My Blood Legacy: Bloodlines-Chapter 26: Many things got out of control!

Victor looked like he was about to faint.

’What the hell is this?! Is everything connected?!’

His head started working like an old diesel engine trying to start in winter: lots of noise, lots of smoke... and zero progress.

You could literally imagine gears grinding inside his head.

The three women looked at him.

One... Two... Three...

They exchanged glances.

And sighed at the same time, as if this were already a recurring problem.

Carmilla was the first to move.

She walked over to Victor and placed her hand on his shoulder with some concern.

"My love... are you alright?" she said, tilting her head slightly at his completely bewildered expression.

"H-how...?" Victor managed to stammer, vaguely pointing between them like someone trying to solve an impossible family diagram.

Carmilla smiled as if she were explaining something extremely simple.

"I became a vampire first," she said, casually pointing to herself.

"Then I turned her," she indicated to Chysis.

Chysis declared two fingers in a consistent greeting. "Hey."

Carmilla continued:

"We were together for a few years, I trained her, taught her a few things... vampire etiquette, blood control, how to effortlessly scare nobles..." she shrugged.

"Meanwhile, a few years later, I found that one over there," she mentioned to Scarlett.

Scarlett held out a hand.

"Officially adopted," she said.

"So... basically..." Carmilla concluded.

"You three already know each other?" Victor said, still processing.

"Exactly," Carmilla said.

Victor stood still for a few seconds.

His head still seemed to emit imaginary smoke.

"...This is still strange," he murmured.

Chysis simply shrugged as if it were completely normal. "Families are like that," she said dryly. "Especially when you live for thousands of years."

Then her gaze deepened.

She crossed her arms.

"What I want to know..." she said slowly. Her eyes shifted from Carmilla to Scarlett. "...is how you two are still alive."

She tilted her head slightly.

"Especially considering you’re both... quite pathetic at the moment."

Silence.

One second.

Two.

"H-HEY!" Scarlett exploded immediately, beginning to march toward Chysis like a small burst of rage.

"Who did you call—"

Before she could get two steps closer...

In motion.

A thin trickle of blood appeared in the air.

It reached her waist.

And left Scarlett hanging like a fish being caught. Her legs dropped, kicking the air.

"HEY! HEY! LET ME GO!"

Carmilla casually held the thread with two fingers, like someone holding a fishing line.

"Calm down, champ," she said calmly.

Scarlett continued struggling in the air.

"PUT ME DOWN, MOM!"

Carmilla looked at Chysis... then at Scarlett... then back at Chysis.

"She’ll kill you with a sneeze now," she explained calmly.

Scarlett froze in mid-air.

"...A sneeze?"

Chysis just smiled.

A very calm smile.

An extremely confident smile.

Victor, observing the scene, slowly raised his hand. "...I vote to keep her suspended for now."

Scarlett was still dangling in the air like a freshly caught fish while Carmilla calmly held the thread of blood between her fingers. Chysis watched the scene with a neutral expression... as if it were simply Tuesday.

"Anyway," Carmilla said, returning to the subject as if nothing were happening. "About what happened to me..."

She crossed her arms.

"I was imprisoned."

Chysis raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Let me guess," she said.

Carmilla snorted.

"I refused to marry Vlad," she explained. "He didn’t handle it very well."

Victor grimaced.

"Didn’t handle it well like...?"

"Like sealing me away," Carmilla replied calmly.

She pointed her thumb at Victor.

"But then this guy showed up. He found out where I was sealed and got me out of there."

Chysis looked at Victor for a few seconds.

Then nodded slowly.

"Predictable."

Victor blinked. "Predictable?"

"Yes," she said. "I thought you were dead, Carmilla. Honestly."

She shrugged.

"But if someone were stupid enough to break an ancient seal without a second thought... it would probably be someone from our family."

Victor sighed.

"...Thank you, I guess."

Scarlett, still dangling in the air, raised her hand.

"Hey! Now it’s my turn!" she said. "My story is much more dramatic—"

Chysis raised a finger.

"Never mind."

Scarlett froze.

"...What do you mean it never matters?!"

Chysis continued speaking as if reading an old report.

"You fought with Carmilla. You ran away. You became emotionally unstable. You went to the Human Realm. You started causing trouble."

She looked at Scarlett.

"Big trouble."

Scarlett began to sweat.

Chysis continued:

"So, about eight hundred years ago, you did that gigantic stupidity that almost started a diplomatic war."

Scarlett tried to smile.

"Technically it didn’t start—"

"You were sealed." Chysis finished.

Silence.

Victor slowly turned his head to Scarlett.

"...You almost started a war?"

Scarlett pointed at Chysis.

"She’s exaggerating!"

Chysis crossed her arms.

"You drained a human duke during a royal banquet."

Victor winked.

Scarlett raised a finger.

"He was asking for it."

"You also turned three knights." Chysis continued.

"They asked for it!" Scarlett insisted.

"And burned half a district."

Scarlett was quiet.

Victor slowly looked at her.

"...Half?"

Scarlett scratched her cheek.

"...Technically the wind helped."

Victor remained silent for a few seconds, still looking at Scarlett as if recalculating all the decisions that had led him to that room.

