Seyton Mort. Blonde hair and blue eyes, he looked just like a fairy-tale prince on a white horse. He had the typical good looks of a Vampire and handsome features. He was smiling gently and charmingly, looking as if he would whisk you away at any time. He looked like the type of prince that girls dreamed of when they were young.
As she stared at the portrait, Nine could only think that his expression in the painting looked fabricated in all ways.
The painter did a passable job, but whoever they were, they hadn't captured the main essence of the Duke. It felt artificial and beautified. The painting was missing the most important part of the Duke's personality, which probably made him seem like an entire different person in the painting. It was a wonder that he had hung it up on his wall.
'No wait,' she thought, scrutinising the painting once more. The flash of realisation satisfied her curiosity and she promptly lost all her previous interest. So it was like that. How banal it was. It seemed like Vampires and humans weren't so different in this aspect.
Having completely lost all interest, she continued down the dimly lit hallway. It was strange that all these Vampires seemed to prefer dimly lit places, considering their love for beauty and vanity. You'd think they'd overcome their instinctual fear of the light, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
Nine just couldn't understand. High ranking Vampires should have already overcome their racial weakness, so why weren't they working on it to better themselves? Maybe it was because Vampires had such long lifespans that they basically ended up sleeping their time away, so it didn't matter to them whether they had such a weakness or not.
The entirety of the mansion was deserted, and the little protection that was inside made her wonder if she was really in the same mansion or not. The disparity between the defences of the outside and inside caused her mind wonder. Somehow, she felt like it wasn't that Seyton was exhibiting signs of carelessness, but because of something else.
She felt like she vaguely knew what it was, but it wasn't any of her business, so she would keep her mouth shut.
For such a large mansion, there were an alarming amount of unused rooms. They were all unlocked without any alarms on them. It was almost as if he wanted someone to find him. Soon enough, she found signs that the mansion wasn't as unused as she thought.
There were a couple of rooms that were being used. It was just that the owners of said rooms weren't around. They did a good job at faking that the rooms weren't used, but there were little signs here and there that showed otherwise.
Her lips curled into a smile. Interesting.
Nine's eyes lit up with excitement at the thought of a new game as various thoughts rampaged in her mind before she unwillingly stamped them out. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to play around and toy with them. She was currently a little short on time, with how she still had to find a royal and abduct him and his toys. But she would come back and play with them to her heart's content before leaving next time.
Having explored finish the vast number of rooms in the mansion, she finally used her Magic Sight to guide her to the place where the most magic was being emitted. In the left wing of the mansion, she finally reached the main room of Duke Seyton.
Nine casually entered the room without much fanfare. The room was grandly decorated, but had little in the way of personal effects, which was a surprise to her. Could you really call a Vampire without various glittering personal effects a Vampire at all? He was breaking all the Vampire stereotypes. Then again, his entire house was black, after all. Perhaps he just didn't adhere to the typical Vampire aesthetics?
The Vampire houses she had broken into earlier when she first entered the city were filled with sparkly little toys and whether useful or not, they all looked aesthetically pleasing. It came as a great surprise that a Duke from the Vampire race had no such items.
She still hadn't spotted the owners of the other rooms, but she could feel the presence of the Duke inside this room even without her Magic Sight. The magic was condensed in this area around the room, leaking out from the finely crafted coffin in the middle of the room.
The silent coffin was leaking vast amounts of magic. If it had to be described, it was something akin to a sleeping tiger. It still had the majesty and looks, but it was harmless for the most part since it was asleep.
Nine casually flicked a finger, causing the lid of the coffin to crash heavily to the floor with a loud bang.
Inside the coffin held a slumbering Seyton Mort. His blonde hair was spread out around his head like a halo. Surprisingly, he was still sleeping after she had made that much noise. What was he doing?
Nine raised a brow, wondering if the Vampire sleeping inside the coffin had lost all of his battled-honed senses, or if he had them at all in the first place. Even a normal human without any experience would have jumped up in shock at the rude awakening, but Seyton was still sleeping without a care. Nine even briefly wondered if Vampires could be put into eternal sleep like Deltan would be. Seyton's visage had a tinge of sadness, capable of inspiring heartache from others, giving them the urge to protect him, but not Nine.
Completely unlike others, Nine's eyes lit up with happiness. She didn't care that he looked like he was grieving even in his sleep. Since she was presented with a rare chance like this, she would take advantage of him. Leaning in close, her hands reached into the coffin.