Prince Rigel Delune. Jia Hyson, who was fairly used to being summoned to help out the staff in vampire related matters, suddenly felt a little at a loss on what to do. After all this was the royal heir of the Eclipse Coven.
Jia Hyson can smile and be cordial to any royal member of a coven, but the prince of the Eclipse Coven was definitely one of the few that he, as a Golden Rose Coven member, could not handle casually. After all, they were mutual enemies that stood constantly on opposing sides.
The Eclipse Coven could be said to hold many counteracting ideals to the Golden Coven and many other covens, and was the head of the radical of vampires who believed that not only should vampires be able to walk free, rule the world, and support blood slavery among other things. That typical evil non-human organisation stuff most fantasy stories had really.
It was only because the Eclipse Coven vampires gave birth to very powerful individuals and offered various assassination, mercenary and even detective type jobs with little to no questions that they could still maintain a strong position in the vampire community. It was only the Golden Rose Coven who did not touch their services due to an ancient hatred that had now become a very hostile rivalry.
The story goes that the Golden Rose Coven was named after a love story about golden roses. The two founders of the coven were two women who fell in love with each other. One woman was vain and rich noble, and the other one was a demure, poor who tended her garden. The pair were childhood friends who shared their hopes and dreams to each other and slowly fell into an ambiguous period that only became more clear as they grew up.
However the vain woman could not accept her own heart at first and wished to climb to the highest position of the vampires by marrying someone rich and powerful. The demure woman was heartbroken and spent days and nights cultivating a flower for her loved one, wanting to produce the most beautiful flower, for the most beautiful lady in her eyes. It would be her most desperate confession of love.
But the demure vampire had a rich cousin from her deceased father's aristocratic side. This cousin was not only one of the few friendly family members she had, he was also a suitor obsessed with the vain vampire's beauty. He was of high status, rich, had a strong power and was intelligent, unfortunately he was a little plain in appearance.
Unfortunately, for the vain vampire, this slight imperfection was enough to dismiss the man from her candidate list. However the rich cousin could not bear this rejection and wanted her all the more with a twisted mentality. Knowing that his unfavored cousin was close to the vain vampire he used this to his advantage to form a closer emotional connection.
What he didn't expect was to see his cousin produce a dazzling tulip, representing a perfect love.
The demure vampire was truly a genius and producing new breeds of flowers, and the result was a glowing white tulip. This in itself was only a little impressive but the main point was that it only turned this particularly color during the eclipse, with the rest of the time it is a striking black coloration. The moment the demure vampire's cousin saw it, he knew the vain vampire who loves the unique, rare and gorgeous would immediately be moved.
Excited the demure vampire wrote a love poem and slipped it into the potted tulip plant, ready to boldly confess.
The meaning behind the poem essentially was, the sun is so beautiful and dazzling but hidden by the moon, nobody would dare see it, but my love, I will never let you be hidden and will always let you shine brightly.
However the cousin who watched over like a mantis stalking the cicada, drugged his sister and forced her to sleep for a day. Because they were vampires, of course sleeping for a week or even a month, out of nowhere was not too hard to believe, albeit a little rude if they had already made prior appointments. A day was not too long to worry about.
Unfortunately it may not be very long, but it was enough to change everything. When his sister woke up she had found her love had been won over by her own brother, using both her words and her flowers.
Grief-stricken she ran away with a broken heart, not wanting to come between her crush and her brother.
Bebe: 'Damn, Bebe would have slapped the scum brother and kicked him in the crotch.'
Jia Hyson: 'What dumb bitch doesn't for a second think something was suspicious though. I would slap her first and then give evidence that it was my fucking plant in front of a crowd of people to ruin my shit cousin's reputation, then leave their asses.'
Bebe: 'Sounds a bit tame for you to be honest.'
Jia Hyson: 'The plan is to kill them later after they wallow in embarrassment and regret of their actions oh~' ╮(╯∀╰)╭
Bebe: 'Well… That's more like it.'
Later on the vain vampire heard about a place of great beauty. A garden full of the most lovely, precious and enchanting flowers.
Curious, she visits, and its the demure vampire who had spent the entire time putting her love into the vegetation around her. Seeing the demure vampire so passionate and in her element, the vain vampire who was now a rich but unhappy wife, realised the error of her ways and began her wife-chasing crematorium drama.
Finally the vain vampire divorced the rich cousin and entered true love with the demure vampire after many trials and misunderstandings were cleared up. The couple then started the Golden Rose Coven in the garden they had reunited in, and the demure vampire had proposed using a specially bred golden rose.
As for the rich cousin… he had completely blackened during the plot and done many things from provoking the relationship to blackmail, kidnapping and attempted murder among other things. In the end he was almost executed for his crimes and escaped, creating the Eclipse Coven with a group of like-minded people.
When Jia Hyson first heard the story, his first reaction was immediately: Oh, so it's basically a story of a scum woman and cheap lady*.
