Lunar Eclipse (3)
Lunar Eclipse (3)
A not-so-distant memory exists.
A nostalgic voice.
In my ears, a uniquely affectionate resonance lived and breathed.
The hand that settled warmly upon my head, and the moment I would melt even in its lukewarm warmth.
Father always smiled like that.
Unlike a vampire, it was a gentle, almost fragile-looking smile.
If I were to give it a seasonal name, it would be the early spring when the frost begins to melt at its edges.
I liked that.
I wanted to resemble that gentleness.
I wanted to resemble that dignity which was neither vulgar nor servile.
Remember this.
We... vampires are a race superior to any other on the continent.
Therefore, we must lead the way in harmony and become exemplary figures for the lowly races to look up to.
Father was not one to wield his status.
He was one who revered the words left behind by the ancient True Ancestors.
Kill, but do not be vulgar.
Sustain life, but do not be servile.
There may be times when you become arrogant, waver, and even want to give in before temptation.
No, there certainly will be. That is the life of a finite being.
Father always admonished me.
Is a life that merely drifts along as it comes really a life?
How could a life that doesn't struggle to live be considered a life?
To bloom a single cluster of foliage amidst that desperate struggle, that gutter, that muddy field, that blood-drenched ground.
To hold meaning within it.
Struggle with all your might.
So that you do not become vulgar, so that you do not become servile.
He said so.
Thus, I made that my dream.
Because we are a superior race, we must doubt and reflect upon ourselves.
I, your father, will also do my best to be an exemplary figure.
A king who was neither vulgar nor servile.
A vampire worthy of being an example for all.
That Father was executed exactly five years later.
By other vampires who had become vulgar and servile, who no longer even held any pride.
-
Father.
By the close aides he had trusted.
After dealing with the incident in the alley.
We moved to the outskirts of the market street and hid ourselves.
As for the corpses of the vampires and Ghouls remaining at the scene, and the blood, Carmilla used her Blood Manipulation Art to clean them up neatly.
Thanks to that, we were able to move the children to a certain tent without being detected.
"Phew..."
A brief moment to catch my breath.
While quietly organizing the situation, I suddenly see the children trembling slightly.
Young siblings. They both looked to be barely over 10 years old.
The children were clutching tightly onto Alice's sleeve.
"A-are you... alright? Kids, any places that seem hurt..."
""......""
Alice, who with great difficulty tried to start a conversation with the children.
For her, who was poor at communication, it must have been a burdensome task, but there was no other choice.
Among us, she was the only one the children wouldn't be too afraid of.
My appearance wasn't favorable because of the Mask of the Evil God, and Carmilla was of the same race as those who caused the current situation.
"Hang in there, Onion-hyungnim."
In the end, all we could do was cheer her on.
Alice, fidgeting uneasily, tried her best to soothe the children.
Perhaps her efforts reached them, as the children began to speak, sniffling.
"Sniff... I-I was scared."
"We snuck out to play while everyone was sleeping, and suddenly the sky turned red... and, strange animals were roaming around, and the villagers were being dragged somewhere..."
"Ugh, sniff...! I miss Mom and Dad..."
"Strange people knocked them out and took them away."
The children burst into tears.
Amidst the sobbing sounds, Alice, albeit clumsily, hugged their small backs.
By piecing together the bits of information that came out, we were able to roughly grasp the situation.
'Lucky they weren't taken.'
They had slipped out of their house at dawn and seemed to have escaped the vampires' notice.
After that, they hid continuously until they were apparently spotted by nearby Ghouls.
And just before being caught, luckily, we appeared and saved them.
"Sniff..."
The sniffling children.
However, even in that state, the older brother couldn't let go of his anxious gaze.
The boy, hiding behind Alice's back, was glancing furtively in our direction.
"...Monster."
He was looking precisely at Carmilla.
Because her appearance resembled those he had witnessed several times during the village attack.
Clear fear and hostility flickered in the boy's pupils.
"T-that person over there...! Looks similar to those monsters from before!"
