"Princess Elena, what's wrong?" the Lord of Fear asked in surprise. "I can sense your fear, but it's not something I've imposed on you."
Elena turned her head, her face pale as she stretched out her right hand. "One of my fingers... is missing..."
The Lord of Fear tilted his head in confusion. "What are you talking about, strange princess? Your hand has always been like this, hasn't it?"
"You... what... are you saying..." Elena's blood-red eyes widened.
"Isn't it? Since I first saw you, you've always had four fingers. Although your body isn't exactly human, you're not a pure human either. You wouldn't suddenly start hating yourself over this, would you?" the Lord of Fear asked.
Elena's red lips opened and closed. The calamity on her body was so natural to a Lord of the Root that it couldn't be questioned! Then the cause of her calamity must be something more powerful than him - a power!
- It must be that sudden 101st guest!
"My guest list has an extra person," Elena took a deep breath and said calmly.
"Yes, that's strange," the Lord of Fear nodded. "I saw the name tag appear suddenly on the table."
Elena breathed carefully. At least the extra guest could be recognized by others.
"Could it be that the Blood Disaster Flower was lying? It didn't keep its promise and didn't send you a sincere blessing, so this strange event happened?" Elena guessed.
"That's impossible, suspicious princess," the Lord of Fear immediately denied. "There's nothing more trustworthy in this world than a contract. Since you made a contract with the Blood Disaster Flower, it will surely send you a sincere blessing. After all, your 100 guests all came because of the contract your mother made with them, right?"
A contract is the most trustworthy thing. If the problem wasn't with the Blood Disaster Flower, then what caused this sudden extra guest?
Elena felt her heart race again. Perhaps, only her father could answer her doubts. I must go and ask my father right away! This is the last "future visible". Even if I can't survive the coming-of-age ceremony, I must clear up all the doubts!
Tap tap tap! Elena walked quickly towards the room at the back of the hall in her high heels. Just as she reached the door, she saw her aunt and the bald butler coming out of her father's room.
"Princess, you look radiant today, as charming as fresh blood," the bald butler greeted.
"Thank you," Elena replied gracefully, although she wished she could split this cold butler in two.
"Elena, you finally left your room," her aunt said with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "By the way, you must have met Arukado many times by now, right?"
"Yes, Aunt," Elena responded politely. "By the way, I changed the tie clip on Arukado's shirt."
Margaret's body stiffened for a moment, then she smiled gracefully. "Is that so? I'm really envious of your deep sibling bond."
"Do you have any other instructions, Aunt?" Elena asked calmly.
Margaret fanned herself irritably with her small fan. "Hehe, nothing else. But your father is confused about the guests for your ceremony. You should go in and see him."
The stepmother gave Elena a smile and then left unhurriedly.
Elena stood still, her blood-red eyes narrowed. The frog witchcraft was indeed the stepmother's doing. That was certain. Just look at her reaction to the tie clip.
However, she was also very sure that I had no way to deal with this witchcraft, so she quickly calmed down.
But... she seems to be very concerned about the guests for my ceremony as well? Could it be that the abnormal number of guests was also orchestrated by the stepmother in the shadows? With doubts in her mind, Elena pushed open her father's door.
"Didn't I tell you to get out?"
"Father..." Upon hearing this, Dracula turned around abruptly! "Elena..."
"Is Father worried about the number of my guests?" Elena asked.
Dracula let out a long sigh and walked over to Elena in a few steps, embracing her tightly: "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, Elena. Father failed to protect your coming-of-age ceremony..."
"Father, I have invited one guest."
Dracula paused, suddenly releasing Elena and couldn't help but exclaim with joy: "Yes, yes, you can also invite guests! Hahaha! But..."
Dracula's expression became solemn again: "Are you sure the guest you invited can sincerely offer you blessings?"
"I'm not sure, but... I made a contract with it."
Dracula suddenly let out a sigh of relief: "Then there's no problem. In this world, nothing is more trustworthy than a contract. Great, great... Tell me, Elena, who is it?"
"The Blood Disaster Flower in the castle," Elena said without hiding.
"Blood Disaster Flower..." Dracula thought for a moment, "Yes, there is such a flower in the castle. I still remember it was sent by the Bloody King back then, along with his daughter."
Dracula suddenly became excited: "You did an excellent job, Elena! The Blood Disaster Flower is very picky about food. Ordinary meat chunks can never make a contract with it, but you succeeded, and you're unharmed! So, today you will successfully complete your coming-of-age ceremony and become the most powerful vampire from now on!"
"But I still have a question I don't quite understand," Elena frowned and said, "My mother invited a hundred guests who could sincerely offer me blessings for my coming-of-age ceremony. These guests must also be because of the power of the contract, right?"
"Of course!" Dracula nodded and said with relief, "It seems you know quite a lot. Did Alucard tell you? I'm glad you and he can return to your former selves."
Elena didn't respond, and continued to ask: "Father, what I want to say is, if the contract is the most trustworthy thing in this world, then why is there one guest missing today? This guest should not dare to break the contract, right?"
"Of course not, Elena," Dracula affirmed, "If he didn't come today, it can only mean that something unexpected happened to him."
Elena nodded: "That's right. Someone is trying to stop my coming-of-age ceremony and secretly killed one of my guests!" And this person should be Margaret, her stepmother. Elena thought to herself but didn't say it out loud.
Dracula's eyes widened: "This is impossible, Elena. No one can kill your guests."
"Why?" Elena paused.
"They have the Gospel of the Undead. Even if their bodies break down and their souls split, they will be reborn today because of the Gospel and come to your ceremony to offer you blessings," Dracula said with certainty.
"This..." Elena suddenly found that all her deductions had been overturned. Could it be that the missing guest has nothing to do with her stepmother?
"If there is such an irresistible force, then why is there still one guest missing?" Elena didn't understand.
Dracula frowned. "Unless... that guest wasn't invited by your mother..."
"Then who was it?" Elena exclaimed in surprise.
"I think his invitee should be *****," Dracula said fearfully.
"That... that word I can't say, isn't it my mother?" Elena asked in confusion.
"No! ***** is *****. Your mother is your mother!" Dracula corrected her seriously.
"But Aunt Mary said my mother... is that unmentionable word!" Elena was even more puzzled.
Dracula thought for a moment: "What she said isn't wrong. It's one body, but two people. You can understand ***** as your mother's... 'second personality'."