Abaddon stepped out of his room for the first time in four days.
He had gone at Audrina relentlessly and obsessively, playing with her mind, body, and spirit while constantly murmuring in her ear that she was his and his alone.
After linking his other two wives senses so that they did not feel left out, he thoroughly relieved himself of both his lust and his anger.
Upon exiting from Audrina’s room, he found a seemingly young maid trembling as she remained bent over in a bow.
“M-My name is Renee and I-I have been instructed t-to assist you in your time here.” She said politely.
“Have you… been out here the whole time?” Abaddon asked.
The girl shuddered, before nodding slowly with a red face. “Y-Yes sir, I have.”
“…And I take that to mean you heard everything?”
“…”
Renee wanted to say that the entire castle had most likely heard the screams of the three women but felt that would have been too disrespectful.
The dragon rubbed his temples before realizing the woman in front of him was still prostrating.
“Lift your head. There is no need for you to remain in that position for so long.”
When the woman finally raised her head, Abaddon was finally able to get a good look at her face.
She was quite pretty, possessing bright orange hair along with the normal red eyes of a vampire.
However…
“Is there a reason why you are unable to look me in the eye?”
Ever since this conversation had begun, Renee had not raised her head to look at Abaddon even once.
Even when he asked her to lift her head, she kept her gaze firmly planted on his feet.
Realizing she had been caught, her pulse began to quicken and she struggled to come up with an answer. “I…”𝑜𝒱xt.𝒸𝐦
“Father!”
“Daddy!”
Suddenly, both Thea and Mira came running down the hall and dove into Abaddon’s arms.
“Ah, I neglected to inform the lord that his children had been continually requesting his presence.” Renee was rather glad that the arrival of this man’s daughters had taken the focus off of her.
“Oh? I’m sorry to keep my girls-“
“Why were you making our mommies scream?”
Even if the entire universe had suddenly been extinguished, it could not compare to the silence that followed when Mira asked that question.
Abaddon considered himself to be a man capable of adapting to any situation, but when it came to the innocence of his first daughter, he became like a deer in headlights.
He looked toward Thea for assistance, only to find her trying her hardest to hold in a laugh.
Once she saw her father pleading for assistance with his eyes, she finally regained some composure.
“Mira, don’t you want to show father what you’ve learned?”
The young dragon’s eyes gleamed like two mismatched gems and she quickly pulled out a wad of crumpled notes from her pocket.
“Sister Thea taught Mira that to properly torture a man, the best way is to take a super sharp knife and peel back the first layer of his skin! And then, you can…”
As Mira recited her childish yet well detailed notes, the three adults had very different reactions.
While Thea listened to the glee in which her sister recited her notes, she began to wonder if maybe her mothers were right about Mira being exposed to too much.
Renee, who was listening to all of this with a weakening stomach, was horrified that a girl as small and cute as Mira was actually so frightening.
Abaddon on the other hand was swelling up with pride.
Not only was he listening intently to his daughter’s lecture, he was even asking questions and nodding his head in approval when she gave an answer.
While the old him would have been concerned about such a small child knowing so much gorey information, it was different when it was his own daughter.
Just knowing she had multiple methods to protect herself was another way for him to sleep easier at night.
‘I can’t tell if this man is a really good father or a really bad one…’ Renee thought exhaustedly.
–
After separating from the girls, Abaddon asked to be taken to see Isabelle and Renee shakily obliged.
Along the way, he noticed that he seemed to be receiving some particularly intense gazes from the maids in the castle and it didn’t take him very long to realize why.
‘Maliketh’s blessing…’
A part of the blessing he’d received from the first abyss king was an increased affinity with the night and all of it’s creatures.
Most notably, vampires, spirits, and certain demons.
With his appearance that was nothing short of desire incarnate and his affinity that made all of these beings passively want to serve him, it was not an exaggeration to say that he had every vampire in the castle within the palm of his hand.
While most would consider this a good thing, Abaddon did find it rather strange to have taken over an entire castle with only his looks.
But even if he wanted to change things, he had no way to deactivate Maliketh’s blessing.
‘Wait…’ Abaddon finally realized the answer to the question that he’d asked earlier.
The maid who had been assigned to him was specifically asked not to meet his gaze, as if she was already aware that doing so would make her fall under his control.
