Theophile had just poured wine into such a cute glass in front of Lavelle, and they were now sitting alone on the balcony, watching the thousands of stars and the few sparkling lights shining beautifully in the city. Even so, Lavelle looked so annoyed she even occasionally ignored Theophile, who tried to have physical contact with her, whether it was getting some candy, getting a wildflower growing freely on the balcony, also pouring her a glass of wine. Lavelle didn't feel comfortable being next to Theophile, who was so talkative. Lavelle just wanted to go home and tell her friends that this forest does have a lot of mysteries that make no sense.
"The air around here is freezing. Drink your wine," Theophile said as he wrapped Lavelle's body with his coat.
Lavelle gasped, then tried to move away from Theophile, leaving a new centimeter of the distance between the two of them. Theophile sighed, then nodded, understanding that she was starting to distance himself from him out of fear of him.
"Okay, would you like to add some almond cookies or ginger cookies to sit here?" asked Theophile then.
"I just want to go home," Lavelle said quickly.
"It's getting late, and there's no way you can go home. Besides, I told you earlier that I sent several butlers to let them know that you were with me," Theophile replied.
"Still not satisfied. I just want to go back to the cabin," Lavelle pressed quickly.
Theophile nodded. "I see. However, you should also understand that a woman going out in the middle of the night is such a bad thing. You wouldn't know if some crazy psychopath suddenly killed you on the street."
"It's better to be killed by a crazy psychopath than to die for nothing because of you," Lavelle complained, pouting her lips.
"So you want to go and leave me here? Don't you like me? Listen to me, I have no friends here," Theophile said in such a childish tone.
Lavelle huffed in annoyance. "You have many employees, and you are not lonely here. If you don't have friends, it's none of my business."
Theophile took a deep breath, then pulled Lavelle's hand swiftly, and then brought Lavelle's hand to her chest. "I think I have such a void in this section."
"What do you mean," Lavelle grumbled quickly, pulling her hand away and folding it again under Theophile's wide coat.
"I really felt empty before but, once I'm close to you, I feel so flowery," Theophile said, "You're such an addiction that even I can't sleep well."
"I don't really care about your feelings. I want to go back to the cabin," Lavelle replied curtly.
Theophile wanted to reply to Lavelle's words for the umpteenth time. However, a man suddenly walked in and startled them both. The man who was one hundred and eighty-five centimeters tall was standing in the doorway while smiling a broad smile. The man looked so athletic in a leather jacket and teal shirt. In his shock, Theophile stood up and faced the man.
"Looks like you're busy," said the man.
"Why don't you let me know if you want to go home? I can prepare some banquets if you tell me," Theophile replied awkwardly.
"Should I tell you if I want to go home, regarding the banquet ... I seem to smell a very tantalizing aroma," said the man.
"Don't be joking. I understand that you also inhaled that scent but, I won't let—"
"Relax… so, that girl was the one that kept Hendery under?" the man cut in quickly while flashing a smile that was so hard to explain.
"That kid really needs to be made to understand something for his own sake," replied Theophile.
"Theophile, I know that you are already in love with that girl. You can't lie to me," said the man. "Is that true?" Theophile turned her gaze to Lavelle.
Seeing a good opportunity to escape, Lavelle cut them both off, "Excuse me, if you don't want the humans here, I can leave now."
"Not!" said Theophile.
"Hey! I still want to live like other humans!" Lavelle replied.
The tall man sighed, then asked Lavelle a question, "Hey sweet girl, what's your name?"
"Lavelle."
"That's a pretty sweet name for a girl as cute as you are, Miss. You'd better stay here. Maybe tomorrow you can go back to your house," the man replied, "I'm Johnny, Theophile's older brother. You can call me Daddy, or it's up to you."
"What the hell? I just want to go home. I don't want to meet you," Lavelle grumbled.
"Calm down first, and it's already so late at night. There is no public transportation that can take you out of town if you insist on going home at night. You'd better stay here first, treat it like your own home … and if you don't mind, you can join us for some wine, Miss," Johnny said so softly.
Lavelle sighed tiredly. She didn't know what else to use to get her out of this kingdom. However, it didn't seem like Theophile was going to let her go that easily. Moreover, Lavelle felt that Theophile's entire subordinates were always watching her so intensely. Lavelle thought that they never took their eyes off her.
"Okay, if I can't go home now. Please return my cell phone," Lavelle said later.