*Reference to scum gong and cheap shou genre again.
His second reaction was: Oh, so the Eclipse Coven is basically the conclusion of an NTR story of the scum cuckold.
Bebe: '…' There's nothing to refute there.
Jia Hyson had to say, the author god in this world really had some… tastes.
Anyway, whether the story was good or not, this was simply the history of this world. And the reality was, since the very start, the two covens have had a great enmity to each other.
Now that many years have passed and new generations have diluted the hatred but it was still far from good. In Jia Hyson's opinion it was partly because of the words of their predecessors passed down, partly because their ideological education was different, and partly due to an instinctive dislike brought by the world plot.
After all, the Eclipse Coven played the main antagonistic role in the majority of the entire plot. As the protagonist camp, the Golden Rose Coven, it would not be too hard to believe the world's consciousness produced a faint inexplicable sense of rejection for each other in order to maintain this antagonism for the plot.
In the first story the Eclipse Coven supported Prince Kieran's conspiracy against the male lead Prince Damien and their members were the main frontline fighters.
The second story is Jessica Fang's introduction to more vampire culture starting with St Lailah's Academy, and the Eclipse vampire students did not hold much of a role as the main antagonists in this volume were the bad hearts of humans, but they were presented as bullies, rebels and gangsters. The temperament was bad, violent and wanton, doing what they please and only being pleasing when they want.
While they weren't the main villains they served well as cannonfodder and a red herring, as well as hinting for a bigger conspiracy to come with their words and attitude. Prince Rigel Delune also made an appearance and had 'befriended' Jessica, making Prince Damien jealousy and causing a lot of tension in the background.
This ominous hinting from the second book then lead's the readers to one of the main plot lines of the third book, which is that the Eclipse Coven intends to revive an ancient vampire god and bring back the age of vampire supremacy. This plot was led by Prince Rigel and the ritual was a success at the cost of his life, unfortunately the recently revived vampire would not be at full strength and was eventually beaten back by Prince Silas and the protagonists. The great and evil Eclipse Coven then fell and scattered to nicely tie up the end of the volume.
After this, the Eclipse Coven more or less took a backseat and let a few other villainous characters enter for the last half of the series but there were many 'survivors' of the Eclipse Coven that would come back for the sake of revenge.
In all honestly, this 'reappearance of the survivors of the Eclipse Coven' plot ended up becoming more of a recurring theme, accurately representing the term of beating a dead horse quite well. Whether they were helping with pulling the strings, a supporting villain, a cannonfodder, or even just one of the mob fighters, there was at least one vampire that was an ex-Eclipse.
It really made one wonder how great the coven benefits must have been for these vampires to still hold on to their loyalism to the Eclipse Coven to the point they wished to take radical actions instead of moving on.
"-and that's why I believe you are the most suitable to help Prince Rigel don't you agree?"
Jia Hyson who was only half-listening as he desperately revised the Eclipse Coven related plot like a student who entered a class and realised they had a pop quiz about a subject they were taught three months ago and had little to no indication beforehand to prepare, immediately agrees when the question was asked. Then, just as quickly, he wished to slap himself.
Ah, ah, how come his instinctive reaction to a question was to agree with whatever was said?? He was so old, how come he has never learned from this?? Was he a fool??? Fuck!
The principal shows a relieved expression, "That's great, that's great, then if you don't mind, Prince Rigel will also move in with you to help him get accommodated faster."
Jia Hyson: ???????
Are you fucking with him? Of course he fucking minds!
As a noble vampire, a top student and the best friend of the crown prince of the Golden Rose Coven, his dorm was not only very large but he also had the privilege of living alone. His living situation was better than staying in some hotels and he had no intention of compromising this, especially since he also had his special hobby that needed to be indulged in.
If the enemy lives with him, forget crossdressing, Jia Hyson wouldn't even be able to let this persona down and relax in the privacy of his dorms.
No matter how familiar the persona was to him, he was not Alaric, and pretending to be someone else for so long was a mentally and emotionally draining task no matter how good you were at it. At the very least, he really couldn't do it.
Some people were born to be able to completely alter their own identity and change colours like a chameleon, but Jia Hyson could only be a very good liar at best. His sense of self was too strong, which in this case was truly quite the detriment to the situation.
Pretending he was not full of righteous indignation, Jia Hyson gives the principal a look full of apologetic reluctance, "I'm sorry, but this is a bit inappropriate. Prince Rigel is of higher standing than me and from a different coven, we are not familiar and I am afraid that I simply can't afford the offence if I do something rude."
A soft laugh, followed by a light but low voice responds before the principal could. "Do not worry," Prince Rigel stands from his seat and walks around to stand by where Jia Hyson was sitting, bending slightly to get a better look at him in an assessing manner. Despite his soft and pure appearance, Jia Hyson could feel that the gaze was quite chilling. "I am not such a delicate greenhouse flower. At least, I promise not to be so easily angered with my first roommate."
