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Home / Vampire Short Story / My Vampire Fiancé Refused to Lend Me Money, So I Married the Northern Lord / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of My Vampire Fiancé Refused to Lend Me Money, So I Married the Northern Lord: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

13 Chapters

Chapter 1

Elena's POVBy the time I'd thrown on a change of clothes and rushed out to Adrian, the cars were almost ready to leave."Adrian, wait!"I ran to his car, out of breath, and knocked on the window several times before he finally frowned and rolled it down."What is it?"His cold, handsome features tipped down at me, my breathless reflection caught in his blood-red eyes. Even when seeing me put him in a foul mood, he still looked effortlessly elegant.The skies over the Prince's domain were always overcast, and just then the rain came down without warning.This was the one halfway-decent outfit I owned, and the silk was already speckled with rain.I gripped the front of my dress, went quiet for a moment, and forced myself to speak."I... I need thirty million. Could you lend it to me? Just for now."The moment I said the word "lend," something in his face soured.The servants and the nobles in his retinue began to murmur.I couldn't look at him. I stared down at my shoes, the ones I hadn

Chapter 2

Elena's POVThe tears I'd been holding back spilled over. My eyes went red, and as I lowered my head, a single drop struck the hem of my dress.My throat closed. I started to tell him that the brooch was all I had left of my mother.But Adrian had already looked away, impatient."Whatever it is, it can wait until I'm back. Stop making a scene."My mouth opened, but all I could do was watch the car window glide slowly up.Adrian turned and struck up a conversation with a female vampire inside, another of the royal line.The woman watched me out of the corner of her eye. There was pity in her look, and above it, a cool, lofty distaste.The cars rolled past me one after another, throwing up water from the road. I realized they were doing it on purpose, aiming the wheels at me, and I stepped back, but I couldn't dodge them all.The silk was ruined.Clutching what was in my pocket, head down, I made my way back to my room, quietly wiping my eyes the whole way.I took the rain-soaked bills o

Chapter 3

Adrian's POVAfter I left the manor, something sat heavy in my chest.A bad feeling circled overhead.I kept seeing Elena in the rearview mirror, soaked to the skin, head down, arms wrapped around herself.I remembered another time. The blood-soaked banquet, vampire nobles dead all around us, Elena filthy from head to toe.But back then, the way she'd looked at me, her eyes had been bright.She'd heard her mother screaming. She was crying hard. Yet the hand gripping my wrist was steady."Mother said if I get you out of here, she'll meet us outside and take us home!""Go, don't be afraid!"Her voice had been shaking, but she never let go of my hand.And just now, a little water on her dress had left her that crushed, that lost.I pushed down the strange dull ache in my chest.Of course. After all these years in the manor, climbing from a middling human noble to the heir's fiancée, she'd probably grown soft and spoiled.My cousin was still chattering beside me, but I had no heart left fo

Chapter 4

Adrian's POVThe tour of the southern domain was almost over.For days, my parents had paraded vampire noblewomen in front of me.Each one matched my station, fit to be the heir's wife.I didn't refuse the meetings. But I chose none of them.Elena and I truly weren't a match.For years I'd kept her at a distance, and every time she came to me, she wore that meek, careful, long-suffering look that made my chest go tight.For all the lavish comfort the Prince's domain gave her, she never learned to behave herself. When she looked at me, the smile on her lips was always stiff, and she'd grip the hem of her dress and say nothing.I shouldn't have chosen her for my wife.It really would sound too ugly.Not only because she was human.But because the whole noble world knew the state I'd been in after the blood-soaked banquet.For three full years I was lost in hallucinations, suspicious of everything, refusing to let a single servant near me.They all said it: the heir to the Prince, frighte

Chapter 5

Elena's POVThe moment the money came through from my father, I rushed to the antique shop and handed the owner a check.For a little while I forgot my dread of the North. There was only the anticipation, full and bright.I remembered sitting on my mother's lap as a child, reaching up to touch that ruby, curious.The feel of the stone surfaced under my fingers in my mind, and with it, almost within reach, my mother's gentle smile.But after the owner took the check, his face turned awkward."I've sent the brooch out to be cleaned and restored. It'll be about a month before it comes back.""Why not wait a little longer, Miss? I'll deliver it to your residence myself."I thought of the manor and shook my head.The servants there were always tormenting me. I toiled away for the gardener and other servants for an entire year, yet the wages I received were constantly shortchanged.The Princess said that as Adrian's fiancée, I couldn't go out and take work; it would shame the Vampire Prince.

