Chapter 97
‘Huh…?’
At my one word telling them to stop, all my retainers had actually frozen in place.
What on earth was going on?
‘Did it count as some kind of absolute command?’
Since they were my retainers, it seemed there was a system function that forcibly controlled their very actions whenever their master issued a serious command.
So it had a function like this, too. How fascinating.
“I knew that already, of course… but that True Word just now made me feel the difference in rank even more clearly.”
Katarina, panting as she barely managed to straighten her posture, spoke.
“It truly proves that my Liege is an unequivocal 『higher existence』 whom lowly creatures like us dare not defy……”
She bowed her head as if in worship.
‘No. I only stopped them because I was afraid they’d get hurt. Why is she bringing up a True Word?’
And a higher existence, at that.
Katarina, you know I’d die instantly if you hit me just once, right?
Somehow, their misunderstanding seemed to have gotten even worse.
Just then.
Sera, having sheathed her magic sword, spoke hesitantly.
“I-I’m sorry…. Master…! I was trying to stop my sword right before it touched her, but I must not have been skilled enough and ended up worrying you….”
“……No. I stopped things too late.”
Si-yeon likewise deactivated her clawed hands and added quietly.
“Sera’s sword wasn’t imbued with killing intent. I knew she’d stop before it made contact.”
“I could feel you easing off before you thrust, Si-yeon-nim…! O-of course, it must have been obvious to Master as well…. From Master’s perspective, our exchange must have looked terribly clumsy….”
“Yeah. It fell short of Master’s standards. My fault.”
‘……Huh?’
I listened to their conversation and could hardly believe my ears.
It turned out that they had agreed beforehand to stop their exchange at the end.
The two of them had been matching each other’s moves perfectly on their own, and I had only gotten scared for no reason and ruined the moment.
To put it another way, it was like barging into a professional wrestling match thinking it was mixed martial arts and stopping the whole bout.
‘I-I’m not a martial artist, so I don’t understand this kind of language of combat…!’
A wave of needless embarrassment washed over me.
But I couldn’t just retreat awkwardly like this.
I had a master’s dignity to uphold.
I quickly crossed my arms and held my head high.
“O-of course this body knew that, too! I was merely worried that even a small mistake might result in you getting hurt.”
At that,
“M-Master…. You care about us that much….”
Sera’s eyes widened.
“…Master.”
Si-yeon’s eyes also grew moist.
“Ahhh! As expected, my Liege’s mercy knows no bounds!”
Katarina dropped to her knees right there and began praising me.
“Oh my, what a touching story.”
Aunt Suyeon clasped her hands and smiled warmly.
“The True Ancestor-nim is really kind…….”
“Mastah, you’re da coolest!”
Haeun and Riri looked at me with admiration.
In any case, Si-yeon and Sera’s first spar ended in a heartwarming draw that left everyone satisfied.
“You both have many wounds, so get into the coffins and recover.”
“Thank you, Master.”
“Thank you…!”
After having Si-yeon and Sera recover from their hard work, I headed to my room as well.
‘Phew, thank goodness.’
I secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
I had once again succeeded in making my own blunder sound convincing.
But why did it feel like, ever since awakening as the Lord of Blood, my combat power hadn’t increased while only my acting skills kept improving….
I trudged dejectedly toward my room.
***
A little later.
“I am the True Ancestor!”
I regained my confidence and strode majestically out of my room.
I had spent several hours searching for ‘True Ancestor’ on the Hunter Gallery and the Climber Community and reading countless praise posts.
Ego-searching wasn’t necessarily a bad thing!
When I stepped into the living room, Aunt Suyeon, wearing an apron, greeted me with a bright smile.
“True Ancestor-nim, I just finished preparing the meal. Would you like to eat?”
“Hmm. I was getting a little hungry anyway.”
The blood I had drunk in the Tower had all been digested, leaving me hungry.
When I went to the dining table, Si-yeon and Sera had returned to normal as well.
All the wounds they had suffered at the training ground had completely disappeared.
They had lain in the [Coffin of Rest] for a while and recovered in no time.
‘Wow. That coffin works great.’
The huge sum I had invested in it didn’t feel wasteful at all.
Meanwhile, Riri was mending Si-yeon’s suit, which had been torn to shreds during the spar.
“~♪”
She sat in the living room, humming as she deftly used her abilities to patch fabric onto the suit.
As expected of Riri, the Blood Blacksmith.
“The meal’s ready! Everyone, come eat~”
We all gathered together to have a meal.
Glub glub!
A pleasant bubbling sound came from the kitchen.
‘Something delicious!’
I sat down at the table with considerable anticipation.
What could the menu be?
Judging by the bubbling sound, it was definitely some kind of soup.
Ever since becoming a vampire, I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten a warm soup dish.
Ordinary soups served on a typical Korean table tended to contain garlic, after all.
Before long, Aunt Suyeon brought over a large pot and set it down in the center of the table.
As I peered into the pot, brimming with anticipation—
‘……?!’
I flinched in surprise.
At a glance, it looked like stew.
But in reality, it contained some mysterious dish filled with red blood curd and blood boiling away.
The other plates Aunt Suyeon brought out one after another were the same.
A salad of thinly sliced raw liver, and meatballs made by clumping together blood curd.
Pinkish rice and tteokbokki seasoned with blood.
……Eek? Are those eyeballs?!
‘Th-this isn’t easy.’
I did usually enjoy raw meat and blood curd.
But that was when I ate them as they were; mixing various things together and cooking them like this made the appearance a little much.