Jia Hyson: '…' No, the one who is about to be easily angered to death is clearly me.
In the end, Alaric was the type that respected authority and practically got off on being acknowledged as responsible enough to be given special tasks by those he respected. Since nobody in the room was objecting other than him, and he couldn't think of a good reason that wouldn't potentially offend the principal or the Eclipse Coven duo, Jia Hyson could only accept this new roommate with gritted teeth and a smile on his face.
"I hope you'll be satisfied with the accommodation Prince Rigel." He stands up and formally bows at him.
Prince Rigel stares at him, and Jia Hyson could fill the chill down his back once again. It was not like the extreme sensation of ice, which would make one jump and scream. Instead the gaze was more like the sharp coldness of the side of a blade lightly, almost curiously caressing the skin. It was cruel, yet with a genuine sense of innocence and interest. Like a child watching an insect struggle, gently pushing the beetle and watching with fascination as the exoskeleton slowly gives way under the pressure of the child's finger.
But even with the feeling of uneasy pressure building up, he doesn't lift his head or straighten up from his bow, keeping up the decorum like a good traditionalist vampire of lower status should do.
Jia Hyson, as a man capable of such a gaze himself, knew this prince was truly worthy of being one of the main villain characters of the story. If Rigel DeLune was anything like himself, then he was dangerous and should be treated with caution and whatever form of flattery works best.
In the plot there was not much to say about Rigel other than his initial personality when befriending Jessica Fang was fake, and underneath was something dark and twisted. However, as an important character of course some clues to his true self would be hinted it.
Unfortunately Jia Hyson didn't have the time right now to look into it in depth and analyse the other's characteristics. Silently, he asked Bebe to quickly check the story and filter out the most popular words in Rigel's dialogues and descriptions as he continued to bow.
Bebe also knew this was an unexpected and unfortunate consequence to their actions, and quickly obliged, keeping one eye on its' host as it quickly compiles a list of what was asked. It even categorised the descriptions and dialogue to 'real persona', 'fake persona', 'consistencies,' and 'preferences' to make it easier and faster for Jia Hyson to read the information later on.
Jia Hyson kept his position for a few minutes, and even with his vampiric physique he was beginning to feel uncomfortable. For the human principal, he also couldn't bear to see Alaric being subjected to this sort of power move. He already felt quite guilty being put in this position, and seeing how clearly the other party seemed to be so innocently amused by Alaric's discomfort, the principal regretted harder.
Unfortunately, Alaric was really the best vampire for this job. After all, he has experience very successfully helping vampires acclimate to the school environment as well as provided a lot of mediation between various students, human and vampire alike.
Not only that, his powers was both powerful and fairly convenient. While he wasn't the strongest vampire, he was strong enough to at least gain the respect of the more unruly vampires who value strength. Furthermore, his status as one of the most promising Rong family members, and best friend to the crown prince of the Golden Coven meant that his background was not easy to bully at all.
Therefore, despite knowing the Eclipse Coven and Golden Rose Coven had a great enmity, Principal Matthews still felt Alaric Rong was the best person for the task. Such a good child, who wouldn't like him?
However, he didn't realise that the Prince of the Eclipse Coven would be so sick that he would behave so inexplicably. Principal Matthews was only human after all, he came from a long lineage of humans who served the vampires, with recent generations mainly revolving around St Lailah's Academy, so his information network is not bad.
But the Eclipse Coven was always a coven that demanded secrecy given their own line of mercenary and assassination-type work, and their young prince was even more shrouded in mystery. Principal Matthews only knew he was powerful and and had been asleep for at least sixteen years for some reason. As for his personality? Other than that the other was a bit free-spirited, he really didn't know much else.
Seeing that Alaric was starting to clench his fists from the strain of maintaining his awkward bowing posture for so long, the principal was greatly distressed and swallowing his nerves, stepped in to try stop Prince Rigel. "This- Prince Rigel, don't you think that's enough? Alaric has kindly volunteered to help you after all and- ah!"
Principal Matthews groans as he was suddenly thrown against the wall. While it wasn't enough to severely damage him, he was still a middle-aged human, and the pain was enough for him to break out in cold sweat and feel lightheaded from the impact. Jia Hyson was shocked by the sudden sounds of violence and straightened up instinctively to see what happened only for him to suddenly fall to his knees as an unprecedented pressure overwhelmed him.
"I didn't say to get up yet?" The airy but low voice of the angelic prince questions with a light laugh, "Ah, that's a bit disappointing, but you did pretty good."
Jia Hyson's hands where on the floor, head bent down as he struggled to stay on his hands and knees and not completely embarrass himself by letting his limbs give way and lying on the floor. With gritted teeth, Jia Hyson inwardly curses but outwardly he says dryly, "Thank you… for.. kgh.. the praise.. Prince Rigel."
