Chapter 9

Orpheus didn’t say anything after Amber activated her Blood Origin attribute; he only tapped on the ground, a dark mist began coming out from the ground, and from this dark mist, skeleton soldiers emerged. If it were initially, Amber would be trembling, but after going through that hellish training for a few days already, her mind was strengthened mentally; she had matured.

Orpheus vanished, and immediately after one of the skeleton soldiers charged at Amber with its ax, she easily dodged the strike.

“Blood Arts: Bloody Sword—Activate!”

Shing!

A blade came crashing down, smashing a skeleton soldier to bits.

“Let’s finish it.”

“…!”

Amber’s voice echoed throughout the indoor training ground. She wheeled around to slash off the enemy’s head. Even decapitated; however, the skeletal knight charged forward and grabbed the girl. A bony hand reached out to grasp the girl’s slender neck, but the next moment, Amber twisted her body by using her left leg as her axis.

“You little…!”

She delivered a kick with all the strength she could muster. Her hair billowed out with the motion. The skeleton was split in two and crumpled to the ground. Such a grappling technique delivered with a vampire’s enhanced strength behind it was stronger than most blunt weapons. Even so, pulling off that sort of maneuver should have been too challenging for most people, but after undergoing Orpheus hellish training the past few days, she was beyond normal.

Orpheus had trained her well. A brilliant defensive reaction like the one she’d just employed against the skeleton was proof enough of that.

Bringing her right leg back down, Amber pushed off the ground and dashed forward to slash with her sword. This attack, empowered with the girl’s origin, crushed the head of the beast-type skeleton.

“Haah, haah, haah… ” Though Amber panted, there wasn’t a drop of sweat on her body.

“I can still keep going!” Amber turned around, flashing a brilliant smile at Orpheus.

‘She’s better than expected.’ Orpheus thought

‘Should she continue to improve, she could very well become a weapon I can use. Well, it’s time to go further in training.’

”You are not bad.” Orpheus praised Amber, whose lips immediately curved into a smile; an abundance of joy was plastered all over her face; she was happy to be praised.

”Let’s go; I will bring where you into your next training ground.” Orpheus declared, not allowing Amber to say anything before they disappeared.

At the same time, stepping out of the Ivy Villa, Ella and Lily stopped abruptly because an origin car powered by an origin stone stopped before them. Judging by how great this origin car was and the royal crest, it was not hard to guess who was inside.

While Ella’s face remained calm upon knowing the identity of the person inside, Lily couldn’t hide her annoyance; she crossed her arms and glared at the origin car.

A handsome youth walked out, six feet tall, with short red hair and red eyes. There was a small crown above his head, showing his status. This man was none other than the crown prince of the Luxiria Empire, Daniel Luxor Luxiria, and before he could open his mouth, Lily talked first; her voice was cold.

”Luxor, what do you want?”

Ella said nothing; her face was calm as the surface of a lake. Daniel glanced at her for a moment before shifting his eyes on Lily; his eyes didn’t linger too much on her before he sighed. If only she were gentle like her name.

”Still fiery as always, but it is why I like you,” Daniel commented.

Ella frowned while Lily felt like throwing up. She didn’t hide her feeling as she commented.

”Disgusting.”

Daniel was unfazed by Lily’s comment; for the second time, his eyes landed on Ella, who said nothing since he came out.

”Greetings Ella, how have you been?” Daniel asked, trying to make his voice gentle as he could; it was how infatuated he was with his cousin.

”I’m fine, Luxor, but what brought you here?” Ella said with a gentle smile on her face; Daniel was secretly overjoyed. He was too focused on being happy because Ella did not get mad at the comment on Lily, that he didn’t see the latter snickering, as Ella’s other half she knew her better than anybody, so her smile might have appeared gentle and harmless on the outside. Still, inwardly she felt nothing but disgust toward her cousin. While it was not unheard of cousins marrying each other, especially in a royal family, one should know when to back off when the woman you want doesn’t want you, but this wasn’t the case for Daniel. However, Ella and Lily had already clearly stated that there would be anything between them other than a family relationship; the crown prince refused to listen; on the contrary, he became more straightforward, wanting them at all cost.

”I’m here to invite you to go see the new fishes at the aquarium, I know you loved them, so I was thinking maybe we will go just-”

Daniel hadn’t finished talking when Ella interrupted him.

”Sorry, but I will pass.”

Lily smirked when she saw Daniel’s shocked face.

”Why? I thought last time you said you were looking forward to it. So, now that they have arrived, you won’t be going anymore?”

As one would have expected, Daniel refused to give up; he was adamant about making Ella change her decision. While he could have tried his chance with Lily, he knew it was impossible; the girl had a temper he could not control; if he succeeded in making Ella his, then Lily would come as extra; it was Daniel’s plan. But achieving the first step turned out to be more difficult than expected; however, he couldn’t stop now.

When Daniel was planning to say another word, he was forced to stop; he was surprised at first before his face contorted.

”Greetings, your highness!”

A butler appeared out of nowhere; he bowed to the crown prince before turning toward the girls and declared.

”My ladies, shall we go?” The butler asked the twins.

”Old Gus, let’s go,” Lily said while dragging Ella into the origin car that appeared like magic after the butler appeared.

Daniel could only bite his lips, thinking that this old man seemed to have the perfect timing, perfect timing to mess up his plans, that is.

”Tch! Let’s go.” Daniel said, annoyed before entering his car and leaving.

The butler, Old Gus, had grey hair; he wore an eye patch on his left eye while his right eye was black; he looked at the departing car with an amused grin. He disappeared when he reappeared again he was already inside the car; he began driving it. He smiled when he saw the twins playing in the back seats; their destination was Feliz’s forest; the twins wanted to train there to be prepared for the incoming new year; schools are opening their doors soon.