A Game Of Chess With A Vampire
Chapter 342: Tell Me The Truth!

Chapter 342: Tell Me The Truth!

Annette slowly turned around to look at her husband, Michael Hamilton. A hundred and ninety-centimeter tall man with blonde short hair and sharp gray eyes.

"M-Michael—"

"Come inside," Mr. Hamilton said directly to Avelina, who was watching him with frightened eyes.

Avelina could not explain what it was, but she wanted to run—to flee and never look back. Her instincts were screaming at her not to step into the house, but she couldn’t seem to go against her father, the man whom she had always feared, ever since she was a little girl,

He’d always intimidated her, and she had never once understood why. This man was worse than an ant before Draven, yet the way she felt towards them was very dissimilar.

She felt safe with Draven, but with the man who called himself her father, she felt like she was in hell—as if she were in a lion’s den.

Avelina gulped and nervously nodded her head. She stepped into the house, pulling her luggage along with her.

Mr. Hamilton stared at her back as she walked further into the house, and his face suddenly scrunched in overwhelming disgust.

"Lock the door," he said to Annette.

Annette was taken aback. "W-what?"

Mr. Hamilton spared her a glare, and without questioning his words any further, she shut the door, locking its bolt.

"Take your daughter to have some rest and make her tell you where she’s been all this time. Do not leave out any details. I shall have a word with her later." He began to storm off to the balcony of the house.

Annette gazed at his fading figure and swallowed hard.

This dreadful feeling that was suddenly building up within her...what was the reason? She could not comprehend the problem, but she knew something was off.

Annette took a deep breath and proceeded to Avelina’s room upstairs. She turned the handle, opening the door.

"Olga..." She walked into the room and met Avelina, seated on the bed.

"Mama." Avelina glanced at her. "My room still looks the same as ever." She sounded quite surprised.

Annette smiled and walked over to her. She grabbed the nearest wooden chair and took a seat opposite her.

"Olga, are you okay?" she asked, seeming concerned.

Avelina looked at her. "Why...do you ask?"

"I don’t know. You just...look different," Annette responded. "Not in a bad way. You look so much healthier and very beautiful. I don’t know, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I believe you are more mature in the eyes, a bit fuller, and you appear to have changed."

"However, at the same time, I feel someone in you."

"What?" Avelina was stunned, her eyes widened. "W-what do you mean by that?"

Annette shook her head at her. "I don’t know, honestly. I can’t explain it. You have this distinct smell on you, and it isn’t so human-like."

"Olga, who have you been with?"

Avelina’s heart skipped a bit. How could she have forgotten?! Humans can also tell vampires apart due to their distinctive, unique scent, just as vampires can also tell humans apart. That must have been what her mother smelled on her—Draven’s distinct, eccentric scent.

Draven was literally all over her before she left, it was only normal that she would smell like him. Not to mention the fact that she was wearing his coat!

If she had realized sooner, she would have taken the coat off and scented her body with perfume.

"Olga..." Annette narrowed her eyes on her. "Who have you been with?" She sounded a bit afraid.

"That scent on you smells familiar. It can’t be that all these years you have been with a vampire..." She lowered her voice at the last word.

Avelina jolted a bit. She frantically blinked her eyes and looked away from her mother. "N-no, of course not. Why would I be with a vampire?"

She laughed nervously. "If I had been with one, I surely wouldn’t be here now, alive and—"

"You smell like them, but there is also something much stronger and different about this one on you. Who was it, Olga? Who were you with this past year?" Annette questioned.

"We searched all over Rennes for you, and even the police did a search for you, but no one could find a trace of you. We all thought you were dead, somewhere out there. But that was just me holding onto some false hope."

"Tell me the truth! What happened?" She gazed at Avelina with determination brimming in her eyes. She wasn’t going to leave until Avelina spilled the truth to her.

Avelina breathed frantically and flinched the second her mother grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Listen, I know you are afraid, and I do understand why. If your father finds out about this, he won’t let you off the hook. But you see, I’m not going to tell him anything because I will not and will never allow him to harm you again."

"However," she continued. "This is why I need you to tell me the truth. Don’t hide anything from me, please."

Avelina gazed at her, and knowing very well that her mother was probably the most sincere person she’d known, she took a deep breath, calming down. She relaxed her shoulder and hesitantly began to recount what had happened, right from the moment Mr. Marcel had tried to force himself on her.

Annette listened carefully, and it took almost an hour before Avelina was done. She stared at her, slowly digesting all the information she had been given. Her eyes softened, and she half-smiled.

"He’s...a good man, I suppose," she said.

Avelina nodded at her. "He is, mama. He really is."

Annette stared at her daughter, her smile gradually enlarging. She asked, "You are...in love with this man, are you not?"

"What?" Avelina drew her head back, startled. "What do you mean?"

Annette chuckled. "You have the eyes of a woman in love. I have been there, and I can tell." She reached out her hand to cup Avelina’s cheek. "But you know that you mustn’t love this man any further, right? Your father will kill you if he finds out."