A Game Of Chess With A Vampire
Chapter 374: Chosen?

Chapter 374: Chosen?

Avelina replied.

"My mother. I can’t stop wondering if she is okay."

Draven blinked, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. He took a thoughtful few moments before saying, "Your mother is fine, but the person you should be worried about is your sister."

"My sister?" Avelina turned her head, glancing at him. "Why my sister? Did something happen?"

Draven took a deep breath and looked at her with a bit of sympathy in his eyes.

"She helped us find you, and your father knows. I’m not sure what he is going to do to her now, but I know he won’t let her off."

Avelina could only sit, gazing at him as though pondering what he’d said. "My sister helped you? That’s not like her at all."

"True." Draven nodded. "She didn’t want to at first, but eventually agreed."

"You are right. My father definitely won’t let her off the hook." Avelina shook her head.

Draven asked, "Will you save her?"

Avelina raised her eyes to look at him. She shook her head, saying, "I don’t think so."

"Why not?" Draven cocked an eyebrow, quite curious.

Avelina cynically half smiled to herself. "I don’t want to go back there. I fear that my emotions might take control and I may hurt my father. I don’t want to do anything to him for the sake of my mother, even though I hate him to the core."

"For once, I like to be selfish, but not when it comes to my mother. She would never be happy with me if I were to hurt my father, so all I can do is stay away and just forget he exists."

"As for my sister, my father may not let her off the hook, but he surely won’t kill her because of this. I suppose she’ll be fine. Although I am still quite worried about her and my mom, I wish I could take them away from that house and have them stay somewhere else away from that man." She sighed, resting her head against the window.

Draven gazed at her and gently began to stroke her hair. "What if I can help you?"

"Help me?" Avelina was a bit surprised, as she could not seem to think of a way in which Draven could help in such a situation.

Draven smiled at her, returning his attention to the road ahead of them. "Well, what do you think about getting them out and having them live closer to the barrier? That way, you can visit them if you want to without fearing for your father."

"I don’t think your father should be an obstacle stopping you from seeing your mother. When I came looking for you, she’d begged me to save you, so I know she really loves you more than I’ve ever seen a mother do. Perhaps like my mother did."

Avelina was quiet. She stared at the apple in her hand, and a smile gradually formed on her face. "Then I don’t mind. I would love to see her. I need her to know that I’m alive and okay."

"Mhm, we will." Draven agreed, ruffling her hair. "For now, let’s see how things are at the royal mansion."

Avelina nodded, chuckling under her breath. She bit out a piece of the apple and stuffed it into Draven’s mouth. "Eat."

Draven chewed on the piece, the edge of his mouth curving into a smirk.

...

Arriving back at the mansion, Draven parked the car and got down, walking over to the other side to help Avelina out. He unlocked her seat belt, grabbed her hand, and pulled her out of the car.

He shut the door, locked the car, and began to proceed into the mansion while holding firmly onto her hand. "Don’t do anything that would give away you are not human anymore, okay?"

"Just be yourself the way you’ve always been. My scent is completely on you, so they won’t be able to tell that you were turned." He came to a stop, halting to adjust her slightly snow-covered hat.

Avelina nodded, taking a long, deep breath. "I’ll be fine." She held onto Draven’s hand, and they walked right through the entrance, proceeding into the vast living room.

On the sofa, Old Master Lenort sat, going through a few documents with a middle-aged man whom Draven had never seen before. His eyes narrowed as he eyed them, and his grip on Avelina’s hand tightened.

He walked past them, proceeding to his quarter. Old Master Lernot halted reading through the document in his hand and lifted his head to gaze at Draven’s disappearing back.

"Isn’t that your son, my lord?" The middle-aged man asked.

Old master looked at him, grinning. "It is, Mikhail."

"It’s been so long since I last saw him," the man Mikhail said, smiling.

Old Master Lenort nodded. "Indeed. He was too little, it’d be a miracle if he could remember you."

Mikhail chuckled.

"Come to think of it, you did say you were going to get rid of him back then. How generous of you to still keep him alive! He even has a wife now."

Old Master Lenort scoffed. "I’m keeping him alive for a reason. Things didn’t go as planned."

"Oh?" Mikhail seemed surprised. "Aren’t you afraid?"

"Afraid of what?" Old Master Lenort raised a questioning brow.

Mikhail flipped to the next page of the document. "The inheritance—what if he gets chosen? I heard you postponed it, and I honestly don’t understand why you did. Are you giving him a chance or something?"

"Chosen?" Old Master Lenort was amused. "You really think the crown would choose him?"

"You never know." Mikhail shrugged, quite serious. "I mean, it would have been safer if you held the ceremony soon; at least there’d be a low chance of him getting chosen considering he doesn’t have a son or a daughter."

Old Master Lenort chuckled softly. "Does it look like he would have one anytime soon?"

"Possibly." Mikhail dropped the documents to look at him. "Aren’t your sons in their heats?"