Chapter 1562: The Doll is Back
The night went on as expected in Arad’s castle with a large party, while many nobles and royalty from different kingdoms met. He himself sat on the throne, bored. He didn’t have much to do here besides wait for the party to end.
The nobles who flocked inside brought many gifts and treasures, trying to amuse Arad’s mother and get on her good side. But that wasn’t as easy as many expected, and not because she was Arad’s mother and Alcott’s wife, but because she herself didn’t come to the party looking like a noble lady.
Vasilissa attended the party wearing a simple and cheap dress that made her look like a commoner pretending to be a noble. And if that didn’t shock the nobles enough, she refused all gifts, saying that it doesn’t make sense to give her what she already owns.
None of the nobles understood what she meant, but Arad and Alcott did. The entire mortal world was in her stomach; if she wanted, she could claim it whole as her hoard.
If she wanted something, she would just take it. That was the reason she didn’t wear anything fancy. She wasn’t here to impress people; they were the ones coming here to impress her.
The nobles were never willing to give up, so they shifted their gazes toward Arad and Alcott, trying to figure out which of them they should try to impress.
Arad was an easy one to go for because he was the Emperor; they could send him gifts without looking too suspicious. But, they bet their souls that it was Alcott they should go after.
Alcott was easier to talk to and probably much easier to impress than Arad with gifts. But that would make their intentions too obvious, and no noble wanted to be seen as someone who licks boots for a living.
Unlike Arad’s mother, Alcott was going around the ballroom, drinking and eating from every single table that he found. He was even dragged away by Ginger twice for flirting with some noble ladies while drunk.
Many nobles showed concerns about their safety when Alcott looked wasted, but Vasilissa quickly proved them wrong as she tossed a glass full of wine at Alcott, only for him to turn rapidly and catch it with ease, not letting a single drop drip on the floor.
Alcott looked at Vasilissa with a smile. Unlike Arad, he could still get drunk, but it only took a fraction of a second for his vampire blood to cleanse the intoxication away.
It was both obvious and unknown to most. If the dragon could get Alcott drunk and kill him, they would’ve done it long ago. They tried, but getting drunk didn’t seem to hold him for longer than a fraction of a second.
"What a fun party." A voice rang at the edge of the ballroom like a chime. Everyone fell silent as the wind around them moved slowly, nine white tails dancing like snakes with sparks of shattered glass.
Hati took a step and walked out of a mirror-like gate that opened in the wall. The moment her feet landed on the ground, Vasilissa was already standing in front of her.
"Look who we have here. The little doggy girl." She reached forward and patted Hati on the head.
Strangely, Hati didn’t seem to mind Vasilissa’s actions that much. She ignored her pats and turned toward Arad, "She is back."
Hati reached into the inside of her Yukata, pulling a strange doll from under her chest.
Hati didn’t wait and just threw the doll toward Arad.
The doll was small, wearing a cute pink dress and holding an umbrella in her hand. It looked like something a little girl should be holding, but in the blink of an eye, Arad was standing in the middle of the ballroom, holding the doll in his hands.
Arad lifted the doll and stared at it for a second. She stirred in his hands and then moved. Her arm swung at blinding speed, stabbing Arad’s forearm with her unbrella, which turned out to be a needle filled with violent toxins.
Arad’s forearm turned red, then blue, then purple. It then got engulfed in black mist, soon emerging new as if nothing had happened.
"You’re cheating!" The doll growled, and Arad smiled, "That’s a good one, Aisha. Does it eat mana?"
Aisha pushed herself out of his grip and stood above his knuckles, "No, it stimulates the nerves and causes the poors that mana comes out to seal, then the flow gets reversed and your own mana burns you." She explained briefly and then looked around, "So? Care to tell me what those flesh bags are doing here?"
Arad lifted Aisha and listened closely to her, whispering back, "First, don’t call them flesh bags. I’m their Emperor. Second, this is a party because my mom showed up."
"Your mom is here?" Aisha stared around with a surprised face, "Where is she? I don’t see any giant woman anywhere in this large room." She jumped on Arad’s head to get a clear look. He was like a tall tower in the middle of the crowds.
"No, Mom isn’t that massive. She is the one talking with Hati." Arad pointed, and Aisha’s eyes finally landed clearly on Vasilissa.
"What? That’s doll?"
Aisha jumped from Arad’s head, and her tiny body flashed, soon turning into a seven-foot-tall doll wearing a gothic dress. Her wooden arms clanged as she took a few steps forward, approaching Arad’s mother.
Everyone got away, clearing a path for her. Because even if she looked vaguely human, to the mere mortals standing around, she looked harrowingly inhumane.
No one knew what was going to happen, especially when Arad’s mother smiled and started walking toward Aisha. Even Hati had taken a few steps back, and so everyone cleared the area around the two.
"I have never seen a doll like you." Aisha asked with a smile, prompting Arad’s mother to reply with a grin. "Can you stop calling me a doll?"
The two remained silent for a second.
Aisha seemed to be looking at Vasilissa with interested eyes. Vasilissa, on the other hand, just waited with a smile and a hand on her hip.
"Would you mind showing me later? As you can see..." Aisha waved her arms, "I’m nothing if not something out of a horrifying nightmare." Her robotic, wooden eyes moved with strange magic, sending a chilling gaze toward Vasilissa.
Vasilissa approached Aisha and sniffed her, immediately getting an idea about the situation. "You were studying with her, I see. Come visit me later."
When Arad was at Hati’s house before, Aisha left to study Alchemy under Olivia, the great alchemist of the gods. She had just returned and wanted to test her newfound skills, so making a better doll for herself to use as a body, like Arad’s mother, immediately became an interesting project for her.
Soon enough, Arad learned that Doma also wanted to join them. Maybe his mother would be the one to teach her how to make a new body.
Because of that, Arad called Sena and had her work with them as well, freeing one of his incarnations while making the research he had at the university go much faster.
The perfect living being, Sena. The ancient alchemist, Aisha. The Queen of Curses, Doma, and Arad’s mother. With all four of them working together, creating a new body didn’t seem that impossible.