Chapter 12: He was lying since the beginning?

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'This man seems familiar. I think I've seen him in the palace a few times.'

(Y/N) thought as she stared at the blunette in front of her with cautious eyes. He just gave the girl a closed-eye smile as he asked,

"If you're not intending to escape, could it be that you're heading over to the party? Would you like me to help you?"

The first thing that the girl noticed were his fangs when he smiled as she thought,

'He is also a vampire.'

"Why should I trust you?"

She asked as he chuckled softly before responding,

"Hmm? I often hang out with Shu. Haven't you noticed? Besides, you want to help him at the party, right? Also, without my help, you wouldn't be able to get out of this mansion. Plus, I have a favor to ask of you- How about it? Are you coming along?"

All of Valt's points were valid. The girl thought for a moment before replying with determination in her voice,

"...yes!"

"Ah, but you can't go like this..."

"Huh?"

"Let me give you a little makeover~"

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At night:

As Valt drove to the party, he began to tell (Y/N) what this party was and why it was so important for Shu to attend it.

"The party of the blood clan, to put it bluntly, is an occasion for all nobles to manifest their power."

"It sounds shallow and boring..."

"So it is, but it's also important, especially for those who have the candidacy for elder, such as Shu."

"An elder?"

"Yes, that vampire is considered to be the strongest and second to the true ancestor of the blood clan. So being his blood servant, you have to be unique as well."

"I see."

As they reached the party, the blue-haired vampire got out of the car and helped the (h/c) haired girl out as well while saying,

"Here we are. Be careful while getting off."

(This is what you're wearing, along with a matching hair tiara. ^^)

The (h/c) hair of the girl was neatly braided and swayed slightly with her movements.

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Meanwhile:

"Sir, may I ask if you're alone?"

"Yes."

"Please present your family crest or invitation letter."

The guard vampire asked as Shu stood there with an unimpressed look on his face. There were several vampires around, some either to watch the scene or some waiting to get their turn to get inside.

"I'm a candidate for the elder of the blood clan. How dare you stop me? Do you have a death wish?"

"But according to the regulations..."

"Get out of my way! Otherw-"

Shu stopped midway when he heard some vampires of the lower noble families say,

"I overheard you saying that you were a candidate for the eldership? Don't be ridiculous. Even if you were, I'm afraid you're disqualified now."

"The rumour appears to be true. You've really lost your family crest."

The albino vampire resisted the urge to roll his eyes and scoff at them as he said,

"A nobody like you has no say here."

"Hmph! You're less than a nobody without the crest. Shall I provide a guarantee for your entry?"

"Piss off."

"Stop pulling a stunt at this point— maybe you won't even receive the invitation to the party the next year! Haha!"

The two lower noble vampires taunted as they showed their invitations to the guard who immediately let them in.

'The person who stole the crest must be spreading rumours. The guards must've been ordered to impose tighter restrictions on the presentation of the crest. Normally, face recognition will do. It looks like someone wants my name to be removed from the list of candidates completely.'

Shu thought as he didn't notice that a figure amongst the crowd was smirking at him before it disappeared amongst the vampires.

"Mr. Shu, Hall of the Elder summons you. Please come with me."

A maid said as she bowed before the albino gave her a slight nod and followed her with a frown on his face. This couldn't be good.

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"Shu of the Kurenai family. Do you know why you were summoned to the Hall of the Elder?"

A vampire noble asked as the said vampire was standing at the bottom of a high-ceiling hall with multiple floors. And on each floor, sat a highly reputed and influential blood clan member.

"As a candidate for the next elder, you lost your family crest. Do you know what the crest means to the blood clan?"

"It's the status and glory of a family, even the entire blood clan. How can you be the next elder if you can't even keep your family crest safe?"

Shu only smirked as the nobles bombarded him with questions and facts that he already knew before confidently asking,

"What if another candidate plotted this? Will the Hall turn a blind eye?"

"Do you mean that someone is setting you up in order to disqualify your right of succession?"

"Indeed."

"Even if that's true, it doesn't seem like you're able to cope with their plots. Your abilities are just nothing."

"Now that I've already known that someone intentionally set me up, I've come here prepared."

"Oh?"

