Chapter 9

Valerie Tepes's POV:

There should be around two hundred and eleven vampires inside the castle's walls. About one hundred and thirty of those vampires must be at the main hall where her Lord Father and her half-brothers are taking part of one of those ostentatious parties where everyone hated each other yet they are forced to smile and exchange empty pleasantries for the sake of their reputation among the other members of nobility. Unless some of them had been killed, there should be exactly thirty-seven guards protecting this section part of the castle, alas, there is nearly an eighty-give percent chance of them avoiding this hall so they could steer clear of the tainted Abel's child they were told to imprison.

In one thousand five hundred and forty seconds the chance would decrease to a thirty-five percent, meaning that she has three hundred seconds at most to extract as much information as possible from little Gasper and then decide if they are better off running away by themselves or staying with the two devils waiting for them in the other room.

The blonde devil is obviously in charge, so the dark-haired young women is either his lover or some kind of bodyguard. Given this Riser Phenex's age, mannerisms, and the fact that he made use of the infamous Evil Pieces to turn Gasper into a devil, it is safe to assume that he is part of the nobility, meaning he is either strong enough to be allowed to roam free around the world or the woman beside him was deemed strong enough to protect him.

The young woman, Kuroka, does not appear to be a lycanthrope and both her clothes and name indicate that she is from Asia. A youkai turned devil then.

Worst case scenario, she can scream and call the vampires for help. That would mean that Gasper would be captured once, rendering their previous efforts useless, but at least they would avoid becoming the new sex toys of a random devil.

She is now smiling fondly at Gasper as he excitedly explains everything he went through. The amount of information obtained is satisfactory, all things considered. Although Gasper is slightly less beautiful than herself despite his fairer skin, the devil did not seem interested in his body, nor did he touch him in an inappropriate place.

The logical conclusion is that the devil is mostly interested in Gasper's Sacred Gear rather than taking him as a lover. That is an acceptable outcome given their circumstances; any party would be interested in recruiting the user of a powerful Sacred Gear and expecting others to help them out of pity or an untreated heroic complex would be naïve. The question is whether said party will treat little Gasper with some semblance of basic decency after taking him or not.

The answer to that question is surprisingly more promising than she initially anticipated. The basic character profile that she could make with all the information at her disposal indicates that Riser Phenex is a prideful individual with a narcissist complex that leads him to treat his followers as an extension of himself, which means that he is unlikely to mistreat them unless some extreme circumstances occur. Because of his prideful nature, an offense committed toward Gasper would be taken as a personal attack toward him.

She could work with that kind of personality, albeit she would need to be cautious at the beginning because of her unparalleled beauty. Some may call her arrogant, but there is a reason her Lord Father did not kill her years ago despite his hatred toward half-bloods, she was simply too beautiful of a doll to admire and likely rape in the future.

"And then Senior Brother warned me to never underestimate the pettiness of the heavens and gave me a very nice pair of robes that were sadly a bit too big for my size. It was a shame, they looked very comfy."

More importantly, Gasper appears to enjoy the devil's company. His safety and happiness are the priority here.

Given that the blonde devil does not seem to mind the fact that Gasper attacked him in their first meeting and even addressed his scars in a thoughtful manner, he is either is trying to earn their trust or he has a soft spot for the little dhampir due to having a sister of a similar age. She isn't blind to the fact that he seems to be manipulating Gasper a little bit, but there is nothing wrong with that as long as Gasper does not suffer because of it.

There is no doubt in her mind that his Riser will try to force both of them to be up to his standards by making them train a lot, but that is still agreeable. The training would keep them both physically and mentally healthy and hopefully give Gasper that confidence boost he needs so much.

After pondering about their next course of action for exactly ninety-six seconds, Valerie arrives at a single conclusion. The devil known as Riser Phenex appears to be an objectively good boss for little Gasper... as long as this is not all an act to earn their trust so he can then have fun breaking them.

If this Riser Phenex is not planning to hurt Gasper in any way, then everything is great. Not only is he extremely pleasing to the eyes, but he is also a very cultured individual that understood her words immediately without the need for a vulgar translation.

How could she take full advantage of that?

Yep, she knows exactly what to do.

"Gaspy, I have a great plan." Valerie says filled with newfound confidence and explains her idea to Gasper, who groans for some reason.

"Trust me I know what I am doing." She swiftly adds before her friend could point out all the nonexistent problems with her plan.

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Surprisingly, it only takes a few minutes for Junior Brother and his childhood sweetheart to come back. I was expecting them to have a long and tedious argument about the pros and cons of becoming a devil and working for me, but maybe the vampires are so shitty and the strange devil who slapped one of them more a few times is their best option by default. As a Young Master with thick skin, I can happily live with that.

For some reason Gasper is now acting a bit strange. I have the distinct feeling that he is looking at me with pity, but that cannot possibly be right. The strawberry tea must have affected me more than I thought.

Valerie, who is now wearing a stylish gray cape that reminds me of the knights in those books that Ravel used to read when she was younger, walked gracefully toward me with a red flower in her mouth and kneeled before me in a very dramatic fashion.

