Chapter 181
Chapter 181
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: Want to Try On This Outfit?
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"Little Cult Leader...!"
The Vampire Demon stared at the cup with a face full of emotion.
I couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"You're getting all moved over something like this?"
"It's just... I know full well how much damage it would do to you to extract that much King Vampire Blood, Little Cult Leader... Ack."
The specters who had been listening had strange looks on their faces.
"Huh?"
"Extracting vital blood affects the Little Cult Leader... or something?"
"W-Well, first I've heard of it. Does it at least make his energy falter or—"
"But he's already connected the Three Dantians, so it shouldn't shake him that much, right?"
As question marks filled the specters' faces, another specter who had been quietly standing in the back clicked his tongue and spoke up.
"Tch, tsk tsk! You still don't get the Little Cult Leader after all this? You idiots. And you call yourselves servants of the new Heavenly Demon Divine Cult!"
"That guy's been quiet this whole time, so why's he suddenly acting all high and mighty?"
"What about you, big bro? You know the reason?"
"Of course! It's been like this since his previous life—the Little Cult Leader's just been deceiving the Vampire Demon all along!"
I gave him a strange look.
At least one of these specters had a brain.
But the other specters still looked utterly baffled.
"Huh? Why would he deceive his loyal servant, the Vampire Demon?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Because!"
"Because?"
"Ah, stop dragging it out and just spit it out already!"
"The Little Cult Leader, who's been too busy his whole life to even try romance, got jealous of the popular Vampire Demon and that's why... Gahk!"
I channeled Black Dragon Energy into a brazier and hurled it straight at him.
You can never show these bastards an opening.
What the hell do they think people are?
A petty reason like that was only a tiny, minuscule part of why I deceived the Vampire Demon—it wasn't just that.
Back in his prime, the Vampire Demon was always eyeing my blood.
So much so that when his thirst got bad, he'd even think about sneaking in at night.
Imagine a pitch-black guy—not even a woman—popping out from under your bed at midnight. How terrifying would that be?
I was pulling all-nighters training in dark arts at the time, so I didn't sleep much, which saved me. Otherwise... I didn't even want to think about it.
On top of that, the Vampire Demon's official role was Ghost Beast, the Shadow Guard of the Sect Leader.
But Master the Cult Leader had his Demon Protectors, so naturally, I ended up under the Vampire Demon's protection.
It was a contradictory mess: the guy supposed to protect me was the one targeting me(?).
So I told the Vampire Demon this:
My vital blood is linked to my upper dantian in the sorcery system, so messing with it carelessly would deal massive damage to my sorcery power.
It was a lie to keep safe from his demon claws(?).
Of course, it wasn't entirely a lie.
My blood was thick with ghost energy and dark qi.
Losing it would weaken my sorcery power proportionally, but it would recover fully after just a day.
Yet the Vampire Demon still remembered those words from back then and thought I was bearing huge damage to give him King Vampire Blood, so he was touched.
I just smiled without a word.
Whatever he thought, as long as the results were good, it was fine. Right?
Above all, the King Vampire Blood would be a great elixir for the Vampire Demon, who still hadn't recovered from his injuries.
It would restore his meridians and qi blood, and even bring changes to his damaged dantian. And perhaps...
The return of the Vampire Demon at his prime was something I absolutely needed.
"From now on, I'm going to divide this into five cups. Drink it steadily for a month, and you should make a full recovery. Let's give it a try."
"Yes."
The Vampire Demon carefully lifted the cup and nodded heavily.
His face was filled with resolve.
"Then, I'll drink."
The Vampire Demon brought the cup to his lips.
* * *
"No issues at the annex yet?"
Sanggwan Chuseol looked up from her tea in her room.
The voice came from the roof.
『Yes. No notable changes so far. They've put up a barrier, so we can't even hear voices.』
"That figures. They say Little Vitality Returning Fiend's skills have reached the absolute peak, rivaling even the Qingcheng Divine Sword."
『I thought it was just empty rumor like the others, but if anything, it feels understated.』
"Tell me about it."
Sanggwan Chuseol thought of Unhwi and smiled faintly.
How shocked she'd been when she first saw him.
It wasn't just because he was handsome.
She'd met plenty of handsome men before, including the Vampire Demon, and received confessions and proposals.
But Unhwi had something different from those pretty boys.
An aura.
Or you could call it dignity.
He had a presence that seemed to dominate the world and issue commands.
So when the Vampire Demon brought him and introduced him as his lord, she felt relief for the first time.
Truth be told, Sanggwan Chuseol had been prepared to mobilize the Heavenly Grace Sword Corps right then and there to eliminate him if he didn't meet her standards.
No one knew better than her how much the Vampire Demon had suffered over the past six years.
Endless waiting without promise.
She knew the desperation of him flailing in a swamp of vague despair with no end in sight.
And as his lover, she felt powerless for just watching from the sidelines without helping.
Then the Kunlun Three Elders came with news of Unhwi. How overjoyed he had been.
"Chumae! Finally... finally, he's back. Really, truly—"
She still couldn't forget how his eyes welled up with tears as he cheered.
"But... it could be a North Sea Sect trap, so I should go check alone first."