"I promise to take the crest back within 24 hours. If not, I'll give up the candidacy of the elder. Does it please you all?"

Shu challenged boldly as the nobles whispered amongst themselves before one of them replied,

"Alright then. Let's see what you've got."

The albino smirked as if he'd already won. He'd been waiting for this. To get the Hall of Elder on his side.

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'Who is that girl?'

'She's so pretty. Why didn't I notice her before?'

'Is she really just a human?'

Various nobles who'd come to attend the party whispered amongst themselves as they watched (Y/N) and Valt walk forward into the main party hall.

"I'm going to meet Shu. Take a wander."

The blunette said with a closed-eye smile as the girl nodded before they both went their separate ways.

Suddenly, her eyes fell on a familiar figure who was holding a wine glass and talking to another female vampire. Her eyes widened as she recognised the person.

'Gwyn Reynolds?! I can't be mistaken. He's indeed a...vampire.'

The girl frowned before going to the duo. She wasn't gonna let a liar go off like that.

"Excuse me. Gentleman, may I borrow you for a minute?"

(Y/N) asked as she bowed in front of him who looked at her carefully before nodding in response and taking her to the balcony.

"Sure. Beautiful lady."

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Meanwhile:

"Shu! Hi!"

Valt grinned as he waved cheerfully at the albino who was coming from the direction of the Hall of Elder. As the albino saw him he said,

"Finally, you're here. Have you found the crest?"

"Don't worry, it's in progress."

"Is it?"

"There's a minor incident though."

"Hm?"

"Your servant Lilith wasn't listening to me at all. It seems that she only listens if you give her the order. Luckily, I bumped into your poor little thing, so I asked her to do it-"

Shu's eyes widened when the blunette explained everything to him and before he could finish, the prince cut him off,

"What?! Under the circumstances, you actually brought her to this party? You even asked her to carry out the plan?"

"She was trying to help you. I only did her a favour. Besides, she's indeed the right person to carry the plan out."

"How can that stupid girl help me? Where's she now?"

"Probably in the main party hall."

As soon as Valt said that, the albino prince immediately walked past him and trotted towards the main hall. The blunette was quick to follow after him as he exclaimed,

"Hey Shu, don't spoil our plan!"

"Enough."

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In the main hall's balcony:

"I'm Gwyn. What's your name?"

"We're alone now. You can stop pretending, Gwyn. You stole Shu's crest, didn't you?"

(Y/N) asked sternly as she gave him a silent glare. But the magenta-eyed vampire only smirked as he asked,

"Did Shu send you here?"

"No, I just felt that I got a responsibility to get back what belongs to him."

"Don't waste your energy. He can't wash off the blemish of poor maintenance even if he finds the crest now. Without the Elders' trust in the blood clan, he will have no future."

Gwyn then moved closer to the (h/c) haired girl and grabbed her by the chin, surprising her as he proposed,

"However if you're willing to follow me, maybe I can put in a good word for Shu~"

The girl immediately pushed him away from herself as she angrily exclaimed,

"Don't touch me with your dirty hands!"

The vampire only smirked as he moved closer to her again and grabbed her by the wrist, successfully pulling her up against himself as he whispered in her ear,

"Don't reject me so fast. Don't you deeply care about Shu? If you agree, I will return the crest to him. How about it?"

'So he did steal it!'

"Now stop struggling~"

'His grip is too tight! I-I can't move!'

"STOP!"

A voice suddenly yelled and before Gwyn even realised it, he was harshly pushed down on the floor and (Y/N) was pulled against someone's chest.

As soon as she looked up, she felt a huge sense of relief when she saw Shu holding her.

"Don't touch my girl!"

'Damn it!'

Gwyn thought as he looked up at Shu and held his shoulder in pain.

"Are you alright?"

The crimson-eyed vampire asked the girl who immediately responded,

"Yes."

'Is he worried about me?'

She thought as she noticed how his crimson eyes were glowing. Then, as if a sudden realisation hit him, he quickly backed away from her and took deep breaths, until his eyes turned back to normal as (Y/N) asked worriedly,

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing...From now on, don't go anywhere without my permission!"

"How noisy. What's happening here?"

