As they approached, Virgil glanced at them from the corner of his eyes and placed his hand on Jane's shoulder, seemingly giving her a signal to get away from there. But of course, Vesier had already predicted that.

  　　He has been doing that every year, and every time, he gained more and more followers and turned the royals and nobles against Jane and Virgil. But this year was special as the reason for Rias' punishment had been revealed.

  　　"Well, well, if it isn't the princess, who is neither a vampire nor belongs to pure royal blood," he said haughtily.

  　　Jane stayed silent and ignored Vesier.

  　　"Just like her twin sister, who broke the rules like her grandfather, and whored with a human," he remarked.

  　　When Rudy entered the vampire world to save Rias, only a few of them knew that Rias was punished for having a human lover. The rest thought she was punished for something else as it was never disclosed.

  　　However, now they all had one more excuse to berate Jane and Rias. If they knew that Jane was in a relationship with Rudy, who was also Rias' lover, they would never miss the chance.

  　　Jane planned to stay quiet as ignorance was the best weapon against arrogance. But he said something against Rias and Rudy, which was a trigger word for her.

  　　Still, she managed to stay calm as she knew speaking anything would lead to more problems than solutions.

  　　"What's wrong?" Vesier smirked, "Are you not going to say anything? Surely, you don't think everyone is a fool here who doesn't know everything, right?"

  　　"Yeah, just because we don't say anything doesn't mean we are okay with it!" someone said.

  　　"We stay silent out of respect for the vampire monarch," the other added.

  　　"if you weren't his granddaughter, you would have been kicked out of the royal family!"

  　　"What are you trying to say?" Virgil interjected.

  　　"Look, look. How the grandpa is trying to defend his granddaughter," Vesier commented. "They both are the same."

  　　Vesier spoke against Virgil, but the others couldn't dare to do the same.

  　　'We are not getting paid enough to make enemies of the vampire monarch himself,' someone from the group thought.

  　　'Fuck you, Vesier! You said you were just going to tease her. But I don't think that's the case!' the other thought.

  　　'And what do you mean by 'we'?! We are only here because we are getting paid, and you have dirt on us. We don't care about anything!'

  　　'Isn't Jane one of the strongest vampires in this kingdom? Why is this idiot trying to provoke her?'

  　　Even though they all were with Vesier, none of them were with him voluntarily. They didn't care about the royal matters. As long as they were alive and getting everything without doing anything, they were happy. Unlike Vesier, who had been planning to usurp the throne for centuries.

  　　After realizing none of his men were backing him up when he spoke against Virgil, he clenched his fists and switched the topic back to Jane.

  　　"Why are you so quiet, princess? Shouldn't you be defending yourself?" Vesier shot a glare at Virgil before saying, "Or do you think that grandpa will save you?"

  　　"No! She doesn't need her grandpa to save her." A manly voice said.

  　　Everyone, including Virgil and Vesier, glanced around to find the source of the voice. Although Virgil had recognized who it belonged to, he was more eager to find out where it was coming from.

  　　Rudy landed in the middle of the hall and cracked his neck to the sides. He furrowed his brows and said, "Only I am enough to save her."

  　　Virgil shot a judging glance at Jane while Jane averted her gaze and facepalmed herself.

  　　Vesier and everyone else was confused after seeing Rudy as though they didn't recognize him. Since Rudy had long hair and clearly a different hairstyle, they thought he was a vampire, especially after having Jane's scent all over him.

  　　Vesier raised his brow and asked, "Who are you? I have never seen you before."

  　　He said as though he remembered everyone's faces.

  　　"Show me your invitation letter—"

  　　"Shut the fuck up!" Rudy lowered his gaze, and Vesier dropped to his knees.

  　　"……!"

  　　Then, he walked to him and placed his feet on his head as he said:

  　　"Who the fuck are you?"

  　　Rudy asked.

  　　"How dare—!"

  　　"I asked you to shut the fuck up!" Rudy kicked Vesier's face and sent him rolling towards the pedestals where Jane and Virgil were standing.

  　　Rudy glared around at the group who was with Vesier, but they scattered all over the hall.

  　　'They are small fries, and I don't sense any hate from them. But this piece of shit needs some beating!'

  　　Rudy casually walked between the royals, who stepped back and made a path for Rudy to walk. He stood in front of Virgil and Jane and looked down at Vesier, whose teeth had fallen out due to the kick.

  　　Rudy grabbed Vesier by his hair and lifted his body before Jane and Virgil.

  　　"How could you let someone bully my Jane like that?!"

  　　"……" Virgil stayed silent as he was disappointed in Rudy and Jane.

  　　He had explained everything to Jane, and everything was going according to the plan until Rudy crashed in.

  　　'Maybe it's better this way. He can do things I can't do,' Virgil thought. "I can't punish Vesier for his actions. He hasn't done anything wrong. He was stating his opinions, and this kingdom allows free speech to everyone.

  　　If I had stopped him, that would have been abusing my authority as a Vampire Monarch. However, as a grandfather, I absolutely wanted to beat his ass.'

  　　Rudy slammed Vesier's head on the ground and crushed it under his feet, but he kept him alive. After all, he still hadn't apologized to Jane for insulting her in front of everyone.

  　　He removed his feet from Versier's head and smiled at Jane, expecting her to be happy, but she wasn't.