Legacy World 4.26 Die For All I Care

Amidst the silence of the night and the snores, the soft rustle of leaves and grass could be heard here and there. Finally, some ghouls that should have been on patrol appeared and stood around Vanora. They looked at Vanora with a glazed over look in their eyes. 

/Take her away from Lord Vlad. Place her in someone else’s arms./

The order echoed repeatedly in their mind. They moved as one and pulled Vanora away from Vlad. They pulled, and pulled, and pulled, but Vanora was stuck as if she was rooted to the ground. Being mindless creatures at the moment, they did not stop to consider why, nor did they notice the black mark appear on the back of Vlad’s hand.

Vlad’s eyes flew open. The sight of ghouls still pulling onto Vanora put him in a blind rage. A burst of power exploded from him and decayed everything around him, including any beings that happened to be sleeping close enough to him. Only Vanora, who was still unconscious and now cradled in his arms, remained unharmed. 

The sudden surge of power and intimidating aura woke all the hell beings up in time to see Vlad slowly restraining his powers back into himself. Nobody dared to move or breathe, not that they could even if they wanted to. Vlad leaked killing intent even though his face was the most tender they had ever seen as he gazed at Vanora. 

When he finally looked up, they understood the extent of his rage. The whites of his eyes had turned pitch black. They instinctively knew that they were dead. There was no such thing as mercy in hell. Only negotiations. However, they could not even speak! They had never witnessed their demon lord this furious before, so they inferred that this had to do with Vanora. Something must have happened to her. This further solidified their belief that Vanora was their Lady no matter if they liked it or not.

"All you useless beings can die here for all I care." His voice was like death itself. He did not shout but it travelled through the masses, resounding clearly in the silence of the night.

The black mark of a rose expanded until it covered all the ground that had someone on it. The ground shook then lifted everyone high up into the sky. They were being served on a silver platter to the angels, with a cage as the lid. All the hell beings panicked and clamoured over each other, trying to find a way to break out and figure out what pissed Vlad off this much. The fact that they could do all these told them that he was already gone. He truly intended to leave them here as easy pickings. Rosa was the only one who stayed by the side, with her head hanging low, unmoving and silent. 

The next morning, Vanora woke up with Vlad's unhappy face filling her vision. Her eyes grew wide as she laid there in shock. After staring for a while, he humphed, leaned back, then grumpily spoke, "You still don't want to spill the beans about what's been bothering you?"

Receiving no reply, he continued with a disapproving frown, "You were knocked out cold from fatigue last night, for god's sake. If something were to happen to you, you wouldn't even notice. Not that I mind protecting you. It’s what I've always wanted to do, but is this what you want?"

"Did something happen?" Vanora asked as she slowly got up. Vlad continued sitting on the floor as he looked up at her. 

"No. Raven came back, so I left.” He easily lied through his teeth. “But you wouldn't wake up no matter how roughly I shook you." He said flatly. Not wanting to hurt her pride, he hid the truth from her. "Still not going to fess up?"

Vanora knew that was no good. That was precisely why she tried not to fall asleep. However, she knew that confiding in him would be of no use. She could not explain BaoBao's existence and she could not bring herself to rely on someone else. /Then again, haven't I unconsciously relied on BaoBao's powers?/ She mocked herself.

Seeing that she continued to stay silent, Vlad sighed and stood up. He could not help but feel a little disappointed. No matter what the reason was, was it really worth it, at this point, to be so adamantly self-reliant, when it put her at this much risk? 

Vlad headed out, then stopped just before the curtain. He spoke softly without turning back, "Vanora. I don't know what you're thinking. I don't understand why you're being like that. But I just want to remind you that even the strongest can need help from time to time and there's nothing wrong with that. You know where to find me if you need me."

What Vlad said jolted her memory of her time in the second world. Stephan had warned her that even three abilities users would need help surviving. /Remind me? Aren't I already relying on him plenty? Why would I need a reminder? I don't get it./

When the silence dragged out after her thought, she was painfully reminded of how she was still alone in this world. Suddenly, Vlad's gentle voice echoed in her mind. /I'm here./

It pulled her out of her downward spiraling thoughts and back to reality. She clenched her fist, then gingerly made her way to the curtain. She lifted it up, took a step out, then stood there with her head down. 

Vlad looked up from his paperwork when he noticed that she was just standing there. He put down the paper and quill in his hands then walked to her with an apologetic smile. "Is something wrong?"

She bit her lower lip and peeked at him from beneath her lashes. She felt like she understood what he meant. /Can I tell him how I feel? Can he really share my burden?/

Vlad took in the sight of how adorable she looked at the moment and his heart went soft for her again. "You don't have to push yourself. Take things at your pace. I'll always be here to back you up like I promised." He ruffled her hair. 

