Chapter 174: 24

Chapter 174: 24

"You may raise your head."

What a bastard.

Jia Hyson raises his head obediently and smiles faintly, "Thank you for the grace."

The beautifully hateful face of Prince Rigel smiles widely back. His easy grin adds to his wilful charm, "You may not believe me, but I truly am pleased by you and have no intentions for another guide unless you do something very annoying."

"I'm flattered," Jia Hyson dryly replies before his smile curls up a little playfully. "And you may not believe me, but I am also truly pleased and have no intentions to shirk my duties unless you do something very appalling."

Prince Rigel: "I don't believe you." :)

Jia Hyson: "That's deeply and truly unfortunate." :)

Prince Rigel: :D

Jia Hyson: :D

After this exchange of smiles and words, Jia Hyson finally directs Prince Rigel to the guest bedroom that could easily be redesigned for the other's pleasure. Skilfully, he shows the blonde prince around the area. Jia Hyson also took the time in introducing the more modern aspects of home life as well. He showed off the air conditioner, humidifier, the different buttons to control the shower and so on before finally excusing himself to prepare food for tonight.

D dazzled by all the new technology, Prince Rigel could only fall into a silent and befuddled daze. It was only a minute after the door closed on him did he finally wake up.

Prince Rigel: Wait?? Isn't he going to help me move my things???

However, when he rushed out to demand help, he found that his guide was no longer in the dorm room.

Prince Rigel's ability was impressive, but it didn't boost his memory. In fact, because of the limits of his ability, his memory was a little worse than normal vampires, and he was often in a daze. The dormitory was so large and relatively complicated, not to mention full of unfamiliar vampires. Prince Rigel was reluctant to go out and cause himself and his coven to lose face as a result of his lack of knowledge.

Gritting his teeth, he begins to move his own items and bed, but mid-way, he can't help but laugh softly.

"Tsk, really irritating."

Meanwhile, the runaway in question was in the dormitory library.

With a calm and pleasant expression like he hadn't just run away from a vampire prince at top speed a minute ago, Jia Hyson waves at the students in the area. Coolly he strides to the back of the library, where twenty small rooms are located.

These rooms were somewhat soundproof, and they were a mix between glass walls, tinted glass walls, completely soundproof carpeting or plastered walls decorated with various art and a single rectangular window facing the library's central area.

Giving various levels of privacy, it was used for group meetings, class projects, discussions and study groups. Due to its limited numbers, though, students must book in advance online or on the library computer. Of course, if no one was using a room, it was still possible to go in until someone called you out.

The only exception was the few students with special authority and special access to one of two locked and completely private study rooms, exclusive to their use.

And Alaric was one of those with this special authority.

Taking out his school ID card, he scans one of the locked study rooms and enters smoothly. The moment he steps in, his soft and gentle smile is replaced with a vicious smirk. Like a villain dropping his facade, he closes the door with one hand while messing up his neat and tidy hair before falling onto the nearby sofa, relaxing into it languidly. "Bebe, give me what you compiled about Rigel Delune."

"Of course." Now that they were alone, Bebe could finally talk aloud and bring out the holographic screen with the information. "Bebe has also used [World Encyclopaedia] to try to determine more, but unfortunately, the topic of Rigel's powers is considered an undisclosed plot point that must be determined by ourselves."

Jia Hyson rolls his eyes, "Of course, ah. When is life ever that easy?"

"Don't you like a challenge?" Bebe retorts.

"Yeah," Jia Hyson sarcastically responds back, "But I like the challenges that are somewhat easy and make me feel good about myself when I solve them." Jia Hyson pulls out his phone and begins texting Mr Garth about the latest events. "You know, ones that are stressful enough to make you think about it a little bit but won't take too long to accomplish after a few tries, giving me a sufficient rush of dopamine and success that outweighs the previous frustration."

Bebe falls into silence for a second before thoughtfully muttering, "So nothing like you then."

Jia Hyson: "Yo, what the fuck does that mean?"

Sensing that it was about to be inflicted with a truly scathing response, Bebe hurriedly pushes the holographic screen closer to its host, successfully diverting his attention.

[Name: Rigel Delune]

[Title: Prince of the Eclipse Coven.]

[Age: 73]

[Multiple Powers (Not known, was not well utilised in plot, hidden plot).

Observed powers so far:

Teleportation, both of objects and himself- Can move to places he has not been before but only confirmed short distances.

