Chapter 20: Scheming
Seeing her bewildered expression, Susinda smiled.
"Has it ever occurred to you to question why the Prince of Imperion was never mentioned before you came here?" Susinda asked.
When Eve did not answer, she continued. "It was because he holds no power or authority in this Kingdom. Even a mere Baron's had more power than him."
Not understanding her words, Eve thought about the ranking of the vampires.
First, was the spawn. They were the weakest and some of the mature vampires do not even consider spawns as vampires yet.
Next was the thrall. They were newly turned vampires that were still under the control of their sire— or the vampires who made them.
Then the nobles. All vampires were considered nobles simply because they think they are superior to normal humans. Normal vampires call themselves nobles but they do not actually have any territory. Lucius told her once that nobles have the ability to shapeshift into their chosen animal once they reach a certain maturity. However, this was very difficult to achieve and takes a lot of… patience which some vampires do not have.
Then the baron or a baroness. Aside from their speed and strength, they have the ability to mesmerize humans and weaker vampires, making them do their bidding. The more powerful barons and baroness could also control some small animals or at least, the legend says so. Barons and baronesses were given territory in the outskirts of the Kingdom.
Of course, there was the duke and duchess. These vampires were stronger than the ones who rank lower than them. They also have a huge territory and could easily ensnare anyone weaker than their rank.
And lastly was the King.
The King and Queen of Vampires was not a position achieved through bloodline, but of bloodbath.
Meaning, anyone who believed they were stronger than the king and queen could easily challenge them to a duel and take the throne away. The king and queen were considered the most powerful vampires in the Kingdom. They could talk inside other people's minds, manipulate both human and vampire memories and thoughts, and most importantly, they could completely turn an ordinary human into a duke or duchess.
They also have the ability to influence a large crowd of vampires like an army of vampires and make them do whatever it is that they want.
This was how Lucius described the vampire ranks.
Susinda was right. Lucius never mentioned anything about a Prince.
"The Prince is not in the books, nor was he mentioned by the humans or any other race. It is because he is nothing," Susinda smirked. "Are you really willing to marry someone who is nothing?"
Eve blinked.
Nothing?
How could someone who is considered weaker than a baron speak inside her mind?
No. Susinda was wrong.
However, Susinda seemed to be serious. She was acting as if she, too, believed her words.
"I am giving you the opportunity to live even after the courtship. When you fail, I can ensure that you are brought to another territory where another vampire will be ready to take you on as their new wife. You will have them as your new master."
"You know this is… against the rules, right?"
"What rules?" Susinda snorted. "Did you see a rule that pertains to this matter in the list?"
Again, Susinda was telling the truth. This was not included in the set of rules that was given to them. At least, they did not specifically include the fate of the women who would fail the test. Instead, they focus on the punishments of the women who will not follow the rules.
What stupidity.
She wondered who made those dumb rules!
"The ones that were chosen and… the ones that never came back." Eve swallowed.
"Of course, they are already enjoying a life of luxury with another vampire. Did you really expect us to kill everyone because of a Vampire Prince?"
Eve said nothing.
Was this the reason why Max did not seem to care about the courtship?
"Aren't you worried that I will reveal this to the others?"
Again, Susinda only responded with a snort. "And… what makes you think that they will believe someone like you?"
Eve frowned. There was no doubt that the Prince would believe her, but she has no idea when she will have the opportunity to see him again.
The man has a talent for appearing and disappearing like a phantom, leaving her to wonder if he even exists or if he's just a figment of her imagination.
"I believe this proposal would benefit us both. Don't you agree? You get to have a perfect ending while avoiding death while I get a reward. Isn't that mutually advantageous?"
Eve did not know what to say when Susinda told her that she only had twenty-four hours to decide. It is either that… or she will reveal Eve's crimes of killing someone who was set to join the Night Courtship.
Susinda assured her that this would be a crime as the rules stated that they are not allowed to commit the act of murder or irreparable harm to the competitors.
In the end, Eve could not say another word.
*BANG*
The loud slam of Miss Susinda's office door jolted Eve out of her stupor.
A pensive expression filled her face as she stared at the door.
If she was right, then everything that had been happening between her and Susinda was an act.
The woman wanted to provoke her so she could create some conflict.
In this way, even if Eve were to disclose Susinda's proposition to anyone, they would not believe her and instead assume that she was trying to tarnish Susinda's reputation due to their past conflict.
"What a scheming bitch," Eve mumbled.
She always thought that the biggest threat that she had in this place was the vampires that had long been perceived as jealous, greedy, and evil.
It turned out, there were still humans who wish to profit from other humans.
At this point, Eve did not know what to say.
Twenty-four hours was not a lot of time.
Should she just secretly kill Susinda tonight?
That was the only way for her to escape her current predicament.
At least, she thought so.
Despite this, the news of Susinda's death, the very next day, surprised her.
