Chapter 48: Selene's Punishment! The True Feelings of Vlad Tepes!
"Explain to me why you were seen kissing a man in public, not only that, a man who also kissed the daughter of Fenrir!"
Selene didn't speak.
The cut on her cheek from the paper slowly healed as she glared at her father.
She refused to apologise for her actions, her defiance a show of her strength. Selene believed in her own choices and was indifferent to her father's anger. Instead of celebrating Anya's transformation into a true vampire, her father focused on this trivial matter.
"Answer your father, girl!" Her mother urged.
Vlad's glowing red eyes flashed when she remained silent. Then he turned to Anya, and his eyes immediately widened before his lips opened but closed.
He treated Anya so badly because of her bloodline being sealed, yet now he could feel it, the powerful aura of a Tepes bloodline, but also another... a nostalgic bloodline that made his heart throb and memories of his younger days flowed through his mind.
'How does my daughter have the blood of the Báthory clan?!'
The silence continued as Anya waited for him to say something. She knew Vlad realised her heritage.
She already learned from Nikolai that this might happen because of his mother, and it made her happy. Not only did he give her a chance to walk beside her sister, but gave her the power to surpass other vampires who might doubt her.
"Who?" Was all he could ask.
Anya didn't respond, and her eyes moved to Selene, telling Vlad that whoever it was, it related to Selene.
"Selene, is this your doing?"
She could tell from his voice he was furious.
"Yes, father." Selene had a clear voice.
"How? If you can convince me why, then I will forgive your actions tonight and will not interfere with you in the future."
Vlad didn't hate his daughters. It was the opposite. They were his treasures; that's why he sent Anya away, to protect her from the nobles that would swarm her and try to force her to become nothing but a womb for laying royal and pureblood vampires.
'I was so blind that in the hundreds of years since Selene was born, she has grown so much...'
Vlad knew deep in his heart that Selene was a woman who could change the world.
"Dad, there is a boy who became my support even though we are enemies. He was yet to awaken, and so he became my squire."
'It must be Ivan's boy... then that handsome lad was Ivan's son? He awakened a few days ago and beat another fully fledge squire? Interesting Ivan, you boy... I must meet him.'
"If he has awakened, then it means he is strong, but what can you gain from him?" Vlad asked.
"He will grow to become a hero of all monsters; his strength will surpass mine, even yours, in a short amount of time. That is what I felt from meeting him again tonight—after a day apart, he has improved greatly, and I will stand beside him as his Queen."
Vlad's eyes widened, and her words stabbed into his heart.
'Queen... does that mean she has the same feeling as I did when I met my wife? Does our family's bloodline affect our intense romantic feelings that much?'
Vlad Tepes knew that their family suffered from this kind of illness; when they didn't accept their partner, they were like a tundra of ice.
Yet the moment they accepted someone even once... their hearts and feelings became like a flood of magma, burning away all doubts and troubles about being with that single person. If that love failed, it could take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to recover.
'Like when I lost Elizabeth to that damn wolf...'
"Are you sure? Because of the council and vampire laws, I cannot support you—my protection will be limited to your business and life..." Vlad's voice was hoarse—it might seem like he was threatening her, and Selene thought he was. But to Vlad, his heart was breaking.
This was how he showed his worry... only his two wives knew this truth, and it was a huge reason for the father and daughter to argue and fall out.
Because they were the same!
"I can handle it myself, as long as you don't put out your hand and try to harm him." Her cold tone was the same as her father's; she didn't want to fight with him, yet she couldn't stop herself from becoming defensive and closed off when speaking about things she cared about.
"As long as he doesn't break our laws, I won't do anything." His words made her relax, and she stood up, bowing to him in thanks. "Now, what to do with Anya?" Vlad looked at his other daughter, who had yet to speak a single word.
Anya just smiled.
She was too young when she left, and Vlad was afraid she would be kidnapped or killed because she had sealed her power. Now, looking at her cute face, it reminded him of the cute Selene before she started to mature.
"Anya, what do you wish to do?" He asked, causing both his wives and Selene to gasp in shock.
'What?' Anya's body shivered, and her eyes widened at her father's words.
"I want to become an adult and to live beside Selene," she responded, making him nod his head.
"Then, until you are strong enough to support your sister, you will continue studying at school, and I will assign a guard to protect you. Wilhelmina's older sister has been looking for a master. Do you accept these terms?"
'This why I can protect them both, with the twin sisters together protecting my girls. Almost no one can harm them!' Yes, Vlad's true colours were an obsessive father who cared too much about his daughters. However, because he didn't reveal these thoughts, his daughters believed he hated them and treated them coldly.
"Thank you, Father."
"You're welcome." He nodded.
Selene and Anya bowed to him one last time and then left the room, leaving Vlad with his wives.
"That was rare, did you learn something from Ivan?" His beloved second wife teased him—in reality, the fights and battles between wives that Selene imagined were all for the show because the two women were as close as sisters in reality!
Vlad was just too shy to show himself flirting with them both in public and being called out to it by Ivan and his two other childhood friends.
"My beloved wives... there is something special about Ivan's son, but I don't understand what. Although he is exceptionally charming, his blood is what allowed Anya's sealed bloodlines to awaken, not only that. He somehow transferred his Báthory bloodline to replace her human blood... You understand what this means, right?" Vlad spoke with a solemn voice, his hands balling into fists.
'Nikolai's mother was the last pure member of the Báthory bloodline, yet normally, when two races mate, only one bloodline exists after they are born... Hybrids cannot survive their tenth birthday... No way... Did Ivan and Eliza...'
"Honey, calm yourself!" The two women hugged their husband, using their pheromones and scent to make him relax. "There is a way for us to learn the truth, but let's do it in a natural way that will stop those girls from misunderstanding you. We both know you are going to fight against the Faust and Mephisto families after this...
why pretend like you'll abandon Selene?" The one who scolded him was Anya's mother, not Selene's!
"I-I..."
"Fufu, our beloved man, is just too shy; he loves our girls too much." Selene's mother teased as they revealed how much the two women loved Vlad, always pretending to be harsh to him just because Vlad was weird and got nervous around his daughters.
"But... they kissed.... what happens if she comes home.... with a child?!" He said, almost stuttering his words.
The two beautiful women paused for a moment.
"We will deal with it later..." Selene's mother stated.
"Oh, our cute husband, then wouldn't we have both the Volkov and Báthory bloodline inside our line forever? If we can't improve the purity of the Tepes line, we can join the Báthory. After all their family was destroyed, that blood art is a gift we cannot turn down."
"You're right. Also, isn't that boy attractive and powerful?" Selene's mother gave a sweet smile. "It wouldn't hurt to have a strong grandson, would it? I'm sure our daughter wouldn't mind if her husband was so exceptional and had a few more children."
"Ugh... you two always play unfairly."
"Fufu~ don't you love us both though? Our delightful husband."
"Hehe, you never change, our dear little Vlad. We will keep your little heart safe from harm."
"I am happy that finally we don't have to treat Selene differently, and she has an excuse to spread her own wings finally..."
'Thank you for helping Anya... I know that you must be part of the reason she was helped. Thank you, Selene, my daughter, even if we share no blood. I vow that you won't be hurt again.'
The two wives were strange, even in the vampire community as they both considered the other's daughter their own, a big factor in why they never fought over succession.
Well... they were cousins, after all, and grew up together, so it wouldn't be strange. At least Vlad felt it was wonderful as the trio began to plan for the future.
To protect Selene and Anya and make Nikolai their son-in-law.