Seemingly pleased with the answer, Jia Hyson found the pressure on him release immediately and it was like even the air had suddenly become much easier to breath. Swallowing the air greedily, Jia Hyson still didn't dare get up from his current position, already have a slight idea of what type of psycho this person could be.
As expected, his caution paid off, and Prince Rigel in a much happier voice after a minute of silence finally said, "Very good, you may rise."
'Bebe, this guy is fucking bitch whore,' Jia Hyson complains as he trembling gets up. 'Like fuck this guy, I hope the ritual he dies in, makes him die super excruciatingly, like what an asshole.'
'Apparently he just slits his throat and dies.' Bebe comments, making Jia Hyson want to scowl. Jia Hyson would kill people he's willingly been on his knees for far more brutally, much less those who forced him on his knees. Such an easy death, he won't accept it!
Bebe: '…what happened to trying to stay out of the plot as best you can, host?'
Jia Hyson: 'It's still there but if I have the opportunity to beat this guy to death, I will seriously contemplate throwing out the entire mission to do it.'
Bebe: 'Seems a little much.'
Jia Hyson: 'It is.' UwU
Bebe: '…'
Jia Hyson: 'But that's okay, we'll consider it an investment plan since I'll be living with him and I'm sure he'll further cement this idea eventually. ╮(╯∀╰)╭'
Bebe: '…' Well, it's a good thing we're fairly rich in points right now at least.
Brushing the dirt from his pants, Jia Hyson straightens his back and sighs in some relief as his back cracks satisfyingly before facing Prince Rigel. From the corner of his eye he saw that Principal Matthews had already been helped by the older vampire that had accompanied Prince Rigel and hasn't talked since he had arrived.
Seeing that the other was okay, Jia Hyson calmed himself and focused on the Eclipse Prince, giving the other a smile.
Prince Rigel looks a little pleasantly surprised at his quick recovery and subconsciously smiles a little bigger in return. "You are a little interesting."
"I do try my best." Jia Hyson bitingly replies while doing his best to retain his politeness, however his entire body felt sore and his ankles felt like they were threatening to roll in on theirselves, they felt like all the support in his ligaments have been strained under that invisible pressure. "Principal Matthews, do you need to call the Vice-Principal Rong to help you? If not I will.. show Prince Rigel around campus."
Principal Matthews understood that Alaric wasn't ignoring him on purpose and was trying to remove the volatile vampire from the room and glances at him gratefully for a moment before coughing, "No.. no need, I can call myself and ask him to help with any arrangements to move Prince Rigel in with you."
Jia Hyson nods and relaxes slightly. The Vice-Principal was a vampire from his Rong family, one of the most capable in the family in fact, so he didn't have any doubts about the man's ability to accomplish things.
Not to mention, the other was discreet and Jia Hyson trusted the other to enter his room and help him. Partially because of the strong unity of the Rong family, and mainly because Jia Hyson found out the Vice-Principal was secretly in love with Principal Matthews .
He had always somewhat had a feeling. After all, while it was normal for the Rong family members to enter various different fields, the Vice-Principal was really too competent. Many people expressed their surprise and disappointment that the other rejected the chance to serve the Royal Family or enter the government body, in order to be just the vice-principal of St Lailah's Academy. In many people's eyes, they felt the other was disgustingly overqualified for the job.
Which, in fairness, he very much was. It was like a scientist who could potentially cure cancer decided to switch their biomedical degree to do acting.
Either way, it had nothing to do with Jia Hyson. What mattered was that as a man sensitive to these sort of emotions, and thanks to his reformed personality that allowed him to become closer to Vice-Principal Rong, Jia Hyson quickly grasped the other's hidden interest and used it to his advantage.
Of course, he couldn't do anything sinister. Jia Hyson was trying to keep himself comfortably in the good guys camp unless the situation forced him to do otherwise. Therefore, he chose the route of honesty.
Revealing he knew the other's feelings toward his human superior, and quickly admitting he, himself, was a bisexual with some experience and was willing to support the Vice-Principal in his endeavours. The Vice-Principal turned out, as Jia Hyson had somewhat suspected, to be like many male leads in many romances- a superior and domineering super virgin with low EQ only in regards to love.
In fact, before Jia Hyson had given any advice, the situation had been quite bad, and Principal Matthews had actually been incredibly intimidated and fearful of the other who was constantly cold-faced and overwhelmingly capable. Don't look at how insignificant it was for a principal to ask for his vice-principal for help, the ease and lack of hesitation in Principal Matthews decision to ask was the result of one year of hard work and relationship advice.
Thanks to this, now the great Vice-Principal Rong treated him as a love consultant and confident, and Jia Hyson had no worries about his sock puppet falling off in front of the other* nor the other turning his back onto him.
*Sock puppet is slang for hidden identity (e.g. sock puppet account), as the real hand is hidden by, well, a colourful sock that has a different personality. So when the sock puppet falls off, that means the hidden identity is found out.
