Chapter 46: Heartbeat
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 46: Heartbeat
What is the greatest distinction between day and night?
Obviously, it is the presence or absence of light.
Light illuminates the world, granting us the power to discern what lies ahead in this perilous reality. Without light, we would know nothing. We might press our faces forward with the innocence of a three-year-old, even as death looms right before us.
The unknown is not a source of courage, but of terror. When you take a step into the darkness, the fact that unseen fangs don't tear into your throat isn't a triumph of bravery, but a simple stroke of luck. Ordinary people, having realized this, instinctively avoid the dark.
They learn their lesson from the reckless who never return.
“Arise.”
Thus, the night has always been an object of caution. The unknown is fear, and fear is dread.
The very acts of building homes and kindling fires were humanity’s countermeasures to drive away the darkness—an effort to fill one’s surroundings with the familiar to lessen the terror.
“Wake up.”
“Haaah!”
So when someone intruded into my room in the dead of night, I shot up in a fit and turned on the lamp by my bed.
Who would sneak in at night without a single sound? And into my room, of all places. They must have come with ill intent…
That’s what I thought, but the sight that met my eyes was utterly unexpected.
It was a beautiful girl with a pure white impression. It wasn't so much that she possessed the color white, but rather that she seemed to lack all pigmentation.
A bloodless face, silver hair devoid of saturation, an expression without warmth, and a chest that did not stir.
She had a frail look, as if she were missing some of the essential components of life.
Though she exuded a noble and classical elegance, her appearance seemed young for such a mystical aura. Yet it wasn't the look of someone who was simply not yet fully grown, but a transience that suggested her growth had been stolen from her at some point.
Is she a ghost? Her hair, her limbs—they were all impossibly slender. She looked so fragile I felt I couldn't get close without breaking her. I felt the same thrilling precariousness as watching a white porcelain vase teetering on the edge of a fall.
But anxiety, in itself, is a form of allure. When will it fall? How will it shatter? How beautiful will the red liquid be, flowing from between the broken shards? Such anticipation gives rise to a dizzying, wicked impulse.
The blood in my veins is drawn to her. My mind goes blank. I feel a vertigo similar to falling. I reached out my hand without thinking—
“Ah.”
I read her.
She’s a vampire.
Why is she here?
Don’t tell me.
“Have you finally come to cut open the belly of the goose that lays the golden eggs?”
Her red eyes, which shone even in the darkness, filled with bewilderment.
“What is this nonsense you’re spouting in your sleep?”
“Were you that hungry? But think about it for a moment. This is a remarkably foolish choice. The blood flowing through my entire body is about five liters. If you take me now, that’s all the blood you’ll get. However, I can produce blood every single day, and if you squeeze me to my limit, I can provide about 300mL of blood each week. In seventeen weeks, about 120 days, it becomes more profitable to keep me alive. Remember this. Become a monster of interest rates. For someone who lives as long as you, compound interest is always the better deal…”
Here I was, imparting forbidden knowledge to a vampire who would live for eternity unless the world ended. Perhaps I had just created a monster…
The vampire stared down at me as I spouted my nonsense, then spoke.
“Are you fully awake now?”
“Yes. Running my mouth a bit seems to have done the trick.”
“Good. May I sit?”
“Ah, yes.”
As I nodded, the vampire conjured a black chair from thin air and perched upon it.
I sat up in bed and rubbed my face a few times. I couldn't sense any hostility or appetite from her. It seemed my fate wasn't to die today.
I hope she doesn't find my fear too strange. A vampire paying a quiet visit in the middle of the night? That’s one of the world’s top three horror genres, right up there with tigers and smallpox.
It was a relief she had no intention of harming me. Otherwise, I’d have been sucked dry like a coconut on the ground.
“What brings you to my room in the middle of the night?”
I posed the question with the intent of reading her thoughts, but the vampire answered honestly without any need for mind-reading.
“Yes. I have come to you because I have something urgent to discuss. I know it was a bit rushed, but I felt I wouldn't have another chance if not tonight…”
The vampire trailed off, glancing around the room before slightly hiding her face with her parasol and bowing her head.
“I called for you from outside, but you would not wake from your slumber. I had no choice but to step into your room… How could you be in such a deep sleep? You forced me to come in myself.”
‘For a lady to secretly visit a man’s room at night is an unimaginable thing.’
Hey, before worrying about being a lady or whatever, I’d appreciate it if you’d acknowledge the fact that you’re a vampire. That was terrifying. The pounding in my chest right now is the frantic beat of a creature that has just met its natural predator.
I’m the victim here, so why is she acting like she’s the one who’s been wronged…
Whatever. I decided to push my luck, smiling wickedly and sticking out my tongue.
“Hehehe. To come sneaking in here at this hour must mean you’re prepared for what’s to come… Did you miss me that much? Very well. I shall handle you as you desire…”
“Do not jest. I am serious.”
Displeasure colored her red eyes. She breaks into my room at night, but I’m not even allowed to joke around. Unfair.
But the age gap between me and a vampire was even more unfair. I tucked my tail between my legs and quickly changed the subject.
“That’s because you keep interrupting yourself. You’re usually so composed, yet you were so eager that you came all the way here in the dead of night. Why are you just twisting your hair instead of getting to the point?”
“That is… I know this is rather sudden, but… I have an urgent favor to ask of you.”
