Chapter 85
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Night of Ameris
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Sellus turned my question back on me.
"What do you mean?"
"Your friend."
She looked at me with an expression that said she had no idea what I was talking about.
Then, as if she suddenly understood, she replied.
"You mean Selluna?"
"Yeah."
Baek A-rin glanced over at us and gave a subtle nod.
It was her way of saying it was time to get the full story.
Sellus shook her head as she began to speak.
"Selluna isn't a friend. She's family."
"Family?"
That girl from earlier and Sellus were family?
With all the talk of hybrids and purebloods, I'd assumed it was some ancestral bloodline thing, but had I jumped to conclusions?
No, that didn't add up. The bakery owner had muttered something about Sellus's parents hiding a pureblood.
Hiding their own daughter? That didn't make any sense.
My confusion must have shown on my face because Sellus spoke up.
"We're not connected by blood, but Selluna is still the last family I have left..."
So that's how it was.
More than that, her last remaining family.
Sure enough, Sellus's parents must have been killed by the villagers.
The real issue was Sellus's attitude as she spoke.
She seemed to be avoiding the topic of Selluna as much as possible.
She probably wanted to keep it hidden.
As I mulled it over in silence, Baek A-rin looked at me and opened her mouth.
"Kim Si-woo, it seems like..."
"I know."
Baek A-rin had come to the same conclusion as me.
From what I could piece together, there was only one reason she found it so hard to talk about.
'She doesn't trust me. Or maybe she doesn't trust my power.'
Or possibly both.
I lightly tapped Sellus's shoulder with my finger.
Then, meeting her gaze, I pointed to my own eyes.
"Look, we're in the same boat, you and me."
"Uh... yeah?"
"I came from outside, so I don't know what 'hybrid' means in this village. But where I'm from, eyes like yours would definitely be called beautiful. Compared to mine, yours are way better."
"Uh... uh."
Sellus responded as if she had no clue what I was getting at.
There was only one thing I was aiming for.
Kids are kids, after all. Give them a sense of camaraderie, and they'll follow along.
I wasn't expecting miracles from Sellus, but imprinting that idea might put her more at ease.
With that in mind, I added,
'Plus, who doesn't feel good hearing their eyes are pretty?'
Kids crave praise.
At least, I did.
So I went with what I knew from experience.
It might not have landed perfectly judging by Sellus's face.
But I could tell Baek A-rin's expression had turned downright murderous.
Yep, total failure.
Why was I feeling a killing intent?
It's not a crime to be bad with words.
Time for a course correction.
"Sorry. I'm not great with words. My eyes aren't red, but I'm strong. Way stronger than those guys you were scared of."
"R-Really?"
Sellus's expression brightened a little.
"I don't know your full story, but telling me won't lead to me doing anything bad to you. I might even be able to help."
"H-How can I believe that?"
This was why kids could be so frustrating.
The answer was already obvious.
I'd have to break it down for her in simple terms.
With a kind smile, I began.
"I've already figured out that the villagers want this pureblood called Sellus. And you couldn't even handle the bakery owner on your own. So even if I had bad intentions, you couldn't stop me anyway. Which means you can trust me when I say I'll help you..."
As I explained it plainly to Sellus, I felt Erina's gaze on me. I paused and looked her way.
"Erina?"
Erina stared at me like I was some lunatic and said,
"This fucking Si-woo asshole really is a total scumbag!"
"Kim Si-woo, you think laying it out like a cold calculation is gonna make her go 'oh, okay'?"
This was unfair.
Sellus was hesitating because she saw no upside for herself, so I was just explaining it as clearly as possible.
I'd even softened my wording.
"No, if she hears the whole thing, she'll nod along, I'm sure."
As I protested, I felt a tug on my sleeve and turned.
Sellus was clutching it, her eyes welling up as she mumbled,
"Me and Selluna didn't do anything bad, so why do they wanna do bad things to me and Selluna...?"
I'd said something like that to a little kid hospitalized with my sister in my past life.
And then got chewed out by my sister for it.
The memory hit me.
'I almost got skinned alive.'
...Looks like Chew-Siwu really was a personality wreck.
Dealing with kids just wasn't in my fate.