Summoning items- could be another part of teleportation or a space ability.

Gravity control- produces intense pressure that can pin down or throw people.]

[Personality: Erratic, wilful, childish. Skilled liar. Narcissistic. Toward Jessica Fang, Prince Rigel pretended to be a sweet and friendly youth that secretly sowed discord, seemingly both for his own amusement and due to the enmity with the Golden Rose Coven. After the reveal of his true villain identity, he is depicted as cruel, selfish, and slightly unpredictable behaviour. However, he only had a few scenes before happily sacrificing himself in the ritual.]

[Religion: The Eclipse Coven believes in the Ancient Vampire God, vampire superiority and supremacy. There is strong discrimination toward humans and the encouragement to indulge in the primal vampire instincts that come from their original form as vampiric monsters. This 'instinct' involves using humans as blood slaves, the pursuit of violence and hunting, as well as other things.

It is assumed Rigel has strong beliefs given his active part in the ritual. Still, he had not been written to showcase a particularly strong discrimination toward humans and had even expressed fascination and interest.]

[Likes: Sleeping-related items. Honesty. Sweets. Comfortable things. Fresh blood. Wanton killing and being able to do whatever he wants. Puzzles.]

[Dislikes: Being too formal. Being too strict. Being restrained and restricted. Being told to do things he doesn't want to do. Boring people. People that bore him. Annoying people. People too impolite. At the same time, people who are too polite are boring, which is disliked. Pretentious self-righteous vampires. The belief that humans and vampires are equal. Carrots.]

[Bebe's final thoughts: Self-willed and contrary asshole. Has both oldest and youngest child syndrome. Surprisingly pedantic. Annoying and unruly garbage man with a good face.]

Jia Hyson: " Were the final thoughts really necessary? It's all insults."

Bebe: "But was Bebe wrong?"

Jia Hyson: ""

No, it was pretty accurate ah.

To be honest, the information was general and not too difficult to figure out with enough time and thought. But Jia Hyson didn't blame Bebe. After all, who told the Author God to focus on the romantic subplot more than the actual plot?

If one could cut out all the unnecessary miscommunication, misunderstandings, fighting, third-party drama, insecurity and jealousy in the love line, the Jessica Fang series would probably have turned out to be more like a trilogy instead. Then again, with the admittedly decent but poorly executed plot, it was perhaps for the best there was so much romantic padding.

Before he could say something else, his phone began to ring. Seeing the name of the person calling, Jia Hyson immediately accepts the call and puts it on speakerphone one-handedly. With his other hand, he presses the tip of his forefinger and middle finger to his lips, kissing it softly before pulling it away and coaxing an icy white mist out of his mouth to follow.

"Alaric? Are you okay? Wait, I'll use video call." The gruff and concerned voice of Mr Garth speaks in a rush. Before Jia Hyson could even say anything in response, the call had already ended, and just as quickly, a video call request was buzzing through.

Making a little swirling motion with his fingers and letting the ice magic following it build up, Jia Hyson leans back and smiles softly as he accepts the video call. Mr Garth's handsome and scruffy face appears, his eyebrows creased, and his mouth frowning as he looks through the screen. Seeing the relaxed posture of Jia Hyson, he also relaxes slightly, but his voice is still tense. "What's going on, Alaric? How could you be roommates with Prince Rigel?"

"Principal Matthews decided on it," Jia Hyson simply and helplessly replies. Subconsciously his tone became whiny and coquettish as he finally had someone he felt intimate enough to complain to. "Literally just told me today as well. I understand why he chose me, but I still find it ridiculous. How am I supposed to live comfortably with him there?"

"Not to mention it's dangerous. I know Matthews; I'll talk to him. There must be someone else who could do this like" Mr Garth trails off, hesitant and frustrated. After all, he also knew Alaric was the most responsible of the vampires, with good backing and strength. Another vampire doing this rather thankless task would be suicide at best, provoking a political and literal war at worst.

But, even if he understood logically, Mr Garth still felt wronged on Alaric's behalf. He selfishly wished someone else could take the job instead. "There's got to be someone, or maybe another option-"

Jia Hyson's heart warms a little seeing the older man struggle to think about ways to help his situation, "It's okay, Darrian, what's done is done. There's really no helping it now."

