After the emergency meeting of the Everwinter House, my grandmother led me straight to her abode, wasting no time with pleasantries or haggling with the aftermath of the Winter Hunt. In her opinion, the ancient Vampire had long washed her hands clean from the administrative duties that plagued every clan leader.

In addition, I believe that there was a more pressing matter to address.

“Are you hurt?”

“N-No, honoured grandmother. Thank you for asking.”

My body stiffened up as I stopped myself from shaking in my seat. Although this ancient woman has said that she wouldn’t blame Brother, who really knows what her thoughts were? The other Elders were insulted that Brother had destroyed the Ice Dome, the source of their pride and joy. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if my grandmother wanted to punish Brother as well.

If it comes to that… I’ll fight her!!! I’ll fight her until my last breath!!!

“That’s good,” my grandmother chuckled and moved her legs to a more comfortable position. Seriously, she’s over five thousand years old; can’t she show some class?

“There’s a limit to how much I can protect you. Although I have placed Variel by your side, you’re still too young to fight against the other factions, particularly Damien’s. They are young and out for glory; naturally, there would be some hotheads who would come after you.”

“… I will keep that in mind.”

Did she bring me here to give me another lecture? Tch, why are you acting like a grandmother? Oh wait, she was my grandmother… Ahhh, I just want to leave and check on my precious, precious Brother! He must be so lonely, sleeping after complete magic exhaustion! I should be there to feed him and help him recover, not sit here stupidly and listen to some bullshit lecture!

“I wonder how much you have actually heard…”

The ancient woman in front of me smiled as if she could read my thoughts once again. Seriously, is this bitch a mind-reader? She has to be, right?

“Alright, let’s skip all of the boring stuff and get straight to what you want to talk about. That boy toy…”

“B-Brother… Is not a boy toy!”

“You did well to pick up such an interesting boy toy.”

I don’t think my rebuttal was even registered by this stupid grandmother! Did she have hearing and comprehension problems? Has her age finally caught up to her? Should I give her some hearing aids? Maybe a slap to her ears will help?

Before I could execute my filial plan, the Matriarch’s voice sounded out once again: “Hmmm, but I guess he does have some skill. To be able to destroy the Ice Dome is no mean feat.”-. ????n????????ea????. ????????????

“… Thank you?”

“Haha, why thank me? I’m just stating the facts!” The ancient hag laughed once more and continued: “Ability to control space! That’s a rare ability, even among Vampires! If he trains well enough, he might evolve from a boy toy to a legitimate option of consort. Irina, you sure have a good eye for talent!”

“…”

I’m not going to answer that. Brother was my Brother. I won’t let him serve the Everwinter House, even if it was from a position of a consort. Though, I wouldn’t mind if he performed consort duties to serve me… N-no, no, no! What am I thinking?!

“Ah, wasn’t he the one who said that he would become the strongest being in the world? Haha, what a childish dream…”

“Brother will achieve it.”

“What was that?”

I knew that the Matriarch had heard me. She was just taken aback that I dared to talk back to her. Usually, I would have just kept silent and allow her degrading remarks to pass. But this was my Brother she was talking about. When Brother sets his mind on something, he will accomplish it even if it means breaking every fibre of his bones.

If Brother wanted to become the strongest being in the world, he would undoubtedly achieve it.

“Brother will become the strongest being in the world. I trust in him.”

“…”

My grandmother was stunned speechless for a few seconds. However, after a brief moment of silence, the ancient Vampire broke into laughter.

“HAHAHA!!! What a riot! To think that my precious granddaughter had fallen this deeply in love! She even dared to talk back to me! HAHAHA, in a sense, he’s already achieved that dream.”

It took a while for my grandmother to contain her laughter. Rather than fight her, all I did was sit there silently in defiance. Even if the whole world would laugh at my Brother, I would never. He has proven to me many times in the past that he was a man of that calibre. And evidently, my silence didn’t go unnoticed.

“Wow… You really have this much trust in that boy toy. It really makes me want to change my assessment of him.”

“Honoured grandmother…”

“No, there’s no need to explain any further.” The beautiful woman sat back on her chair, and her eyes reached for the ceiling. “I wonder… What kind of future lies ahead in front of that youth.”

T-This! This was the first time my grandmother hadn’t demeaned Brother! All those times, she would either call him a boy toy or a comedian. But now, she had finally acknowledged his existence! Well, not that it mattered to me, but my grandmother rarely praised anyone.

I knew it! Even if the whole world laughs at my Brother, a jade is still a jade. Eventually, my Brother will prove his worth to the world and will one day stand at the apex of our society!

But before he could do that…

“G-Grandmother. About my Brother…”

“Hmmm? What is it?”

“Is he healthy enough… To return my soul now?”

My grandmother looked stunned for a moment before a playful smile crept up her face. T-that was an important question, okay?! I just didn’t want to prolong his suffering! Since Brother wished to reach his maximum potential, shouldn’t he return my soul first? Y-yeah, I have no ulterior motives at all!

“Wow, so you guys haven’t done the deed? I wonder who has the better restraint? My thirsty granddaughter or the eunuch that hasn’t made a move on her.”

“B-But! Y-you said that it was too early! That it might hurt his soul!”

“Yeah, I did say that, and I didn’t think you could endure for that long. You were smitten for him, after all.”

I-I wasn’t smitten! I mean, I would always stare when Brother wiped his sweat off his face during training. Or watch him secretly when he showered. And even… played with him when he was asleep. But I wasn’t smitten!!!

“It should be fine.”

“H-Huh?”

“It should be fine,” my grandmother repeated the words I wanted to hear. “In all honesty, he could have returned your soul the moment he awakened his Aspect. After all, no Vampire could have awakened their Aspects if their souls were unstable.”