Confidently, Jia Hyson walks to open the office door and gestures formally to Prince Rigel to leave first. "Prince Rigel, please excuse my impoliteness but in order to better hide your identity from the humans I will take off your honorific to avoid drawing unnecessary questions and attention." He mentions quickly as the beautiful young man walks past him.
Prince Rigel laughs, and it was like there was a dreamy halo of light around him when he laughed, "Okay, I don't mind. I'm a very casual vampire after all, these sort of formalities, I really don't care about to be honest."
Jia Hyson, who had been forced onto the ground because he didn't execute his bow properly twenty seconds ago: '…' As if I fucking believe you!
The moment they started walking through campus, the obligatory far too loud gossiping and whisper shouting was quickly overheard by them.
"Ahhh isn't he so pretty??"
"Like an angel!"
"Who is that?"
"A transfer student?"
"He's with the Gentle Emperor, ahhh, my eyes are damaged from the double crit of beauty!"
"Oh shit, I was already at the edge but I think I'm about to become bent*."
*bent = not straight = gay
"I wonder if they have step mother porn with angel step sisters?"
"…Seriously, George, get the fuck out."
"Are people always like this these days?" Rigel asks curiously as his silver eye glances around at the rather unreserved peeking and gawking happening. He was used to subservience and politeness, this sort of blatant impoliteness was felt quite fascinatingly novel and a bit unpleasant to bear at the same time.
Jia Hyson smiles awkwardly, "I suppose so, Your Highn- Rigel. But it's more like this school in particular enjoys partaking in this gossip due to our more isolated settings compared to other places. And as teenagers they tend to have poor volume control sometimes." He explains clearly, logically and easily.
Rigel who was ready to question further closes his mouth, a little bewildered and intrigued by the other's attitude. It was neither irritated, nor succinct or cold due to their opposing positions, nor was he frightened or repulsed after the way Rigel had previously overwhelmed the other in the principal's office. At the same time there was no strong sense of flattery, or fawning because of his appearance either. Just simple politeness and a faint sense of distance, like a cool breeze in summer, quite refreshing.
But then again, it was also a bit boring too.
"Anyway" Jia Hyson, unaware of Rigel's thoughts, quickly begins to try determine the situation, "Rigel, you've been asleep for how long now? I don't mean to be rude but it's important for me to know since it's now my responsibility to help you integrate into society better." Jia Hyson coughs lightly before smiling very gently, "If you don't feel comfortable with this, then please ignore my question and I will just assume you know nothing and answer any question as simply as I can."
The formal and neutral words were neither offensive nor pleasing, like a professional tour guide. Rigel had to admit, while it wasn't very interesting, the boringness was at least little interesting in itself. At the very least, it was still different sort of blandness, like the first sip of tea. It made one want to take another taste and explore whether this was all the flavour it had or was their a further depth he had failed to appreciate before.
This sort of feeling gave him the faint urge to try provoke a reaction out of the younger vampire with the bright blue eyes.
Humming in thought, Rigel smiles and flutters his long lashes coyly, his appearance giving a feeling he was much younger than Alaric was, despite the fact, Jia Hyson, who had some idea of the situation of the Eclipse Coven, knew very well the other was at least twice this body's age. "Then can I ask if all you Golden Rose vampires have gotten so beautiful in the past few decades or is it just you?"
Jia Hyson's smile, which was originally very natural stiffens for a moment but quickly smooths back out, maintaining his composure. However in his heart he was spitting furiously once again. First you act nice, then you use your powers to overwhelm, and now you dare try flirt? Fuck, really unstable ah.
Should he say, as expected of a big villain??
Jia Hyson: 'Hmmm, as praise I accept it, as a pick up line I can only say it's a good thing his face compensates for it.'
However Jia Hyson really did not dare to play along and flirt back. After all this was not a friend but a potential enemy. Also the clearly unstable thing.
He had not yet decided how to treat this vampire yet and needed to also contact his elders about this to see their attitude toward this situation. Therefore a sense of respectful alienation was the safest attitude.
But who knew this little angel would immediately try to flirt, not even two minutes out of the door?
"If we pass any other members of my coven, I will tell you so you can judge yourself whether we have become better looking or not." Jia Hyson replies succinctly.
Rigel felt the answer was a little funny, "Aren't you afraid I would do something to them?"
Jia Hyson reflexively shot back, "Aren't you afraid our crown prince would do something to you if that happened?"
Rigel: "…"
To be honest, he was a little afraid.
It was no secret Prince Silas was disgustingly overpowered. While many covens chose to hide any royalty with strong powers until they became old enough to control it to the best of their current abilities or revealed as a trump card. It was only the Golden Rose Coven who could be so outrageous and use their crown prince's power as a deterrent.
…But even if it was outrageous, they had the ability to be so outrageous.