Even then, the Vampire Demon didn't let joy sway him.
Driven by his sense of duty to protect his precious followers, he went alone. If it was a trap, only he needed to sacrifice himself.
How heartbreaking that had been.
That's why Sanggwan Chuseol stepped up to help.
Until then, she'd avoided getting involved in his affairs to prevent damage to the merchant house, but this time she offered to assist him in sneaking into the Tang Clan stronghold.
And there was a part she hadn't told the Vampire Demon.
If that lord turned out to be a bad person.
If the master he'd waited so desperately for ended up dragging the Vampire Demon to ruin, she'd eliminate him cleanly.
The Vampire Demon might get angry and leave her side in the process.
But Sanggwan Chuseol thought it would be okay.
Her lover's future mattered more to her.
And in the end, she never had to move the Heavenly Grace Sword Corps.
'Like I said, the Iron Enforcer called you a "person worth trusting," branch leader. So if he trusts you, what's the problem?'
Hadn't he said something like that?
As if he knew exactly what she was thinking.
And later, when he lectured her as a merchant in front of her, a merchant herself—how exasperating that had been.
"......"
Sanggwan Chuseol sipped her tea and turned her gaze elsewhere.
There hung two outfits neatly.
On the left, a silk robe finely woven; on the right, an elegant dress with graceful curves.
Anyone could tell they had been meticulously maintained all this time.
These were clothes Sanggwan Chuseol had made back when she first met the Vampire Demon and they became lovers.
The Heavenly Grace Merchant House primarily dealt in silk and fabrics, even if they branched out now.
So Sanggwan Chuseol knew how to pick fine materials, and in her spare time, she would design and make outfits herself.
This was one such piece.
How to make it suit the Vampire Demon, how to make his sharp features look refined, how to make them match when standing side by side.
It was precious because of all the worries upon worries she had poured into it.
But she never gave these clothes to the Vampire Demon.
He had left abruptly before she could.
Even when he returned, it was the same.
She'd taken them out of storage several times, thinking of having him try them on, but couldn't bring herself to hand them over.
Whenever she saw his face full of worry, she had to hide them behind her back.
The Vampire Demon was the type who, seeing his suffering followers, would deny himself any right to happiness and drive himself into a corner.
Plus, the man who once loved elegance so much now ignored clothes and accessories.
So she hesitated. What if he hated them because of his ruined face?
But she no longer needed to worry about that.
"Now I can finally send them to his true master."
Sanggwan Chuseol knew well that once the talks at the annex ended, her one and only lover would leave again.
His place was not the Heavenly Grace Merchant House, but Heavenly Mountain.
Then or now, she was just a fleeting stop for him, like the wind.
So Sanggwan Chuseol planned to give him that robe as a farewell gift.
When he wore it, would he think of her at least once?
"......"
『.......』
Sanggwan Chuseol closed her eyes gently and savored the tea's aroma.
The Heavenly Grace Sword Corps leader watched her quietly from the ceiling.
Having served the house leaders since his predecessor's time, treating her like his own daughter, he only hoped she wouldn't get hurt.
Then suddenly, the Sword Corps leader's gaze shifted to the door.
Sanggwan Chuseol opened her gently closed eyes.
She sensed a presence.
A shadow fell across the paper window.
"Chumae."
A familiar voice.
It was the Vampire Demon.
But somehow, it was different from usual.
It was close to the beautiful voice from over a dozen years ago, when they first met.
No way...?
Sanggwan Chuseol's eyes widened.
"Can I come in?"
"Since when do you ask permission for that? Come in."
Sanggwan Chuseol barely suppressed her trembling voice.
It couldn't be.
Just her imagination.
The wounds on the Vampire Demon's face had been so severe that even the Death-Life Sage she'd painstakingly brought in had declared them impossible to heal after one pulse check.
All they could do was calm his raging qi blood.
Even drinking fresh vital blood steadily wouldn't last beyond ten years—they'd been advised to make as many memories as possible in the meantime.
Curing that condition?
Impossible.
She tried to suppress her pounding heart, but when the door swung open, it raced again.
"Chumae."
The Vampire Demon was smiling.
Not the hideous grin through his gruesome scars that looked as vicious as a grimace.
But like that warm spring day when cherry blossoms bloomed wildly, the way he looked when they first met.
"Is that... you?"
Sanggwan Chuseol's voice trembled. Her eyes did too.
The Vampire Demon smiled awkwardly.
"It's been so long since I showed this face to talk, feels a bit awkward—"
The Vampire Demon's words didn't go on long.
Sanggwan Chuseol had already thrown herself into his arms.
"...Chumae."
"I missed you so much. Your old face. Your smile. Your eyes. Even this voice."
Sanggwan Chuseol caressed the Vampire Demon's face with her hands.
What mattered to her wasn't that her lover had returned to his former appearance.
It was that he'd regained his smile. That bright, open smile was what she'd longed for most.
"Thank you."
The Vampire Demon said nothing more and hugged Sanggwan Chuseol tightly.
The two confirmed each other's warmth for a long while.
Then Sanggwan Chuseol beamed, her face flushed red.
"Hey, want to try on this outfit?"