Chapter 6

Elena's POVI didn't want to see that cold, contemptuous look again. I just closed my eyes."Young Master Adrian, if you'd like to give Miss Vicky a gift, there are plenty of choices here.""But I've already paid for this brooch. It's mine."“It's mine.”I'd said those words so many times.The servants were always taking my things. More than once the Princess had seen it, and never lifted a finger.She'd probably understood, earlier than anyone, that Adrian didn't love me. That was why she'd opposed the engagement from the start.Young as I was then, I refused to believe it. I thought Adrian couldn't live without me, that I couldn't live without him, and I clung to that to the death.But within five years of my mother's death, Adrian recovered, and proved her right.I lifted my eyes and looked at him, coldly, without a trace of love.The more plainly I laid it out, the more I forced myself to watch the two of them wrapped around each other, the clearer my head became.Adrian despised m

Chapter 7

Elena's POVThere was something familiar in this man's eyes, though the face was a stranger's.I racked my mind and couldn't place where I'd seen him. I only took the handkerchief, dazed, and felt his arm hover loosely around my shoulders, the perfect gentleman, never quite touching."I'm Lucien Sylvia, Lord of the North. Your husband."Seeing me still crying, slow to catch up, he drew out the handkerchief and gently dried my eyes."I hear someone's trying to take something my lady has her heart set on. Is that so?"He stood at my side, his look low and dangerous.Vicky shrank under his gaze and ducked behind Adrian.Adrian shook her hand off, impatient, his eyes full of accusation."Since when are you Elena's husband?"This time, I didn't shrink back. I reached out and took the arm of this husband I barely knew."A month ago, I agreed to the betrothal with House Sylvia. We hold the wedding tomorrow."Shock crossed Adrian's eyes. He stared hostilely at our joined arms, and his fist cle

Chapter 8

Elena's POVAfter Adrian left, the antique shop fell terribly quiet.The owner stood behind the counter, pale, breathing softly.Vicky had gone with Adrian.Before she left, she'd glanced back at me once.There was resentment in that look, and a jealousy she couldn't quite hide.I paid her no mind.All my attention was on the ruby brooch on the counter.It had been set back in its velvet tray.The stone threw a soft, warm light under the lamp.It was like the spot of red that used to catch my eye whenever my mother bent to hold me.I reached for it.The moment my fingertips touched the brooch, my eyes burned.I'd searched for it for fifteen years.From the day of my mother's funeral, when I found it gone, I'd thought of nothing but getting it back.I was so young then.I only knew my mother was dead.I only knew she'd promised that on my wedding day, she would pin this brooch to my dress with her own hands.But she never lived to see that day.And the brooch was gone.Everyone told me

Chapter 9

Adrian's POVWhen I got back to the manor, the rain still hadn't stopped.As the car door opened, I looked, without thinking, toward the front courtyard.It was empty.No Elena.No rain-soaked figure clutching the front of her dress, head down, standing off to the side.I frowned. The agitation in my chest rose again.She was the one who'd made the scene.She was the one who'd agreed to marry into the North for thirty million.But every time I thought of the way she'd looked at me in the antique shop, I couldn't get calm.It wasn't spite.It wasn't hurt.It was a stillness, completely cold.It was as if I'd finally been cut out of her heart.I called for a guard."Look into that ruby brooch.""And find out where Elena got that thirty million."The guard left.I waited in the study all night.He came back as the sky was paling."Young master, I have it.""The ruby brooch is genuine. An old piece that surfaced on the black market after the blood-soaked banquet, fifteen years ago.""It ch

Chapter 10

Adrian's POVWhen I brought the contract to my parents, they were in the receiving room.My mother saw my face and frowned slightly."Adrian, what's the matter with you?"My father sat at the head of the room, calmer than her."I hear you lost your composure over Elena again today.""Since she's willing to marry into the North, that's no bad thing for you.""A human girl was never suited to be the heir's wife.""We cared for her all these years. Call it repaying her mother's debt, and let it end there."I stopped in the doorway.The words went in like a dull blade, straight to the heart.Once, I'd thought the same way.I never said it aloud.But I let it stand.Let it stand, that Elena wasn't good enough for me, that she didn't belong at my side.Let it stand, that dragging out the engagement, refusing to marry her, was me protecting the family's good name.But now, I only wanted the whole truth."So you drove her into a servant's room?"My mother's face changed."What servant's room?"

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