"The second personality..." Elena struggled to process the new information in her mind.
"The missing guest was most likely invited by the Other, who is your mother's other half, so it can also be regarded as an invitation from your mother, but He is not your true mother," Dracula added.
"So, it was the unspeakable second personality of my mother who invited the guest and asked him not to come?" Elena suddenly understood everything.
"Alright, Elena. It's all in the past now." Dracula tenderly stroked her white hair and said softly, "Now that the number of guests is complete, once you complete your coming-of-age ceremony, you will become a true vampire. You will be free from human blood and the identity of the Other's successor. From then on, you will be normal and safe forever. I love you, my Elena."
Looking at Dracula's relieved expression, Elena finally understood why the sixth and seventh pieces of advice from Aunt Mary were contradictory. Father loves me, but he fears that I will become that unspeakable word. Although she understood this rationally, she still couldn't accept it emotionally.
"By the way, Father," Elena said coldly, "if you found out that I'm not normal now, would you... kill me?"
Dracula's gaze gradually turned cold: "What did you hear? Who told you this?"
"Answer me, Father!" Elena said stubbornly. Dracula pondered for a long time, then nodded firmly, "Yes!"
Elena's eyes dimmed, "So, this is your love for me?"
"Yes!" Dracula nodded again with force, "This is not only my love for you, but also my love for your mother. Elena, do you know what was her last request to me when she took you away from the castle?"
Elena slowly raised her blood-red eyes. "She asked me that if one day she was gone, before your coming-of-age ceremony, if I found you in an abnormal state, I must kill you immediately!" Dracula said in pain.
"Because your mother didn't want you to suffer the same pain as her! You are the successor of the *****, the unspeakable power will eventually find you! You will be lost in the terrifying and powerful power and become a true *****, then be trapped in endless pain forever."
Dracula's face contorted as he spoke, and he took a deep breath at this moment. "Whether you can understand or not, but the decision made by me and your mother to kill you was never to prevent the power from coming, but to free you from 'abnormality'... This! Is the true, sick, twisted, and crazy love that I and your mother have for you!"
Elena's blood-red eyes flickered. "Elena, I can't ask for your understanding, but I believe that when you become a *****, a puppet of the power, you will surely hate me for not killing you before you fully inherited the *****," Dracula said in pain.
Elena's chest rose and fell forcefully, "I think I can understand you, my father."
Dracula looked relieved, "Thank you, Elena." Saying that, he stepped forward and hugged Elena again, "It's all over, it's all over. Now your guest count is complete, and after your coming-of-age ceremony, you will be safe."
Elena smiled bitterly, "I'm afraid it's not that optimistic, father."
Dracula turned back in confusion. "Although I really don't want to say it, but I have one more guest now. Right after I successfully invited the Blood Disaster Flower," Elena said helplessly.
"One more... " Dracula's eyes widened, "This is impossible!"
"No, his... name?" Dracula thought for a moment and asked.
"Just as you think, the name of my one hundred and first guest is precisely - the special invitee of the unspeakable word."
Dracula's gaze deepened, "Yes, yes, exactly! He must be the missing guest! Yes, yes... Since it's an invitation, it's an invitation to 'come', how can an invitation to 'not come' be issued?"
"It seems that the invitation of the ***** has given that guest greater authority, allowing him to choose 'to come' or 'not to come' freely. Thus, the ***** can control the number of guests through him and interfere with your mother's prophecy." Elena nodded, exactly as she had thought.
Dracula's gaze suddenly sank, like a bottomless abyss. "But this also means... He has come, right?" Dracula asked cautiously, "The power... has found you?"
"Don't kill my father so quickly, I'm still normal," Elena said calmly, "But I can feel that He has already been in this castle."
"Yes, yes, it should be so. The destruction of the prophecy will bring disaster, and He has always walked with disaster! By the way, do you feel any disaster happening to you now?" Dracula asked with concern.
Elena thought for a moment, then raised her right hand, only to find that she no longer had a right hand. —There was nothing on her right wrist! As if she had been born that way.
"What happened to your right limb, Elena?" Dracula asked in confusion.
"It's the right hand!" "My right hand has vanished! This is the calamity!" Dracula looked at her in astonishment: "What are you talking about, Elena? I remember very clearly that you were born without a right hand. Now... you seem very abnormal..."
"You are the abnormal one, Father! All of you!" Elena said in despair. "Now, we must find out who my one hundred and first guest is and destroy him!"
Dracula's face twisted and contorted for a long time: "You're right, Elena. Maybe there's still a chance to save everything before He truly finds you."
Dracula suddenly grasped her left hand tightly: "You are a brave, composed, and fighting princess, Elena. I believe that a noble and elegant lady like you must still be normal!"
"That's right, power is nothing to be afraid of! As long as your number of guests is normal, even the unspeakable power cannot disobey your mother's prophecy! Because He is She!"
"But it's impossible to destroy a guest. I've told you, they have the Gospel. Even if their souls are torn apart, at the moment your ceremony begins, their souls will be mended and come to offer you blessings!"
"And the only thing you can do now is to immediately cancel your invitation to the Blood Disaster Flower, thus making that one hundred and first guest your one hundredth guest!" Dracula affirmed.
"But if I do that... that mysterious guest should also immediately choose not to come, thus making my guests short by one again, right?" Elena asked in doubt. After all, Father had just said that the unspeakable inviter might have the right to choose "to come" or "not to come" on their own. When the number of guests was just right, he chose not to come, thus making the guests short. When the number of guests was filled, he chose to come, thus making the guests exceed. So Elena was worried that if she canceled the invitation to the Blood Disaster Flower, that mysterious guest would also immediately choose not to come to her coming-of-age ceremony.
"Then we can only start your ceremony the moment you just cancel the invitation to the Blood Disaster Flower!" Elena widened her blood-red eyes, and heard Dracula say seriously: "I will make that guest unable to give up the invitation! And as long as he doesn't give up the invitation, even if it's an unspeakable invitation, he must abide by the contract and offer you the most sincere blessings at your ceremony!"