Vivienne's mood was getting better, knowing Vincent wasn't upset. She caressed his hair and asked, "What is it that can't wait until morning?"
Vincent didn't answer immediately. His vile hands ran over her gown's straps and pulled them down, revealing a pair of heavenly softness.
He grabbed the two naughty bunnies and staring into Vivienne's eyes again, sucked on one of them.
This time, Vivienne closed her eyes and hugged him closer, as if afraid he'd run away from her.
[Corruption +5]
Vincent let it go and said, "I'm afraid you wouldn't agree with what I'm about to say."
Vivienne opened her eyes and sighed. She gently held his face and said, "If you don't tell me, how would I know whether to agree or disagree?"
Feeling the warmth from her hand and looking at the gentle look on her face, Vincent suddenly had his raging hormones calm down as if he was under a calming potion.
'Eh? Shit… I suddenly feel like I'm taking advantage of her. Not like I wasn't, but suddenly feeling it… hmm… feels like I'm being a scum.'
[…feels like? Feel? Really?]
'Shut it. No need to give add-ons.' Vincent exclaimed and ignored the system.
"Mom…" Vincent went out of the blanket and sat upright.
Vivienne too got up and rested her back on the bed rest, listening to what Vincent had to say.
Her gown's strap was still down and there were two major distractions in front of Vincent.
He skillfully decided to pretend they weren't there and said, "This matter is related to our house. It's so important that… one wrong step and our house will collapse. We will all die."
"Vinny… " Vivienne frowned. "Get to the point, can you?"
Vivienne was running out of patience, and the words muttered by Vincent sounded like a bad omen.
Instead of explaining, to lighten the mood a bit, Vincent rolled down onto his mother's lap.
Ignoring the distractions, he said, "The kingdom hates witches, right?"
"Yes?" Vivienne answered and went along.
"Then, let's say they find someone in our house who's a witch. What do you think will happen?"
Vivienne thought about it and replied, "They will investigate it, maybe have a chat with me about it? And I'd be given a few days to deal with the witch myself or the church would meddle and things would get troublesome from there on."
"Right." Vincent rubbed his eyebrow. He didn't know there was such a protocol. Just how many steps had his father skipped to cause the destruction of his family within a week? It felt almost unbelievable.
"…now then, what would you do if you were to find out there's a witch within our house? You're the first to know, nobody else does, not even the church."
Vivienne rubbed her temples and said, "A witch is just a girl with odd magical powers. The line's very thin between a mage and a witch. I'd first confirm—"
"No, no, let's just say it is indeed a witch. What will you do?" Vincent cut to the chase. There was no need to play a justice court right now.
"Then I'll just have her run away from our house. What else can I do? Kill her? That would be too cruel. I'll try to hide her identity and have her escape. In future if the church comes, I'll tell them that by the time I was about to restrain the girl, she escaped. Matter solved." Vivienne said calmly.
Vincent was in awe of his mother's sense of duty. She was the master every subordinate wished they had.
He had to applaud her for her goodness, but time was of essence and he had to get to the point quickly.
"Well, that's great. But currently, there's two problems with this. Firstly, the matter of the witch won't be solely known by you. Secondly, the witch is already with you and you aren't aware yet."
Vivienne frowned and fell silent.
Vincent extended his hands out and pulled, making her lean and have their faces just an inch away from each other.
His fiery red eyes met her calm blue ones, and he said softly, "Mom, this matter is far too serious. And I want you to agree with one thing in it for me. Will you?"
Vivienne was silent for a bit before shaking her head. "I won't agree with anything before hearing it."
Vincent sighed and let her go. He got out of her lap, then shook his head. "I don't think I can continue anymore then."
Vivienne frowned and replied, "Vinny, why are you being so difficult today? Why can you not just tell mother everything there is? Why beat around the bush so much?"
"Because I told you, this matter concerns our house. It will fall. It's a hundred percent going to fall if we don't do anything. And if you don't agree with me on this one thing, then I'll only end up putting you in danger. I don't want to do it."
"What do you mean?" Vivienne didn't understand and did not get his hint either.
"Mom, mother, mommy dearest," Vincent knitted his brows and held her face as he got onto his feet and leaned down to look dead straight at her.
"Why is it so hard for you to accept this? Why are you being so difficult? Don't you love me? Shouldn't your love for me be so boundless that you accept any of my unreasonable requests?"
Vincent was somewhat pissed and ranting right about now.
Vivienne was taken aback by him suddenly throwing a tantrum.
This was the first time he had shown such a side of his, and honestly, if it wasn't for the serious situation, she would've played along.
"Vinny, my dear, calm down a little and tell mother what you've been hiding first. It's really not nice of you to keep things hidden."
Neither Vincent nor Vivienne were about to relent. Both were quite stubborn.
Even if Vincent was adopted, it looked like he had inherited this personality from her.
Vincent knitted his brows and stared at her for a good few seconds, thinking of something.
Vivienne didn't say anything either.
After a minute, Vincent said, "You really don't love me, huh? Forget it then."
Vincent was about to move away when he got his ears pulled.
Vivienne brought him closer and held his jaw, forcing him to look at her.
"You unruly child…" Vivienne was really annoyed right now. "There's no one else in this world who loves you more than me. Etch that straight into your head. And secondly, even if you don't say it, mommy will find things out, even if it means turning the house upside down."
Vincent blinked in befuddlement. What? What just happened?
How did his gentle looking mother suddenly turn so fierce?
[The host's passive skill of extreme annoyance has leveled up to SSS class. You truly can annoy anyone.]
As if his mother wasn't enough, now this damn system was making fun of him.
A few seconds passed and noticing no response from Vincent, Vivienne hugged him and rubbed his back.
"Vinny, I don't know what's making you not speak, but if you're afraid of something, then let me tell you, there's not many in the kingdom who can challenge mommy."
Vincent broke out of his stupor and heard this.
'She's saying she's strong? What?'
Vincent had a hunch that his mother wasn't baselessly saying this. However, it still felt strange to hear.
'If there's not many who can challenge her, how did the house get destroyed and I died?'
There were so many mysteries around the quest and Vincent was having a hard time wondering where to begin.
'Fuck, things keep getting complicated.'