Lies

39: Lies

Lara gripped the candle, slightly deforming it in her hands. 

"Dad, I'm not a child anymore... I know how to fend for myself. You forced me to learn how to fight. Shouldn't I help destroy those who threaten us?"

Sebastien sighed. "… Lara, you are my only heir. I asked Agatha to teach you those things so that you can survive."

"If I'm truly your heir, then you should stop push me away, father. The kingdom's problems are my problem, too. Why do you shoulder these burdens alone?"

"I can't, daughter, it's too dangerous... Velhellah is not safe for you right now, so leave… You have to."

Lara closed her eyes and sighed. 

Her father is stubborn. And so was she. 

"Then my answer is no." she said with determination. 

That anger him. 

"You will not disobey me again, Lara Louis!" Her father's booming voice made her flinch, but Lara didn't back down.

"No!"

"If I have to drag you out, I will do it, daughter."

She clenched her jaw. Stubborn old man… Unfortunately, she'll really be dragged out if she pushes this issue even further. Her father never backs down on his threats. She'll be banished!

A long-lasting silence occupied the room, making Lara sigh. Fine! She'll give him her surrender, for now. 

She slumped back in the chair with a defeated frown. "… Will you tell me what happened to Cedric, at least?"

Her father relaxed in his chair too. "We have our speculations… that is all you need to know."

He sighed. His daughter's stubbornness exhausted him sometimes.

Sebastien massaged his temples again, thinking his daughter definitely inherited her bull-headedness from him and his wife, since both of them were really stubborn as a mule thru their younger years.

"I saw Cedric before I came in..." she said, pausing for a bit. She placed the deformed candle on her father's desk before crossing her arms over her chest. "He said it was an ambush."

Sebastien stared at his daughter, "Indeed, it was an ambush…" She may have changed the subject for now. But he knew she wasn't finished yet.

"Did the rebels do this?" she did not miss a beat to ask. Her father didn't reply and looked away instead. 

Lara's eyes narrowed, studying her father's expression. "Father?"

"I don't know yet…" her father replied and shook his head.

"What do you mean, you don't know? You said there was a rebellion going on in the kingdom."

"The rebellion was an excuse." He said.

Lara froze. "You lied to me?"

"I did it to protect you."

Now Lara was getting pissed. 

"No! I will not accept that overused excuse from you, father. I came here because I was worried about you. I was worried about Cedric, too. And now you're telling me you lied? That there was no rebellion after all?"

"Lara, I did what I could to prevent you from coming back." Her father explained, but she could not understand this.

"Why? Why lie to me then!"

"Duke Valenti is dead."

"What?"

Lara shook her head. She's hearing things again. "… What do you mean Uncle Val is dead?"

"He's dead. You can see his corpse if you want to, daughter. It was the only thing that returned."

Lara knew him personally. Duke Valenti was one of her father's most trusted vassals. He was also a prominent uncle figure in her life while growing up as a kid. He would always bring her sweets, resulting in her love for blood cakes.

"If he's dead, then why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked, forlorn at her father's decision to keep this importance news from her. "He visited me 2 weeks ago. Brought me a present. He was smiling then. Uncle Val was-…" Lara stopped, clenching her fist as she painfully closed her eyes...

Sebastien, however, got surprised to hear about this. "Val visited you..."

Lara nodded and frowned when she noticed her father's face turning dark as he pondered. 

"Dad?" she called him out, but he didn't react to her voice. "What more aren't you telling me?

Sebastien looked at her daughter, a shadow of worry crossing his eyes. "9 days ago, I sent your Uncle Val to the mortal realm to run some errands for me." He said and stood up, looking outside the window as he continued. "He was on his way back when he got ambushed."

"What? Ambushed? Again? But that's- " Lara stopped and slowly pieced the facts together. She gasped. "Cedric..."

"Yes." Her father nodded solemnly.

"But he survived."

"Yes, and we made preparations for surprise attacks before he left."

Lara suddenly felt a headache coming her way… 

A lot of shocking news are suddenly popping up in front of her. And it did not prepare her for any of them.

"Did you catch the assailants?"

"No." Her father shook his head. "All of them committed suicide… simultaneously."

"They were being controlled?"

"Yes." 

Sebastien's expression became even more grave as he realized the situation had become even more serious. 

"There's more, isn't there." Lara studied her father's face and knew that something was bothering him now. Her father never loses his cool. He always had this icy wall around him that makes it hard for those around him to predict what he's thinking. 

But now Lara can feel his uneasiness. His worry. "Is there more?"

"…"

"Dad, there's no reason for you to lie to me anymore. Tell me, what more do you know?"

Sebastien faced his daughter and sighed. "The ones who attacked Cedric were not human."

Not… human? Lara scowled at this information as goosebumps rose on her skin. Suddenly, a thought entered her mind.

Don't tell me…

She mentally shook her head. No, it can't be.

However, there is only one race she knew who hated the vampires. And they weren't human. The werewolves know that attacking an important figure like her Uncle Val would break the peace treaty. 

The goddess implemented it to stop the unnecessary bloodshed during the old war. If the treaty breaks, the anger of the Goddess will damn them all…