While that shouldn’t be possible, the fact that she hasd brought her eyes no higher than his knees confirmed it as an undeniable reality.
He contemplated confronting the girl but realized that would be useless, after all someone had to tell her not to look at his face.
Isabelle finally stopped outside another pair of double doors and gestured for him to enter inside.
Upon entering the room, Abaddon found his sister in law at her desk with a large amount of papers on top of it.
“Are you done torturing my sister? I don’t know what she’s done but never in my life have I heard that girl say that she was sorry about something.” Isabelle asked without even looking up.
The dragon’s eyes narrowed when he realized that just like Renee, his sister in law was taking care not to look at his face as well.
“How do you know about my ability?” Abaddon asked without beating around the bush.
Isabelle immediately flinched before she involuntarily snapped the pen in her hand.
“I knew it… You do have my sister under some kind of spell, and you’re trying to do the same thing to me and everyone else in this castle!” Isabelle’s body began to release a suffocating black aura.
“I have done no such thing.” Abaddon said as he shook his head.
“LIAR! You’ve just admitted to possessing an ability!”
Abaddon realized this was all going to be rather complicated to explain.
Faced with no other option, he decided to reveal enough of the truth so that she would no longer be suspicious of him.
His body crackled with red lightning before he appeared directly in front of the charming vampire, and made her look directly into his eyes.
[ Spell : Glimpse of Oblivion, activated.
Within Abaddon’s inner world, he showed her as much of his memories as possible, while leaving out more sensitive matters like his system or the entities of the abyss.
In the end he was able to show her a rather convincing story, one where the mother goddess herself gave him his affinity for all creatures that live in the dark.
And even though he did not have to, he showed her brief glances of how he and Audrina fell in love and assured her that there was no foul play involved.
When Abaddon and Isabelle left the inner world, he released his hold on her and immediately backed away, leaving her to process all of the information she’d just learned.
‘All of that has to be a lie…’
‘But it felt so real?’
‘Why am I even debating this, I should just kill him now and set us all free.’
“You are still having trouble believing me?” Abaddon suddenly asked.
“Of course I am! Just because you suddenly show me some sort of fever dream doesn’t mean anything!”
Abaddon sighed before he decided he was out of options.
There was only one way for him to show her that he didn’t have any horrible intentions.
Isabelle took a step back when Abaddon’s tattoos began to glow with a mesmerizing light.
The dragon began to manipulate and stoke her desire for him, producing the same reaction as dumping a pool’s worth of gasoline on an open bonfire.
All of Isabelle’s will to fight against this man had been utterly crushed and she began to feel strange.
‘He’s so perfect….’
‘I cannot live without him.’
‘I would die for him!’
‘I must have him!’
Her entire body began to ache for him, his touch, his warmth, it didn’t matter.
She needed him desperately, and there was absolutely no one who could act as a proper substitute.
Just as Isabelle was about to rush forward and attack him, his bright tattoos began to dim significantly and in a moment, she was back to her senses.
As she fell to the ground clutching her head, Abaddon’s voice caused her entire body to tremble like a newborn doe.
“I take it that you understand now?” He asked in exhaustion.
A clear stream of liquid could be seen flowing from underneath Isabelle’s dress.
‘This is a joke… did I finish just from hearing him talk?’
It wasn’t hard for Isabelle to figure out Abaddon’s motive.
If he wanted, this entire continent would fall underneath his charm without being able to put up a fight.
The thought of such a thing was nothing short of frightening.
However, it also served to clear him of any suspicion of wrongdoing, making the visions and dreams that he’d shown her seem much more plausible.
“Then… you really didn’t-“
“No, I didn’t.”
Abaddon walked forward and offered his kneeling sister in law an outstretched hand.
“I am not a scheming man. Your sister is one of the most important women in my life and this kingdom is very important to her. I have nothing but pure intentions for both.”
Isabelle could not take his eyes off his outstretched hand.
Against her better judgment, she decided to stand up on her own, the worry of what would happen if she touched him ultimately getting the better of her.
“I get it… I still don’t think a dragon should be king of the vampires b-but I’ll stop trying to oppose you…”
“I think that’s a much smarter use of your time.”
As Isabelle rolled her eyes, a knock at the door stole both of their attention.
“Lady Isabelle? I’m sorry to interrupt but lady Seras’ mother has arrived early.”