An hour passed since the heir candidate of House Edevane challenged Leonora Jackson to a duel. Melissa chose to head back to the Edevane Castle as she wanted a personal space to muse about her current situation.
Despite her attitude in front of the professor and the others, she was actually not that calm. How could she be when she knew she was supposed to be dead, yet suddenly there she was, in a place she had not seen for more than fifteen years?
The more the reality of her return to the past sank in, the more she wanted to be alone and be able to think in peace.
Unfortunately, the world of nobles was not that big and most vampires who were not away for business or busy sleeping were hungry for entertainment. If the piece of news were juicy enough, it would travel to every influential vampire's ears within minutes through their familiars or vampire slaves. Naturally, the story of her deeds in the academy immediately reached the Edevane Castle.
Because of this, when Melissa arrived at the entrance of the residence, a figure materialized before her and a heavy palm descended on her left cheek.
"You disgraceful thing!" The sound the slap created nearly deafened the young vampirette.
A lady with hazel-brown eyes and curly black hair pulled up into an elegant braided updo coldly glared at the younger woman. Dissatisfaction could be seen on her beautiful and youthful face. She was the current Countess of Edevane, the legal wife of Melissa's father, and the owner of the hand that just left a visible red mark on the girl's abnormally pale skin.
In the upper society of the empire, Georgia Edevane was known to be somebody who paid too much care about the family's reputation. This was why she became angry upon hearing the reports about Melissa.
'She demanded a public apology, but she will only accept it once she wins the duel? What kind of logic is that?'
Regardless of the truth behind the incident, Georgia felt like the daughter retrieved from the countryside had done and said something unbecoming of a member of House Edevane.
"I knew it. I should not have let your father send you to that place so soon!" The vampire lady wore a distressed and regretful expression on her face. "Do you think violence is elegant? You lack knowledge, poise, and finesse. Now, you nearly got branded as a rampage. Why can't you think first of our reputation before you act? Do you really think there are many sane True Vampires around your age who would want to marry you so you are okay to lose a few? And your manner of speech, my goodness!"
Melissa's eyes oddly remained placid, as if the one hit and scolded was not her. What did she do wrong? The others bullied her. How hard would it be for a lady in power like Georgia to know about it? Since no help was coming, was she wrong to avenge herself?
Many questions arose in her mind. But the person before her was a qualified Countess, but a terrible mother whose main priority was never her children.
She knew it would be pointless to voice them out. So she just said, "Mother, I apologize for my blunder. But in three days' time, I would have to confront Miss Jackson in a duel to defend the honor of the name Edevane. May I take my rest before I begin my training session?"
She tried to be as polite as she could albeit her emotionless voice betrayed her.
The angry Countess hated her attitude. However, when she was about to raise her hand, she changed her mind and coldly said, "Your reason for initiating a duel was beyond ridiculous. But since it was already set in stone, it would be more embarrassing to back out from it. This house won't tolerate a defeat, Melissa. You must win. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, mother." After a slight curtsy, Melissa lifted the hem of her floor-length blue dress and then passed by the Countess to enter the widely open double doors. Her two female servants who had been pretending to be invisible silently followed her. The Countess sent her off with eyes that seemed to hold glaciers.
A few moments later, Melissa met the panicking attendants of the Countess who were alarmed by her sudden teleport. However, she ignored them and headed to her room which was the last one on the left wing of the second floor.
'I'm back. I'm really back.' Her expression turned complicated upon entering.
This room became bare of decorations and furniture when she moved to the main bedroom after assuming the position of the Countess. But the one in front of her was complete with furnishings and had breaths of life. Then just like this room, Brandel Laxon should still be alive, right?
Melissa did not know why and how she regressed in time. But this did not prevent her from formulating plans for her life. Making it up to Brandel Laxon was one. Taking revenge on the ones who killed her and her knight was another.
And so, the young vampire lady ordered everyone to leave her. Afterward, she opened her huge walk-in closet which was filled with brand new outfits of varying colors and designs. She took some time to find herself a set that could be said lowkey. After putting on a greyish black dress and removing the six small diamond flowers on the chest part, a satisfied look appeared on her face.
'How sad that I'm a vampire who can't see my reflection in the mirror. But I should look like a commoner now, right?' she inwardly thought.
She examined herself to make sure there were no more luxurious accessories on her hair, body, and clothes. Then she put on a pair of plain brown leather boots.
Melissa took advantage of the fact that everyone in the world right now thought of her as a country bumpkin that could not even properly use some basic vampire abilities. She locked her doors from inside after shouting to her maids outside not to disturb her unless she called for them. Then she closed her eyes and felt the power hidden in her bloodline as a Pureblood Vampire.
Those with pure bloodlines, aside from having greater physical abilities, also possessed way more abilities. One of them was to turn into smoke in order to blend into the darkness more.
Since it was nighttime, the vampirette chose to turn into that and exited the Castle through the small opening gap on the left oriol window of her room. When she was more than a hundred meters away from the castle gate, she turned into a bat and flapped her black wings furiously to get to her target location fast.
Three hours later, thanks to her tireless effort, she managed to cross three cities and two forests. Of course, she was exhausted upon landing on top of a tree and morphing back to her original appearance. However, she was also excited.
After catching her breath, Melissa cast her gaze on the vampire town in front. She walked toward the street and joined the crowd heading to the central area where her feet led her to the open door of a tavern. The young female vampire entered the place with curiosity in her eyes. She had never been to this town before and only knew about it because of him. He once mentioned being an undercover spy and this was the place where he worked as a waitperson.
So where was he? If she truly came back to the past, he should be here this year...
Melissa busily scanned the boisterous place. She slowly headed to the center to get a better view of her surroundings. Then suddenly, her eyes lit up as she gazed in a certain direction. A tall young man in his early twenties stood there wearing a form-fitting brown waiter's uniform. He had short silver-colored hair pulled back in a long ponytail that fell beyond his waist, eyes as black as the night, a high nose, red lips, and a fair complexion. Appearance-wise, nobody would easily suspect whether he was a vampire or not. In fact, she would not refute if people said that he looked as gorgeous as a True Vampire.
"Brandel Laxon." The girl whispered his name softly, with both longing and sadness.
As if possessed, Melissa walked toward the figure who just calmly brought back a wooden tray at the counter. She followed him silently even when he went out of the tavern using the backdoor after saying something to the white-haired old vampire bartender.
He took so many turns but in the end, his goal was obviously to go to a secluded area in the adjacent forest. Melissa watched him bit his finger and feed some blood on his right glove. Because of the bluish glow that it emitted, she recognized it as the artifact that helped the man hide his human scent and aura so he could mingle with the citizens of Estania.
In the previous life, their meeting happened two years later when she was no longer a student of the noble academy. However, Melissa did not want to wait that long. Why would she do so when she was already so near to him?
So with a playful glint in her beautiful violet-colored eyes, the brown-haired vampire lady in grey went out of her hiding spot and slowly walked toward the startled gentleman.
"I did not know a vampire can have red blood," she softly said while suppressing a teasing smile as she stared at his shocked face.