Chapter 10
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Connected Two
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Lately, I'd started getting headaches.
Sudden fevers, even light coughing fits.
For a patient, my schedule was downright murderous.
Daily full-body magic formula applications, research into my illness, dredging up knowledge from the original story, figuring out countermeasures.
Even that alone ate up my entire day, leaving no time for sleep. Add in Yuria's training and the tasks I had to assign to Harzen, and severe sleep deprivation was inevitable.
'Mana Breathing Method... and mana-powered respiration.'
The ability to handle natural mana and internal mana power simultaneously relied heavily on talent, making it the magic Yuria needed to master first and fastest.
But in this mansion, only the Knight Captain and I could teach it.
If word got out that even a secret technique known only to the Knight Captain had leaked elsewhere? It would cause all sorts of problems.
In short, we had to train in secret.
'The night's especially quiet tonight. Is it because Yuria's due to show up soon?'
The silence while waiting for my daily time with Yuria was my one solace.
But not tonight.
All that solace vanished with a single voice from up ahead.
"Kyaaahhh!!!"
It was a woman's scream.
And it came from right outside my door.
"Kuh...!"
A bad premonition drove me out of my room despite the effort it took.
When I tried to move quickly, my body wouldn't cooperate. Jumping into the carriage to save Yuria had been the problem, and lately, the symptoms had worsened.
My left leg—calf, thigh—was numb.
My staggering legs and ankles shook unsteadily. Just a few steps alone made my vision blur with dizziness.
I was on the verge of collapse at any moment, but superhuman self-hypnosis kept me going: Hold on, just hold on. I regained my calm.
-Creak.
"Y-Young Master Ian...!"
She lay fallen on her back, looking up at me with eyes full of desperate relief, like a novel heroine seeing her hero arrive.
As far as I knew, she was Angelina, the Knight Captain's daughter, temporarily assigned as my personal maid.
Her long golden hair was disheveled. She struggled to her feet and pointed toward the side hidden by the door, shouting.
"P-Please, save me... A v-vampire... in the mansion...!"
A bleeding maid and a desperate voice.
Broken plates and a muttering Yuria.
From the scene alone, I could guess what had happened.
I turned to Yuria and said,
"...That's not a vampire."
Even the butler hiding nearby emerged to protest. Were commoners originally allowed to act like this?
"Wh-what do you mean, not a vampire...! Look at her symptoms. Red eyes, claws... and those, those teeth!!!"
"Exactly! Young Master Ian, look at those eyes!!! They're the eyes of a demon, no matter how you slice it."
"Yes, the butler's right. Call the knights right no—"
Whoosh. I raised my hand in a gesture to stop.
If it's a vampire, run away—why argue with me here? And I remembered: these two had badmouthed me earlier. They mocked my incurable disease, but now a vampire scared them straight.
In my view, these two were definitely the dumbest, most useless people in this mansion.
Even after my warning, they pleaded desperately.
"Young Master Ian...!!"
"Please, save us..."
"...Enough."
My voice was icy.
My narrowed eyes revealed weary pupils.
A chilling silence fell over the corridor, like cold water poured on flames.
The chattering maid,
the butler crawling on the floor begging for life,
even Yuria, resisting her vampirization while watching the scene—all inwardly realized only Ian could speak here.
Mana power.
An absolute hierarchy gap.
They couldn't even look up at me.
My inherited golden eyes slowly turned.
The maid who had grabbed my collar trembled intermittently, forgetting to breathe, and let go.
With no tremor in my stance, I gazed at Yuria covering one eye outside the door.
Vampirization typically occurred when the host rampaged.
Not drinking blood forced a craving state called vampirization,
but it also shaved years off the host's life, causing immense pain.
Writhing in pain no one else could understand, she had to endure alone.
If others saw Yuria as just a trembling girl no one reached out to, they'd demand her head on a platter.
"..."
But Ian was different.
The world's sole understander. He hadn't experienced the pain himself, but he knew.
That's why he could protect her.
Because she reminded him of his past self.
And to seize the golden chance to win over the final boss.
"...I knew about Yuria when I bought her from the slave market—they mentioned she fears blood. Those claws, red eyes, all of it. Her mana is red, so emotional overload sometimes causes this. And ripping the wallpaper? That's her combat maid training."
My sole inherited charisma, paired with my frail voice, was enough to convince them, tense from my mana.
To prove it, I took Yuria's hand.
Cold. So very cold.
I pulled her in weakly, and she yielded powerlessly.
I half-dragged her into my study. The two watched blankly, too scared to protest.
The door slammed shut irritably behind us.
Yuria explained in a particularly teary voice.
"M-Master, this form... Please... I'm s-sorry..."
Her babbling the moment we entered showed she was backed into a corner.
Wanting not to disappoint Ian, anxiety from exposing her vampire side, resurfacing past wounds—they crumbled her swiftly.
Her sandcastle mentality collapsed like rain on sand.
Ian’s voice snapped her out of it.
"Breathe, Yuria. Breathe. Slowly. That's it."
It was a warm touch.
One she'd never received before.
No, once. When Mother was still alive.
I thought I'd forgotten.
