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The Vampire King Apollyon

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Apollyon narrowed his eyes at this pathetic display during his visits.

A Vampire King would never ask his military general to make married women his consort unless they had exceptional beauty, so there was no need to protect them from him.

As they bowed their heads in respect, the wrinkles on the women's faces when they scowled had repelled him, so there was no need to be so guarded or tremble in fear.

Apollyon knew they were judging him in their minds despite the blatant acts of reverence when he was around.

The children—who clearly had no sentience yet-- ran away as they let out primal screams when they see the military general with him too.

They reacted like they Apollyon and his men were monsters.

It was alright for him because it can show in their outer appearance.

The pureblood vampires couldn't hide their true nature, after all.

The military general had a poor reputation of a paedophile amongst the children's parents.

He was infamous for being an ancient pureblood Vampire cursed in a child's body by the crazy High Priestess.

Rumours had spread like wildfire that the military general only fucks children.

It was absolutely false.

The first time they heard the rumour about Cederic, it had left Apollyon's inner circle baffled before they broke into fits of laughter.

Cederic claimed that older women had liked him in his teenage form, so nobody in this Realm could accuse him of being a paedophile.

He had frowned how ridiculous it was.

His accusers should ask the older women who were attracted to him first.

Cederic was tired of defending himself, and he just lifted a hand loosely, his palms up in a 'who cares?' gesture whenever some idiot mentioned that stupid gossip in front of him.

Cederic's young appearance might have proven otherwise so he let the women be and killed the men who would try to mock him of his height and sexual prowess despite having the body of an almost-teenage boy.

The young lass didn't notice that Apollyon was there because she was fixated with Luna who slept on the bed.

The child watched the Empress with parted cherub lips as if enamoured by his wife's eternal beauty.

Apollyon also observed the Empress as he reclined from the window.

His eyes can't help but stray at the oblivious little girl in curiosity.

He would have warned the little girl not to move because there were glass shards all around the floor, but when he had stared at the lass from head to toe, Apollyon narrowed his eyes at her feet.

It didn't touch the ground.

The girl's bare feet had hovered three inches from the jagged pieces of glass scattered on the floor.

If the kid were human or a vampire, she would surely hurt herself either way.

The kid wasn't.

Apollyon had to rub his eyes to make sure he saw things clearly.

The colour of her aura was messed up too.

Perhaps, Apollyon had slept too much, and he just had to make sure.

He had correctly assumed that the kid was a spectre—a ghost with long straight hair similar to his wife.

Who was she and what was she doing here in the Ivory Tower?

How did she get here alone by herself?

Where did she come from?

Pursing his lips, he watched the ghost child with knitted brows as he tilted his head to the side.

Apollyon didn't know the young lass personally.

The lass had reached out a hand and touched Luna's pinkie finger in her small hand, but her spectre hand couldn't grasp his wife's hand and just went through, penetrating Luna's hand without being able to touch it.

The molecules keeping her ghastly form together divided and converged once again.

The kid must have felt like she was made of water.

Apollyon's posture went rigid when she heard the lass whimper.

She stomped her foot in place as she hovered in the air, crying and wailing as she screamed, "MAMAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Apollyon swallowed hard.

He didn't know how to handle a child—how much more if it was sobbing her eyes out until all the water in her small body dried up like an empty well under the summer heat?

It was forcing him to do something about it and make it stop.

He wasn't good at this type of activity, so he kept himself quiet.

Glancing at the young lass' back, Apollyon anxiously bit his claws.

The closest physical encounter he ever had with a child was Cederic, but Apollyon thought his interaction with the ancient vampire would never count.

He cleared his throat so that the kid would notice him there.

Apollyon had wondered why she hadn't noticed him yet, too fixated on the Empress who wouldn't respond to her ghastly touches.

Never in his immortal life was he treated like some tree in the background.

The child wailed a high-pitched scream that woke up the entire Vampire Realm when the sleeping Empress didn't react like she expected, "MAMAAAAA!!"

Shutting his eyes tight, Apollyon had anticipated such predictable scream and covered his ears in perfect timing.

He cleared his throat louder and called her out gently, "Young ghost."

When the child didn't respond and kept on sobbing without wiping the snot out of her face, Apollyon called the child to get its attention.

"Young ghost." Not daring to move from his position, Apollyon whispered soothingly to calm the toddler, "Your mum isn't here,"

Curbing his rising anxiety because he didn't know how to deal with a crying ghost child, Apollyon crossed his arms to form a flimsy barrier between the kid and him.

That wasn't so effective because it didn't prevent him from hearing her cries.

He had drawn an invisible line between them, and it was a boundary he will not dare cross.

Apollyon didn't want to crush them and accidentally kill them with his carelessness.

Never.

Dealing with cute, tiny toddlers--and a ghost at that-- was his kryptonite.