"Matthews is a good man, but as a principal, he should still be held accountable for not informing you and the Golden Rose Coven sooner." Mr Garth still wasn't appeased. In fact, seeing how easily the other was accepting it, he felt even more distressed for the other party. Despite Alaric's true childish and playful nature, the other was too responsible and face-saving, making it easy for the other to be roped into various obligations and duties.

It made Mr Garth both proud this was the person he liked but also annoyed at seeing the various burdens Alaric was constantly taking on. But he didn't want the other to stop doing what made him happy. The older vampire just didn't wish to see Alaric to become overwhelmed and overworked. Therefore in his opinion, the best thing he could do was simply to support him and do his own part to take on what weight he could take for Alaric.

"Principal Matthews is supported by Vice-Principal Rong," Jia Hyson sighs, unaware of Mr Garth's thoughts. "We really can't do much there. Besides, I don't believe the principal had given the information so last minute on purpose or maliciously."

The older vampire took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. "That's true," he admits reluctantly, "Principal Matthews is a bit weak-hearted, but he knows what to do in critical moments. If he wasn't, then he wouldn't have gotten that job in the first place, and that bastard of a vice-principal wouldn't be so infatuated."

That wasn't that important though. The main thing was this case was so messy and full of loops and sudden turns, not to mention there were many guests with connections with the Fosse family, both good and bad to also entangle. If Prince Rigel was really one of the people behind solving this convoluted mystery, then Jia Hyson felt there wasn't much point in trying to hide his secret in the first place.

Yes, that's right. His choice was not to stress over keeping his crossdressing secret from Prince Rigel. Instead his focus was on how to make the Eclipse Prince keep the secret with him.

Right now Prince Rigel was ignorant due to changing times and his own inexperience with a lot of new things. The other had been asleep for nearly two decades which meant there was a lot of culture shock, plus with the Eclipse Coven's teachings there was probably not much in the way of human-based knowledge for him. But once he acclimatises, figuring out will only be a matter of time.

Honestly, even if Prince Rigel was a person with normal or below-average intelligence, it was still an unfeasible thing to hide from him given they'll be living under the same roof unless Jia Hyson chooses to throw out everything. But that would produce a whole new set of problems in that case.

So instead, his aim was to manipulate and seduce. Cut his losses, and put more energy in damage control than prevention.

With the previous interactions at hand, Jia Hyson has a fairly decent grasp on what sort of character Prince Rigel likes. Someone with some politeness and obedience but at the same time a little rebellious, playful and had a streak of maliciousness. A person filled with contradictions that needed to be uncovered.

Finding someone with hidden sides is always attractive, and some people simply find that the more extreme the hidden side, the more fascinating and lovely. The sense of accomplishment in uncovering it was also satisfying in many ways. Jia Hyson has personally experienced it, being the one who enthrals others with his own self and being also the one who grows intrigued and curious toward another who seemed more than they reveal.

Most importantly the person must be interesting and had a hidden temperament that was a temperament he liked. As long as the hidden side fits the tastes, does not go past any lines and the current impression of the person in question is good, most people who discover it will subconsciously garner good feelings toward the other person. It may even develop into a feeling of romantic love. At the very least there is usually a feeling of protectiveness over this discovery or a sense of sharing a secret between people

While he still would not confidently say he had completely understood Rigel, the other had admittedly a lot of similarities with himself, especially his younger self, which helps a bit in supplementing the understanding.

And more than his understanding of Rigel, Jia Hyson understands the concept of keeping a fish on the hook once caught. The method into forcing them to hold on even though it tore their own flesh from the inside out, producing a messy and fascinatingly cruel sight as they clung on yearningly. This sort of game of tempting others and enticing them down to obsession and a little madness, Jia Hyson has not exerted for a long time. But still he recalls his experiences, maybe not so much in detail anymore, but the memories were still present.

The thrill, the twisted pleasure and sense of powerful control of holding a metaphorical heart in his hands.. It was almost as terrifyingly addictive as the moment you steal a life from another with your own hands. That strange and hollow pleasure, that potent fascination as you cause an indescribable loss to the world, a small but permanent stain that can be covered, but never removed.

"Alaric?" Mr Garth's concerned gruff voice snaps him out of his wandering thoughts, "Alaric? Don't worry, even if that's the case and he finds out, I'll do my best to protect you, okay?"

