Married To The Mad Vampire Lord - Chapter 553

Chapter 553: Father and son discussion
After dinner, Angel met with his father, who said he wanted to have a word with him in private.

“Yes, sir.”

He followed his father into his study, where Rohan stood before the wide window overlooking the town, his arms folded against his chest and an unlit cigar clenched between his teeth. Max was aware that it was his father’s way of coping with his withdrawal from smoking.

He walked to stand beside him, his gaze drifting outward in the same direction. “I never thought the mountainside that once seemed to belong only to our family would become a town like this,” he commented quietly. He wasn’t happy about their little safe haven turning into a settlement for many, yet he never voiced his displeasure outright.

“What do you think about Velmere?” his father asked without looking away from the window.

Max was silent for a moment before he replied. “It’s good. I can see it’s advancing faster than the other new towns that came into existence after the disaster years ago. It’s a beautiful town, sir.”

“But you don’t like it, Max.” His father’s words were a statement rather than a question. “You don’t like many things, and yet you stay silent because you believe that to be good, one has to agree with others.”

Rohan exhaled calmly. “I built this town because I believed my children should grow up around civilization. I couldn’t seclude you forever. I don’t like people, son. I don’t give a shit about anyone out there, except my family.”

Angel’s expression didn’t change, but something inside him stirred, something that thought too much like his father. He rejected it instantly, because that wasn’t who he wanted to be.

“One should care about others too, Papa,” he said evenly. “I don’t mind Velmere. It’s beautiful.”

Rohan turned away from the window and studied his son. “Don’t fight who you are or how you feel, son. We are demons of darkness. I’ve never met a kind or gentle dark demon. The more you fight it, the more you become something else entirely.”

“I’m not fighting anything. I’m fine. Perfectly all right,” Angel said calmly.

It was a lie.

I am not fine, Papa. I’ve done something really, really bad, something that won’t leave my conscience, something unforgivable. I think I’m becoming the monster I fear. I don’t want to be bad. I don’t want to be.

He cried silently in his mind while keeping his face composed. Before his father could pry deeper, Angel shifted the subject.

“I succeeded in changing the heart of a bear. I believe I’m ready for Uncle Rav’s operation. After… after Elle’s wedding, I’ll begin preparing. And once I bring him back…” Angel turned to look at his father. “I plan to stay in Asterfall. I have a small house there, and I want to open a clinic to help people. Abby and I plan to cure many corrupted hearts and find her parents, to heal them from the corruption.”

“Abby?” Rohan arched a brow, intrigued.

“I met her at the academy. We share the same goal, to find a cure for corrupted hearts. She lost her parents to it and wants to bring them back. She’ll assist me with Uncle Rav’s operation,” Angel explained, carefully omitting the fact that Abby was the only person who knew his secret and held a special place in his heart as his closest friend.

“Hm,” Rohan hummed thoughtfully. “And when are you going to introduce us to this Abby?”

Angel flushed slightly. “I like her, Papa, but not in the way you and Mama are. You’ll meet her soon. I plan to bring her after the wedding to assist me.”

“Your wedding?” his father asked with a grin.

“No, God, Papa, not my wedding. Elle’s,” Angel corrected quickly.

“I know,” Rohan laughed before his expression turned serious again. “Your mother won’t like that you plan to live away from home. You could open your clinic here and bring Abby to Velmere. You don’t have to go so far.”

Angel knew that was true. He didn’t have to leave. But there were too many reasons he couldn’t yet explain. “I’ll think about it after Uncle Rav’s operation.”

They spoke for a while longer before Rohan left the study, answering Belle’s call from down the hall. The moment the door closed behind him, Angel barely had time to breathe before it swung open again.

His sister bounced inside, as though she had been waiting for their father to leave.

“Hello, Angel,” Rosey said as she came to stand next to him.

“Hello, little bundle of trouble.”

“Nobody calls me that anymore!” Rosey slapped his arm, to which he laughed. “And nobody calls me Angel anymore.”

