Donna Beneviento, dressed in black, was the first to leave, cradling Angie, the bridal doll in a white wedding dress.
Since the farce was over,
it was only natural for the person who appeared most socially anxious to slip back to her own mansion.
Next was Salvatore Moreau.
However, he didn't plan on returning to his own territory; instead, he hurriedly chased after Mother Miranda's retreating figure.
As Mother Miranda's most loyal servant,
he was different from Heisenberg and the others; the Mother's favoritism toward him was very obvious.
Ever since Mother Miranda returned, she had granted a vast amount of authority to Salvatore Moreau, so it was perfectly normal for the two of them to have some private dealings.
"..."
"The council is over, let's go...!"
Finally, there was Lady Dimitrescu. Her tall figure reached out a hand to Javier as usual.
Javier looked up.
Seeing Lady Dimitrescu's unquestionable expression, Javier sighed helplessly. This old woman really knew how to take the opportunity to get back at him.
It was that annoying mother-and-son hand-holding posture again.
He really didn't understand why Lady Dimitrescu was so fond of this dynamic; one could only say she truly lived up to the original setting of the eight-foot-tall lady.
Immediately,
Javier left together with Lady Dimitrescu.
Heisenberg looked at the empty church, and after confirming that Mother Miranda had truly left, a smile played on his lips as he prepared to start his own game.
*Clatter...*
Heisenberg crouched down and reached out to pinch the chin of the unconscious Ethan on the ground, his gaze sizing him up from behind his black-rimmed sunglasses.
Feeling the same mold power within Ethan as their own, Heisenberg already understood Mother Miranda's intentions.
Although he now knew that Mother Miranda also wanted to use Ethan as a pawn, it didn't matter.
Because Heisenberg was also very confident.
He intended to use Ethan as his own pawn.
Two players in a match; now it just depended on who made their move faster. Regardless, Heisenberg was more confident than Mother Miranda in securing Ethan as his pawn.
"Alright..."
"Poor father, now it's time to go save your daughter,"
Heisenberg finally muttered to himself as he glanced at Ethan on the ground.
He soon dragged the unconscious Ethan up again, and after finding the underground passage of the Cave Church,
Heisenberg threw the unconscious Ethan down. He didn't plan on explaining the situation to Ethan directly.
Instead, he intended to let Ethan first experience the horrors of the village and find the crystallized remains of his daughter, Rose.
By going through despair and then seeing hope,
only then did Heisenberg plan to jump out and offer Ethan a partnership.
At that point, Ethan would be unable to refuse the cooperation.
After all, without his help, Ethan wouldn't be able to obtain the complete crystallized remains, nor would he have a way to resurrect his daughter.
...
Meanwhile—
*Crunch, crunch...*
After walking out of the Cave Church,
Lady Dimitrescu and Javier reached the surface, a trail of footprints appearing on the snow-covered village road.
Seeing that they were above ground and no one was watching, Javier quickly pulled his hand out of her grasp.
Feeling the warmth suddenly vanish from her leather glove, Lady Dimitrescu frowned slightly and gave Javier a dissatisfied look from above.
This God Father was truly too stingy.
He wouldn't even let them hold hands to play the roles of mother and son.
After all, although she had three Vampire daughters, she seemed to have never had a real son, so she subconsciously treated Javier as one.
"God Father, so what should we do next...?"
But that being said,
Lady Dimitrescu did not dare to be presumptuous.
Because she was still very wary of Javier's hidden power.
So she returned to their original respectful servant-master relationship, asking in a low, reverent voice.
"There's nothing to do,"
"Just stay in the castle honestly. A guest will be coming to your door soon. Mother Miranda intends to use Ethan to deal with you four noble lords."
"So when the time comes, My Lady, you only need to pretend to be defeated and let Ethan steal the crystallized remains that Mother Miranda gave you to keep."
"If Mother Miranda questions you, you just need to answer again that the crystallized remains were accidentally stolen by Ethan and you couldn't stop him."
Facing Lady Dimitrescu's inquiry,
Javier replied with a nonchalant wave of his hand.
They didn't need to hurry because the protagonist this time wasn't him, but Ethan. Ethan was the main pawn driving the plot.
Without Ethan,
the plot wouldn't be able to proceed normally.
So Javier couldn't rush; he had to meet Ethan first. He needed to act as a guide and explain the current situation to him.
