Chapter 67
Again, a memory from childhood.
I picture in my mind one of the most peaceful moments I can remember.
In the ragged, torn-apart scene, there were only smiling faces.
I loved those days.
-Princess.
-Have you come to see His Majesty again today?
A deep, weighty voice brushed against her ears.
He was a man with an exceptionally impressive mustache.
‘Jersian.’
He was one of the retainers who had taken particularly good care of her.
Whenever she skipped her blood-claw technique lessons and secretly visited her father's office, he was always standing in one corner of the study.
-I seem to recall you were scolded just a few days ago for skipping class.
-I do enjoy seeing you often, Princess, but Sir Refil is going to scold you.
-Hmm, I don't think it would do any good even if you asked me to cover for you.
-To be honest, I'm rather afraid of Sir Refil myself···.
An ordinary conversation.
Grumbling about her lessons, she would sit on the sofa in the office.
Whenever she pouted like that, the man would bring her some warm tea.
-Then··· just for today?
-I'll tell Sir Refil that there were special circumstances.
-But starting tomorrow, you'll participate properly in your blood-claw technique lessons, understood?
She received yet another promise from him.
Even knowing she would not keep it, the girl obediently nodded.
The man brought a few cookies over beside her teacup as though pleased with her.
-This is··· a service for our good little princess.
Cookies he had baked himself.
She liked that.
Boring, languid, and crispy.
She missed the lumpy textures from her memories.
Those were the days Carmilla most wanted to return to.
-Princess.
Jersian.
Several years later, the man stood upon the execution platform.
He had become the man tasked with executing Carmilla's father, the former king.
***
“······Jersian.”
Carmilla muttered blankly.
A ruined fragment of the past was reflected in her eyes.
Regardless, the man calmly greeted her.
“How have you been?”
“······.”
“What a coincidence. I never expected to run into you in such a remote village.”
An impressive mustache, a neat appearance, and a suit.
Jersian looked exactly as he had in her memories.
And yet, for some reason, Carmilla found him nothing but unfamiliar.
Was it because his presence was different?
“Honestly, I am surprised. Even if you did escape into the human realm, I thought you would die before you could last very long···.”
Carmilla could not bring herself to speak.
The man who had led the execution on the day her father climbed the scaffold.
The target of her revenge.
“······.”
Several sentences tangled and twisted inside her throat.
The words that could never be pronounced lodged there like thorns.
After standing frozen for a long while, she finally managed to force out only a few words.
“You··· why did you···?”
The question she had always wanted to ask.
The sentence she had chewed over, practiced, and resented countless times.
Perhaps because of the emotions surging back up, her lips would not cooperate.
But even that was enough for Jersian to smile as though he understood her question.
“Why? Are you asking for the reason?”
She wanted to know.
And all the girl received in return was a mocking smile.
“Who knows?”
“······.”
“Because I thought it was more promising to join this side?”
“······.”
“Our predecessors were too soft. Harmony, indeed··· It is a nice-sounding word, but nothing more. We vampires are the species that ought to rule the continent. Yet for the past few centuries, we have been forced to remain in place, speaking of peace treaties and the like.”
“······.”
“We endured this humiliation for far too long. The kingdom became filled with fools who were steeped in an absurd tranquility and talked about harmony between species. Your father foremost among them, along with those foolish ancestors of his. But your uncle was the only one who offered a different proposal.”
Carmilla's uncle.
The man who had brought down the existing Blandir Dynasty and established the New Kingdom.
“He made me an offer. He asked whether I wanted to change this tedious world, whether I wanted to carry on the will of our ancestors that had been cut off centuries ago. A world ruled by vampires. A world where we lived by treating all other inferior beings as livestock. His words captivated me. That mindset··· the mindset a conqueror ought to possess!”
“······.”
“From that day onward, my heart began serving him.”
“······When did it begin?”
When had she been deceived?
“When exactly··· when did it all become a lie?”
His words became an awl, stabbing into a festering wound.
