Cassius saw her furrowed eyebrows and gently pressed his thumb between the wrinkled eyebrows, "I did my best. I used threats, soft words, and manipulations- all because I know for sure that you dislike the idea of human hunt. I have always seen it as nothing more than a burden as bodies would need to be get rid of and our ally humans who sees this tradition would soon turn into an enemy. It’d be worse if one of them starts to rebel. While to other vampires humans are disposable, they’re not too bad, especially their numbers."
"You an that their workforce could be used sowhere else," Arabella asked and saw him nod.
She didn’t know if it was good that Cassius wasn’t always blood thirsty like other vampires or be concerned with how lack of care he has both humans and vampires.
It wasn’t that he disagree to it seeing it as terrible morally, just that the humans could’ve been used in a better way.
"I know what you’re thinking," Cassius narrowed his eyes, "But don’t worry if this happen to vampires I would think the sa."
"Hm," Arabella sighed, "You don’t seem to see that I’m worried because you care for nothing, humans or vampires alike."
"I don’t believe it’s necessary to care for everyone," Cassius said coolly. "Did any of them help breathe when I was suffocating? I don’t kill out of prejudice but that doesn’t an I’m here to babysit the world either. What matters is how I protect myself and you. I value those who are loyal to , and I understand the weight of repaying that loyalty. So no there’s no reason for you to worry."
"Well.." Arabella found his words hard to argue as he was right. It’s not as if Cassius had the hobby of killing... maybe sotis and only those who he thinks he deserves?
"All you have to care now is that I have succeed in changing Versailles. Slowly and with ti the humans and vampires won’t have the sa grudges against each other no more," he pressed his forehead towards her with a smile. "Won’t it be the world you dread of?"
Arabella looked into his red eyes, the eyes that make them different but she found it lovely regardless.
With a smile she pressed her forehead back at him, "You’re right. Thank you Cassius." and she could see him smiling in return, kissing her lips gently.
That evening, Marissa stood at the garden. This garden wasn’t the one for the Crown Prince, which caught more sunlight and sunshine. This was the garden for the dead, for the bodies buried, for their ancestors.
This place was where all her ancestors had been moved and rested at and though Marissa didn’t think any of them quite fondly, she had always ca to see the graves, just to see that one day she would be there herself.
"You are here again," noted Hans.
When Marissa turned around, a wide smile appeared on her lips.
Hans walked toward her, reaching out his hand and pulled her tight into a hug. He breathed her scent and his smile was truly in peace.
"Don’t you worry that one day a ghost will pop out from one of the pillars?" He turned to where Marissa had been staring, the stone statue of a goddess hugging a pillar which dragons etched on it.
The beautiful goddess have no eyes yet regardless she had hugged the pillar with such a wide smile as though she was protecting her treasure.
"Why would I be afraid? There’s her here," Marissa turned from him, walking toward the statue and then pointing toward it gently, "You asked before what this stone is about right?"
"I suppose during our first eting, I did," Hans walked close to her, his arms held behind his back, "She seems eerie but at the sa ti so peaceful."
"She’s peaceful because she doesn’t know that the treasure she hugged had been changed. This goddess is the one that protects the soul of the dead," Marissa whispered, "She protects those who had died and the soul of those wanted to be in peace. She has a treasure, a beautiful treasure which is a box that had dragons carved in it."
"But you said that the treasure had been changed," he said, "Did soone change it? She doesn’t have eyes, that would an she doesn’t know it was changed as you said."
"Yes," Marissa nodded, "She didn’t know that the humans who beca greedy thought they could gain eternal life if only they steal her box. But instead it unleashed a curse, a curse that make all those creatures who had touched her box to turn into mindless creature. But she didn’t know about that, instead she loved the box so much as the night before the box was stolen, she had prayed that the box would bring her a friend."
Marissa then chuckled, "Without knowing she did gain so many new friends, all because those humans who touched her treasure soon died and turned to nothing but ghosts."
"That is... a twisted story," said Hans, "Is this Goddess well known to vampires?"
"No," Marissa answered, "My ancestor just stole from a human because he liked how it looks. Though he then felt bored and tossed it around until it stood now, watching over his grave. The story I told you was famous to humans as a folklore, to be told children. I have always wondered why humans like to tell scary stories to children then my servant once told that it’s to teach children not to make mistake from the story."
"Indeed," confird Hans, "They’re known as moral of the story. Every story have morals that humans could adopt- just like studying a new lesson of life from an elder’s life."
"But I don’t get it," Marissa then asked with a hum, "What is the moral about this folklore?"
"To not steal soone else’s happiness," Hans said in a daze. When their eyes t, he chuckled at the curious look in hers those eyes he had always found so lovely. Leaning forward, he gently rubbed her hands as he continued, "So humans... they love to steal happiness from others. I suppose that treasure symbolized the Goddess’s joy. They took it from her, not realizing that stealing soone’s happiness always cos at a cost. What they gained turned bitter, because happiness stolen never stays sweet. And in the end, they paid for it with their lives. That’s the lesson all humans must learn: if you take what belongs to another, one day... it will be your turn to be taken."
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