Chapter 2
Valerius
Late at night, the castle's side hall was completely quiet.
I folded the signed parchment and tucked it deep into my bag. On the bed, Vanessa curled up in a ball, her small face pressed against the pillow, dried tear tracks still visible on her cheeks.
Heavy footsteps suddenly broke the corridor's silence.
The door pushed open, and Lucian walked in wearing his black cloak, reeking of pure-blood champagne and Seraphina's sharp white rose perfume.
Seeing me sitting by the oil lamp, he stopped and frowned. "You're still up?"
"Well, isn't waiting for His Grace's return part of a servant's duties?" My voice was flat. I didn't even look up.
Lucian was thrown off by how cold I was. He loosened his collar and pulled out a gold-embossed gift box from his jacket, tossing it on the table.
"This is compensation for Vanessa." His tone was ice-cold. "Tonight's estate business was urgent—I really couldn't get away."
I glanced at the box stamped with the silver rose logo—"Holy Silver Velvet Fragrance." Seraphina's favorite scent.
Looking at that gift box, I couldn't help but laugh coldly.
Lucian frowned, face darkening. "What's so funny? This fragrance is worth a fortune. Plenty of noble ladies are dying to get their hands on it."
"Just keep it." I looked up, meeting his blood-red eyes. "Vanessa doesn't need it, and honestly? She can't handle it either."
"Vivienne, don't be so ungrateful." His voice turned cold. "Look, I admit missing tonight's dance trial was wrong, but I explained—urgent business. I brought a gift to make it up to the kid. How long are you gonna keep this up?"
"Urgent business?" I laughed coldly, pulling out my communication crystal and shoving Seraphina's post from half an hour ago in his face.
In the image, he wore his pristine black ducal formal suit, elegantly toasting with red-gowned Seraphina in the golden splendor of the Royal Theater's banquet hall.
The caption was painfully clear: "Perfect midnight, perfect company. ❤️"
Lucian froze, panic flashing in his eyes before he quickly resumed his smugness. "Look, Seraphina's debut was a huge success tonight. The Royal Council needed me there for appearances. It's social protocol—like you'd understand."
"I don't know social protocol, but I DO know this fragrance could KILL my daughter!"
I stood up. "Holy Silver Velvet is infused with high-concentration holy light velvet flowers and pure silver particles. You're an ancestral lord—don't you know mixed-blood children have severe holy silver rejection syndrome? Contact with this stuff would shrink her blood core and cause her respiratory tract to ulcerate and suffocate!"
Lucian just stood there, stunned. He looked down at the gift box, then back at me. "...What rejection syndrome? She's just mixed blood, how could she—"
"Because she's half-vampire!" I cut him off. "She doesn't have your precious pure-blood immunity! You never pay attention to her, never care about her health, don't even know what could kill her. So tell me—are you trying to poison your own daughter with this gift?!"
Lucian went pale, lips pressed tight.
Just then, his communication crystal buzzed urgently.
The glowing screen showed Seraphina's anxious image: "Luke! Help me... I accidentally stepped wrong in the back garden and twisted my ankle. It hurts so bad..."
The panic on Lucian's face instantly shifted to concern. Without hesitation, he turned toward the door.
At the threshold, he paused. "We'll talk about Vanessa tomorrow. Seraphina's injured—I have to go check on her."
Watching him leave, any hope I had left died completely.
"Wait, Your Grace." I called out.
Lucian turned back, clearly impatient. "Now what?"
I pulled the parchment from my bag and held it out, pushing the ink pen and his ducal seal toward him.
"Since you're in such a rush, please handle this paperwork." My voice was completely flat. "It's about servant quarters reassignment—needs the lord's seal."
Lucian didn't even glance at the contents. Desperate to rush off and tend to his first love's twisted ankle, he grabbed his ducal seal and slammed it down hard on the parchment's final page.
THUD. The red vampire lord's seal blazed to life.
"Next time take this crap to the steward. Don't bother me with it in the middle of the night."
He grabbed his cloak and left.
The room fell silent again.
I walked over and picked up the parchment.
At the bottom, where the seal covered, several large words were clearly stamped: Blood Severance and Contract Dissolution Agreement.
I blew the seal ink dry and carefully tucked it against my body.
"Thank you, Lucian," I whispered to the pitch-black night sky. "Thank you for not even looking before you signed our daughter completely over to me."
Over the weekend, I took Vanessa to the grand theater to see a high-level ballet.
After missing the trial performance, I wanted to cheer her up and show her that even without her father's company, we could still have a good life.
"Mama! That swan princess was amazing! Her spins..." After the show ended, Vanessa tugged my hand excitedly, gesturing wildly.
Walking toward the VIP exit, two familiar figures suddenly came into view.
Lucian was carefully supporting Seraphina's arm, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Seraphina smiled radiantly against his arm, walking just fine.
Vanessa saw them too. Her eyes lit up instantly, instinctively breaking free from my hand and taking a step forward—
"Dad—"