“Wow! That looks delicious!”
“It is a splendid feast.”
But the other retainers’ eyes sparkled as they licked their lips.
‘Uuugh….’
What was I supposed to do?
It was awkward, but Aunt Suyeon had worked so hard to cook for me. I couldn’t let my expression fall.
“Ah, it looks very delicious!”
I nodded and forced a bright tone.
At my praise, Aunt Suyeon clasped her hands as if she were overjoyed.
“I’m so relieved to hear you say that, True Ancestor-nim! Now, I’ll feed you myself. It’s hot, so be careful~.”
She scooped up a generous spoonful of broth and blood curd, blew on it, and brought it to my lips.
‘Huh…?’
W-was she going to feed me?
I was a little flustered, but unexpectedly, [Noble Demeanor] did not reject the situation.
Come to think of it, feeding someone was no different from a subject offering service to their monarch.
Didn’t the kings of Joseon even have a position specifically for this, called a surasangung?
A surasangung would place rice and side dishes on a spoon and hold it near the king’s mouth or set it on his tray, helping him eat comfortably.
From that perspective, a retainer cooling food and presenting it to their Liege was a noble act.
In the end, I had no choice but to open my mouth.
“A-aah….”
I squeezed my eyes shut awkwardly and opened my mouth.
The appearance was scary, and it was my first time having someone put food into my mouth.
The spoon slipped neatly inside.
Chomp, munch munch.
I steeled myself and chewed.
‘Huh?’
It was incredibly delicious.
The spicy, deep umami flavor spread across my mouth.
I had no idea how she had cooked it, but it tasted exactly like an amazingly well-simmered aged kimchi stew!
‘Wow…! I missed this taste so much…!’
There shouldn’t have been even a single clove of garlic in it, so how had she managed to create such an incredible flavor?
Could this also be one of the hidden effects of Aunt Suyeon’s Blessing, [Vampirism]?
“True Ancestor-nim, how does it taste?”
“It is splendid!”
A proper meal then followed naturally.
The other retainers also sat in their places and happily polished off the stew and side dishes.
“Grrr!”
Dark especially loved it.
He practically buried his nose in his rice bowl and inhaled the food.
“Here, have a bite of this too. Say ah~”
Aunt Suyeon didn’t even sit down, continuing to pop side dishes into my mouth.
It was a little embarrassing to keep being fed like a child.
But once I got used to eagerly accepting whatever she gave me, it was rather comfortable not having to lift a finger.
***
After the meal, we gathered in the living room and watched TV while chatting amiably with the retainers.
It happened to be World Cup season.
More specifically, it was the ‘Awakened Soccer World Cup,’ where Awakened with superior physical abilities represented their countries and competed while using their powers in a limited fashion, rather than ordinary people.
- Aah, it’s out! Fire Hurricane!
- That’s Player Yeom Seong-min’s signature move!
Like a famous soccer anime from the old days, the tournament featured flashy techniques and boasted an excitement on an entirely different level from ordinary soccer.
So I watched with fairly high expectations.
“Haa….”
A deep sigh escaped me.
Our national team had been completely defeated.
In the qualifiers, no less, against a weak team that wasn’t even particularly strong by objective standards.
“How can they be so terrible!”
Losing was one thing, but the actual game was utterly pathetic.
My insides boiled with frustration.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Katarina, who had been watching beside me, also furrowed her brow and spoke.
“My Liege. I feel like even I could play better than that.”
‘Hmm…. She probably really could….’
At Katarina’s level, she might single-handedly get past all eleven players and score a goal in one second.
Just then, Si-yeon, who had been quiet the entire time she watched the soccer game, stepped forward.
“……Master. If you give the order, I will take care of it and return.”
By then, vicious blood-red claws had sprouted from the tips of both her hands.
‘Si-yeon. No, you can’t….’
No matter how poorly they had played soccer, assassinating the national team was going too far.
You’re supposed to stop at cursing them inwardly with, ‘Swim back home.’
…And Si-yeon, no matter how I looked at it, this seemed to have a little personal motive mixed in, didn’t it?!
“That’s quite all right. Let’s watch something else!”
I hurriedly changed the channel.
After spending some peaceful time, it was time to go to bed.
Today was the day I slept with Katarina.
“Mmm… this is nice….”
I lay down on the soft bed and closed my eyes.
I thought I would be able to sleep soundly.
Grrrrooow-.
“……”
I opened my eyes in the early morning.
‘I’m hungry…….’
For some reason, my hunger was unusually intense.
Normally, I would have forced myself to go back to sleep just because getting up was a bother.
But today, the delicious stew Aunt Suyeon had made kept dancing before my eyes.
‘Should I go have just a little?’
I rose very carefully so as not to wake Katarina sleeping beside me.
I opened the bedroom door without making a sound and headed for the kitchen.
Fortunately, the living room was quiet.
It seemed everyone was sleeping soundly in their respective rooms.
In the darkness, I quietly opened the refrigerator and took out the pot.
I didn’t even think to turn on the light; I stood before the counter and picked up some chopsticks.
‘Ahh. This is it.’
It was cold, but it still smelled delicious.
I used the chopsticks to pick out only the pieces of blood curd from the stew and popped them into my mouth.
‘Munch munch. Yummy.’
Just as I was enjoying my late-night rebellion.
“My Liege……?”
Suddenly, the light snapped on, and someone’s voice came from behind me!
'Vampire?!'
I flinched and turned around.
My cheeks were stuffed full of blood curd I hadn’t managed to swallow.