Jia Hyson, who was thinking of seducing Prince Rigel felt an arrow hit his conscience as Mr Garth looks at him through the screen with worry. Unfortunately, his feelings, while still present, were no longer so vividly strong nor as easy to overwhelm his logical and pragmatic decisions.

Jia Hyson really liked Mr Garth, he really did. But Mr Garth couldn't stop Prince Rigel, neither in status and possibly not in power either. There were difficulties politically and simply put, while he was strong, and held good status, but in the end, Mr Garth was still just a vampire. One who likes to relax with games, smokes enough to disgust the anti-smoker association to death, snacks on pig's blood cake* when it's available and hates being forced to work overtime for anything.

*Taiwanese delicacy street food made of pig's blood, sticky rice, and soy broth that is deep fried and served on a stick. It looks really nice ah, I would like to try one day.

He was not someone who should be pushed into this whole situation more than he should be. Maybe he could turn around and become powerful and amazing just like many male leads tend to do, it's not impossible with some coaxing and manipulation on his part to sharpen Mr Garth into a strong knight with a sharp sword and a heavy shield. But Jia Hyson didn't want to do that. He didn't want to force the other to become something he's not just to help him.

Jia Hyson preferred to do things himself anyway well, that wasn't necessarily true, but at the very least it was not false either. Anyway, if it works out, he can try to go back to Mr Garth. And if it doesn't it is only his own fault and choices that led him there. He didn't want the older vampire to think otherwise.

He understands how to hook a fish and make them stay on. With the same understanding he also knows how to cut the line and let them go.

With a soft smile that hides his inner thoughts Jia Hyson sighs softly, "Don't worry, I don't think I need protecting yet." He gently rebuffs, a hint of playful defiance in his eyes, "But you were very handsome when you said it ah~"

Unfortunately it seems Mr Garth didn't intend to play along and move the topic, "Alaric," He gazes deeply into Jia Hyson's eyes, "I'm serious. I want to support and help you. Let me be there for you."

Jia Hyson swallows and the lump suddenly in his throat almost felt like it was his previous convictions being swallowed down instead.

Those bold and blunt words, there was no way he could pretend that he didn't recognise Mr Garth's feelings had now stepped over from like to something far more serious. With a pounding heart, Jia Hyson found himself a little flustered again. There was no way, he was being soft and indecisive, wanting to go through with his plan but also wanting to reciprocate this vampire's feelings the best he could, as much as he could. It was really too unfortunate and Jia Hyson couldn't help but resent Prince Rigel whose presence had brought these complications.

'This feeling of affection is really too difficult and troublesome.' Jia Hyson complains to his system as he touches his hair a little anxiously.

'Well, your situation certainly fits in line with the overdramatic and romantic tastes of the World Consciousness at least.' Bebe helplessly replies. What else could it say? It also wants to encourage its host's slow growth in understanding love and a healthy relationship, but it's undeniable that they had entangled into things too much and now they're suddenly stuck with such limited options.

Jia Hyson tugs at his hair in frustration, he also understands Bebe couldn't think of much to help right now. They still had an enemy prince waiting for him and it was too hard to predict things right now. In the end he took in a deep breath and exhaled, forcing himself to calm down a little.

His eyes lift up to see Mr Garth on his screen quietly and patiently waiting for him. Once the other saw that Jia Hyson's attention was back on himself, he took another inhale of his cigarette and asked him quietly, "You good?"

Rough and quiet, and yet it made his heart tremble.

"No." Jia Hyson chokes out, inexplicably feeling a bit emotional.

"You brat," Mr Garth mutters affectionately, "Don't try to take everything onto yourself. I know I'm not the best meat on the market, but I do pretty well if I say so myself."

Jia Hyson recalls his previous cold evaluation and found it a little difficult to speak. No matter how he feels, he knows his thoughts are true, but no matter how true they are, it still makes him feel ashamed in the face of Mr Garth's attitude.

"Hey, do you," The older vampire hesitates, "Do you want to see me? I just think maybe it's better to talk in person and maybe I could help take away the more incriminating objects from your room. I know a guy with a spatial ability that owes me a favour anyway, so really it's the for the best if-"

Seeing the other begin to flush as they made excuses to come over, Jia Hyson couldn't help but chuckle, the sound interrupting Mr Garth's string of sentences.

"Yeah." Jia Hyson scratches behind his ear, "Yeah, I, I want to see you too."

