When Eli opens the door, Valentin Krauss pushes him away and walks into the apartment. Nell is not on the couch. He glances toward the bedroom. Is she there? Did this ghoul already eat her? He takes a long stride toward the bedroom.
Eli grabs his arm and pulls him backwards. "Where do you think you are going?"
Valentin Krauss jerks his hand off him, disgusted. He realizes that the same hands have touched his daughter. He doesn't want to know what this ghoul has done to her. "A creature like you eyes something that belongs to the sky. You don't know your place, Eli Sanguine."
"She belongs to me." Eli stares at him, unaffected by his insults. "I don't know what's your problem. Leave this place before I do something to you."
"Ha!" Valentin Krauss shakes his head and laughs. Does this ghoul not know anything about him? He wonders if anyone else in the council knew that Nell is his daughter. It's a huge coincidence that he got her as his first case after moving to this department. Even if it's against the Council's laws, he's going to kill this ghoul tonight if this ghoul stops him from taking his daughter away. How could this creature seduce his eldest child? "Eli Sanguine, give her to me."
"Don't speak as if she's an object." Eli glares at him coldly. "Explain why you are here."
"Why?" Valentin Krauss grits his teeth. What did she like about this ghoul? "She's my daughter, you vile creature."
"Valentin Krauss."
Valentin glances at the Devil cat standing in front of the bedroom door. The Devil cat walks toward him with an aloof aura. "Are you sure that you want to be here?"
Eli creases his forehead. What's going on now? Why is this cat speaking this way?
"Don't interfere." Valentin Krauss points at the cat. "Even if I have to drag her out of this place, I will take her away. She's a Krauss. It will take some time, but she will understand."
A Krauss? Eli realizes the meaning of Valentin's words. This man is not her biological father, is he? But the look in the cat's eyes proves his thoughts right. So, this cat also knew this. Then, why did it act in such an aggressive way to this man earlier?
"Go ahead." The cat steps out of the way. "You are going to regret coming today."
Didn't this cat ask him to not let Nell find out about her father? He narrows his eyes on the cat.
"Little Marshmallow, if she gives me a strict command, I can't ignore it." The Devil shrugs. "Don't worry."
He ignores the cat and walks toward the bedroom. Just then, the door opens.
"Nell, go back inside." Eli tells her, "Don't stand for too long. You will make your wounds worse."
"They are already bad." She looks at Valentin Krauss who seems to be at a loss for words.
Valentin scrutinizes her face. Except for her eyes, she resembles him a lot. He smiles. It's no wonder that she has his temper. Even their magic is similar. She inherited the blessing from the goddess of the night because she belongs to the Krauss bloodline. But the blessing activates only once when the person is between life and death. "Nell, I am…"
His daughter is watching as if he's a stranger. He can't say the word. After more than twenty-seven years, no child can accept a stranger as her father. He tries to say it again, "You are my…" Daughter.
"You can't say it." Nell laughs at him. "Yet you are here."
"Nell, come with me." Valentin takes her hand. "I will explain everything."
She slaps his hand away and yells, "Are you insane? Where's the proof that you are my biological father? After 27 years, you appear out of nowhere. You are doing this because you want to stop my marriage with Eli, aren't you?"
She wouldn't believe him. He should have come prepared. Valentin sighs. "I know your mother, Isabelle. Your magic is similar to mine. You have a moon-type spirit."
"Tch!" The Devil clicks his tongue. "This man is so dumb. Just similar magic is enough? It's like saying that having the same hair colour is enough. Why does he think that I am a moon-type spirit?"
Eli observes the Devil, the only creature who knows what's going on here. The cat is quite cunning. The cat already warned him that Nell must not find out about her biological father. He might be wrong about this, but this cat won't act this way toward Valentin Krauss if he was Nell's father.
Also, the Devil is not a moon-type spirit. This spirit was created from a piece of Nell's soul. Of course, Valentin doesn't know that. Since Nell has moon magic inside her, the Devil also contains that magic. Still, it doesn't make this cat a moon-type spirit. They are completely different from this creature.
"My mother wasn't an idiot." Nell creases her forehead and stares hard at him. She mocks him, "She would never love a man like you."
"A man like me?" Valentin scowls at her. "She did date me for two months."
"She did?" Nell wrinkles her nose in disgust. "I guess she had her low moments. My step-father was way better than you are."
What's wrong with this girl? Why can't she speak a word without insulting him in her every sentence? "Whether you like me or not, you are my daughter."
"I am sure that I am not your daughter." Nell cracks her fingers. She begins her interrogation. "How old were you when you met my mother?"
"I was seventeen," Valentin answers her.
She gives him a look. "How old are you now?"
"I am forty-six." He wonders why is she asking his age. "What does it have to do with it? You are my daughter."
"I am twenty-seven." She covers her mouth and giggles, glancing at him as if he's an idiot.
This man is an idiot. Eli rubs his forehead. He still doesn't get it.
"Are you bad at math?" Nell shakes her head at him. "How much is seventeen plus twenty-seven?"
"Forty-four?" Valentin replies, confused.
The cat and the ghoul sigh. This is too ridiculous.
Nell can't stop laughing at the idiot in front of her. Valentin frowns at her. "What are you getting at?"
"It seems that you were too excited to be my father. If you had thought about it carefully, you would have noticed that you met my mother two years before I was born." Nell cocks her head and smiles with disdain. "I am sure that she wasn't pregnant for two years. In fact, I was a premature baby. Mr Krauss, even if you were my father, I would have never acknowledged you as my father."
She's correct. Valentin becomes pale. If she was her father, she should be a year older. Still, he can't ignore this feeling in his chest. The resemblance is there. The blessing of the goddess is also there. Then, if she's not his daughter, then who? How many children are born with the blessing of the goddess?
"Ow!" Nell flinches when he plucks a strand of her hair. "What are you doing now?"
"Are you still going for a paternity test?" Eli asks him. He's somewhat glad that this man is not his father-in-law.
"Yes." Valentin feels too awkward now. He can't meet this girl's eyes. Her sardonic tone and mocking smile remind him of her mother, Isabelle. He's a little upset that he's wrong. But he's determined to find out who her father is. He's going to stop this wedding ceremony for sure. "She might not be my daughter, but there are not many families with the blessings of goddess of night. She also has a moon-type spirit. It won't be hard."
"I am not a moon-type spirit." The Devil hisses at him. "It's an insult to me if you call me that. If you don't know something, then you should ask instead of making baseless assumptions."
"I have never been wrong." Valentin furrows his brows.
"You were wrong about me." Nell goes to Eli's side and coils her arm around his arm. She smiles at Valentin. "I am not interested to know who my biological father is. He only donated his sperm to my mother. Even if you find out about him, I won't accept him as my father. If you have some shame, don't show your face to us again."
Valentin huffs at them. He clenches his hand and walks out of the apartment. He's going to break this girl's useless pride. A ghoul and a human? He won't let this unholy union happen in this world.