Fire.

Victoria stood with her jaw almost falling to the ground as she heard how Alucard Tepes forced her to live under the same roof with his son. She had no choice otherwise. The good image of the progenitor was shattered like a piece of glass. After throwing a thousand curses at this guy in her mind she said, "Fine, but the party has to agree too. I don't want him to kill me for this. I am not forcing him at all."

She spoke with a helpless tone. Alucard Tepes nodded and glanced at the elders. The elders were smart people. They immediately responded, "It will be arranged, your excellency."

With a peal of cocky laughter, Alucard Tepes vanished in the dark shadows just like he arrived at the place. The elders said, "Victoria Vlad, your challenge has been registered. You can now leave. The champion will contact you in a few."

The blood princess sighed and then she climbed up the dark stairs that led her here. She walked out of the staircase and happen to meet Bones who was walking over with a cold face. Unlike her usual domineering CEO aura, she fled away like a frightened kitten. She had butterflies in her stomach when she imagined this iceberg exploding.

Not willing to take damage Victoria left the church quickly. Other than a fear in her heart she was also anticipating living under the same roof with the guy she loved. She told the driver to go to the office.

The car parked in front of the company and Victoria walked inside with a faint smile on her face. The employees almost fainted when they caught this sight. Their boss, the demoness, was smiling for apparently no reason. Gloria was waiting for her in front of the reception counter.

She gulped when she saw Victoria coming over in casual attire. She walked over and after mustering up the courage she asked, "Madam, Good morning."

Usually, the blood princess would have just nodded to her but today she replied with a smile, "Good morning Gloria. How are you?"

It was one thing to return a greeting but another to even take the initiative to ask how she was doing. Caught off guard Gloria replied weakly, "Fine... I guess."

Victoria nodded ignoring her awkward answer and continued to her own cabin. It wasn't until lunchtime when Victoria's smile was wiped off all of a sudden. The phone on the table rang. The caller was Oleksiy Vlad.

The girl picked up the call and spoke in a merry tone, "Hello, Father, good afternoon."

The other side, however, was not as enthusiastic as her. A grumpy voice sounded, "Vici, what did you do?"

Victoria replied, "Umm, asked the tribunal to arrange a challenge duel. They gave me a month. They asked me what is the reason so I blabbered out that you might want to kill me. Then I nominated Bones to be my champion. Nothing else. Why?"

She deliberately did not disclose the thing about her moving in with Bones and the ban on inviting aid from outside the city. It was obvious that the elders will reveal those facts to Oleksiy and She will act surprised. Just as she predicted, Oleksiy Vlad busted a gasket in his brain and started to utter profanities over the phone.

After a few minutes when he seemed to have successfully vented his heart, he said, "The old relics want you to stay with Bones for a month. You might have to stay at his place. As for the champion selection, I will ask around to find a strong fighter inside the city. Did they really not tell you about all this earlier?"

She knew that she could not lie to him so she spoke in an aggrieved manner, "Alucard Tepes, imposed these things on me. What could I have done? He was present there in person." knowing that Oleksiy Vlad has puppets watching her. She continued, "But I am happy with this."

The man asked, "Why so?" his tone was full of doubt.

Victoria smiled and said, "Alucard Tepes allowed me to attack against his beloved son. HAHAHAHA. I wonder if he will cough up blood if he knew it?" as if she was actually a villain.

Oleksiy Vlad heard this and started laughing as well. The call was soon disconnected. Just as she placed the receiver down, the cabin door was pushed open. Bones walked in with a cold glare. Almost killing Victoria if he could. Gloria rushed in behind him, she said, "Madam, he barged in on his own. I could not stop him. Should I call the security?"

She was aware that Bones had been in the office a few times so she tried to persuade him but the latter just barged in without replying and even now he was glaring at the boss without uttering a word.

Victoria was in a daze. She did not know how to explain this to the guy. She was about to wave her hand to Gloria when suddenly the iceberg of a man smiled. He said in a soft voice, "Victoria, baby, did you not tell your staff about me?"

His words shocked Gloria while the Vlad princess was shocked dumb. These words hit her like a missile. She never expected this guy to do something like this. Not giving her a chance to recover, Bones turned to face Gloria and said, "Hello, I am Willian Smith. You may call me Mr. Smith. I am your boss's boyfriend."

With a sunny smile on his face, he extended a hand to Gloria. The pretty OL was shocked by the smile on his face, a couple of red clouds surfaced on her cheeks. Gloria was by no means a shabby-looking lady, you know.

She took his hand and gave it a gentle shake. She heard a stiff cough, she said, "I will be outside. Please call me if you need something."

Bones smiled and like a gentleman pulled open the door for her. he turned back to glare at Victoria with a cold smile on his face. The girl asked, "What did you do?"

The guy smiled and walked close to her, "Do you not know that people judge when you 'live in' with a guy without a tag, so I just gave you a tag." his hand clutched the headrest of her chair as he leaned over gazing in her eyes.

At this moment, Victoria was burning in the fire of shame.