Hao Ren looked at the large portrait in front of him in a daze. A simple and heavy wooden frame, the edge was decorated with exquisite patterns and a gold pin. It was in a luxurious style, typical of the era of nobilities. From the decoration, anyone could see how special this portrait was to the Andrea Family. On the portrait was an elegant, young lady in a long, black dress. She stood in the midst of roses and the background had a kind of unexplainable gloomy vibe. There was a slight smile on the lady's face—it was Vivian's countenance.
Hao Ren heard Vivian's voice, turned around in astonishment, and asked, "Is this really you?!"
Vivian looked at the portrait, and some fragments of memory finally reorganized themselves in her mind. "...Well, yes, I did have this outfit. I saved up two months for a French tailor. I did live here."
Then she frowned, looked around and said, "But, it didn't look this way back then..."
Becky looked at Vivian in horror and asked, "You-You're the Andrea Family witch?"
"That's not the way they used to call me," Vivian said as she frowned, trying to recall her past. She shook her hand and said, "Wait a minute, I need to recall my memories. That period of time has been the mistiest part of my memory, and... the changes here have been too great. Hold on..."
Vivian summoned a group of small bats to create a seat and sat there with her eyes closed. She was lost in her thoughts. White Flame looked at this scene with great surprise. She never thought of looking for a portrait of the witch when she got there. As a demon hunter, she was only interested in her prey, and clearly, she was not interested in the witch, who had been away for hundreds of years. But now, she was just as curious about the matter as everybody else.
Hao Ren pinched his face to confirm that the whole thing was not an illusion. Then, he subtly looked at Vivian: This prehistoric being could really bring to light a bunch of shocking dark history anytime, anywhere. If she had suddenly stood up and announced that the Code of Hammurabi was actually written by her, it would not have been surprising as well...
Lily held up her Flamejoy in front of Vivian's 300-year-old portrait. Comparing it with to the present Vivian, she muttered, "You used to be so graceful… How did you end up beocming someone who like to haggle over prices?
Before Lily continued any further, Vivian suddenly stood up and said, "I remember now!"
Lily was startled by the sudden move and accidentally thrust her Flamejoy into the antique portrait. It was at least 300 years old and this gave Hao Ren a terrible shock. "This is a 300-year-old antique!"
Lily's tail suddenly stood on end. "My paws have already ruined stuff that's worth at least five million dollars…"
Vivian ignored the two of them and quickly talked about the things she managed to recall. "Yes, I did know a human named Andrea... He, and another guy, we did business together!"
"Business?" When Hao Ren heard this word and associated it to Vivian's bad fortune, he suddenly got it and asked, "You harmed the Romans as well as the Egyptians, and you still wanted to harm the Russians?"
"During that period, I felt like I had a lot of advantages." Vivian put her hands on her hips and said, "I was in Kama… or the vicinity of Kamsk... I don't know what the name of the place is right now. Anyway, I knew the two men there. They were small businessmen, unable to make big money, but they made enough to put food on the table. However, they were actually more like my servants: At that time, the village where they lived was being attacked by werewolves, and I helped them. But when I was fighting with the werewolves, they saw everything. They thought I was a witch. Fearing that I would kill them, they surrendered themselves to me without waiting for my explanation… That was the way back then; people were so superstitious, and those in the lower class societies were more accustomed to being submissive. So, I started to think about it. I didn't have good luck with fortune, but if I collaborated with two humans, and let them make money for me, wouldn't that be good? Hence, I decided to tryit out. They used their fortune, while I used my knowledge and magic. The three of us collaborated in a wool business…"
Hao Ren raised his eyebrow. "Then?"
"And then, they lost everything," Vivian said, lowering her head and rubbing her hands. "Not only did they lose all the capital, they even encountered some trouble and caused the Czar to be exiled to Siberia to dig potatoes. A few days later, he was framed by some people and exiled again to the coldest place in the North to die…"
Everybody was at a lost for words.
Lily then muttered, "Luckily the two of them went bankrupt early, otherwise tsarist Russia could have been destroyed 300 years ago."
"They were exiled, but I wasn't affected," Vivian said, and she scratched her face awkwardly. "So, I felt very sorry for them.I went to Siberia to find them both... Oh! That's when I met the vengeful spirit!"
This attracted Hao Ren's attention. This was the point he wanted to know more of.
"Those exiled slaves dug the cellar to preserve food for the winter, and the vengeful spirit ran out from underground. I happened to arrive at that moment." Vivian clapped her hands lightly and continued, "This is the place. I sealed the vengeful spirit, and in the process, I found two things in a 'den'. I didn't know what they were for, but they looked beautiful, so I gave them to the two men."
While Vivian was talking, she looked around again, and her sight seemed to go further beyond the stone walls. "This place was also a different dimension at that time, but it was more stable than it is now, and there was only one crypt. After sealing the vengeful spirit, this place was completely stable. I built a big seal altar here... But I did not expect it has loosened to this extent 300 years later, that I can barely recognize it."
Lily could not wait to know what happened next. "And then? What happened after sealing the vengeful spirit?"
Vivian laughed awkwardly and said, "Ah ha... Maybe it consumed too much of my energy. After I gave the two men the 'gems' I found, I felt a little sleepy and found a place to sleep ... When I woke up, Alexander I was dead. Then I left Europe...
Hao Ren covered his forehead and asked, "You completely forgot the two unlucky kids?"
Vivian could only smile awkwardly, did not say a word.
White Flame had been listening to the whole story, and now she figured out the ins and outs. She looked at Vivian in astonishment and asked, "… You are the witch? You really forgot the whole thing?"
"She has a poor memory. Can't blame her. She had been living from prehistoric times to the present. Imagine how many things she had to go through in her life. How could she remember every single thing?"
White Flame's eyes suddenly turned sharp and stared at Vivian vigilantly. "Prehistoric... Wait a minute! Are you the legendary Countess?"
"You know me as well?" Vivian blinked and said, "Oh, of course. I guess every demon hunter knows my name."
"You are written in our textbook," White Flame nodded honestly and said, "the oldest vampire, eccentric and fond of mingling in..."
"Fond of mingling in human society, penniless, unlucky, bad fortune, poor memory. OK, we already knew it," Hao Ren interrupted White Flame and looked at Vivian who was quite embarrassed now, and continued, "So we finally figured it out. The so-called witch is you, and Andrea Family's ancestor did not steal something from the witch, it was you who forgot about them. What about the fortunes of their family later?"
"It must have nothing to do with Vivian," Lily curled her lip and said, "Probably because Vivian ruined someone else life, even God couldn't stand it and gave them some money to help them get over the shock."
"It was the two 'stones' I gave them," Vivian suddenly realized something and said, "'legend' this kind of thing, although it is distorted and fabricated by later generations, the backbone is always true. The Andrea Family recorded that their ancestors found wealth in the stones left by the witch. Such a big thing could not be made up of."
"Well, when we go up there, we can find Igor and ask where the stone is. I wish he hadn't lost his ancestors' treasures," Nangong Sanba said, then stood up and listened to the distant wind outside, "I feel the blizzard is coming soon... Now we better find a way to get rid of the vengeful spirit."
A couple of eyes fell on Vivian and her memory was recovering. She smiled confidently and said, "Don't worry. I know what's going on with this vengeful spirit."