is ill suited to lead others, and over the course of these past five-hundred years, it doesn’t seem anyone took an interest in helping him learn.

  Sincir clears his throat. “Victoria, love, listen, you’re not helping your case by-”

  “You bastard! I told you to leave the library out of this, and you-!”

  “The library is not involved, for the most part,” Sincir cuts in, “And we pn for things to stay that way… So long as you cooperate.”

  This seems to give Victoria enough to pause for a moment, her gaze running from Collin to him and back.

  “Let her go!” Thomas suddenly interjects, now pointing his dripping sword toward Collin.

  The second man, having obviously failed to stop his fellow servant from stepping forward, stares toward Collin and Victoria with a nervous look on his handsome face.

  “Thomas…” Collin murmurs, his voice coming from deep within his throat as he stares the man down and growls, “You simply could not heed my advice, could you?”

Recommended Popular Novels