She is even kissing my hand.

"My fair sun prince. Crownless is my inheritance, tainted my linage, yet hither I am showing myself small ere thee. I have but a single request to make."

With those words, she takes a ring made out of bones from her pocket and offers it to me.

"A darkness worse than ten thousand moonless nights has invaded this one's mind, yet now I have been blessed with the sight of the sun. I put my heart to thy mercy and ask for a warm hand to hold for this night and every morrow from here to the end of my time."

I think that my heart just skipped a beat.

Since this girl is supposed to be the MC's sweetheart Gasper should be glaring at me with a cold and unrelenting fury that would make even the bravest heart shiver like a leaf. Why the hell is he silently apologizing and avoiding my very judgmental gaze?

Why is my soon-to-be Dao Companion just standing here, watching this whole debacle with an amused expression. The sight of her beloved being stolen away by a random female lead that came from nowhere should be making her utterly furious.

What did the holy book say that I should in this kind of situation?

While it is true that his very particular scenario doesn't appear in the book, if I were to reverse the roles and make some other small changes here and there, this is a textbook example of a Young Master proposing to a jade beauty. According to the book, the most accurate course of action would be slapping the Young Master for daring to lust after my swan meat.

...Wait a minute. I'm supposed to be the Young Master!

It doesn't matter, I can still improvise something.

"You dare to gift me a ring, yet your name was left unsaid."

"Woe is me, thy radiance has blinded these eyes and made me forget the norms of basic courtesy." She excuses herself. "This one's name is Valerie Tepes, the tainted child of Abel."

Does that mean that the vampires still believe that they are Cain's progeny? That theory was disproved ages ago when some Africans Pantheons confirmed that vampirism was the result of a failed magic ritual executed by some tribes that wanted to gain immortality by drinking the blood of other humans.The only reason they were weak against the holy was because they established a short lived alliance with the devils two millenniums ago in order to fight against the god of the bible. That is almost as silly as believing that Vladimir Tepes was a vampire and not a human completely loyal to Christianity.

"This young master is magnanimous enough to ignore your slip of tongue. As a payment, let me announce that I am none other than Riser Phenex, the one who will surpass the heavens and everything beyond them."

"Ah, worthy goals for one such as yourself, and big shoes for me to fill as your other half. Do not be afraid, my fair prince, just said the word these ears yearn for, and I will stand by thy side both in front of the heaven's judgement and the hell's punishment. Do you accept my humble self?"

I shoot a subtle glance at my companions once again. Gasper is giving me a guilty thumbs up and Kuroka is filming the whole thing with her iPhone. I wasn't aware we gave her one.

This is so confusing.

"Just to be sure that we are on the same page. You're asking my hand in marriage minutes after we met for the first time, knowing full well that I am devil who will have a harem and stuff."

"A girl has to know what she wants." Valerie shrugs and my Dao Companion actually nods in agreement.

"And I suppose that Gasper and you are not childhood friends turned lovers, right?" The last thing I need is a jealous MC challenging me to a duel during my wedding, that would be painfully humiliating and ruin my self-esteem.

"Gaspy is a bit too feminine for my taste." She replies without missing a beat, not caring at all about the fact that she is the one who cross-dressed him for fun.

I give Junior Brother an inquiring look.

"I'm so sorry." His words only aggravate my confusion.

This has to be a trap of some sorts. That said, I am not against accepting the admittedly most beautiful girl I have seen into my harem, especially when nobody here seems to mind.

"This young master has working eyes, and he is willing to give this wise mistress a chance so-"

"Great!" She immediately puts the bone ring in my finger and then proceeds to stick her tongue at Junior Brother. "Told you that I could make this work."

"I never said you couldn't. I said that you shouldn't." Gasper mutters to himself.

Valerie deliberately ignores the commentary and meets my eyes. Scarlet red meets deep blue as the girl shyly grabs my shoulders with her little arms. She is so short that I bend my knees in an attempt to make this a little more comfortable for her.

She is shaking ever so slightly, her face growing redder the more I stare at her. She is clearly forcing herself to do this, but I am not planning to stop her anytime soon. Young Masters do not reject beautiful women that won't castrate them after the deed is done.

Her touch is cold, most likely due to her vampire bloodline, yet those red eyes of hers remind me of the warm flames that always dance with me during my cultivation sessions.

Her arms are so thin that I'm afraid of breaking them by moving too much, yet they hold me with more strength that such feeble limbs had the right to muster.

Her long hair kissed by the moon smelled like the rain, which might be a bad thing to say about a woman, but I personally find it pleasant.

Soon the distance between us disappears and our lips tou-

The whole tower starts shaking as if it were made out jelly, causing Valerie to lose her foot and fall on her ass.

Through the barred windows I see an imposing black dragon putting an end to the lives of the vampires who are foolishly trying to stop him from breaking havoc in their territory.

"WHERE.IS.THE.GRAAL?" The beast's wrathful roars send shivers down my spine.

This is not a heavenly tribulation that I can survive with my current cultivation.

The heavens are truly the worst kind of cock-blocker, aren't they?