Chapter 19. A Goddess walking in the midst of mortals.

At the famous Rivera shopping center in Crimson City… 

Not many times Eva had the chance to enter such a place in the past. Bright and joyful, with shops with a great variety of clothes and accessories, and with lots of human beings roaming around. 

"Did you see her?"

"Who is she? She must be a celebrity!"

  Eva with bright green eyes, dressed in a short, green dress and looking elegant walked around as if she were the queen of the place. No one could deny her domineering air and her natural charm.

"The best women's clothing stores are allied to the Hart family," Seth instructed Eva, heading right into the middle of the shopping center where there was a beautiful display of designer dresses from the Hart store. "If you like we can look around the store."

"No need, let's go to another place," Eva said with a smile.

Not that she wasn't drawn to those fine-looking dresses, but she didn't want to deal with the Hart family so soon. Now that her memories were less hazy, she could recall the words that man and his family used to throw at her. 

'You're disgusting, don't come near us... My cousin can't stand you.'

'Don't you dare fantasize about my son's money, you greedy slut!'

'You despicable woman. If I hear that you approached Marina again, I'll tear you to pieces. Did you hear?!'

Eva sighed. She won't hesitate to divorce that man as soon as she gets the chance. At the moment, she didn't need him. The reason for that marriage was no longer important to her. She can protect herself… 

Memories of her past self odious family flashed in her eyes. If she hadn't gotten a scholarship to BlackRose College, they would have taken advantage of her. Fortunately, her past self managed to escape in time. However, that didn't mean they wouldn't come back to harm her in the future. She smirked thinking about her sweet revenge, as she won't let enjoy life any further. 

She took Seth's arm to walk around the mall and approach the stands one by one until she found the most eye-catching place. 

If she was going to Samantha Carlton's party, and even though she knew the Carlton family were insignificant mortals, undeserving of her attention, Eva wanted to make them know that she was not someone they could bully. Of course, that will be after she stole the treasure Marina had mentioned. 

Maybe that would be the first clue to find the other treasures. She couldn't help but grin in eagerness, not noticing the many stares directed at her and Seth. 

The more they walked, the more people saw them and whispered. They were attractive people, no doubt. Although, despite their closeness, they didn't seem to have an intimate relationship. It was more like a servant accompanying his mistress.

Eva had her hand on Seth's arm, just a light touch. It was her way of marking him as her servant, just as she had done in the past with her other servants and slaves. They all bore her mark, but the ones closest to her had the opportunity to share the power of her blood.

Though, she barely had any power to share at the moment. She could only transfer a tiny spark of her shadow to Seth, so they would be connected if necessary.

"This place is not bad," Eva smiled as they stopped in front of a shop showcase. It didn't seem to have many customers, despite the clothing being of high quality. In fact, it looked empty. 

The dress displayed in the middle was excellent, a beautiful shade of blue, sparkling with bits of beading at the neckline and corset. However, something in those ornaments made Eva think that it was not ordinary clothing.

Seth frowned hearing Eva's praise. That place was owned by someone who was considered the empress of the fashion world, but she was very special when it came to selling her pieces. 

Not many made it past the entrance to get one of her dresses. Only those people who really inspired her could come out of her with one of her dresses.

It is said that many celebrities and influential people tried to offer her hundreds of thousands or even millions for a single dress, but no one got it.

Instead, the owner bestowed her outfits on people she deemed worthy of them. She would invite them to wear her clothes and they would walk out wearing one of those outfits as if a powerful aura enveloped them. It was said that they become more beautiful, powerful, famous, or wealthy after wearing those clothes. 

Of course, all the attires were publicized on the shop's site with the name of the owner. So, if someone wore one of her dresses and was not the rightful owner, they would be harshly criticized. And bad luck would follow him or her till that person returned the dress. Everyone was afraid of falling under the curse.

Of course, only humans wouldn't notice who was truly behind that shop. But Seth knew very well before entering that place without invitation. He found it suspicious that Eva didn't know. 

"What's going on?" Eva looked at Seth tilting her head to the side. "Shall we enter?"

Seth cleared his throat and then proceeded to explain the situation, but a group of three women stopped in front of them before he could.

"Are you Eva? You must be her, right? There's no doubt," a young woman with black hair and caramel eyes looked Eva up and down with visible mockery in her eyes. Though within her scrutiny, she couldn't hide her jealousy.

The other two women next to her were also looking at Eva with anger and jealousy. They knew Eva Reed very well, that woman, besides being married to Kian Hart, the billionaire, and owner of half Crimson City, was gorgeous. She seemed like a goddess walking in the midst of mortals. They couldn't help but approach her as they had already called Samantha, and they were ordered to humiliate Eva as always. 

Then they looked at the young man next to Eva and blushed. He was very handsome and distinguished; with that appearance, any woman would be happy to present him as her boyfriend.

Eva frowned as the three women reeked of too much perfume and makeup. 

With her fine nose, she could distinguish the quality of people's blood and she knew that in those thousand years that passed, the uncontrolled diet and the intake of processed foods produced blood without sufficient quality. Added to the extreme variations and combinations of perfumes, the smell seemed unbearable.

But she couldn't do anything about it. It's not like there were human farms with organic blood, right?

She covered her nose trying to control her sensitivity, but that simple gesture seemed to mock the three women.

"You are Mr. Hart's wife, right?" one of the women spoke containing the anger in her voice. "How dare you cheat on him with some other man?!"

She was Samantha's friend and she knew very well that because of Eva, Samantha had run out of the opportunity to marry Kian with just a few days to announce the engagement.

Eva could hardly focus on that woman's voice with all that perfume. 'What does that thing have? Why does she smell like that?'

As in the past, it seemed that rich people bathed in these scents to hide from vampires and other special beings. Indeed, it was terrifying for the nose of a vampire.

Seth looked at his leader and sighed. He could smell that perfume too, but he was already used to it. It was part of his training in the human world. The Union had sold that substance to major perfume companies. Then they will distribute them to those humans of wealthy families. This way, the clans will know who to eat and those who they were not allowed to touch. 

Eva tried to focus and looked at the woman again with a frown. 

"You are..."