As I stood there awkwardly, Erina patted Sellus and said,
"That Chew-Siwu bastard is always rude with his words. But even when he says it like that, he's trying to say he'll help. The kid's a bit slow, but he's a good person at heart."
...Erina's barrage of insults.
Infuriating.
Especially hearing her call me slow. Never saw that coming.
But as frustrating as it was, I couldn't say a word right now.
Sellus listened to all of it, then looked at me cautiously.
"Really?"
I sighed and answered.
"Yeah. I won't hurt you, and I'll do everything I can to help both you and Selluna. No need to worry."
"R-Really?"
"Dead serious. Believe me even if you don't want to. I'll keep helping until you do."
Sellus nodded at my words.
"I-I'll believe you."
I hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Good. That's a promise."
I extended my hand to Sellus.
She stared at it like she had no idea what it meant.
"Put your hand out too and make an X. It's a pledge we won't break."
It was the gesture my sister wanted after seeing it on some kids' show in the hospital.
Kids loved that stuff. Probably.
It was originally a "We're a team!" hot-blooded pose, but whatever—a pledge was cooler.
"Come on, do it. It's a vow contract."
"O-Okay?"
Sellus hesitated shyly at my urging, then finally extended her arm to form an X.
"There. No more worries. I swore right here I'd help you."
"Yeah!"
Sellus bounced right back to her usual self, as if her gloom had never happened.
Baek A-rin watched with a smile and whispered,
"You seem surprisingly soft on kids."
"No, I'm not."
"Why get embarrassed?"
I shut my mouth at Baek A-rin's words.
If I admitted to being soft on kids, what did that make her precious little gold nugget from earlier?
'No, she's not really a kid.'
That was more like some dark abyss thing.
As I tried to brush it off, Sellus looked at me with resolve.
"Hm?"
"I'll tell you."
Sellus opened her mouth carefully.
"I said earlier that Selluna and I aren't blood-related, right?"
"Yeah."
Sellus lowered her voice and continued.
"Selluna is the child Dad brought home."
"Brought home?"
She wasn't talking about adoption, surely.
As I waited silently, Sellus said,
"Yeah. The child he brought. It wasn't kidnapping like those guys say!"
"I know. Calm down."
Sellus's voice rose as if defending her father, laced with sorrow and injustice.
It must be from how the village had treated her all this time.
Thinking about what Sellus had endured made my chest feel heavy.
...
The rest of Sellus's story wasn't complicated.
Just brutal.
A plague had swept through the village. No, all of Jeju Island.
One day, there was a bizarre light and a deafening roar.
Then came the strange disease.
Skin lost its color, then turned black.
Eyes whitened, then fell out.
The body sagged, horrific pus-filled blisters erupted on the skin.
Rotting flesh reeked of decay.
And they turned aggressive toward all life, kin or not.
"Yeah... most turned into those horrific monsters."
"Most?"
Sellus answered my question with visible strain.
"After that, people in white clothes appeared. They vanished quickly, so I didn't see much. But there was a pretty girl with black hair with them."
The disease she described was probably ghouls.
The bizarre light and roar? A gate spawning ghouls collapsing.
People in white... First I'd heard of that.
Did the Purity Faction get involved here too?
Not the priority right now.
The vampires had tried to fight back, but it wasn't easy.
Vampires bitten by ghouls turned into ghouls themselves.
The era Sellus lived in must have been right when the ghouls started appearing, just before the vampires' downfall.
And Selluna...
Sellus nodded as she replied.
"Right. Selluna's the kid who appeared that day."
Selluna had shown up on the day of the bizarre light and roar.
The day the ghoul gate appeared, alongside the mystery child.
'So that's it.'
Hearing her story explained why Selluna was different from the other vampires.
The people I'd thought were vampires were probably just ghoul-like creatures that looked similar.
Maybe Jeju's native species, or monsters from some ancient gate.
I'd probably never know for sure.
But the key was Sellus. She was the real deal, unlike the fake vampires in the village.
'No wonder her eyes stood out.'
Hers were an impossibly vivid red and pale, nothing like the villagers'.
I couldn't say for certain, but it was a solid guess that Selluna came from the same gate that birthed the ghouls.
The troubles for Selluna started after that.