Chapter 155: Overthrowing Valentina?

“What is your goal in all of this?”

The moment the question left Lucian’s mouth, his eyes glowed faintly.

Silas’s eyes grew dull, losing their focus, while his pupils flickered crimson—a shade eerily similar to Lucian’s own.

His lips parted slightly, and after another second of silence, he finally spoke.

“To take over the Duchy.”

He said in a flat monotone voice.

The answer echoed through the massive hall, and instantly, everything went silent.

Vivienne’s eyes narrowed sharply, glowing with killing intent.

Inwardly, she was once again shocked by the use of Charm—something that didn’t, or at least shouldn’t work on vampires.

But remembering how she herself had been charmed by Lucian, she let that thought slide for now.

Meanwhile, Valentina didn’t seem nearly as surprised by the revelation, as she had already noticed Lucian reacting strangely to the man’s presence.

And by now, she knew almost all of his abilities, absurd as they were.

So simply watching his reactions had been enough for her to realize that something was going on inside his head.

Vivienne, however, was having a much harder time remaining calm.

Right now, she wanted nothing more than to grab the nobleman and burn him to ash.

But she couldn’t.

Her mother’s intent was still pressing down on her, holding her in place and keeping her locked in her seat.

“Take over the Duchy?” Lucian repeated in a genuinely incredulous tone.

His eyes briefly flickered toward Valentina, who sat on the couch beside him, her expression unreadable.

She didn’t say a word, as if she wanted to see what he was doing.

Then Lucian looked back toward Silas.

“You mean Valentina’s position?” he asked again, as if wanting to make absolutely sure he was telling the truth.

The crimson glow in his eyes intensified.

“Yes.”

Silas nodded immediately.

“What kind of stupid dream are you people even harboring?”

Vivienne snapped beside him, her tone filled with anger, as though the very idea sounded absurd to her—which, admittedly, Lucian agreed with.

Take over the Scarlett Duchy?

The one ruled by this sadistic monster?

Even thinking about it was pure ridiculous.

But of course, Silas didn’t react in the slightest to her words.

His gaze remained dull, his expression blank, still trapped under the influence of Lucian’s Charm ability.

Lucian leaned forward slightly.

“How exactly were you planning to accomplish this amazing goal of yours?”

His tone dripped with sarcasm.

“As soon as Lady Vivienne enters the designated location under the pretense of rescuing Lady Seren… we will ambush her.”

The temperature around Vivienne rose even higher, almost making Lucian feel annoyed by the human-shaped heater beside him.

Silas continued speaking.

“And after capturing her, we will infect her with the newly developed infection discovered by the Church…”

For the first time, Valentina’s eyes narrowed at the mention of the word infection.

“…which will prevent the Duchess from completely destroying us, for fear of her daughter’s safety.”

“The Church?”

Both Lucian and Vivienne frowned.

“Why would those fuckers work with you anyway?” the young redhead muttered in confusion.

It was common knowledge that the Church rarely ever cooperated with vampires—no, even that wasn’t quite right.

The Church despised vampires to their very core because of the massacres committed by certain vampires in the past and their need for blood, which had led them to slaughter humans like livestock.

And the feeling was mutual.

Vampires despised the Church just as much, especially because of their holy affinities and their holy artifacts.

Silas remained silent, as if he himself didn’t know the answer.

But then—

For the first time since Lucian had used Charm on Silas, Valentina finally spoke.

“They don’t care about anything as long as their goals are achieved.”

Her eyes carried a similar—if not even more dangerous—glint than Vivienne’s after hearing about them harming her daughter, yet she didn’t lash out immediately.

Both Lucian and Vivienne turned toward her, slightly confused.

“Humans… vampires, werewolves, witches… they only care about themselves and their own selfish desires,” Valentina said in an almost bored voice, as though she had long since grown accustomed to such things.

And she wasn’t any different either.

She only cared about her family, and if she had to burn her own Duchy for that, then she would… without a second thought.

Lucian’s eyes lit up faintly as he heard the names of the other races, but now wasn’t the time to think about that.

Slowly, he turned toward Silas, who was still sitting before them, completely motionless.

But before he could even ask anything, Vivienne spoke before him.

“Just tell us how you were planning to do it… and what exactly is this infection you’re talking about?”

“…”

But Silas didn’t even glance at her, keeping his gaze fixed solely on Lucian, which only made Vivienne even angrier.

