Chapter 246: Rekindled Hope

"Are you kidding me?" Alec stood in haste, his piercing eyes boring into Anthony.

"You know I am not fond of jokes, King Alec."

Alec walked away from his desk and stood in front of Anthony.

"But how is that possible? This woman...she looks so much like her, but something is amiss. I can sense no magic in her body, proof that she’s a mere human. She doesn’t have Lauren’s blue eyes, and her scent, it wasn’t Lauren’s. People have unique scents, and vampires know about it best."

There was confusion in Anthony’s eyes. He sighed. He contemplated for a moment before saying, "Bring her to me. I’ll examine her."

Alec vanished from the room the next second, moving with his vampire speed.

Did he miss something? Alec couldn’t help but wonder if Lauren was right in front of him, and he failed to recognize her. Anthony never failed when it came to sensing people’s energy, and if he really sensed the living energy of Lauren, then it meant the maid could possibly be her.

Alec was skeptical about it, but at the moment, he wanted to believe. He wanted to hope that it was possible.

And to think that Lauren might really be alive...it rekindled a thrill inside him. A deep-rooted passion that had been buried in the darkness for years.

Meanwhile, just a few minutes before Anthony arrived, Princess Iris decided to go to the dungeon to see the prisoner maid.

She held her head high as she entered the dungeon, yet disgust was evident on her face. She was bored and wanted to see the situation of the maid who had foolishly dared to disrespect her.

The vampiress stopped in front of the maid’s cell. Jenny and Isabelle saw the vampiress, but they didn’t dare speak a word. Fear and worry were evident on their faces because it was clear that the vampiress hadn’t come to free them.

Sensing the presence in front of her cell’s grill door, Noelle looked up. She was leaning on the wall, and her eyes were closed, but when she heard incoming footsteps, she opened her eyes.

Meeting the vampiress’s eyes, she knew that she didn’t come to lend any help but to watch her suffer and seek satisfaction from it.

"Hello there, you annoying insect," Princess Iris remarked, her tone sweet, yet her words venomous.

Noelle clenched her teeth in silence but she didn’t say a word. She was a prisoner while the vampiress was a royal and the King’s guest. She feared that she would only get herself into a worse situation if she offended the vampiress.

"I’m glad to see you here. You deserve to be here, you know."

Despite not allowing herself to speak, Noelle couldn’t help but subtly glare at Princess Iris.

Unfortunately, it didn’t escape the vampiress’s eye.

Princess Iris’s brows furrowed. "Did you just glare at me?"

Turning to the guard standing nearby, the vampiress demanded, "Open this prisoner’s cell. I must punish her for offending me."

Seeing the guard’s hesitation, she added, "I have the King’s permission. I am Princess Iris of Bodeville, and I am to marry your king, so you shouldn’t think twice about carrying out my command."

Princess Iris was to marry King Alec? For some unfathomable reason, Noelle felt a tinge of annoyance. She didn’t know why, but she guessed it was just her dislike for the young vampiress’s attitude.

Believing that the princess was granted the King’s permission, the guard went to open Noelle’s cell.

Noelle sucked in her breath once the cell was opened. She could see it in the vampiress’s eyes, the desire to physically hurt her.

Most elite vampires were like this. They believed they were above all beings, and once they were shown defiance from someone beneath their status, it would hurt their pride, and the only thing that could appease them was retribution.

Jenny and Isabelle were worried about their friend, but they couldn’t bring themselves to utter a word as they were consumed by fear. They were scared that the vampiress would also punish them.

"They are all saying that you look like the late queen, but I only see an ordinary human in you who doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near King Alec," the vampiress said as she stepped inside the cell, her demeaning eyes looking down at the maid.

"I don’t see why that late queen is being mentioned so often right now when she died long ago." She chuckled without humor. "I’m sure King Alec is on his way to forgetting his former wife completely, but then you came and used your freaking face to remind him of her. But that face, you certainly copied it with the use of some cheap sorcery."

"I didn’t copy anyone’s face, Your Highness—"

"Oh, stop the drama. As if I would believe you."

Right. She wouldn’t. So why was she even trying to explain herself to a person whose mind was closed? Noelle thought to herself and lowered her gaze to the ground, gritting her teeth.

The vampiress pulled something from her dress pocket. It was a small stick, but after muttering something, it turned into a whip.

The sight of the whip sent shivers down Noelle’s spine. It would be her first time being beaten with a whip as she hadn’t experienced something so violent before. Not that she remembered. But somehow, the sight of the whip...it felt familiar.

All of a sudden, Noelle winced when she felt a throbbing pain in her head.

Beads of sweat formed around her forehead, and she felt weak and dizzy.

"Too scared now?" The vampiress chuckled evilly. "Don’t worry, I have no plans of killing you. I just want to give my own punishment. The slap wasn’t enough, you see."

Princess Iris took a step closer to Noelle, but just as she was about to strike the maid with her whip, scorching blue fire enveloped the whip, and in just a couple of seconds, it was reduced to dust.

A cold voice emerged from behind her, "What do you think you’re doing?"

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read