“Hurry up. I’m just a mere human, so I can’t read Trainee Tyrkanzyaka’s mind. If you don’t say it, I won’t know.”
Actually, I did know. I had just read her mind.
No, perhaps I’d had a premonition of this ever since I performed the heart resuscitation today. The vampire’s yearning for a stopped heart and a stolen life had remained a knot in her soul, even after a thousand years.
Just as I expected, the vampire made her decision and looked me straight in the eye. In her red pupils, the fervent desire of a human clinging to a single strand of hope burned brightly.
She looked just like a novice gambler clutching a good hand.
“The heart. With what you did today, you made a stopped heart beat again.”
“Yes.”
“Inside my body, there is also a heart that has stopped. A furnace that has broken down from not being kindled for a long, long time.”
A vampire’s heart does not beat. Their hearts are frozen solid, merely allowing blood to pass through. A vampire’s heart is nothing more than a junction where countless blood currents meet.
Then how does their blood move? By what principle does the red liquid, the very source of life, circulate…?
The answer is surprisingly simple.
Bloodcraft.
The very technique the Regressor had tried to learn—the vampire’s art of manipulating blood.
With it, they directly control every last drop and stream of blood, spreading it throughout their bodies. They push it through the gaps in their muscles, beneath their skin, one by one. Blood, controlled entirely by their will, moves the body without a heartbeat.
That is how vampires can live, despite being dead.
“With your flame, will you rekindle that furnace for me?”
That is why a vampire’s heart does not beat. Their hearts remain still. Blood flows on, independent of the heart, as naturally as a river.
A passionate, wrenching torrent of blood is a concept that does not exist for vampires. They do not get excited or sad. Even if they were to feel such emotions, it would have no physical effect on their bodies whatsoever.
“I beg you. With a heart that beats on its own… I want to die while still being alive.”
Their faces do not flush. Veins do not bulge. Their vision does not narrow.
Their eyes do not redden. Tears do not fall. Their hands and feet do not tremble with tension, nor does sorrow constrict their bodies.
Excitement, sorrow—they are nothing more than fleeting thoughts that sparkle in the mind. An emotion without hormones has no persistence.
For the past thousand years, some have admired vampires. They envied their ageless, undying bodies and even their cold composure. The only emotion a vampire could truly possess was reverence for their Progenitor.
And yet, that very Progenitor, Tyrkanzyaka, had never once liked it.
And so, the vampire had come to me, filled with a desperate wish she had harbored for a millennium, an empty longing she could not feel in her chest.
As I watched her in silence, the vampire gave a sad smile.
“…It is a bit pathetic, is it not? I have already lived for over a thousand years, yet what lingering attachments do I still hold? I have lived many times longer than others, yet I shamelessly wish for more life.”
I shrugged and replied.
“Not at all. The fact that you’ve lived this long doesn’t diminish your desire to live longer.”
The vampire’s lips parted slightly at my unexpectedly gentle response.
“I thought you would surely tease me. This is a surprise.”
“When have I ever teased you, Trainee Tyrkanzyaka? I’ve been nothing but considerate with my consistent attitude. You won’t find anyone else who respects their elders as much as I do.”
“…Or am I wrong? Are you still teasing me now?”
So that’s why she was always strangely sensitive whenever I brought up her age. She felt shameless for wanting to live longer.
The vampire lowered her gaze and murmured.
“I do not fear death. I have already died once. Nor am I afraid of pain. I have experienced countless pains over a long time. But the experiences, the emotions, and the pain I have felt with this body… they have all been filtered. Observed through slowly flowing blood. It feels as if my entire past is a lie, and that is what’s so terrifying…”
The vampire suddenly grabbed my arm. Her cold hand clung to me as if I were her last lifeline. There wasn't much strength in her grip, but I couldn't bring myself to shake her off.
Filled with a cold, sorrowful plea, the vampire begged me.
“I will do anything. Please. Bring my heart back to life.”
Tsk. This is not good.
A faint hope seeping from a faded wish. A dying dream. A lost innocence.
These were all the elements that drove a magician mad.
When you see someone yearning for a hope they themselves didn't believe in, you can't help but want to surprise them.
After all, planting illusions is the very duty of a magician.
I asked once more.
“You’d do anything?”
“Yes. It is a thousand-year-old wish. What could I not do for it?”
“In that case.”
I got out of bed. The vampire’s gaze followed me. Sitting in her chair, her head only came up to my waist.
I neatly straightened the bedding, then patted the firm mattress and commanded.
“Unbutton your chest and lie down here.”
The vampire’s eyes flinched. As if she had never predicted such a response.
“Unbutton my… chest, you say? That is.”
“Didn’t you say you’d do anything?”
This attitude, this look in her eyes.
Desperation, and the hope she found within it. It was familiar. At the same time, my mouth watered as if I’d seen a delicious meal. My instincts, honed as a cardsharp from the back alleys, were screaming.
This one’s a sucker.
A sucker who’s just been dealt a good hand and is ready to follow my lead if I raise the stakes. A perfect mark I could suck dry, down to her very blood and bones.
Letting a mark like this go would be a disgrace to the name of gambler.
“You need to lie down for the procedure. Now, hurry.”
I commanded firmly. The vampire hesitated, as if her feet were glued to the floor. Her pale hand clenched and unclenched at empty air. Then, as if she had finally made up her mind, her small hand clutched the collar of her clothes, and she rose from her seat.