Precious memories from the past began leaking out like yellow pus.
The girl's vision grew hazy.
“Everything···.”
Had everything been a lie?
The things you said to me, your promises, the teacup, the cookies, your little finger.
Everything you gave me.
“Was it all nothing but deception?”
The girl staggered, her vision churning.
Regardless, the man merely answered cruelly.
“How long do you think he had been preparing this plan?”
“······.”
“No less than fifteen years.”
Fifteen years.
For Carmilla, it was half the life she had lived.
It was also around the time Jersian had first begun spending time with her.
“Then, from much earlier···.”
“Yes.”
“So it was all a lie···.”
“I approached Your Highness because I was acting on his orders.”
Even the question she had clutched at like a straw was cut off.
Humiliation, powerlessness, emptiness··· all of it came pouring out.
Amid the hot tears streaming down her face, the man was laughing horribly.
“Thank you for being foolish enough to let yourself be deceived.”
Mockery.
Carmilla could no longer maintain her reason.
“How dare you···.”
It shattered.
Into countless pieces.
-Then··· just for today?
-I'll tell Sir Refil that there were special circumstances.
She had not wanted to believe it.
She had not wanted to face it.
-This is··· a service for our good little princess.
In the end, the dream she had not wanted to wake from finally came to an end.
A traitor stood before her eyes.
The man who had murdered her father stood before her.
“How dare you···!”
What had she wanted to hear?
Had she wanted him to say there had been special circumstances, or to ask for forgiveness, or something of the sort?
As tears streamed down her cheeks, a red aura surged around the girl.
The blood-claw technique she forced herself to deploy formed a massive storm of blood nearby.
Kwoooong-!
“Oh?”
“Traitor.”
“Surely you aren't planning to attack me, Princess?”
“Jersian Delphirn! Traitor to the Blandir Dynasty! Regicide!”
“You haven't forgotten, have you? I was one of the most distinguished pureblood vampires in the kingdom, after all.”
“As the last princess of Blandir, I shall condemn your atrocities in that capacity!”
“I thought I was past the age where I could indulge you in play.”
“Shut up···!”
Shraaak-!
The storm of blood spread from her fingertips and poured toward Jersian.
The blood condensed and transformed into a rain of bright-red spikes.
It was an attack fueled by desperation and rage.
“Your Highness.”
But,
With a single gesture from the man.
“I have not wasted my life so badly that I could be defeated by a vampire so much younger than me.”
Kwagagagak-!
The girl's attack was blocked with ridiculous ease.
Of course, as though she had expected that, Carmilla was already preparing her next attack.
“Hng···!”
Flesh honed from blood.
At the end of the taut bowstring, writhing crimson killing intent gathered.
Its poisonous tip was aimed straight at the man's heart.
-Blandir-Style Blood-Claw Technique, Sixth Form-
‘Stabbing Execution’
Ping, shweeek-!
Perfect timing and angle.
It was a strike that should have succeeded with room to spare.
Yet the man snatched the arrow out of the air.
Kwaak-.
“Oh, your skills have improved quite a bit.”
“······?!”
Krrrk-.
Jersian broke the arrow in his hand.
The man's eyes were merely cold, as though the attack had not interested him in the slightest.
The girl froze while gripping her bow.
An overwhelming force that crushed her utterly.
Her red eyes wavered unsteadily.
“How··· how?”
Jersian was strong.
But he had never been this overwhelmingly powerful.
He had repeatedly lost when sparring with the former king.
‘Human blood···!’
He had consumed the potent blood of humans.
To vampires, it was like a drug or stimulant.
It was blood from humans of high education and intelligence, producing an effect of the highest order.
“Haa··· can you feel it? This overwhelming power?”
In other words, Jersian had become several times stronger than he was in Carmilla's memories.
Dark-red haze writhed in every direction.
The power he had overdosed on was slowly leaking out.
“Isn't it laughable? To think they banned something this wonderful for reasons like dignity···.”
