CHAPTER 310: WAIT, MY LORD

Damon stood up from the throne, preparing to head out. He was about to blink out of Niera City to start his impossible gold grind when suddenly a figure appeared in front of him, interrupting him.

"Wait, my Lord." Kaelthorn stood in front of Damon, unexpectedly bowing his head.

Hmmm? Damon raised a brow. "What? Haven’t you sneaked around enough yet?"

Kaelthorn immediately looked shocked. "My Lord..."

Damon sneered. "You think I did not notice you sniffing around when I was with Ellora before? Plotting something new, are we?"

Kaelthorn shook his head. "My Lord, you don’t understand.. I-"

"Let me stop you right there. I really do not have the time or patience to deal with you right now. I have far more important matters to take care of. I thought that I would give you a chance. I thought you would at least wait to show your true colors, and that I would have some time to change your mind or understand you, but I was wrong."

Kaelthorn looked regretful, but Damon did not care. He was already done with him. There was no point in taking this extra risk.

"In fact, you shouldn’t even be standing outside right now. Who knows, you might somehow find out where Ellora is and cause some trouble there. I already have enough enemies without adding you to the docket."

Damon truly meant what he said as he started to open up his system interface to dismiss the guy from his follower’s position. It was best to leave it empty until he could come up with a better candidate.

"I should just ask Varnyx’s opinion and get that old man to give me a good follower. Who knows, maybe his choice wouldn’t end up being too bad." He thought out loud and moved his fingers as he began voiding the follower contract.

"No! Wait!" Kaelthorn suddenly shouted. "Please, my Lord. Just give me a moment. One moment to explain."

Damon didn’t pause. His finger hovered over the confirmation option, his expression cold. "You already had dozens of moments. You wasted them skulking around."

But Kaelthorn dropped to his knees.

"I wasn’t spying on Ellora," he said, his tone low and raw. "I was watching you. Because I did not expect to see something like that. Because I..." He clenched his fists, head bowed. "I didn’t want to lose what little chance I had left."

Damon blinked, slightly taken aback. "Chance? What the hell are you talking about?"

"My Lord," Kaelthorn said softly, not raising his head, "I know you don’t trust me. And frankly, I don’t deserve your trust. But everything changed when I saw you behaving in that way towards the human girl."

Damon’s gaze turned cold. "That human is none of your concern." His decision was correct after all. This guy was definitely going to cook up some trouble for Ellora and Arya, and it was best to nip this problem in the bud.

His gaze shifted to the system screen again, but Kaelthorn’s voice once more stopped him. "MY LORD!" The vampire shouted at the top of his lungs, directly falling on his knees this time around. "My Lord, just hear me out one last time."

Damon’s finger hovered over the final confirmation.

His patience was measured in seconds now, and Kaelthorn had already used up far too many. Yet the desperation in the man’s voice made him hesitate again.

Damon paused, just a fraction. His eyes, which had been sharp and narrowed, shifted ever so slightly. He turned back toward Kaelthorn, who was still kneeling, his shoulders trembling.

"I thought you were like them," Kaelthorn began, his voice quiet and hoarse. "Just another arrogant vampire noble. Haughty, cruel, with a superiority complex the size of a continent. Someone who saw other beings as nothing more than livestock or playthings."

He raised his head slowly, eyes bloodshot and wet, meeting Damon’s gaze with raw honesty.

"But then I saw how you treated that girl. Arya. You didn’t bark orders. You didn’t grope her or feed from her. You treated her like a person. A companion. I thought it was some elaborate act at first. But then you kept doing it. And then... I understood. You’re not like them. You’re something else entirely."

Damon said nothing, but he didn’t look away.

Kaelthorn continued, his voice growing colder. "There was once someone I loved. An elf. She was light, pure, bright, always humming little songs while weaving mana threads. She used to call me Kael. She gave me meaning at a time when I had none."

His fists clenched, claws digging into his palms.

"I was a lesser vampire then, sworn to a mid-tier noble lord. I kept my love a secret, thought I could protect her if no one knew. But he found out. My ’lord’."

The word came out like bile.

"He took her. Used her. Raped her. Fed on her, then tossed her body out like garbage. I remember that day clearly. The way her hair still shimmered even as it was matted with blood. The way her fingers reached out for me... even after she was gone."

Damon continued listening.

"I confronted him afterward," Kaelthorn whispered, voice breaking. "Asked him why. He didn’t even remember her. Said she was one of many. Just a ’pretty little bite.’ He laughed. Laughed."

He looked down again, voice hollow now. "And I... I did nothing. I stayed. I was too weak to defy him. Too afraid. Eventually, many years later, I killed someone else, a less powerful lord. It was nowhere near enough to quench my anger because he is still alive."

"But I was caught and I was labelled as the rabid dog, the traitor who no one could trust. I did not care. Without her, my life was over anyway. I didn’t care if I died or rotted in some prison somewhere."

"And then you came... You released me from my prison, and you took me back to the outside world again. I saw your strength and assumed you were another one of them. Weak and yet somehow promoted to the Blood Hall lord because of your status."