The power of Give and Take.. to take people's powers, use them, and gift them, it was really too bad. There was no end of grievances from the other covens about this, after all, the Golden Rose was already the largest coven with good resources, strong vampires, and a stronger government body and reputation.
Since it was revealed that the Golden Rose's royal family had produced a miracle in the genetic lottery, it was like adding wings to a tiger*. It could be said, since Prince Silas' ability was publicly announced, there were many royal vampires from the other covens biting their handkerchiefs with tears in their eyes every night.
*chengyu 如虎添翼 (rú hǔ tiān yì): tiger = something great and powerful. Adding wings to a tiger = take something already powerful, like a tiger, and make it even more so.
Even with his own power, the chances of coming out on top was too low for him to be comfortable with. Rigel really didn't dare to create wind and fire* in front of him.
*Shān fēng diǎn huǒ - Create a lot of trouble.
Jia Hyson also knew this and smirks, his blue eyes curling up and shining with a smug, bright viciousness, like a cat who just tipped a glass of water off the table and onto your shoes after getting it's tail stepped on. Rigel couldn't help but be a little entranced by Alaric trying to hide the joy in his petty sense of vindication. The Eclipse Coven prince felt it was such a shame the other was holding back, the other looked quite cute like this.
After this, Prince Rigel was a little lost in his own thoughts, and the rest of the journey was spent relatively quietly with only a few simple questions from the blonde vampire about any unfamiliar objects they passed by.
Seeing that Rigel was more subdued after Prince Silas was brought up, Jia Hyson, in a much better mood, answered pleasantly and professionally. He even added some witty commentary to his easy to understand explanations that provoked a chuckle or two out the other vampire.
"Hmm.. You're not bad." Rigel praises after covering his mouth and hiding the smile that naturally came after Jia Hyson's dry humor in comparing the human celebrities to a few familiar vampire leaders. "Usually, my guides are always so boring. You're quite funny, this headmaster has much more palatable tastes than I expected."
"Who were your other guides?" Jia Hyson asks curiously. He didn't know much about the details of Prince Rigel, but he knew that his power required long periods of sleep which is why he was usually quite out of touch with the era. Unlike himself and Rigel who were about thirty years old, Rigel was at least double their ages, but the time he spent awake was then them.
Rigel smiles and lists about five names. Recognising one or two familiar names, Jia Hyson breaks out in cold sweat. "I- I see. That's quite a few vampires. It must be quite a chore to undergo every time."
Hey, hey, weren't those vampires the ones that went missing many years ago? The other names, Jia Hyson is vaguely aware their families had some tragedies with their children at one point too, but it was too long ago to take notice.
Actually… in the plot didn't they mention a vampire had died a year or two ago before the protagonists arrived? It was implied that it was an accident but many suspected a hunter had done it, causing the tensions between the two groups to further strengthen in the background.
But then again, the Eclipse Coven was a coven that specialised in assassinations and had many vampires that had powers suitable to killing without a trace. From memory manipulation to invisibility, hiding weapons inside the body to swapping any liquids they touch within a minute, all of these powers could not be underestimated. It was why they could afford to proudly state being the best in the murder business even among vampires. It is not difficult to remove a few young vampires from existence.
…Though it was more than a little concerning.
"It was," Prince Rigel, oblivious to Jia Hyson's thoughts, sighs with some dissatisfaction, "They were also especially dull. A waste of air really."
He then realises something and looks at Jia Hyson with wides eyes, looking especially innocent and sweet, "Not you though." He reassures, "At the very least, it's an equal exchange of air."
Jia Hyson: '…'
On that pleasant note, they finally arrived at the dormitories.
There were five large dormitory buildings that were all connected to each other, both underground and above ground via bridges and halls. Jia Hyson, as someone with a lot of responsibilities, lived in the middle building along with many other important vampires and a random allocation of humans. Generally, only royalty and very important vampires who contribute a lot to the school environment like Alaric, got the best and biggest rooms while the rest usually had a four person room.
The dorm buildings were more or less a fairly even mix of vampire and humans, with the older students living on the higher floors and the freshmen at the bottom with simpler accommodations. Even royalty was not exempt from this rule, albeit their 'simpler' accommodations were still far more luxurious than any other room of the same floor.
Not only do the older students get better accommodations, they are closer to the dormitory libraries located in each building, as well as their special accommodations. For example the leftmost building had a rooftop swimming pools, the building after had a community garden, the middle building had a large scale game room that was guarded by the most responsible students, the next building had a gym, and the rightmost building was an event hall. Of course, as a trade-off, younger students were closer to the cafeteria.
As expected of the rich, even the dormitories were full of extravagance and many poorer students even dreamed of never leaving.
After explaining all this briefly to Prince Rigel, Jia Hyson brought him to his room to rest.
Entering his dorm and seeing the cleanliness of the place, save for the new bed and luggage in the living area, Jia Hyson gives out a relieved breath. The Vice-Principal really didn't let him down.