After finally admitting it, his face also warms at his own genuine sentiments. It was one thing to spit out lewd and spicy words, but the soft and sweet words of love was really too uncomfortable. Even after living so long, expressing these sort of things still make Jia Hyson inexplicably shy.

Mr Garth's eyes light up. "I'll come visit you as soon as I can." He promises earnestly.

Jia Hyson coughs but can't hide his own eagerness, "Well, I'll be waiting."

Prince Silas stares at the door to Alaric's dorm room.

He had a bag of popcorn, various snacks, and a few DVDs of various popular movie classics. To any passerby, it was clear he was there for a movie night.

However, that was just a pretence.

Twenty minutes ago, he had gotten a text from the elders of the coven about Alaric's sudden situation. After carefully questioning the specifics, the prince had quickly thought up an excuse to visit Alaric and made the necessary arrangements before walking calmly over. In this way, nobody would question or feel much curiosity toward his actions, especially the other vampires who may report anything amiss to their respective covens. While the situation will be revealed eventually, it was best to delay the inevitable until everyone involved had a better grasp on what they should do.

It was a confident, considerate and calm response to an otherwise incredibly unexpected turn of events. This was enough to show how much Prince Silas had matured over time, thanks to Alaric.

However, to be honest he was not as emotionally calm as he appeared. In truth, he was quite hurt.

After all, he was the crown prince, powerful and strong, not to mention close with Alaric. Even if the other was not responding to himself romantically, he had thought they were at least best friends. So why was it, he had to learn about this critical turn of events, not from Alaric himself, but from the elders who learned from Mr Garth?

Prince Silas' eyes dimmed, and his hand raised to knock on the door hesitated. Was it because Alaric still thought he was so unreliable? Was his efforts still nothing in the other's eyes? Is there is there really no hope?

His black eyes, dimmed and unfocused with hesitation, turns cold. The impatience and unwillingness in his heart shone through the darkness.

He was no longer the vampire he used to be, who would give up or had no energy to research options that his brain couldn't provide. Silas has perused the internet and books both offline and online. Taking up whatever interests him, it was impossible to ignore brushing up on his theoretical love knowledge.

In his opinion, after supplementing his sense of romance, patience, persistence, and opportunity were the key factors in chasing someone. Don't rush the feelings, consistently show your care and sincerity. If neither has managed to create a breakthrough, then an opportunity is needed to alter the dynamics of the relationship.

And if no opportunity comes by?

He was the crown prince, the most powerful vampire of his generation and the arrogance that had been suppressed, as well as the dissatisfaction of being constantly denied every time he lowered his head like a licking dog*, was threatening to burst out.

*licking dog describes a person who puts down his/her dignity to cater to others even though knowing the other party doesn't like him/her. A simp or brown-noser essentially.

Well, if there is no opportunity. Then he has to make one.

...

...

Author's Note:

Happy Halloween~ I should have the extra done by tomorrow maybe ah~ It'll be my treat to you cuties uwu

I have also learned my story is also in Webnovel's sister app thing Chereads (idk much on it) so I just wanna say hello to those guys. I'm sure ya'll cuties too (donate if you have the money hehe but like dw too much about it and enjoy)

This author has recently used some donation money (Thanks Tetra for the super generous donation, and also Mellie, MllAdler, Cilchill, Nathan G, Silly Fox, Aki, DemonicAngelMusic, Anna, Bl_is_best, tree and hex! I always forget to give thanks to the kofi people, and also thanks to all yall gifters too!) and became a premium member on novelhall discord and thus can request alllll the novels I want to be machine translated kek. I suppose it shall be a while till I can escape mtl hell ahahah. I just finished My Brother is a Bigshot which is no CP QT about being an awesome brother, it's simple twist that I haven't really seen much of and am excited to see more (I requested another brother based qt like yesterday ahahha fingers crossed its also goodddd).

I feel like ya'll have picked up on this but I usually don't read yaoi on mtl, idk I prefer no romance or straight male QT to mtl, it's simple and enjoyable, the stories I pick always have easy style to translate and I suppose I prefer to squeal over yaoi when I don't have to use my brain too much for translation, focus all on the yaoi :3

With Halloween there is of course a lot of Halloween fanarts on the discord~ I will try update the fanart page in the following weeks~

Hope you guys have enjoyed the chapter, emotional stuff is always a bit of a pain but tis necessary kinda ah~