I thought this man would abandon me too.
Why?
Why keep me alive knowing what I am...?
Yuria pondered inwardly.
I hate it.
I hated this writhing bug-like emotion boiling in her heart.
She didn't want to show this side to Ian.
Her most unwanted form, before the person she least wanted to see it.
Exposed.
Her lips parted and closed repeatedly. Not hesitation—confusion.
"I-Ian... sir. I'm s-sorry."
Even more watery than before.
A voice that could burst into tears any second.
More desperate, sadder than theirs.
Her voice reached my ears directly. I gently pulled her waist into an embrace.
When her heart filled with anxiety, trembling in helplessness now.
Her startled upward gaze held only a pitiable, sorrowful face.
She resisted lightly, but her breathing betrayed affection.
Just us two here.
Even if they blabbered outside, no one would listen until time passed—and they were busy recovering from my mana suppression.
In short.
Only us left.
Yuria's life hung in my hands.
If I let go here, she'd die.
But no such thought crossed our minds as our eyes met.
"M-Master."
Yuria spoke first.
Then,
she grabbed the doorknob, fleeing from me.
Fear.
Terror.
Of breaking this bond again.
Because of her.
Like her parents harmed because of her. That fear drove her to run.
But Ian wouldn't let her. He yanked her hand back forcibly.
Her eyes widened—she'd never imagined being pulled by his strength.
Pink lips untouched by any trace.
Moist skin.
"Ah, n-no, Master—"
"..."
Our lips met like a trance.
"Hmph!?"
Something special invaded a place never entered before. A man's lips for the first time.
Her soft, sacredly beautiful scent enveloped it.
"N-no— Mmph. Ian... sir!"
It clung.
Unlike before, so softly.
Unable to hide her panic, Yuria lightly tapped my chest: tap, tap.
A kiss brushing lips to confirm affection, barely using tongue.
But her tightly closed shield parted unwittingly to my gentle, knocking tongue.
"Ian, Master, before anyone sees, stop—! Mmph, ngh."
I silenced her flustered glance at the door by grabbing both hands, locking them, and pinning her to the wall.
She hit the wall hard, but as a vampire, no issue.
I fixed her tiny, pale hands to the wall relative to her strength and devoured her lips without pause.
"Mmph— I-Ian... sir!"
Tears welled in her pitiful eyes, threatening to fall.
Not disgust.
Just a small response to the hands healing her.
"You are my possession."
Only I held her life.
I saved her from the iron cage of suffering.
I'd block the final boss's thorny path ending in death.
She couldn't know it all, but sensing some, she wouldn't reject my feelings.
Rather, she liked it.
But dared not permit her own emotions.
No right to happiness.
Betraying her master—her resisting hands crumbled sadly.
"Mmph, hng...?!"
Yuria's sweet body scent wafted close.
A truly age-appropriate, sweet pheromone I'd never felt in this world.
Saliva sank into her neck like into sweet-tart fruit. Ripe flesh tempted before my eyes.
"Yuria."
"N-no... Master, please..."
"Yuria, Yuria, Yuria."
We embraced, half-losing reason.
Yuria couldn't refuse.
"Haah. Mmph, sob..."
Yuria needed it too. A companion,
and someone to heal her festering emotions.
The moment I felt her hands shift from hitting my back to embracing.
"Yuria."
"Mmph, smack... Yes?"
Lips parted. Panting heavily, trembling, Yuria looked up at me.
Anxious tone, parched lips.
"You need blood, right?"
"..."
Before she could answer, he shed his top.
Gulp. Yuria's throat swallowed dryly, proving my intent spot-on.
Whoosh.
Her healthy, matured feminine body embraced me frontally, intensifying the human scent.
Her large breasts pressed against my arm.
Sweet, ragged female breaths mingled with rough male panting.
But Yuria still hesitated. She needed more stimulus.
"Why? Disgusted by an incurable patient's blood?"
The natural next step.
A small crunch began the ecstasy.
Like lovers pretending.
Embracing tightly, she sank her fangs into the taller Ian's body.
"Heuk, sob...!"
Her arms flailed.
Clutching him fiercely, as if devouring.
Slurp, slurp—sucking, her face flushed in unprecedented bliss. Spotting Ian's eyes, her ears reddened again.
-Gulp. Gulp.
Each swallow down her throat strengthened her grip on his back. Sharp nails scratched, drawing blood. Painful enough, yet he stayed silent, stoic, letting her savor.
The moment she burrowed deeper into his embrace, pressing her breast's sensation—which he secretly enjoyed—his eyes widened.
[ ????? Unbelievable achievement!! ]
[ Hidden Quest - Becoming the Final Boss's First Man Achieved. ]
-(Difficulty: SS+ Rank)
Clear.
{Reward: Status Window, Basic Granted Points.}
Suddenly, a reward window popped up before my eyes.
A phenomenon that had never happened before.
Behind the status window, Yuria covered her lips with a finger.
Red blood trickled from pink lips, forming a seductive smile.
Red-haired, red-eyed maid... This had its own novel flavor.
That night, I seriously considered promoting Yuria to sex slave.