Of course, he would prefer it if the Vice-Principal would help him reject this whole thing altogether. But that would mean going against Principal Matthew's decision. Which would mean it would be easier to just join hands and assassinate Prince Rigel instead.
Which, well, he wasn't completely averse to that idea ah.
"This is cute." Prince Rigel comments mildly as he surveys the decorations of the dormitory room with interest. Jia Hyson preferred the soft and minimal style with light colours. Neither too cluttered nor uncomfortably empty. "Small and delicate, like you."
"Your highness, I would like to politely point out.. I am taller than you." Jia Hyson mildly comments back.
"It's more my impression of you," The blonde prince lightly laughs, "Like an egg. Really cute. It makes me want to crack you open, ahah."
Jia Hyson: '…' The rage is building.
Barely able to maintain his smile, Jia Hyson excuses himself by saying he needed to determine ta more appropriate place to move the prince's bed. Once a room away, his expression contorts, unable to stop the irritation.
Bebe: 'Host, please calm yourself.'
Jia Hyson: 'He called me an egg, Bebe. I'm not an egg. I own eggs. I use eggs. I'm no fucking egg.' AngryPanda.gif
Bebe: '…'
Bebe: 'When you say use eggs, you mean for eating right?'
Jia Hyson: ,,UwU,,
Bebe: '…You, you mean for eating right? Right?? Host? Host???'
Jia Hyson: ShyPanda.gif
Bebe: 눈_눈 '…You're really desecrating your cultural heritage by using your national animal into this conversation, you know that right?'
Jia Hyson: 'Let's be honest here, this is not the first time I've sullied a national animal in conversation.' ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 'So let's let nature take it's course and go with the flow ah~'
Bebe: 'There is absolutely nothing natural about that.' ಠ_ಠ
Thoughts were faster than speech, and after a few seconds of quick banter with Bebe, Jia Hyson already felt much calmer.
It had to be said that the things Bebe and he exchanged during their verbal wars were much more offensive and barbed, compared to Prince Rigel's words. However, the main difference was that Jia Hyson liked Bebe and enjoyed it's presence, while currently, he held nothing but dislike for Prince Rigel to the point he felt his nose isn't a nose, and his face isn't a face*.
*Meaning to be annoyed and judgemental of someone, narrow-minded due to preconceived disgust and can even negatively misunderstand their actions etc. Essentially because you don't like them you wish to view whatever they do in a bad light and it is difficult to be positive toward them. Another variation is eyes is not eyes, nose is not nose- thanks @loreili for helping reconfirm this <3
Any person who invades someone's life and privacy without warning will obviously incur some dissatisfaction. But as long as the attitude was good, the unhappiness value in Jia Hyson's heart would be relatively small. After all he understands it's not technically the other's fault.
Plus, while he has some control issues, they were mainly centred around his own creations and schemings, things that he himself set up and had already established a more concrete idea or goal. Outside of that he was quite laid-back and flexible when dealing with things. So while annoying Jia Hyson did not feel too hostile, just wary and a little nervous.
But who told Prince Rigel to be so unstable?
No, no, to be perfectly honest, Jia Hyson was very self aware of himself. He doesn't hate this instability. He likes abnormal people, there was a sense of understanding there he enjoyed.
What he hates was the sheer power and helplessness he had experienced. The pain and the lack of mental preparation really brought him a sense of pure fear that struck him suddenly in the heart. Like turning around to see a car about to hit you without warning, the sense of your heart stopping and your limbs weakening.
To get hit in a fight, and to get hit on the back of the head when walking down the street, the mentality is different and the subsequent attack will produce a difference in response as well.
Rigel's face that seemed to be carved lovingly by the heavens, the peaceful school environment, the familiar situation, and the way Jia Hyson had not encountered any setbacks for so long, had really caused Rigel's sudden violent action to uncontrollably shake him, and a seed of fear had been planted inexplicably.
Jia Hyson deeply reflected on himself. The plot was really too relaxing, and the mission was too flexible making it easy to lose oneself in complacency. His heart was very soft from the love of the last world and the sweetness in this world. This isn't bad, but it made him too easy to become overconfident and arrogant, especially when the trait he seemed to inherit from Alaric was a subtle but strong sense of narcissism.
'Bebe, do you have anything to help with this?' He asks silently. No matter what, he at least couldn't show this fear.
Bebe was silent for a moment before replying, 'There's two options…' it hesitates, 'One is you buy one of the emotional dampeners from Bebay, but the ones to specifically target certain emotions are much more expensive. The more specific the pricier.'
'And the second option?' Jia Hyson was richer now but he was still reluctant to spend the p for this sort of thing.
'…You have [Psychotic Break] which has the side effect of dampening your fear responses when it's active. Bebe can spend some system points to be able to forcibly increase and decrease this skill by two levels.'