A vein popped visibly over her forehead.

She was practically seething by now, and not wanting the poor guy to get burned by her hands, Lucian spoke up.

“Answer her.”

As soon as those words reached his ears, Silas immediately obeyed, revealing everything he knew in a monotone voice.

Vivienne was even more annoyed by the fact that the man was answering a newborn rather than listening to her.

Especially when she possessed the power to erase both men with her flames alone.

But for now, she forced herself to remain silent and instead focused on the noble vampire’s words.

And as they listened to more of his explanation, both Lucian’s and Vivienne’s expressions gradually darkened.

The infection he was talking about wasn’t just a normal poison, but something created to corrupt a vampire’s body, causing mutations that couldn’t be regenerated or healed by any means.

And the only ones who possessed the cure were the members of the Church themselves.

Silas didn’t know how they had created something like that, nor did he know where it had originated from.

And after hearing a bit more about the plan, it became clear…

Silas was nothing more than a disposable pawn who didn’t even know the full details.

“Who would know more than you about this… sloppy idea of yours?” Lucian asked, still thinking the plan was rather stupid.

Because it felt like far too many pieces were missing.

“My mother.”

Hearing Silas’s answer, Vivienne’s eyes narrowed as she shifted slightly, the pressure from Valentina no longer restraining her or keeping her locked in place.

Yet despite that, she didn’t immediately attack the man, since he was already under Lucian’s control.

Silence briefly settled over the hall as both Lucian and Vivienne processed everything they had heard.

Then suddenly—

“Why didn’t you account for Valentina’s arrival?” Lucian finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask this entire time.

Because no matter what kind of poison it was, they would at least need to stay alive long enough to use it.

And if the Duchess herself showed up, none of that would matter.

There was no way they would survive long enough to even realize what had killed them.

And that was the part that had been bothering him for quite a while now.

“The Duchess rarely ever visits the human world, so we were certain she would most likely send her daughter or one of her armies,” Silas answered mechanically.

Lucian’s brows furrowed.

Slowly, he turned his head toward Valentina.

“Why is that? Why don’t you visit Earth?”

Valentina lazily raised an eyebrow.

For a second, she simply stared at him, then answered casually.

“I don’t like going to that weak world very often.”

Lucian’s eyes twitched.

“You were just being lazy, weren’t you?”

“I’m not lazy.”

“Then what…? It’s not like the barrier ever hindered you, right?”

“Tch.”

Valentina slightly turned her head away, not bothering to answer.

And hearing Lucian’s words, along with her mother’s reaction, Vivienne froze completely.

Not because of the disrespect, but because…

She had always believed her mother avoided the human world because she hated the weakness imposed by the barrier surrounding the planet.

The same barrier that weakened supernatural races.

The same barrier that had stopped the dungeon outbreaks and sealed away most of humanity’s potential.

Yet now, Lucian was casually claiming that the barrier had never affected Valentina in the first place?

And when Vivienne turned toward her mother, Valentina merely clicked her tongue, not even getting angry at the disrespect in his tone.

More importantly…

She didn’t deny it.

‘A newborn… a fucking newborn knows more about my mother than I do?’

The realisation irritated her far more than she wanted to admit.

Her fists clenched tightly around the armrests of the couch, her fingers easily tearing through the fabric.

Meanwhile, Lucian completely ignored the heat radiating from the furious vampire beside him and spoke again.

“So… what are you going to do now?”

Yes, that was what he was most interested in knowing.

“What else? Destroy the Marquess family,” Valentina answered casually.

Lucian didn’t react to those words. He had no particular concern for their deaths, despite the fact that hundreds of vampires would probably die because of it.

“But…”

Before he could continue—

“We can’t exactly let those conspirators live either, right?” Valentina finished for him.

Their eyes met, and then both of them chuckled softly.

Which only left Vivienne even more baffled.

What the fuck had happened during those two months?

The two of them were talking as though they had been friends for years, and it was weirding her out so much that she felt like her mind was about to explode.

Lucian slightly leaned back.

“Anyways, I want to be there too,” he said, making Valentina tilt her head slightly.

“Why?” she asked, though she already knew his answer.

Lucian’s lips curled into an excited smile.

“To find out how strong I’ve become.

They must be strong, right?”

His smile widened even further, and seeing it, Valentina found herself smiling as well.