Rosey gasped. “But you are our Angel. If nobody calls you that, it doesn’t mean we should stop. By the way, that’s not the reason I came here. I came to talk to you about Elle.” She nudged his shoulder, but his smile fell.

“What about her? Is something wrong with her?” he asked, unable to hide his worry, which only made his sister grin and give him a knowing look.

“Nothing is wrong with her, but I do believe something is wrong with you. Why did you stop replying to her letters?” Rosey asked, aware that in the first few years of her brother being away, he had made sure to find ways to receive Elle’s letters and even reply to her despite their school forbidding it. But later on, he stopped receiving the letters and returned them unread.

“Because our school doesn’t approve of it,” Angel replied matter-of-factly.

“Liar. You really broke her heart when you stopped writing back. She never stopped sending you letters until two years ago. I felt sorry for her whenever she asked about you and whether you had written back, and I told her no. It wasn’t until she met Eryx, Finn’s buddy, that she started to look happier.”

In the past, with how close her brother and Elle had been, Rosey had believed they would end up together. They were so close that for the first few months after Aunt Evenly moved away from Velmere, Angel spent his time at their place and only came back home at night. He always talked about Elle, Elle did this, Elle did that, and when he first went to school, he sent letters like crazy to Elle. Then suddenly everything changed, to the point that even now Elle no longer asked about him or wrote to him again.

Though Rosey was close to her brother and they shared secrets, he had never told her what made him stop sending letters to Elle, or what had made him so distant, even from her, lately.

“I heard you mention another girl to Papa, Abby, is it?” Rosey peeked at him. “Is she the one you like now, and the reason you stopped asking about Elle?”

Angel glared at his sister. “You were eavesdropping on our conversation.”

“One can’t help but listen when they have demon hearing. I could hear you, so I listened. This Abby, do you love her enough to want to stay in Asterfall, away from home?” she pried.

“I have forgotten how nosy and annoying you can get sometimes, Rosey.” Max said with a tired sigh, not wanting to answer or give her reason.

“Well, yeah, since you know me so well you also know that I won’t back down until i hear everything from you. Tell me, is it because of this Abby? For some reasons I don’t like her even though I haven’t met her.”

“Leave Abby out of this, Rosey, unless you want me to tell Finn to matchmake you to another one of his buddies like he did to Elle,” Angel said as he turned away, leaving the study room and trying to escape his nosy sister, who immediately followed behind him.

“Oh, come on. You know none of Finn’s friends are my type. I do believe my type hasn’t been born—”

“Zyran,” Angel said blankly.

Rosey used her vampire speed to appear in front of him and clasp her hand over his mouth.

“How dare you! Do you want Papa to hear?” she whisper-yelled, forgetting that Angel had once caught her writing in her diary about the demon she was smitten with but dared not show it, because her father would never agree, and Zyran only saw her as a darn daughter when she wasn’t even related to him.

Angel removed her hand from his mouth, smiling. “Get off my case, little sister. And Papa wouldn’t hear about your little crush on Zyran.”

Rosey slapped his arm. “You can threaten all you want. Go marry your Abby, and I won’t even come to your wedding. All I wanted to tell you is that I stored all of Elle’s letters in your room, in the chest where you keep your drawings, in case you want to check them out, but I guess Elle no longer means anything to you, the way this Abby does.” Rosey scoffed and turned to walk away angrily, but Angel caught her arm and pulled her back, wrapping his arms around her as he hugged her tightly and said,

“I’m sorry, and thank you for looking out for me, Roseline.”

Rosey relaxed, hugging him back. This was why she got along better with her elder brother than with her younger brother. Angel never found it difficult to apologize or hug her, unlike someone else who would rather go through any kind of torture than admit he was wrong or wrap his arms around her.

“I forgive you, Angel,” she said softly, “but I really hope you look through the letters, so you won’t find it difficult to face Elle when you meet her again.”