That was two weeks ago!!! Do you mean I could have sealed the deal long ago?! This stupid bitch! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!

“Hah… Look at you. Seriously, how on earth did he charm you? Is he truly not an Incubus?”

“Brother isn’t a sex demon.”

“HAHA!!! All men are sex demons, my stupid child.” My grandmother decided to give me an impromptu sex talk. Please, you didn’t care about my well-being for twenty-three years. Do you really think that you’re in the position to lecture me now?

“But let me tell you a secret, Irina…” The Matriarch’s face rose into a disgusting smile as she whispered into my ears. “Women can be sex demons too.”

“!!!”

My face instantly turned red as I thought of all the impure fantasies I had in the past. As if reading my thoughts, the ancient hag broke into a peal of loud laughter before finally letting me go:

“HAHA!!! Alright, go back my perverted little granddaughter! It’s your first time, so make sure to take your time! It might be painful in the beginning, but I’m sure that you’ll come to love it soon.”

“… Thank you for your advice, honoured grandmother.”

Tch! I didn’t even bother to retort this time. If we continued bickering, god knows how much longer I would have to stay here. I would much rather spend that time with my Brother.

Especially since there’s something else we can do now…

??

“There she goes…”

I watched as my granddaughter happily skipped out of my abode and ran back to her home. Goodness, does she know how many Presidents, Emperors and Chairmans would love to spend just one second in my presence? This stupid girl actually treated me like a pest and couldn’t wait to get back to her beloved.

Just which ungrateful bastard did she take after?

“Yes, the Young Miss is worried about Master Jin.”

“Master Jin?” I leaned back and looked at the only other person in the room. “Variel, since when did you add an honorific when talking about that boy?”

“My liege, surely you must understand, right?” My former butler bowed politely and said confidently: “I don’t want to offend a future powerhouse. It’s best to treat him with respect when he’s weak now and raise some goodwill with him.”

“A future powerhouse, huh?”

“Do you not feel that way?”

“No, not at all.”

I had eyes. I saw how that mere brat who knew nothing of the Vampire world grew to overwhelm my House’s elites with just a month of training. No matter what kind of impression I had of him in the beginning, I wasn’t stubborn enough to call him a weakling anymore. Although, I would say he was still a fledgling. But he was perhaps the first True Vampire in a long time to have this much potential.

“Variel, you were the one who trained him. How high do you think his ceiling might be?”

“With all due respect, my liege… I believe that he will one day reach your level.”

I was shocked by the honest comment. Variel wasn’t one to praise his students, and since he was trained by me, he knew how high my standard was. For him to say that this boy could one day challenge me…

“Unlike most True Vampires, Master Jin actually trains, and he trains hard. Having talent is one thing, but having the will to sharpen that talent is rare, especially amongst us immortal Vampires.”

That was a common problem that we Vampires had. Since we were born as apex predators and had immortal bodies, very few trained as hard as humans. It took me forever to create a system in the Everwinter House to incentivise our troops to train, but even then, we still have lazy people who don’t hone their blessed gifts.

“Master Jin’s raw talent is perhaps the best that I’ve seen. He learns things extremely quickly, sometimes after one demonstration. He’s also extremely knowledgeable, so he absorbs new information like a computer and churns it out into something that is useful to him. Eventually, I wasn’t teaching him anything as he’d come up with more efficient training programs himself. Not to mention, his Aspect is powerful.”

Variel lauded sentence after sentence of praise to the youth who he’d only trained for a month.

“God knows how powerful his Aspect will become once he’s unlocked all of his rings.”

“Unlock his rings?”

“Ah, I’ve yet to report! About this, Master Jin actually proposed to the Young Miss…”

Variel explained the boy’s plan to travel the world, in particular, to meet with the other girls to return their souls. However, something about the fact that he wished to grow outside the Everwinter House struck a chord with me.

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”

“What do you mean, my liege?”

“Sending Irina out on a journey with that boy.”

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. There was recently an attack on Irina, not in the dangerous human world and neither by the Outer Demons that came through Gates. Irina was attacked right on my home turf, the Everwinter Estate.

Right now, the situation with the factions has become highly volatile. Although I had punished Damien, there’s no saying that he wouldn’t plot his revenge. And he wasn’t the only one. To the established members of the Everwinter House, Irina’s existence was a thorn in their flesh. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that if I appointed her as the next leader, there would be a rebellion plot brewing the next day.

I can’t allow that to happen to my long-awaited heir. Besides, Irina’s growth in the house has been stagnating. The boy was right; no one could really grow within the safety of their parents’ home. If Irina wanted to take the next step, she had to venture out independently.

“Shouldn’t you keep Master Jin in the Everwinter House? If we can make him pledge allegiance to our House…”

“That’s a tempting idea, but ultimately the boy is right.”

Growth couldn’t be achieved by secluded training alone. One had to experience the world for themselves, fight their way through predicaments, and fight Outer Demons and other foes that seriously wish to harm them. If they wanted to reach the apex, they couldn’t just live in the Everwinter House for the rest of their lives.

“Besides, Irina will be by his side, no? If he truly does become a powerhouse in the future, we can exploit their relationship to form a favourable alliance.”

“You are wise, my liege…”

Variel finally accepted my words as he bowed down in reverence. With his duty done, Variel disappeared once more, most likely to assist Irina once more.

“The most powerful being in the world, huh?”

A fool once said the exact same thing to me. At first, I didn’t believe him, and I brushed him off like a maniac who had a big mouth. But that man never once doubted his belief. He stuck to his word, and with a mixture of genius and hard work, he truly became the man who had once stood at the apex of the world.

Maybe… I’m witnessing history rewrite itself.

“Isn’t that right, Dracula?”