Another voice interrupted the trio as all three of them turned their heads to look at the icy-blue-haired vampire who walked towards them with his attendant and Valt behind him.

'Isn't that Lui from the Hall of Elder?! Perfect opportunity...'

Gwyn thought as he immediately burst out,

"Lord Lui! You came here at a good time. Shu-"

As he stood up, something fell from his coat. His eyes widened when he looked at the fallen object as he thought,

'No way! I clearly remember I-'

"Isn't that the crest of the Kurenai family?"

The icy-blue haired vampire asked as he gazed at the red object before it was picked up by the albino prince who smirked,

"So here it is. It took some effort in searching for it."

As he straightened up with the crest in his palm, Valt moved to his side and stood behind him where (Y/N) was standing too.

All eyes were on Gwyn as Shu asked mockingly,

"Mr. Gwyn, would you like to explain yourself?"

"Gwyn, you've let me down."

Lui said with a hint of disappointment in his voice as he crossed his arms and his attendant immediately went to the magenta-eyed albino vampire and held him by the shoulders as he said,

"Please move your steps to the Hall of Elder, Mr. Reynolds."

"No! I-I was framed!"

Gwyn exclaimed as he thrashed his arms around both in panic and anxiety before looking over at (Y/N) who was silently standing behind Shu.

"It must be this girl who deliberately got close to me and set me up! Otherwise, how can Shu's crest be found in me?!"

He said as he pointed an accusing finger at the girl who averted her gaze as she recalled what had happened when she and Valt were on their way here.

Flashback:

"Well, how about I do you another favor, little human?"

"Huh?"

(Y/N) blinked in confusion at the blunette's words before her eyes widened when he showed her a gleaming red object.

"Isn't this Shu's crest?!"

"Bingo!"

"How come it's here?!"

The girl asked in shock as Valt put the crest back into the safety of his fist before giving her a closed-eye smile and replying,

"It was found in the room of your senior, Gwyn Reynolds."

"As expected...it was him. Maybe he's had a hard time accepting vampires. After all, he had a grudge against vampires who killed someone he knew..."

The (h/c) haired girl said in a sad tone as she looked down at her lap. However, Valt's sudden laugh made her look at him again as she asked with a frown,

"What are you laughing at?!"

"How shameless of him to tell such a lie."

"Huh?"

"Gwyn Reynolds is a vampire. He disguised himself as a human to approach you just to set Shu up. He used to live in the North and he moved here to run for the candidacy of the next elder. If it wasn't for Lilith being his distant relative, it wouldn't have been easy to investigate him."

The blunette explained as he rested his face on the back of one of his palms while using the other one to drive.

(Y/N) just gritted her teeth in frustration as she'd been fooled by a vampire...so easily. She took a deep breath before asking,

"What exactly do you want me to help you with? Get straight to the point."

Valt only smiled as he stretched his arm to her and showed the crest to her again before explaining,

"Very simple. Pay him back in his own coin for what he's stolen. You just need to get close to him and secretly put the crest into his pocket."

"What..."

"It's up to you. Think it over."

End of flashback

"It was all her fault! It was her who tried to set Shu up but ended up putting the blame on me!"

Gwyn half-yelled as he tried to make the (h/c) haired girl a scapegoat but he was silenced by the deep and commanding voice of the prince,

"Enough."

Shu's eyes began to glow again as he put his arm protectively around (Y/N) and pulled her closer to himself before warning the other vampire,

"She is mine. No one is allowed to slander her."

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This chapter went pretty long, huh? 😅

The next chapter might end up long as well. And to everyone who's waiting to see a good romantic part between our vampire and human:

It'll be there in the next chapter. I hope everyone will be waiting patiently. ^~^;

Another thing I wanted to say: this book is gonna be pretty long because love needs to find a way against time. 🩷⏳

And yet another thing (this can be ignored — not important): I haven't been able to update as frequently for the past few days because I ended up...harming my right wrist...but don't worry, I'm recovered enough to finish some of the unfinished story drafts. 😊

Vote, comment, share and maybe....follow me too? All the characters (except the reader) belong to Hiro Morita, only the story plot is mine.

Stay safe and have a nice day/noon/evening/night.

Sayonara, bug out.