Jia Hyson and Bebe fell into silence. To be honest [Psychotic Break] in the lower levels is not noticeable, after all it was a skill Jia Hyson had naturally gained in his original life, which allowed him to do cruel things and turn off his sense of empathy for the sake of sadism, and violence.
Therefore it was still within the controllable range for him, but the problem is he was a little out of practice handling this sort of feeling. Like a butcher who hadn't touched a knife for a decade, there is a chance of self-injury before familiarising himself with it.
'Can you change which skill to manipulate or is it locked in?' Jia Hyson questions.
'It's locked in unfortunately.' Bebe answers before adding, 'However, it is not bad to do this just in case this skill gets too high, Bebe can lower it to a hopefully more controllable range.' Bebe has a lot of opinions about it's host, but it does not doubt Jia Hyson's ability.
While it was concerning that he had a tendency to think with his lower half, the other only did so when he felt he could afford to, so there was no large concerns, only minor ones there. But what was truly troubling was his tendency for violence. While it was controlled, Bebe who lived in the other's mind, knew exactly how frightening it could be.
To be honest, even without this situation, Bebe was already inclined to invest in this ability.
Jia Hyson wasn't stupid either and already more or less understood Bebe's thought process. For a second his mind flashed with a prickly and vicious thought but it was quickly suffocated by his logic and understanding. With a sigh he rubs his fingers absentmindedly. 'Do the second option. I know myself well and, while I can't say I'm happy, I do admit it could be a potential concern. Better safe than sorry ah.'
'Sorry host.' Bebe apologises with some guilt. Jia Hyson just waves it off.
Quickly Bebe buys the skill and locks it down onto [Psychotic Break]. Soon Jia Hyson could hear the notification in his ears.
[Ding! Psychotic Break Level 1 activated on passive mode]
[Ding, ding! Psychotic Break has increased to Level 2!]
Closing his eyes for a second, Jia Hyson focuses on himself and feels both nothing and faintly something his changed. He thinks about Prince Rigel and instead of that biting, uncomfortable feeling, like fire ants running around his ribcage, there was just a sense of apathy, some admiration for his face and a sense of intrigue that had been hidden underneath the irritation.
Opening his eyes again, he smiles.
That was much better.
....
....
Little Theatre:
Prince Rigel, being beautiful:
Jia Hyson: Damn, for this pretty boy, I would get down on my knees any day
Prince Rigel, actually makes Jia Hyson get on his knees:
Jia Hyson: Damn, for this fuck who can't decide whether to be a pirate or an angel for Halloween, I would cut down his knees any day
....
....
A/N:
Hello hello~
I would like to say~ thank you all for the kind words and support from last chapter it was really nice ah~I appreciate the love a lot, this author's glass heart is healed somewhat kek, now all it needs is some banknotes to bandage up the rest (ko-fi donations please hehe)
An update to this, the person who said that cruel comment has dm-ed me and apologized by saying they didn't mean to hurt my feelings. It was apparently a joke that they usually told their friends and there was no seriousness in it. But they also admitted and apologised for being angry as well, but the anger was not directed at me but the book and Jia Hyson for having a good life (I would like to remind people that Jia Hyson did not have a perfect home life but has severe father issues that have not been brought into detail), and they had forgot there was an author behind this story at the time. They didn't think, they were young, they kept saying they had a 'twisted' mind and honestly, they kinda kept pinging me awake to ask for forgiveness so I have half-forgiven them. And also blocked em on discord. Cuz bruh I have work ok.
Anyway, the main thing is, please always think before you write a comment like this. I don't appreciate it and if I feel I'm justified, I will do the same thing like I have just done. You wrote this comment for the public to see so I will make it public for all to see ah. However these sort of situations are really rare and I trust many of you readers know how to behave~
Speaking of public though~ I AM RE-OPENING THE DISCORD!! THE LINK IS BELOW! CHECK THE PARAGRAPH COMMENT TO SEE SOME RANDOM OUT OF CONTEXT SS OF THE SERVER TO SEE IF YOUR READY FOR IT KEK
https://discord.gg/5EsRA3tMKB
THIS LINK IS ONLY VALID FOR LIKE 10 PEOPLE AH SO ACT FAST KEK.
ALSO DHEA WHERE ARE YOU? WE ALL NOTICED YOU WERENT THERE ANYMORE AND HELD A FUNERAL FOR YA. IN FAIRNESS THE FUNERAL IS SO-SO BUT IF YOU WANNA COME BACK ANYTIME JUST DM ME AH. HOPE YOUR OKAY
ALSO ALSO PLEASE SUPPORT THIS CUTE AUTHOR WITH DONATIONS AND LOVE AH~ IDK WHY IM SCREAMING ITS REALLY COLD RN IG :3
I don't have any new reccs rn so I'll throw out one of my favs - Transmigrated Into a Big Boss to Snatch Away the Cannon Fodder - like bruh its great and super funny and ahhhhh