"No! How could this be!!" Dracula shouted out loud, but immediately realizing he might have scared Elena, he quickly suppressed his shock and forced out a gentle tone again.
"I'm very sorry for the strange things happening to you, Elena. It's all my fault..."
"Do you know what's going on?" Elena asked eagerly.
"It's because of the prophecy."
"The prophecy?"
"Yes, your mother's prophecy." Dracula sighed. "When your mother took you away from the castle, she once predicted: On the day of my daughter Elena's coming-of-age ceremony, she will receive the blessings of a hundred guests and unlock the power of the most powerful vampire. At that time, the most powerful vampire will be born."
Elena was stunned. Her mother had done a lot for her daughter.
"But the terrifying part of a prophecy lies in its prerequisite conditions. There must be no mistakes. Since the prophecy says you will receive the blessings of a hundred guests, then not one more or one less is allowed. Once the prerequisite conditions of the prophecy are violated, the prophecy will turn into a disaster."
Dracula said, looking at Elena's "hand": "And now, it's obvious that the disaster is happening to you."
[Your SAN value -1]
"Then why not just invite one more guest to make up for it?" Elena asked.
"It's not that easy," Dracula shook his head. "The list of a hundred guests was already set when your mother took you away. They are all people who will sincerely offer their blessings to your coming-of-age ceremony. And what you need to obtain is exactly a hundred guests' sincere blessings. If there are any missing or extra sincere blessings, the prophecy will still turn into a disaster."
Dracula let out a long sigh and then hugged Elena, affectionately stroking her long white hair.
"Don't worry, Elena. Father will definitely end the disaster on you and do everything to find that missing one hundredth guest who can sincerely offer you blessings. Although doing so will weaken your mother's prophecy power and prevent you from unlocking the power of the most powerful vampire, at least it will follow the prophecy and end the disaster you are currently suffering."
Saying that, Dracula let go of Elena and said with great regret and concern: "Father is very sorry that I can only give you an imperfect coming-of-age ceremony. I hope you won't blame me."
"It's okay, Father."
Elena was touched, but she remained vigilant. At this tender moment, she suddenly remembered Aunt Mary's seventh piece of advice: Don't trust your father. He will kill you.
Elena frowned! Damn it! Who should she trust?
Finally, for her own life, Elena felt that she couldn't completely rely on Dracula.
"Then, can I invite guests to my coming-of-age ceremony?" Elena asked.
Dracula was stunned for a moment and then said happily: "Of course! Yes, yes! This is your coming-of-age ceremony. You have more right than me and your mother to invite your friends to attend."
"If it's your invitation, then the vampire power you obtain at that time will not be weakened in the slightest!"
"But remember!" Dracula suddenly became serious. "The people you invite, you must be one hundred percent sure that they will sincerely offer you blessings. Otherwise, your disaster will not end."
Elena nodded firmly: "I will remember it."
"Very good, very good." Dracula's expression finally eased. "In this way, if we act simultaneously, our chances will be much greater."
But where should Elena go to find that one guest who can sincerely offer her blessings?
At this moment, her eyes suddenly fell on Nini.
Immediately, she became delighted. How could her blood contract partner not sincerely offer her blessings?
"She can't." Dracula seemed to have read Elena's thoughts and directly denied it.
"Why?"
"Because she's not a person."
"What?" Elena was full of confusion and then looked at Nini... and the toy bear in her arms. "Tybalt is Nini's good friend! Nini will never be separated from Tybalt!" Nini pouted and answered stubbornly. "She and the bear are one, but they are not two separate lives," Dracula explained. "So in the prophecy, she can't be counted as one person, nor as two."
"Okay... Then, right, what about Aunt Mary? I mean, Bloody Mary?" Elena asked again.
Dracula shook his head. "Bloody Mary was among the hundred guests. And I'm also your guest."
Elena: (ヾノ꒪ཫ꒪)
Oh no, oh no! It seems like only Father can end this disaster!
"Let me remind you," Dracula said. "Only I and Bloody Mary are on the list in the castle. So before twelve o'clock, you can invite anyone else you trust in the castle. Once the invitation is successful, the name of the person you invited will appear on the blank guest nameplate in the auditorium."
As Dracula spoke, his body suddenly began to twist and gradually turned into a huge bat. Then he opened his sharp mouth again and said, "I'll go outside the castle to look for new guests. If you see a name appear on the blank nameplate in the auditorium, it means I found one first."
With that, the huge bat spread its wings and flew out of the window in a hurry.
Elena watched her father leave, but there was something she didn't say to him because she had no evidence. —The person who harmed her must be her stepmother! It must be her stepmother who secretly played tricks and made one of her guests disappear. After all, Aunt Mary had said that her stepmother wouldn't let her go.
When Elena and Nini left the room, the croaking of frogs sounded again in her ears, even louder and more chaotic.
Elena felt an itch on her back and a slimy, sticky sensation. She knew that her back was also beginning to turn into frogs.
"Nini, shall we play hide-and-seek?"
"Yay! Yay! Master, Nini loves playing hide-and-seek the most!" Nini clapped her hands happily.
"Never mind, I don't want to play anymore all of a sudden."
"Yay!!" Nini shouted in anger. [Nini's affection for you -10]
The croaking of frogs was drowned out by Nini's scream, but the disaster didn't stop—it was still happening.
No! She had to stop all this! But in the castle, who could she trust?
She stood there for a long time, and in the end, the only person she could think of was... Alucard. Her own brother!
Elena left the room and went to the auditorium again. This time, she began to carefully check the names on the ten long tables... Finally, she found a blank nameplate without any name written on it at the seventh table, seventh seat. It seemed that this was the position of the missing hundredth guest.
Elena walked towards the corridor again. When she reached the third painting in the corridor, she stopped again. She always felt that this painting would give her some important clues.
She looked at the name of the painting, which read—The Clever Gnome.
"Hey, gnome, it's just me now. Can you talk to me?"
The painting hung quietly.
She glanced at Nini and then said to the painting, "She's my blood contract partner."
The painting hung quietly.
"If you don't answer me, I'll burn you!"
The painting hung quietly.
Elena took a deep breath, and her blood-red eyes turned. "You've been caught in your lie!"
The painting hung quietly.
"What? Are you going to keep pretending? You're not a 'clever' gnome, but a 'lying' gnome, because you have a long nose! In the strange world, only liars have long noses!"
The painting... hung quietly.