Chapter 11
Chris's POV.
The Elders rotated various ways to punish me, but I knew they wouldn't kill me.
The trial went on for a day and a night, and was terminated when the light of day came again.
I was set down and someone moved gently to take me into his arms and said, "Chris, I think you'll act properly for a while."
His golden eyes looked at me tenderly and I lost consciousness, feeling soothed and settled inside.
It was Burris again who saved me by taking me out of the dark house that was used for the trial, despite the objections of the Elders.
When I woke up again, he was sitting at the foot of the bed, watching me quietly. There was no discomfort in my body anymore, as if the previous pain was just a bad dream.
"Thank you, Burris," I said in a sincere tone.
"I just wanted to teach you a lesson, not torture you." Burris said.
I was silent for a moment as my eyes got sore, and pleaded with him, "Can I have Andrew's clothes? I want to bury him decently."
"No need." He sighed, "I've got it all taken care of. I can take you there if you want to see him."
"Sure, please take me." I sat up from the bed.
After that, Burris took me to the cemetery that was built on his manor. There were hundreds of graves here, and Burris took me to Andrew.
The tombstone had a picture of Andrew on it, a black and white picture that was a bit old. The Bloods were unable to take pictures, and this would be a picture of Andrew from before.
The boy in the photo was fresh and cute.
"Give him a bouquet of flowers, he'll like it." Burris suddenly had a bouquet of white daisies in his hand.
"Thanks." I took the flowers.
A few crows hovered over the cemetery and the air was damp and chilly. We stood in front of the cold headstones and mourned in silence.
After a long time, I placed the flowers in front of the headstone and said with a choked voice, "I'm sorry, Andrew..."
Burris came up and hugged me. Actually, his body was not warm. At this moment, however, I felt warmth, because we were missing the same person.
Burris's POV.
I thought Chris wasn't afraid of anything, until the time when I saw her eyes red. She looked like a child who had done something wrong and felt guilty for her impulsiveness.
At that moment, I felt the crushing pain coming from my heart and I couldn't help but go up to her and give her a hug, a hug without warmth though from my cold body.
"Do you still run away, Chris," I asked Chris on the way back.
After a moment of hesitation, she still looked at me with a firm gaze, "Yes, Burris, I'll still run away, but I'll take your earlier advice."
"What do you mean?" I looked at Chris.
She looked ahead to the path obscured by the fog and said with a fierce gaze, "I will kill Phillips and drain his blood to gain power."
I froze and slowly lifted the corners of my lips as I looked at her and said, "Yeah? Good luck."
That's what I want to do, and if Chris could make it, then it would help me fulfill my heart's desire.
"Will you help me, Burris? That would be so much easier." She looked over at me expectantly.
"Chris, it's nice to have your recognition." I said.
The next words were hard for me to say, but I had to say to her, "But I'm sorry, I can't help you. Killing Phillips would be easy, but Diana would be mad at me."
"Well, I forgot you're a good brother." Chris hung his head in dismay.
I couldn't help but frown, I hated this feeling.
"But if you succeed, I can stop the Elders from coming after you." I couldn't help but add.
"Oh, those three old guys." Chris frowned back, clearly having a headache with the Elders as well.
"What level of vampire are they? Are they more powerful than you? You seem to have a lot of respect for them." Chris asked me curiously.
"Only Dukes can be Elders, they are second only to the Princes, and are Princes most loyal supporters, but the Elders are not as capable as me," I explained to Chris.
"Is that what they said about me being your future bride and being able to give you great power?" Chris then asked.
"It's Mopso's prophecy, to be precise. He's the Elder in charge of predictions, and his magic wand has great power and has never failed." Burris said, "They want me to make the Power of Inheritance stronger."
"The Power of Inheritance? What is this?"
Maybe because of Andrew, Chris had gotten a lot closer to me and had more questions than usual.
I could tell her everything else, but I couldn t tell her more about this one. It's a secret from the Princes of the ages.
