The First Vampire

But the oracle of God was something Schultz’s countess found herself unable to understand clearly, as if something was interrupting her connection with the Lord, preventing them from communicating.

When she opened her eyes, Countess Schultz found herself still in her bedroom at Swan Castle. Through the hazy moonlight pouring through the window, she saw Colin sitting in front of her, calmly watching her.

Countess Schultz thought she should be terrified, but in her eyes, Colin was enveloped in a halo of holiness.

As though in a dream, the image of the Lord of Glory she had just seen overlapped with the face of the young viscount in front of her!

This realization left Countess Schultz shocked, but a deep-rooted sense of reverence and admiration welled up within her, compelling her to bow down and pay respect to Colin.

“What… what’s happening to me…” Countess Schultz mumbled in a dreamy voice.

Sitting on his chair, Colin coldly looked down at Countess Schultz, who had collapsed onto the ground and said:

“You just died, but I have absolved you of your sins and granted you a second life!”

“Rebirth?” Countess Schultz asked in disbelief. But when she looked down, she saw a dagger still plunged into her heart.

“Pull it out yourself,” Colin said with indifference.

Countess Schultz tremblingly gripped the hilt of the dagger. Fear filled her heart, but she didn’t hesitate to follow Colin’s order.

Swish!

The dagger came out.

Countess Schultz cried out in pain but saw no blood splatter as she’d expected.

She even felt as if the deadly wound simply didn’t exist.

“From now on, you’ll bask in my Lord’s grace and won’t die easily,” Colin bluffed in such a way that even Pope Gregory might not have done better.

The look of shock on Countess Schultz’s face was gradually replaced by devotion, and she prostrated herself on the ground, praising the Lord.

When she raised her head again, Countess Schultz looked at Colin with an expression full of infinite reverence and asked, “Are you one of God’s Favored?”

Colin nodded and said, “Yes, but you should keep my identity a secret.”

“I understand!” Countess Schultz nodded immediately.

Having assiduously witnessed a “divine sign”, Countess Schultz was now unreservedly trusting of Colin.

Colin closely observed every subtle change in Countess Schultz, trying to see if converting a bloodline could really “make an enemy a friend.”

After all, bloodlines are sentient, and Colin had been careful avoid converting enemies before, fearing a rebellion.

Now, it seemed that Countess Schultz was brainwashed and no longer hostile towards Colin.

Still, Colin needed further validation before making a final judgment

“Tell me, what exactly happened with Bishop John? And who made you impersonate Vera’s biological mother?”

Faced with the same question, Countess Schultz did not hesitate or lie, and spoke truthfully:

“It starts ten days ago when a man looking exactly like the last Duke St. Hilde suddenly approached me…”

“Duke St. Hilde?” Colin exclaimed.

“Yes. Even though he looked exactly like the old Duke, the disparities in his tone and demeanor were noticeable. But because this person also had the power of a Holy Knight, I didn’t dare resist. I just did as he instructed.

This person must have been injured, as he needed our cooperation to capture Bishop John and heal his injuries.

Moreover, he knew many secrets of the St. Hilde family, including Vera’s origins. That’s why he had me impersonate Vera’s mother and reassured me that no one would unmask me, because Vera’s real mother would never dare acknowledge her daughter…”

Listening to Count Schultz’s explanation, Colin’s brow furrowed as he asked, “What happened next, why would Bishop John’s corpse turn up in the basement of Swan Castle?”

“When we first saw the body of Bishop John, both Lucien and I were genuinely terrified. I had asked Lucien to warn that man since he knew you were going to search the whole castle, I thought he would temporarily hide somewhere else, but…”

“But then he actually betrayed you!” Colin immediately understood.

Count Schultz nodded and said, “Yes, I think he saw that Duke St. Hilde did not fall into the trap of entering Swan City, so he might have thought the Schultz Family had lost its utilitarian value, and so he simply instigated a dispute between us and the St. Hilde family.”

Colin, deep in thought, pondered for a while before asking, “Do you have any contact with the Morrison family?”

“The Morrison family?” Count Schultz seemed a little surprised that Colin would suddenly mention this family, he paused, then shook his head, “Our contact with the Morrison family has never been tight, nothing recent either.”

Colin received Count Schultz’s frank words with caution.

He could not probe the consciousness of a bloodline, and therefore had no way to determine whether the other party was either hiding or deceiving.

Nevertheless, from what Count Schultz had revealed, Colin tended to believe that she was telling the truth.

After all, if she wanted to lie, she certainly wouldn’t fabricate a story about Duke St. Hilde’s resurrection from the dead, which would be too hard to believe.

If what she said was true, what was the deal with this Duke St. Hilde?

Did the Morrison family actually resurrect Duke St. Hilde?

Colin couldn’t help thinking about the mysterious blood pool beneath the Phoenix Butterfly Fort’s clock tower.

But then he remembered, Count Schultz said that there were differences between this Duke St. Hilde and the real Duke such as in demeanor, tone, mannerisms, etc. Therefore, perhaps this wasn’t a case of resurrection from the dead but rather possession of the body!

Just then, Colin remembered Lexie’s warning—Mr. Ji had not died.

With this in mind, the isolated questions seemed to finally be tied together by a string.

Although this hypothesis was almost too incredulous to believe, it seemed to be the most rational explanation—

Mr. Ji used Duke St. Hilde’s body, and resurrected himself!

Colin suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold. That horrifying figure that had devastated the North Territory was still hiding somewhere, ready to emerge and unleash a bloodbath at any time!

Perhaps the Schultz family was just the result of his initial attempt.

Colin narrowed his eyes and forcibly made himself calm down.

He knew that Mr. Ji was not invulnerable. At least for now, he dared only to hide in the shadows, even though he had possessed a Holy Knight’s body.

Yes!

Even though he had possessed a dead body to resurrect himself, Duke St. Hilde had been severely wounded before his death.

No wonder he tried to kidnap Bishop John, he must have wanted Bishop John to help him heal his wounds.

Colin immediately became alert. He had to inform the Church about this. If Mr. Ji wanted to recover his injury, he would undoubtedly intend to kidnap another high priest from the Church.

Besides, he also thought of Lexie.

Wasn’t he going around the world tracking Mr. Ji? If this information was shared with him, he surmised this Holy Knight of the St. Lorenzo family would be glad to help eliminate the threat in the North Territory!

With this in mind, Colin finally let out a sigh of relief.

His gaze returned to Count Schultz.

The Countess, who was initially prepared to sleep, was now wearing a plain corset dress, with no jewelry on her body. However, the dress was well-fitted, highlighting her curvaceous figure. The semi-circular neckline revealed a delicate clavicle and a patch of exquisite whiteness.

Her submissive posture at this moment further accentuated her mature, seductive charm.

Colin forced himself to look away, suppressing the agitation in his heart.

Regarding this bloodline who had flipped from enemy to ally, Colin still needed to subject her to the final test.

He was very curious to know whether a bloodline would ever betray.

“Count Schultz, next, I need you to do this…”