Then he rubbed his face with his hand.

"...I thought I was coming here to meet my grandmother," he murmured. "I didn’t think I’d end up in a room with three absurdly beautiful women... gossiping about diplomatic crimes."

Scarlett was still hanging in the air.

Carmilla continued holding the "fishing line."

Chysis crossed her arms.

Then... she nodded slowly.

"...Fair enough," she said. "This wasn’t exactly the meeting I had in mind either."

She then became serious again... Her gaze returned to Carmilla.

"But this raises a problem," she said calmly. "A huge problem, actually."

Victor already seemed tired before the sentence was even finished. "What?"

Chysis answered bluntly: "If Vlad finds out you two are alive..." She paused briefly. "...there will be war."

The silence in the room grew a little heavier.

Scarlett stopped swinging her legs in the air.

Carmilla, however, shrugged as if it were merely a logistical inconvenience.

"I’m already regaining my strength," she said calmly.

"Ah?" Chysis raised an eyebrow.

Carmilla casually pointed at Victor.

"I just need to keep feeding." She counted on her fingers. "A little blood..." Another finger. "...and a little of his vitality." She licked her lips.

"Are you using that Succubus thing you learned?" Chysis asked, a little intrigued...

Carmilla smiled as if describing a very efficient diet. "...I’ll be strong again soon."

Chysis slowly turned her head, realizing something she hadn’t connected yet. Her gaze went from Carmilla... to Victor... then to Scarlett, still hanging there. "...What?"

Scarlett shrugged in mid-air, completely unconcerned.

"It’s simple," she said. She pointed at Victor with her thumb. "This one married us."

Victor opened his mouth.

Closed it.

Scarlett continued: "So now he basically... feeds us. Well, with me it’s just blood, I don’t even know what this succubus thing you’re talking about is, old lady."

Chysis stared at Victor for a few seconds... Then looked at Carmilla and then back at Victor.

"...I was out of the picture and my grandson married the former Vampire Queen and her spoiled brat?"

Victor scratched his cheek, "W-well, putting it that way~"

Victor scratched his cheek, clearly unsure how to respond without making the situation worse. "W-well... putting it like that seems... a little strange, really..." he murmured, looking away for a second, as if seeking a corner of the room was safer than facing his grandmother directly at that moment.

For a few seconds, Chysis remained completely still. Then, suddenly, she began to laugh.

It wasn’t a small laugh.

Nor a polite one.

It was a full, almost exaggerated laugh that echoed through the luxurious hall. She brought her hand to her forehead and leaned back slightly, her shoulders trembling as she laughed as if she had just heard the most absurd joke of the decade.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA—!"

Victor blinked.

Scarlett stopped struggling in mid-air.

Carmilla narrowed her eyes.

The laughter continued... but something about her began to feel wrong.

Chysis’s body began to tremble more than it should.

It wasn’t just laughter.

It was tension.

A tension so strong it seemed her muscles were contracting to hold something far more dangerous beneath the surface.

Carmilla was the first to notice.

She immediately released the thread of blood that held Scarlett.

The red-haired vampire fell to the ground with a thump.

"—Ouch!" Scarlett complained.

But Carmilla didn’t even answer.

She simply pulled Scarlett a step back.

They both recoiled.

Instinctively.

Because that laughter wasn’t normal.

And then...

The laughter stopped.

Chysis slowly raised her head.

Her eyes were trembling.

And there was a vein throbbing in her temple.

"...Tell me something," she said, her voice dangerously calm.

Victor swallowed hard.

"...Yes?"

Her body gave a small spasm, as if holding back a fit of rage within her own chest.

"How," she said slowly.

Another spasm.

"How..."

She raised her finger and pointed at Carmilla.

"...YOU CAN..."

Now at Scarlett.

"...GET MARRIED..."

And finally she pointed at herself, tapping her own chest with her finger.

"...TO SOMEONE WHO ISN’T ME?!"

Absolute silence fell over the hall.

Scarlett blinked.

Carmilla blinked.

They both slowly turned their heads to Victor.

Victor murmured softly, almost without moving his lips:

"...Obsessive like my mother."

And then...

Chysis began to cry.

It wasn’t a silent cry.

It was a frustrated cry.

"THIS IS UNFAIR!" She complained, stamping her foot angrily. "I waited centuries to finally meet my grandson... and when I find him, he’s already married to two troublesome vampires!"

She pointed at Carmilla.

"A former vampire queen who collects enemies!"

Then at Scarlett.

"And a fiery brat who almost started a diplomatic war!"

Scarlett opened her mouth.

"Hey—!"

But Chysis was already pacing the hall, pulling at her own hair in frustration.

"This wasn’t part of my plan!" she complained. "I was going to meet my grandson, assess him, and then decide whether to make him my protégé, my successor, or perhaps—"

She stopped mid-sentence.

She slowly turned her head toward him.

"...my husband."

Silence.

Victor froze.

Scarlett blinked twice.

Carmilla stared at the ceiling as if trying to process that sentence.

Victor panicked immediately.

"WAIT WAIT WAIT—!" he said, his hands clapping rapidly, almost stumbling backward. "Let’s all calm down a bit, because clearly something has gone very wrong here!"