The unique coloring of a vampire.
Silver hair, crimson eyes glowing through the mask's gaps, and skin as pale as a patient's.
Being a Pureblood, these characteristics were much more pronounced in Carmilla compared to ordinary vampires.
In a way, it was only natural the children feared her.
"Y-you don't mean... y-you're on the same side as those bad monsters, are you?"
"Brother, I-I'm scared..."
Their already small shoulders shrink even more.
Now they even pull away from Alice, reacting as if wary of their surroundings.
"Monsters! Get out of our village...!"
"Give, give back Mom and Dad...!"
The children, driven to the wall, spat out words.
The one receiving the harshest glares was, of course, Carmilla.
Resentment, hatred, fear... The eyes, being young, spoke even more.
Before the fragile beings who resented her, the Princess merely stood still.
"......"
Her expression was hidden behind the mask.
I couldn't begin to guess how many thoughts were crossing her mind, how complicated her emotions were.
Carmilla listened to the resentment for a while, then gently raised a hand towards the children.
The single utterance she made in the long silence seemed fragile, on the verge of breaking.
"...I am sorry."
Swish-.
Carmilla's fingertip passes through the empty air.
Immediately, the children's bodies stagger and collapse.
"Ah...!"
Alice hurriedly spreads her arms and catches their falling bodies.
Thanks to that, the children were safely laid down on the floor.
Carmilla speaks as if to reassure.
"I have slowed their blood flow to render them unconscious for a while. There should be no harm to their bodies, so leave them be."
Huff, huff...
Just as she said, the children breathed without any sign of distress.
They looked more like they were in a deep sleep than unconscious.
Carmilla gazed at the children fixedly for a moment, then quietly turned her head away.
The atmosphere was far from her usual one, seemingly sunk into a transparent, colorless state.
"......"
I stood by that girl's side.
Casually adding a few words.
"You did well. It's better to let the children sleep like this. It would be trouble if they wandered out of the tent and were spotted by Ghouls."
"......"
"We'll leave one of Alice-yang's Trump Cards inside the tent. So that it can protect the children if needed."
"......"
"As long as they stay inside here, the children will be safe."
"...Viktor."
"Yes, Your Highness the Princess."
A faintly escaping voice.
A voice that seemed it would scatter if one didn't listen carefully.
Because it was such a call, I answered clearly instead.
"I must rectify it."
"Yes."
"With my own... with my own hands."
"It is not Your Highness's fault."
"That's so. But it is my responsibility."
Layla de Levian.
Kill, but do not be vulgar.
De Roni Ghibliaze.
Sustain life, but do not be servile.
They were the two sentences that ran through the girl's life.
Beyond her sunken pupils, crimson seemed to surge.
"The traitors."
Carmilla was composed.
Although always an eccentric Princess-nim, deep inside she harbored a festering wound.
Thus, I did not lightly underestimate her depth.
I merely followed the path her delicate feet trod.
"I will rectify all of it."
"I will prepare."
I bowed my head politely.
Indeed, she was a person worthy of serving as my master.
Afterwards.
The three people hiding in the tent entered a strategy meeting.
We concretized the plan based on the information the children had spilled.
Naturally, the one giving the orders in this process was Viktor.
"First... according to the children, the kidnapped villagers were taken to the Cathedral."
"Indeed. The headcount alone must be around 300. There aren't many spaces that can accommodate that many people at once."
"B-but, what do they plan to do by herding them there...? Listening to the story, it seems they aren't killing them or anything, just locking them up inside the Cathedral..."
"I know their scheme. You all just need to move as I instruct."
"I-I see..."
"Understood."
Knowing the vampires' scheme.
Even to such a statement, the two showed no particular reaction now.
One might have asked how he knew, but they seemed to just accept it and move on.
Having experienced similar things several times with Viktor, they could now let this level of detail go.
"Ahem."
Viktor continued his orders, sounding satisfied.
"This time, I plan to move separately from the two of you."