Otherwise, if he left Ethan alone,
the subsequent plot development would become very troublesome.
After all, dealing with the relationship between Ethan and Lady Dimitrescu alone would give Javier a headache. He couldn't really let Ethan slaughter Lady Dimitrescu's entire family!
"Ethan...?"
"That ant-like man could kill us, the four noble lords? God Father... you've taken this joke a bit too far."
However,
upon hearing Javier's words, Lady Dimitrescu couldn't help but burst into laughter.
The idea of Ethan killing all four noble lords was simply too hilarious.
Because Lady Dimitrescu truly couldn't imagine
how Ethan could possibly kill her. Did he intend to rely on that weak mold power?
And in reality, that was indeed the case.
It was indeed very difficult for Ethan to deal with the four noble lords.
But unfortunately... the arrogance of the four noble lords was their own undoing, and the Lady Dimitrescu before him was the perfect example.
She clearly had the chance to finish Ethan off in one go,
but she chose to play a game of cat and mouse, which led to her destruction.
Not only were her three Vampire daughters killed by Ethan one by one, but she herself was stabbed by Ethan with the poisonous Death Flower Dagger.
Ultimately, because she couldn't suppress the mold power in her body against the toxin, she completely lost control and transformed into a dragon form, only to be blasted to death by Ethan with a shotgun.
The deaths of the other three noble lords were much the same; they were all slowly wiped out because they underestimated Ethan. So, one must never underestimate Ethan.
"I can't explain this to you..."
"It may seem ridiculous, but just like the arrogance of you four noble lords, it is that very arrogance and prejudice that will lead you to your doom. He is an insignificant ant, but it is such an ant that will kill you."
Facing Lady Dimitrescu's disdain,
Javier didn't explain further. After a casual response, he walked off alone toward the castle.
Lady Dimitrescu watched Javier's retreating back,
her eyes narrowing slightly. He was becoming more and more mysterious; she felt as if Javier had foresight.
Not only did he know in advance that Mother Miranda would summon the four noble lords for a council at the church, but now he was claiming that Ethan was the executioner who would destroy them all.
Although Lady Dimitrescu really didn't want to believe it,
given Javier's mystery, she ultimately chose to be cautious.
After all, overthrowing Mother Miranda's rule was the main objective.
As for pretending to be defeated by Ethan, that was a minor matter; the plan was what was most important—!
"In that case, I shall wait and see..."
In the end,
Lady Dimitrescu said nothing more, only intending to wait quietly and see how Javier's plan would be carried out.
After all, she actually really wanted to see the high-and-mighty Mother Miranda being overthrown; that shocked expression would surely be delicious to savor.
...
On the other side,
inside the underground passage of the Cave Church—
*Drip, drop...*
Water droplets from the ceiling were slowly falling onto Ethan's face. At this moment, Ethan had been thrown into the underground passage by Heisenberg.
Instead of sending Lycans to capture him as in the original story, he was letting Ethan wake up on his own and explore the entire village.
And coincidentally,
Heisenberg had placed Ethan in the direction of the passage leading to Castle Dimitrescu, so that when Ethan woke up,
his first destination would be Castle Dimitrescu. Heisenberg loathed Lady Dimitrescu.
Because when Heisenberg was young,
he had been trafficked into this village by that mad woman through the slave trade. Now he had a chance for revenge.
Heisenberg planned to let Ethan kill Lady Dimitrescu first. Once the first crystallized remain was obtained,
he would personally step forward to persuade Ethan to cooperate with him.
Then they would work together from the inside with the BSAA outside to deal with Mother Miranda. This was his meticulous plan.
But unfortunately,
Heisenberg had no idea at this moment that his meticulous plan was about to become someone else's gain, and that person was Javier.
"Ugh..."
"Where... where am I?"
As the water droplets hit his face, Ethan's eyelids twitched. He finally reacted and slowly woke up from his unconscious state.
Seeing the scene before him, which looked like an underground passage, he fell into deep confusion again.
He had first been abandoned in the snow, and now he had been brought to a place like an underground passage while unconscious.
The situation could be described as having many ups and downs,
leaving Ethan, up to this point,
still unclear about where he was or where his daughter, Rose, was.
Of course... even more painful were his previously bitten fingers and shoulder, which were still throbbing with pain...