Theophile scratched the nape of his neck non-itchy. "I didn't hide your phone, sweetie."
"Do not lie! I have very important business with—" Lavelle didn't continue as Theophile's eyes sparkled rapidly, causing the girl to be silent for a while.
"Let's go inside, sweetie. It's so cold here," Theophile said later. The man named Johnny just shrugged his shoulders. "I only came together with Tristan. It would be good if we drank some wine now."
+++
"I didn't expect that there were several human children who dared to build a cabin in such a haunted forest. Haven't you watched the news that went viral the last few months? There are so many television stations competing to present a night wandering program in the forest," muttered a sweet man sitting on Theophile's right while enjoying his glass of wine.
"But we're not afraid of ghosts," said Lavelle.
"That's pretty cool. Then who did you ask permission to build the cabin?" the man then asked.
"Ah yes, I forgot to say that you don't have to be so stiff to chat with us even though the smell of your blood is so tempting. We are not very interested in consuming blood, and maybe we prefer the essence of dead living things." A man with a bowl haircut said to Lavelle as he put down a tray containing a few slices of sandwich and ravioli.
Lavelle nodded slightly, then replied, "It's okay. I didn't ask anyone for permission because I don't think it's necessary to ask for permission either. This is an unopened wilderness and one more. Money can speak so authoritatively."
"Well, that sounds so reasonable too." The sweet man smiled and nodded. "You can call me Tristan, and you don't need to feel shy to ask for my help because I can guess that you will be my future sister-in-law."
The words of the sweet man who introduced himself as Tristan made Lavelle almost choke on the wine she was about to gulp. She was aware that Theophile had just hypnotized her, but Theophile was also not aware that Lavelle had not seen Theophile's sparkle in his eyes just a moment ago.
"Um ...."
"And I'm Juno, I'm a vampire who's gentle and kind and—"
"Maudlin?" asked Johnny casually.
Juno's face immediately turned red like a boiled shrimp, but Theophile immediately interrupted them so as not to keep mocking Juno. Theophile got Lavelle a sandwich and told her to enjoy the sandwich immediately. Meanwhile, Johnny was still trying to compose a question about the cabin and Lavelle.
"Theophile, don't you intend to explain to me why Mark was able to build that cabin?" Johnny asked Theophile.
"Mark?"
"I mean, all of you. How can you guys build a cabin so easily over there," Theophile interrupted.
"The point is I leave everything to Mark and Shotaro," Lavelle replied, then immediately shrugged her shoulders.
"Now I understand why you locked Hendery in that silver prison," Tristan muttered casually.
"As you might expect, Tris. He's in love," Johnny retorted a little mockingly.
"By the way, in human life… what are you busy with? I see you are still too young. Are you still in school?" Tristan asked then.
"I'm jobless," Lavelle said quickly.
"Is that true? You don't go to school?" asked Johnny, looking for reassurance in Lavelle's eyes.
"That is the truth," Lavelle replied.
"An unemployed nineteen-year-old girl who has already raised thousands of millions of dollars? It's just that you do look like a stupid and thoughtless human who doesn't have a straightforward job. You ran away from college, and you ended up working as a barista in a cafe, which is weird. However, it's still pretty great because you make a lot of money just from writing a good story. This impressed me quite a bit because, in the human world, where business competition is quite tight, Lavelle can prove that she is valuable because she can make a lot of money with her talent." Theophile immediately took a bite of the sandwich in her hand.
"Are you an artist?" Juno asked.
Lavelle was silent for a long time, looking confused about what to say to them because she was uncomfortable right now. Theophile, who seemed embarrassed, immediately spoke up about Lavelle's actual work and some achievements that Lavelle had achieved so far.
"Sounds pretty great. How many books have you published? Can we read it?" Johnny seemed more active in asking questions than the rest of Theophile's brothers.
"Um ... I only have two printed books and ten e-books. You can search for them using your cellphone if you want to read them," replied Lavelle.
"Cell phone? Do we need a cell phone to read your work?" mumbled Johnny then. "But I think we need a cell phone to connect to each other after all. Theophile already has a cell phone, and he's doing fine with his girlfriend."
"We can also take pictures with sensational poses," Juno added.
"Even without taking pictures, we are already sensational with a handsome face like this," said Theophile.
"Yeah ... um ... you said you were here with some of your friends, are they human too?" asked Johnny again.
"Sure."