And ...it brought back some not-so-good memories for me.
I didn't even know how to reply to her, so I had to change the subject raw, "Come on Chris, you should think about what you're going to do about Phillips, he's a slick one."
I couldn't even look her in the eye when I said that, it was a painful memory that could instantly beat any good feeling I had.
"I will." Chris said.
Thank goodness she didn't press the issue.
But after I got married, I still had to tell her everything. Thinking about the Elder's prophecy suddenly made me sick to my stomach about these ways of gaining power.
Chris was right, the Bloods are monsters, coldblooded monsters who will do anything for power.
Chris's POV.
Back at the villa, we met the three old guys, who didn't look at me too kindly. But perhaps with Burris in mind, they didn't give me any more trouble.
Two days later, the Elders instructed the maids to prepare a dinner party. It was the custom of the Burris family, who held it every month or two, to cement the relations between the members of the family, and sometimes used it to appoint the marriage of their offspring members.
Burris had said that we had an engagement ceremony before I was reborn. As Burris' fiancée, I had to come along for the ride.
At the dinner party, I met a strange girl who was surrounded by a group of monsters that pretended to be gentlemen and looked like a princess, regal and elegant.
"Vicky, Elder Hampton's daughter, is a marquis." Burris introduced her faintly at my side.
"She's so good-looking." I sighed from the bottom of my heart.
The girl had soft honey-colored curly hair and her pupils were burgundy, the color of her eyes in their normal state. She wore a long white wrap-around tuxedo dress that framed her full white breasts and slim long legs.
She had a confident and elegant smile on her face and seemed to be gracious to everyone with a noble sense of detachment.
"Yes, if it weren't for the prophecy, Vicky would be my fiancée." Burris said with a light smile, while his eyes were on Vicky as well.
That sounded like I was blaming myself for holding him up, and I was a little depressed. Maybe they were lovers and had to be separated because of the prophecy, but it was never my fault.
"I blame the old man, why do you guys bother believing in those ridiculous prophecies?" I taunted.
"Are you jealous? Chris," Burris said looking at me pleasantly as if he had caught me in the act.
"Oh my God, what nonsense are you talking about?" I looked at him in shame, "Burris, you must have misunderstood, I'm not going to be jealous of you because I don't love you at all."
Burris' smile faded considerably and he shrugged carelessly, "I don't love you either, and whoever I marry doesn't mean anything to me."
Well, I thought it was Vicky he wanted to marry.
"Prince Burris, it's been a long time." A soft voice rang in my ears as Vicky came over with a glass of wine.
She probably wanted to come over and say hello to Burris a long time ago, she just got pestered by the group for a while.
"It's been a while Vicky, you're getting prettier and prettier." Burris said, lifting his glass to clink lightly with Vicky's.
Standing between them, I felt a little awkward and was about to turn away.
"Is this Chris? That's nice, she looks cute." Vicky suddenly turned her attention to me.
I had to stop and smile at her, "Thanks, you too."
She shrugged her nose, as if sniffing twice, and her burgundy eyes suddenly turned scarlet before returning to normal.
"It's a lower Blood, huh?" Her tone sounded a little surprised, and there was a hidden joy.
While I didn't give a shit about the Bloods damn hierarchy, I hated the way she belittled me with that condescending look.
As a result, I looked at her with a much colder look.
"I thought Uncle Mopso would find a very impressive wife for Lord Prince." She continued to look me up and down with a scrutinizing gaze, not polite at all.
It looked like she wasn't aware of their Elder's prophecy, but I wasn't about to explain it to her. I knew she was jealous that I had taken the place that belonged to her.
Well, let her be jealous.
I stepped forward and took Burris' arm first, tilting my head to look at him with a sweet smile, "Yes, I'm not high enough in rank, but Burris will definitely protect me, right? Honey?"
Actually, I was a little nervous. Would Burris go along with me?