“Rest assured, that I did not in any way, violate this mortal woman or coerce her to allow me to rest on her lap.” I—the great Vampire Lord—found myself strangely trying to reassure Rose, who attempted to split my chest open like a surgical doctor earlier.

“I don’t believe you!” Rose was red-faced and tried to free herself to no avail.

Of course, I took care of her attempts to hurt me. She was on the wall right now. Trapped this time with [Silky Web], a spell that as its name implied, trapped you in the web. Perfect for ensnaring winged-targets. In the past, I recalled using it on Pixies… but I refocused on Rose.

“You are free to believe whatever you wish…” I said, but still clicked my tongue. I didn’t finish the sentence. I was mildly vexed that she’d assume that I’d lay a hand on her princess. My nature so far has been nothing more but welcoming.

“He did not harm me… I did it myself, Rose,” Eleanor said.

“Huh?”

“What I mean to say is that he blacked out all of a sudden due to pain, so I caught him.” Eleanor’s cheeks dotted pink as she explained it. “The choice to let him rest on my lap was a decision I made willingly to make sure that he was fine.”

I coughed. Now a bit uncertain of what to say.

Luckily, Rose filled the gaps easily.

“You mean to say that he had a momentary lapse of weaknesses?” Rose turned Eleanor in surprise. “Your Highness, you should have found me and we could have fled. I could have still exerted myself, and done something to avoid him.”

I chose to rub my ears and also half-glared at the young woman. “That might have been successful if your high-pitched screaming did not rouse me. You shot yourself in the foot.”

“What do you mean?” Rose stared at me uncertainly. “While my actions could have been better, I did no such thing as shooting myself. I’m too careful.”

“It means that your actions have inadvertently made the situation worse for you. Have you not heard of that expression before?” I asked with a frown.

Eleanor’s gaze was heavily on me, and made me realize something odd about myself.

“Arrows… shooting at one’s feet is plain stupidity. Yes.” I said, a moment after and refocused on Rose with a disappointed sigh. “So where is the wood? Surely you at least brought them, right?”

“Of course, but they’re wet with rain. I hope they rot.” Rose smiled. “They’re outside of the manor too.”

“Dear, dear, Rose.” I returned her smile. “You are a spellcaster that uses the wind, surely you know that magic easily covers the problem. All the little things that you do to spite me is… troublesome, but I will overlook it, this once.”

“What?” Rose blinked.

“Princess Eleanor of Averon, you have my thanks.” I turned to the young woman. “I do not understand why you have a servant such as this one… especially because she did not consider that displeasing me might have harmed you, but your actions will not be forgotten.”

“Anybody would have done the same,” Eleanor said.

Her words made me chuckle. There was no way that any person would simply sacrifice their safety and chance to escape in order to take care of their captor. “I assure you, that nobody would have offered themselves to comfort me and relieve me from my pain. You did me a great service.”

“Your tongue is heinous!” Rose shouted again, offended. “The princess might ignore your lasciviousness, but hold your tongue.”

“What?” I frowned. “I speak from a place of earnestness and yet you find it condescending? Cool down and stay there while I take care of the manor.” With a sigh, I focused my eyes and extended my senses.

Since this land was my domain, the capacity to look at it from a bird’s eye point of view and have a great sense for it was within my grasp.

As promised, Rose did leave a great number of large wooden logs by the doorsteps of the house. Surprisingly, she also found stones. Large boulders.

Now, all it took was a bit of magic to carry the wood and stone to the second floor and also remove the excess moisture. Once everything was swell and done, I folded my hands together and took a deep breath.

This domain of mine was truly diminished, the formations and arrays I once placed had weakened and grown thin over time. Mana itself seemed to have diminished as well. But since the materials were before me and there were two eye witnesses in front of me, I did not let myself be embarrassed.

I could do this.

Concentrate.

After ascertaining where the holes were, all of the wood and stone flew in various directions, and they found their places. Honestly, this was nothing more but patchwork. Elementary. However, I was not done.

It was not easy, but all wood and stone were still all very connected.

Certain elements within them were still found in other types, and were simply different in levels of component, density or state of form. I just needed to fill in the gaps, but other than that, this was still underneath my expertise.

Manipulation.

Transformation.

If any great Vampire was capable of transforming their own body into different forms, turning another matter that was often used as materials, it was simple. The stone connected with my walls and blended in with the smooth materials, broken furniture restored itself to their former forms.

Even the walls that Rose destroyed were now back to their former selves.

I smiled in satisfaction and turned to look at the chandeliers above me.

Most of them were rusted, but once I removed the layer, I searched for still remaining candles and lit them up.

“Hah, this is much much better,” I said, taking in my surroundings and saw Eleanor seated in one of the sofas. Good. That was one person taken care of. She gave me another look that said she misinterpreted my actions once again.

I cleared my throat. “The cold has never bothered me, but it’s still unpleasant to have wind from outside freely come in. Now, let’s be clear, Rose and Eleanor. Mostly Rose.”

I eyed the young woman still on the web and sauntered up to her with a smirk.

“I shall let you go from those bindings, but if you break another wall, I will break you—”

She was stronger than I imagined. Accidentally struggling far too much, Rose’s foot broke loose from the threads and landed in my mouth.