Free and Unfettered 34 Instinc

She didn't know if the feeling was related to destiny or not, but it didn't matter. As long as she followed her own principles and adhered to her own rule of conduct, she didn't think anything would go wrong. Even if it did, she would solve it on her own.

Nine Destan would never doubt herself.

Unseen to anyone else, she continued down the street, her eyes lingered on the people who strolled down the streets. Everyone who appeared in her sights was beautiful. They could be considered city-toppling beauties. There were both Vampires and humans in the city. So far, she hadn't seen any other race besides these two.

As she walked on, it became apparent that humans were considered a lower class in the Night Tide continent. It could be seen from the subtle ways they treated the humans. Even if there weren't any scenes of violence, it could still be seen from the way that Vampires looked at humans like they were a subspecies.

The humans living here looked like they were used to such treatment, keeping their heads down lest they provoke any Vampires. Nine saw a few humans get pressed into a wall while a Vampire sank their fangs into a throbbing pulse, taking their fill.

There were no apparent changes in Nine's expression. She looked as if she had been living here all her life – or rather, the sheer indifference in Nine's eyes would have made no few wonder if she was a Vampire herself.

Nine walked down the streets unhindered by both Vampire and human. Both species alike saw no trace of her. The Crown Prince of the Cosmos Empire took in the sights with dispassionate eyes even as her brain filed all the information. Big hints and little signs that everyone else overlooked were categorised in her brain for later use.

After making a lap of the city and overhearing various people speaking, it became apparent to her that this little city didn't have any Vampire royalty. The highest rank here was a Duke, which was surprising considering how little information she had so far.

A Duke was considered the highest-ranking nobility other than that of royalty. Vampires adhered to a strict hierarchy of bloodline. High ranking Vampires always meant that they had awakened much of their bloodline and awakened some special abilities.

Perhaps for humans, the king or emperor could ascend the throne due to their blood but didn't have to be a strong mage. On the other hand, for Vampires, nobility always meant that they had mastered a certain amount of magic. From Baron to Duke, these titles weren't passed down through offspring but rather what tier they were as a magician.

Once a Vampire reached Fourth Tier magic, they were considered a Baron. Fifth Tier for Viscount, Sixth for Earl. Seventh Tier made them a Marquees and Eighth or higher was the highly anticipated Duke. Even royals might not necessarily dare to offend a Duke and treated them with caution. A single Duke could fell nations.

Vampire royalty contained bloodline suppression. Every other Vampire other than royalty would be suppressed at least a little based on how pure their bloodline was. To the Vampires, it didn't matter what rank of magic a royal had reached. If the royal's bloodline was strong enough, then all other Vampires were helpless before them.

There weren't more than five Dukes in the total population of Vampires. Because of their long lifespan, Vampires generally had a number of higher tier magicians compared to other races. Luckily for the humans, Vampires were rather lazy by nature and didn't like to randomly incite war for no reason. It was only for this reason that the humans still rule majority of the continent even though they didn't have as many Eighth Circle magicians.

Having seen and gained enough information for now, Nine had a feeling that the black building she had seen earlier belonged to the Duke. While no one had dared to speak of it, the body language when Vampires and humans passed by the building spoke volumes.

The way they unconsciously shied away from the side that contained the building, the way they looked at it with a mix of respect and fear. It was clear to her that the building contained the Duke.

No one had seen the Duke for a long time already. It was rumoured that he was sleeping since he was too bored, and there were no wars to fight. A few foolish Vampires had gone in to take a look, but they had never returned. After the first few times, no one else had dared to even breathe too close to the building.

A sane person would stay away from the place where the most powerful Vampire in the city slept, but Nine wasn't normal by any means. She was arguably the most powerful person in the world. The strange feelings only urged her harder to take a look in the house. She didn't know how to classify the feeling. Instinct? Strings of fate? Destiny? While her instinct had always been strong even back on Earth, she had a vague feeling that it had reached an all time high on this planet.

Nine expanded her magic, feeling out the building. Her eyes flashed in appreciation at the wards and runes that surrounded the building. No wonder no one had returned alive from the mansion.

The surrounding garden had flowers placed down all around the building just like the rest of the buildings in this city, but the defences here were skilfully and artfully made. The runes and wards blended into the scenery and made a beautifully harmonized blend of both defence and artistic taste.

Blue eyes roamed the vast expanse of magic that was shown before her eyes as she exclaimed in wonder inwardly. The gift of Magic Sight was a blessing. It would have been much harder breaking in without it.

Having successfully broken down the surrounding wards, Nine stepped in a bizarre manner as she entered the mansion's defences. She sometimes stepped forward, backwards, diagonally or sideways. She even jumped once or twice.

Within five minutes, she had successfully broken past the various wards and stepped into the mansion itself. Nine casually entered a random window, looking around as she upgraded the stealth spells and runes attached to her.

The room was free of dust and looked like it had been frozen in time. Nine felt like she had stepped back in time to Victorian London, with the way the room looked. Outside in the hallway, there hung a series of scenery paintings and a lone portrait.

She eyed the portrait. This must be the Duke. The little plaque on the bottom of the portrait signified his name. Seyton Mort.

Chapter end