The Fallen Vampire

Chapitre 240 Don't Embarrass Me

The night seemed to come more quickly that day for some reason. For everyone except Vermeil that is.

Lots of people wanted to come up and talk to her about her earlier grand performance and ask her enough questions to fill up a web browser.

They wanted to know how she studied, what kind of flame she was using, how she had such knowledge at her 'young' age, and if she were interested in selling pills.

She barely remembered the answers she gave. She was sure that she tried to be polite when ending conversations though.

That wasn't necessarily the difficult part. Trying to pretend to be normal around her family was though.

Fox spirits are practically emotional bloodhounds.

Inadu was just really observant.

Lucia's eyes processed things tens of times faster than normal because she was a dragon.

Enyo would know something was wrong if her appetite shifted even a little bit.

If her voice was even slightly off-pitch, then Aveena would hear it and question her about it.

Vermeil couldn't so much as breathe wrong at home, or she would be fucked. And not in the fun way.

Ordinarily, she prides herself on her honesty in her relationship. She tells them every single intrusive thought that she has with no shame.

But not this time. She couldn't share this because she knew her loved ones well enough to be absolutely certain that they would hate her reasoning behind doing what she did.

So she kept it to herself for now. She stuffed all of her feelings down and ran off to play with Yukiko shortly after her competition was over.

So now, even though she wanted nothing more than to be embraced by her family, she wouldn't allow herself to go near them just yet. At least not until she was sure she could keep herself together.

"Mommy..?"

Vermeil looked up from her seat at a picnic table.

Yukiko was walking up to her with a sufficient amount of dirt on her clothes and rubbing her eyes.

"Sleepy...hungry." She complained.

Vermeil; uncaring of getting herself dirty, lifted her daughter into her arms as she stood up.

"You really seem to leave it all out on the field, don't you, kiddo?" She chuckled. "Alright, what do you think you want to eat?"

"Curry... Omurice... Pork katsu-"

"L-Let's just go home and see if Yem will put something together for us, yea?"

Yukiko shook her head hard. "No, want mommy cooking."

"Oh? But then I can't help you bathe and you would have to eat diner dirty."

"Stay dirty fine." Yukiko shrugged.

Somehow, Vermeil felt like she was getting to experience what it would be like to have a son as well as a daughter.

"I don't know if I can swing that one, Little Blossom. Being a demihuman means you sweat now."

Yukiko lifted her arm and sniffed herself. "...Is fine."

"Is not fine." Vermeil rolled her eyes.

"Because what good will it do me to humiliate you in front of all of those people like that??

The only thing that it would lead to is a buildup of resentment that you, or those who look up to you would start directing towards my family, my people, my daughter.

I don't have the time for that. This is the first time that the people of our cult have been able to congregate peacefully with the races of light en masse.

They don't have to worry here. They don't have to fight or be paranoid if an elf comes up to them to chat.

My people are fallen.

They will not get this experience everywhere they go. And I am not self-serving enough to let petty, insignificant rivalries take this chance away from them."

"You're being dramatic. Nothing like that would-"

"Your entire sect laughed at me when all Lucia did was ask me about my rank. Because at only seventy years old, I could not possibly know more than you.

They revere you.

What do you possibly think would happen if I, a stranger from nowhere surrounded by fallen, suddenly crushed you completely in a contest using techniques you have likely never even thought of??"

Vermeil toed the perfect line.

She defeated Grandmaster Hideyoshi in a way that left room for debate.

They could say that he was just having an off day. That with just a modicum more effort, he probably could have beaten Vermeil.

They still saw him as their god, and Vermeil was just the minor character who, while talented in her own right, had just gotten lucky.

They still knew who the 'real' winner would be if they ever clashed again.

"My own father made my life a living hell for years when he found out I was better than him at something.

I have seen personally what people are capable of when their longtime belief is flipped on it's head in a single afternoon.

So you'll have to excuse me if I'm just a little bit lacking in the area of faith as it pertains to good sportsmanship. I'm sorry that I didn't help you lose the way you wanted."

Vermeil stormed past the Dan Master.

He didn't even look back as she left. How could he?

He felt like he was frozen in place- only able to hear the echoes of the words shared here with nothing else to say in response.

Hideyoshi had come here with fire in his blood and an axe to grind.

But now, he was left feeling like his initial reaction was apart of what Vermeil was talking about in the first place.

-

Vermeil flew back home at a low altitude so as not to scare Yukiko.

She kept her daughter's head cradled on the side of her neck so that she didn't have to look down as she flew. She really did have a fear of heights it seemed.

However, Yukiko suddenly moved her head when she felt drops of water land on the back of her neck.

"Mommy, why are you crying..? Is it because of what that short man said..?"

Vermeil quickly wiped her eyes as she offered her daughter a remarkably beautiful smile.

"No, baby. Your mommy just got a little something in her eyes is all. Believe me, your mommy is way too tough to cry."