Chapter 143: A Binding Contract...?
Chapter 143: A Binding Contract...?
"Teacher~"
Lucian walked into Vivienne’s training hall with a big, bright smile on his face. Vivienne was sitting on a chair with one leg crossed over the other and a glass of wine in her hand.
She looked at him the moment he entered.
"Did you miss me?"
Lucian asked as he placed his hand over his heart.
Vivienne only stared at him in silence.
Lucian’s stubborn smile didn’t disappear either.
"Not even a little? I disappeared for two weeks and this is the welcome I get?"
Vivienne only lifted the glass, took a small sip, then—
"Who is it?"
She asked.
"What?"
Lucian blinked.
"The woman you slept with."
Lucian froze for half a second, then, his smile returned.
Why was he even surprised at this point?
He didn’t return for two weeks, it was obvious she would know.
"Evelyn."
He answered honestly.
"The singer?"
"Yes."
Vivienne looked at him for a long moment.
Then she asked,
"Why would she sleep with someone like you?"
"Thank you for the confidence boost."
Lucian smiled.
"She is famous, wealthy and beautiful. You are reckless, unstable, newly changed, poorly trained, and annoying."
"You really know how to list a man’s charms."
Lucian chuckled, not taking Vivienne’s words to heart.
"Why are you here?"
Vivienne asked directly as she placed the glass on the small table beside her.
"I missed you~"
His same bright smile returned.
Vivienne only stared at him, Lucian held his smile, she kept staring.
A few seconds passed like that.
Lucian may have had a poker face that could fool most people, but Vivienne could see through him at a glance and as she stared at him now, Lucian realised that she had done it again.
So, a few more seconds later, his smile faded away.
"Fine."
Lucian stepped into the hall and closed the door behind him.
"The concert ended without an attack."
Vivienne didn’t say anything and Lucian continued—
"Something happened during Evelyn’s performance.
Energy of Desire gathered around her."
Vivienne narrowed her eyes at those words.
"It came from the crowd, all twenty-six thousand of them, their admiration, love, obsession, longing, desire, everything. At first, I thought I was imagining it, that maybe my reserves had changed and I’d become overly sensitive, but it kept happening, again and again, with every song she sang."
Vivienne remained silent the whole time he explained, then once he was done—
"How much?"
She asked a simple question and Lucian—
"Enough to fill my reserves hundreds of times, maybe even a thousand."
And for a moment, Vivienne did not move. She only thought about what Lucian said, then, after a while, she asked another question.
"Did anyone else notice?"
"No, let alone her or the crowd, even Alaric and the others didn’t notice, machines didn’t react to that energy."
"It’s because the Energy wasn’t being used."
Vivienne answered.
"I figured as much."
Lucian nodded.
For a moment, the hall turned silent. Lucian stared at Vivienne, waiting for her to say anything, Vivienne looked at him, at his tense expression, that made her silent for a while, then, she sighed.
"So this is why Vaelrith wanted her."
Lucian didn’t say anything at those words, his face however, became more solemn. Vivienne could see the anger he was trying to hide.
"She is a demon’s dream, especially a Demon of Desire’s."
Vivienne spoke as she stood up.
"A person who can draw desire from groups without any demonic training, ritual, or even conscious control.
To most beings, that wouldn’t matter, heck, they won’t even be able to see the desire but Incubi are different."
Vivienne took a small pause as she looked at Lucian.
"An Incubus is sensitive enough to sense that Energy. To him, Evelyn would be an unclaimed feast. The machine at Velvet House was likely not only meant to enslave her, Vaelrith must have wanted to claim her through Orpheus, whoever this Orpheus is, he must have a deal with Vaelrith, he would get the singer Evelyn as a slave, while Vaelrith would get to feed on all the energy the girl gathers."
Lucian clenched his fists in anger as his violet eyes turned colder.
Vivienne then asked another question.
"Did you tell anyone?"
"No."
Lucian shook his head.
"I don’t trust anyone but you."
Vivienne watched the boy for a long time, then, she finally nodded.
"Good."
Lucian blinked, Vivienne almost never praised him.
Vivienne’s face then turned solemn and—
"If the Enclave learns what the girl is, she will stop being a protected civilian."
"She will become an asset."
Lucian narrowed his eyes.
"At least you are not stupid."
"Again, your encouragement moves me."
Vivienne only stared at Lucian and—
"She will be studied, contained, watched or... if the benefits are strong enough, they might even use her for negotiations."
Those words made Lucian’s face even colder as he understood what those words meant.
Use her for negotiations...
It would mean that the Enclave would willingly give Evelyn up if they got something ’equally’ valuable in return.
They would trade a human’s life.
And Lucian—
He did not doubt that for even a second.
He saw it on his very first mission, he saw how Darius was willing to sacrifice Evelyn if he could get the data he wanted so much.
Most of the Enclave operated like that.
They weren’t exactly evil, they might actually be working for humanity’s survival, but they do not care about a particular human on a personal level.
To them, if one human needs to be sacrificed for the greater good of humanity, that becomes a necessary sacrifice.
And perhaps...
That is the only reason Humanity even survived this far.
But Lucian—
He didn’t care.
He didn’t care whether this was the only way.
Evelyn was his.
And he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.
"...what do I do?"
He asked with a solemn look on his face.
"Claim her."
Vivienne answered instantly.
"What...?"
Lucian’s expression changed.
"Form a Binding Contract with her."
"A Binding Contract?"
Lucian frowned.
"Yes."
"I can... do that?"
Lucian blinked.