Married To The Mad Vampire Lord - Chapter 417

Chapter 417: The establishment
That day, after learning that a bigger war might happen, the news soon spread through the vampire lands like wildfire, bringing fear to many minds, a war that big might wipe the night creatures from the world. Even so, most vampires could only think about preserving blood so they wouldn’t run out if war did come. They swarmed the slave establishments to gather humans and take as much blood as they could for safekeeping. Even though the war had not been confirmed, no vampire wanted to risk starving or dying when the fighting began.

Unlike the restless noble vampires, Cordelia Garth, who owned many of the establishments, was happier than ever, because the thought of war was bringing more customers to her doors and allowing her to double the price of blood slaves. She even held an auction that very night the news began to spread; she couldn’t miss the chance. If a war happened, she planned not only to profit handsomely but also to prepare safety for herself. Though it wasn’t yet certain whether the rumors were true, Cordelia wouldn’t take any chances.

“Lady Cordelia, you are such an angel to all of us. Not many establishments in Nightbrook have quality humans with healthy blood like yours, and you are the only one willing to sell out at such a time,” commented a pure-blood vampire standing outside the establishment with the woman who owned it. She beamed wildly at the praise.

“Of course I care about my customers, unlike the others. Many are afraid that if they sell off the best, they will be left only with breeding women, but I have a solid business, I bring in more females every month to keep my place running. We have babies who are growing, you know, so I have nothing to fear,” she said with a delicate smile, speaking of living, breathing humans as if they were livestock; to her, they were nothing more. No human should have the luxury of living like the vampires did.

The pure-blood vampire nobleman who shared her mindset laughed proudly. “That’s why I adore you, Lady Cordelia. I look forward to getting more from you.” He raised a cigar between his fingers, took a drag, and continued, “I heard the duke is back from the human lands and will come down to get slaves to stock his castle with new workers. No doubt he will come to you, you are the best. By chance, you might get him to tell you if it’s true those traitors in Aragonia are planning to break the peace treaty that was made a year ago.”

The vampire put the idea forward because he wanted information about this so-called war, and who else would know it better than the duke, who was said to have spent an entire night talking about it with the king?

Cordelia, oblivious to the fact that her second cousin had returned from the human lands, was surprised and delighted. She turned to the vampire, trying to suppress her excitement as she said, “Really? I haven’t heard about his return yet. He must be so busy that he forgot to come and see me and let me know.”

She had been waiting to hear of his return for some time now. The more she endured Josh’s persistence to marry her and sire a child, the more eager she grew for a stronger backer before she got rid of the human whose money she had used to start the business.

The vampire chuckled. “I heard it from a friend whose father is a royal court member. They said something about using his human wife as a hostage if it turns out Aragonia is part of the lands wanting war against us. If you can ask him what else was discussed with the king, we might be prepared for the future.”

Many still believed Cordelia was close to the duke as she had been in the past, not knowing their relationship had cooled since when she began to target his wife. Of course Cordelia would never show them otherwise. She smiled politely.

“He will surely come to me, and I will ask him. Whatever he says, I will make sure you are the first to hear it. If you’ll excuse me, I need to check on the wanderers and see how they are doing with feeding the babies.” She excused herself from the vampire, and the moment she walked away her smile faded from her face.

“So he is back,” she muttered to herself. In this time of possible war, it would be the right moment to mend bridges with her second cousin, after all, who else would protect her better than him? She had already lost some backers to the so-called rogue attacks months ago, and the only man left as a backer was a useless human who wanted to inherit his father’s legacy by birthing a male child with her.

Cordelia did not only despise children; she always fought the urge to strangle their throats whenever they started to cry. She had had enough of their endless wails in the establishment. And Josh wanted to have one with her?

“Oh, I will kill him first before he gets me with a child,” she gritted in disgust. “But before I do that, I need to find ways to make Rohan realise that we are more compatible together.” She smiled at the thought of her second cousin, who would have been hers if he hadn’t been forced to marry a human, a human she hoped would be taken hostage and die.

Many of the times she had attempted to get rid of the human had failed, and she didn’t want Rohan to hate her more if she tried anything overt against the woman; it would suit her better if the human became a hostage, since hostages usually didn’t last long on the frontlines.

She planned how to approach him without angering or triggering him by revealing her intentions to rid him of the human he kept around. Then she heard Josh’s voice and cursed under her breath in irritation.

“Cordie darling, are you in there?” his call came from behind the door of the resting room in the establishment, a sound that made Cordelia wish she could somehow choke him to death on the spot. She could no longer compel him anyway, for fear of using her last spell on him, so she had to put up with him.

“Yes, Joshy. Come in.” She smiled stiffly as he entered and walked toward her, wrapping her in a hug as he said, “You’ve been doing well these past few days. I’m so proud. The business is running smoothly.”

“What did you expect from a smart woman like me? Isn’t that why you chose me over that useless Evenly?” Cordelia remarked smugly, which made Josh laugh as though she had said something funny.

“You’re right. You’re not only smarter than she was, you have the beauty to stand next to me as my wife,” he praised, then continued, “I have a surprise for you that you’ll like.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes but answered in a deliberately bright voice, “Really? What is it?”

“It’s a surprise, and it’s tomorrow. And I did what you asked, I got rid of everything that belonged to Evenly. All of her belongings have been burnt. You can now come and stay with me.” He kissed the top of her hair.

The last time he had taken Cordelia to his house, he had not yet managed to dispose of Evenly’s things because his life had been too busy, which had angered the vampiress all the more, she hated his former wife as much as he did.

Cordelia took a deep breath to keep her irritation from showing as she asked, “Is that the surprise, you getting rid of the bitch’s things?”

“Of course not,” he said with a grin. “The surprise is different, I’ll show you tomorrow.”

Cordelia smiled then, because as much as she despised that human who had the man she wanted, she despised Evenly even more for having insulted her not once but twice. And though she didn’t much like Josh, she did like his gifts and everything he bought for her. If he said he had a surprise, then she was certain it was something that would make her momentarily happy.

“I can’t wait for the surprise.”