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Also, did you expect this from Susinda? :D
Chapter 21: Pulse
"You were the last one to see her alive," Ophelia said while pacing in front of Eve. "You must have seen something."
"I did not," Eve said. "She wanted me to apologize, so I declined and moved on." Susinda's death caught her off guard.
Last night, she deliberated and thought about killing her to silence her. However, she did not go through with it. To her surprise, however, Susinda was found dead the very next morning.
All signs of her death were pointing to a human killer.
It appears that someone severely injured her by repeatedly striking her skull and causing damage to her brain.
Everyone immediately became a suspect— especially the person who last saw her breathing.
Eve Lucrecia.
Hearing the news, Ophelia immediately pulled her into another room, asking her various questions about her conversations with Susinda.
"You do not suspect me," Eve uttered.
"Do you want me to?"
"No." To be honest, she thought that the first one that would accuse her was Ophelia. After all, she knew that Eve had been to Susinda's study just before she died.
Ophelia frowned. "I trust that you are intelligent enough to realize that this could result in your death. Whoever killed her will face the ire of the Prince himself."
"What does that mean?" she asked.
"The Prince will... decide the fate of the killer. However, I can assure you it will not be a pleasant one. The last time—" As if realizing that she had talked too much, Ophelia cleared her throat. "It was brutal."
Eve nodded.
She will keep that in mind.
"What will happen after this?" Since this was not a part of the list of rules, Eve had no idea how they were going to deal with a crime like this.
"Everyone will be asked to talk to one of the butlers. They will eventually find out who it was."
'How?"
"They have their own methods."
Eve's lips thinned. Meaning, they are going to try and control their minds.
"Did she tell you something else before you left?" Ophelia asked for the umpteenth time.
"No. She was… she was upset and asked me to leave since I did not want to apologize." Eve said.
"Are you sure? Do you remember something else?"
"That's all. It seems unlikely that our relationship would facilitate casual conversation or engaging topics, given her apparent hatred towards me." Almost immediately, she wondered if Ophelia knew about what Susinda was doing.
It's unlikely that she could carry out an operation like that alone, she would need a few accomplices to assist her in cleaning up the aftermath. This meant that someone in this mansion knew about Eve.
This time Ophelia nodded.
"Alright, you may join the other girls. Just wait for the butlers to call you. Do not worry. As long as you are innocent, they will not do anything to harm you."
Eve rose from her seat. Then she walked out of the room. When she saw the women standing in line, she did not hesitate to follow them. She then stood at the very end of the line and waited for the butlers to arrive.
As she did this, she quickly went back to what happened last night.
When she went out, she did not sense any living being around. Meaning, whoever did it must have walked inside the room when she left.
She suspected one of the other women.
It looked like Ophelia had been doing something like this for a long time now. This means that she too must have talked to the others who had their own secrets to keep. She tried to recall any other weird behavior that Susinda showed during lectures and ended up with nothing.
"Hey, I heard you were the last one who saw her alive," the woman before her turned her head. "Is that true?" the woman had long braided brown hair and equally beautiful brown eyes. She gave Eve a wary look.
"Who told you that?"
"Everyone knows about it," the woman responded. "It was not exactly a secret that you two are— I mean — We heard it."
Eve frowned. She must be talking about the confrontation after the examinations.
Then Eve looked at the line ahead of her. While only the woman was looking at her, the others had stopped talking to each other as if… as if they were silently listening to their conversation.
"It is true," Eve said.
"Then did you—"
Eve's gaze immediately turned sharp.
The woman closed her mouth in a hurry. "I— I apologize. I did not mean to ask."
As if on cue, footsteps echoed. Two men wearing black suits walked in. One of them was the butler Casimir while the other was a tall and bald man named Sinas. Just like Casimir, Sinas was another butler working in a different wing of this large mansion.
Both of them were tall but Casimir looked leaner while Sinas was on the bulkier, more muscular side. To be honest, Sinas looked more like a warrior than a vampire. His sharp gaze and angular face could easily intimidate anyone.
The two faced the women and scrutinized their clothing before they started calling names.
Each of them was going to interview one woman before moving on to the other. This would enable them to identify the perpetrator of the crime.
Was it really that easy?
Eve said nothing as the two led the women to two different rooms.
Shortly thereafter, they called out another name, and the waiting game continued.
Time passed, seconds turning into minutes, until eventually, Eve was the last one standing in line, waiting for her turn.
The women were immediately instructed to return to their rooms after the interrogation so right now, it was only her inside the large hall.
"Eve Lucrecia…" Casimir looked straight at her. He did not wait for her to say another word as he turned and added, "Follow me."
Eve did not hesitate, she dragged her black dress towards the room where Casimir had been interrogating women.
"Your pulse is remarkably calm." Casimir gazed deeply into her eyes as if he was searching for something hidden within her soul. Then he narrowed his eyes. "It piqued my curiosity."
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