Chapter 83: Chapter 83

DAHLIA:

“W-What are you doing here?”

I spun around with a wet towel in my hand. I was about to give a sponge bath to a child when a hand suddenly landed on my left arm.

Surprise of all surprises: it was none other than Lady Livia Jeteris.

“Hello… I thought I might see you here,” she said. There was an air of happiness in her voice when she saw me. It was probably just me who had resented seeing her.

I didn’t respond to her and went back to what I was doing. I squeezed the water out of the towel and patted it on top of the head of the little vampire girl I was tending.

Vampires typically had lower bother temperatures, but she was burning up with fever from a werewolf’s bite. I didn’t know vampires could also be affected by werewolves in such a manner…

“It was probably because the rogues were using blessed relics… That could be the only explanation for her fever.”

I looked at Lady Livia once more. Somehow, it seemed like she did know what she was talking about.

“What kind of blessed relics did they use?”

“Arrows, probably, and based on the wounds, maybe holy fangs.”

I looked back incredulously at Lady Livia, and she seemed to have understood what was on my mind.

Blessed relics – weapons that were offered to the temple and had undergone the purification process, were indestructible and work against many other clans. They are resistant towards any kinds of magic, even those wielded by fairies and were therefore only used in major battles.

When the Shadow Rune Pack made an alliance with the vampire clans’ strongest kingdom, the Apricus Kingdom, the use of blessed relics had been ceased.

Therefore, if these wounds were really inflicted using blessed relics, it must mean that someone high up in the Talandor Kingdom must really be helping rogues…

The only other person who may have the capacity to use these relics was Count Claude Jeteris. Was it possible that Count Jeteris wasn’t as innocent as Kaist and I had thought initially?...

I began to tend to the other sick vampires, observing the nature of their wounds, and it really did seem that they were all wounded using blessed relics.

“Countess Abell, do you have time to spare for me,” Lady Jeteris said after I finished tending the fifteenth and final victim for the day.

“Alright,” I remarked wryly.

She led me into a tree overlooking a lake where most of the horses were tied.

“I wanted to know how you’ve been,” the lady asked in a friendly manner – very different from how she had treated me before.

“Busy,” I said. “I didn’t know there could be so many places to volunteer. If I had known about this, I would have pleaded to my father to send me to the university sooner.”

Lady Livia looked at me with intense eyes, which was uncharacteristic of how cold she usually was.

“I’ve heard you left the villa. You’re staying at the university dorm now, right?”

I almost forgot that she had firsthand knowledge of what I do from my husband… If they weren’t in that kind of relationship, I would have liked Lady Livia to remain as my friend…

“Lady Jeteris, I’m sure you’ve heard it from Tristan. I have no intentions of going against your relationship with him, but do leave me out of the drama. I’m not cut for it after all…”

“Then, you and Count Abell… Is there no way you two could make up?”

“Since the two of you were close enough to share secrets, then you must know the answer to that question already,” I said dryly.

I wasn’t in the mood to talk about Tristan and more so to talk about my relationship with someone who had also played a part to wreck it.

“Lady Dahlia, I think you have misunderstood something between me and your husband,” she began to say.

“Did I? Did I misunderstand then that the two of you held secrets from me?... I’m not even talking about the reason he had approached me. I’m talking about your secret relationship. Was I a fool to think that based on what I’ve personally seen and heard?”

Lady Jeteris looked flustered. “Countess… No, Lady Dahlia, please listen,” she held my right hand into her palms. “I know you’ve discovered the truth about Count Abell’s identity, and I won’t deny it. I knew it from the start… It’s not what you think though...”

I shook her hands away from me.

“What should I think then? I saw you and my husband on his study, and he gave you a necklace. You also told him you didn’t like me, and he should discard me. Did I still think wrong, Lady Livia? Wasn’t this the ending you hoped for?”

I started to walk away from her. Of all the things I hated, it was having this dramatic encounter with my husband’s supposed lover.

“You’re right. This was what I wanted in the beginning… I didn’t want you for him. I think being with you will only ruin him, but you are mistaken about our relationship!”

“I don’t care what the two of you are, Lady Livia… I only care about what I see, and obviously, you are very important to him… More important than I could ever be.”

I walked faster this time. If I start to cry now, I may not be able to stop until the whole afternoon.

“Lady Dahlia, for the Goddess’ sake the two of us are not lovers! He is my brother!”

My heart skipped a beat… Did I hear her wrong?...

I turned around sharply, and as soon as I did, I saw Livia’s crying form coming over to hug me.

“Lady Dahlia, he is my brother… My real brother… I too am a Shadow wolf,” she said in a very low whisper although she had started to tear up immensely.

“Please don’t leave my brother… He couldn’t say it himself, but his heart has been in pain ever since you’ve left. I was wrong to have wished you away… I’m sorry!”

I pulled away from Lady Livia’s embrace and saw the anguished look in her face.

“You and Tristan?…”

“We are blood relatives, yes… And we are the last of our kind,” she said wailing more openly now.

“It’s true he approached you initially for revenge. I hated you too, at the beginning, but you are someone warm and kind… You made it too damn hard for me to hate you!”

I stared to Lady Livia’s face… If I looked at it closely, there really was some resemblance in the shape of their eyes. The way she whimpered right now was also the same as to how Tristan looked like on the day I left him in the study…

“Why did you leave him without hearing his explanation? I know my brother’s a dummy when it comes to words, but how can you leave just like that?”

If people would see how she clung to me and cried just now, they would think that she was the one I had dumped as my lover…

“Please give him a chance! I hate to see him like that, and I could not stand seeing him like so in the future too,” Lady Livia continued to say in between her tears.

Before I could even respond to what she was saying, we heard a series of growls and shouts nearby.

“Rogue attack! The village is having a rogue attack!”