"I... I feel..." Vanora whispered while avoiding eye contact. She never knew that it was this tough to be frank with how she felt. She had never even been this frank with her family before, because she never wanted to burden them further with her inferior feelings. 

"I- I- I'm really..." She wrung her fingers as she tried to find the words to express how she felt.

Vlad patiently waited in front of her with a gentle smile on his face.

She ended up shutting her eyes tight and letting her mouth run off. "I can't trust Rosa! She's fishy!" In the end, what slipped out of her mouth was not her feelings, but only what she thought at the moment. Her face blushed bright red and her face winced in embarrassment. 

Vlad sighed inwardly and smiled helplessly. /I guess that's not what she truly wanted to say./

He ruffled her hair once more while replying, "Easy, then we won't be with her anymore."

Her eyes opened wide in surprise. /If I disappear to a place where Rosa and Angela can't find me, wouldn't all my issues be solved? I'm pretty sure Vlad should have a place like that, where I can hide from everyone./

Hope began to fill her eyes as she looked at him. /Has it always been this easy? No wonder BaoBao made such a huge deal about relying on the second male lead./

Suddenly, reality caught up to her and she began wondering how their disappearance could impact the story. /Relying on him still leaves a bad taste in my mouth though. I should just ask him to recommend a safe place for me, then live on my own. Would this be considered deviating from the plot? It should be fine as long as the general events still proceed as they should./

She peeked at Vlad again, then sighed audibly. /He probably won't let me live alone though. So, he'd disappear with me like what happened in the first 2 months. What should I do now? Is the second male lead disappearing a really bad thing? Can someone else die in his stead and make Angela promote to become an angel in the high heavens? Ugh... If only BaoBao was here to provide the answers.../

Everything she felt was reflected on her face, so Vlad got increasingly confused. One moment she looked at him like he was her saviour, then she looked as if she encountered another difficulty, and now she was down in the dumps again.

"Forget it. Just proceed on as we usually do..." Vanora said dispiritedly. She decided to play it safe.

Vlad raised an eyebrow. /I’m really curious as to what goes on in that little brain of hers./

"I'll gather another army in no time. I'm tired of the current one anyway." Vlad may not know what changed her mind, but he was not going to forget what she did say after so much difficulty. He summoned a crow that was the size of Vanora's torso. Its glowing red pupil-less eyes seemed to burn a hole through her soul. Vlad fed it a letter and ordered it to deliver it to Raven. It was to inform Raven of what happened and his decision to create a new army.

True to his word, he put together a completely new army in just a few days. He gathered stragglers again, but this time he also recruited some stronger ones who were still residing in hell. Those hell beings wanted no part in the war for various no good reasons, but Vlad gave them no choice. Although his current army was a little smaller, its power was no less than the previous one, in fact it may even be better.

On the night of their first war with the new army, some female hell beings approached Vanora. They tried to chat her up, but quickly realised that Vanora was not reciprocating at all, so they got straight to their main point. They wanted Vanora to go in their stead and ask Vlad for permission to chill at a pub or bar for the night.

"You know what Raven's like. It's impossible to approach her."

"We don’t even need to try. It's a definite no from her."

"But it's different with you, my Lady. We've seen how Lord Vlad caters to your every need. All you need to do is to put in a word for us. When he agrees, that cold bitch won't be able to disagree."

"Tch. How can you make our Lady do something for us like that? My Lady, forget what she said, please come with us."

"Ah yeah, my bad. Come with us and pamper yourself!"

They all looked at her with hopeful eyes. Just as Vanora wanted to decline the invitation and deny the status that they had assigned her with, Vlad stepped in. Although they were whispering, Vlad eavesdropped on their discussion without a care for privacy.

"You don't want to go, do you?" Vlad asked Vanora. 

Vanora shook her head. "Also, I'm not your-"

"The rest of you go. Be back by dawn." Vlad interrupted Vanora. He especially liked it that they took her as his woman. Why would he give her a chance to clarify it? "As for you,” Vlad turned his attention back on Vanora. “What do you think of visiting the hot spring again? It has been some time, hasn't it?"

Vlad successfully derailed her train of thought. Vanora did find the idea inviting. Her body felt tense and sore because she could not bring herself to relax since the day BaoBao went missing. 

Her expression and tone turned meek and she nodded. "Mm."

After the bath, Vanora was noticeably refreshed and relaxed. Since she had the habit of pushing herself beyond her limits, Vlad found this good for her body and mind, so he decided to have an artificial hot spring constructed in his castle as well. In the meantime, he had to find a way to bring her to the inn every now and then. 

At the sudden realisation of the extent he was going for Vanora, he silently laughed at himself. /THE Lord Vlad is actually behaving so carefully around a woman, instead of doing whatever I want with her... I wonder how people would react to this if they found out./