The corners of his mouth twisted grotesquely.
“As expected, the former king was a fool. Everything he has said is absolutely correct.”
Words that insulted her father.
But Carmilla could not move recklessly.
A chilling killing intent was pressing down on her shoulders.
‘This is impossible.’
The atmosphere was so oppressive that even a glancing blow seemed capable of killing her helplessly.
Pitch-black fear gnawed away at her heart bit by bit.
“Then··· I suppose I should finish this. I would like to play with you a little longer, but unfortunately, I have an important ritual coming up.”
Clack-!
Jersian's step became a leap.
Before her eyes could follow him, a figure appeared right in front of Carmilla.
A fist forged from the blood-claw technique slammed into the girl's solar plexus.
Bwooom-!
“Keurgh···!”
“Your reactions are slow.”
Carmilla was driven far backward.
She barely regained consciousness, but could not shake off the pursuing Jersian.
The girl quickly deployed her blood-claw technique.
“Kugh, hng···!”
-Blandir-Style Blood-Claw Technique, Seventh Form-
‘Crimson Blood, Half the Heavens’
The Seventh Form, perfectly reproduced even from an unsteady stance.
A dark-red barrier enveloped the girl's entire body.
It seemed as though she had defended herself safely, but···
“Did you think you blocked it?”
-Delphirn-Style Blood-Claw Technique, Eleventh Form-
‘Dance of Blades’
Kwakwakak-!
The barrier crumpled beneath his fierce punches.
Crash! A fist drove through the shattered red barrier.
Carmilla could do nothing to react as she took the blow cleanly.
Smack-!
“Keurgh···!”
One-sided violence.
Blood dripped from her split lips.
“Lady Carmilla···!”
The startled Alice tried to help, but she was surrounded as well.
The vampires accompanying Jersian had blocked their escape route.
Alice tried to shake off the pressure, but it was not enough.
The trump soldiers clashed with them, but their inferior numbers forced them steadily backward.
“Wait, e-everyone, hold them off so they don't break through···!”
The cards struggled against the horde of ghouls.
At this rate, both of them would be killed without a chance to do anything.
“Tsk, tsk··· is that all you've got?”
Jersian toyed with his mustache.
He clicked his tongue as though this was not even entertaining him.
Thud, bam-!
She struggled to get back up, but follow-up blows struck her arms and legs.
Carmilla's strength gave out, and she collapsed where she stood.
“Kugh···.”
Thump-.
Her face was struck lightly, and her vision went blank for a moment.
Even the tears running down her cheeks rolled through the dirt and became muddy water.
The girl desperately pulled her reeling consciousness back together.
Between the blinking fragments of the scene, only pained, hollow gasps escaped her.
‘The plan···.’
The hour they had promised.
‘It feels like it passed a long time ago already···.’
There was no sign of Victor appearing at all.
Could something have gone wrong?
No, it did not seem likely that anything could have happened to a powerful subordinate like him.
As she panted harshly, a pitch-black thought whispered beside her ear.
‘Or else···.’
Or had she been abandoned?
Had she been betrayed by someone once again?
Everyone she had trusted, everyone she had held dear, had betrayed her.
Perhaps Victor, too, had abandoned his useless master and gone off somewhere alone.
“Haa, haa···.”
Breathing was difficult.
Crying and groaning mingled together, leaking out in a miserable rasp.
She was rolling around at Jersian's feet.
“You kept spouting that human blood was forbidden, that we would lose ourselves, and all sorts of other pathetic nonsense··· and this is the result?”
“Haa, ugh···.”
“This is why your father was a failure.”
Thud, thud-.
Jersian looked down at the girl with indifferent eyes.
Not even a fragment of tenderness remained in his gaze.
Several more fierce kicks followed.
“Hmm.”
“······.”
Carmilla finally went limp and sagged helplessly.
Jersian soon seemed to have an idea and pulled a flask from his waist.
“I have a proposal to make.”