And so, having been chosen by Grand Duke Isabella,

Ariella, who had been granted a part of that name, began her life in the Karshtein main castle.

Life in the main castle was dazzling and luxurious.

A life she never could have imagined before.

"Unexpectedly..."

There was much she had to learn in that castle life, but—

"you've got noble manners in your bones."

"Hm? Do I?"

"...Now that I think about it, even the way you spoke never really sounded like some country child. Almost as if you'd been educated without realizing it...."

While teaching Ariella the ways of life in the castle,

Isabella looked at her and muttered,

"So that man's background really was... hmm, maybe I should have cleaned up the aftermath a little more thoroughly...."

"Bella?"

"...Mm, it's nothing."

Isabella, who had been muttering to herself,

soon pulled Ariella into an embrace with a delighted smile.

"My friend really is a genius after all!"

"Haha... a genius, really."

She was able to adapt to life in the castle quickly.

Of course, adapting to that life and fully immersing herself in it were two different things.

She kept thinking that she missed her father.

And she kept wondering what had happened to the others who had been taken along with her, but—

"No."

Whenever that happened,

Isabella would speak with all the light gone from her eyes.

"Don't think about the old days. It's for your own good."

Seeing her like that,

Ariella could no longer ask anything.

And as time passed,

Ariella gradually adapted more and more to life in the castle.

When she had first come to the castle,

Ariella had thought Isabella was perhaps something like the princess of this castle,

and that there must be a king of the castle somewhere else.

But—

"You've come, child."

"This lowly servant Arabelo greets the master of my soul."

the ones who occasionally came to the castle all, without a single exception, bowed deeply to Ariella.

'There is no one in this castle above Isabella.'

Nobles often came to the castle and made reports to Isabella.

After hearing those reports, Isabella would think them over carefully and give her answer.

"Haa~"

And then—

"Listen, Ella. Arabelo was being such a pain again today!"

"The marquis was?"

After everything was done, when night came, the two of them would lie down under the same blanket

and talk about what had happened that day.

At times like that, Ariella would look at Isabella in her arms and think,

'Isabella... never gets older.'

No matter how young she had been when she first came to this castle,

she still had at least a little common sense.

While Ariella gradually grew and got older, Isabella never ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ changed at all, and even Ariella could tell that was not normal.

What was a little strange was that— 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Yeah. I don't know what kind of work he's doing that makes him so picky... sometimes it feels like I'm the one watching my step around him."

Isabella had never once tried to hide her status or how special she was.

With her abilities, she could have deceived Ariella as much as she wanted.

Ariella might have continued thinking of Isabella as nothing more than an ordinary child and stayed close to her that way.

But Isabella did not do that.

Ariella thought she understood why.

'Because we're friends.'

She did not want to lie to a friend.

So she did not bother hiding things or deceiving her.

And if Ariella came to realize certain things on her own,

'...she believes I'll understand.'

Her special abilities and status.

And—

'what happened that day too.'

What had happened on the day Ariella first came to this castle.

What had happened to the people who had been taken away back then as well—

Ariella could probably infer it well enough....

And yet Isabella still wanted her to understand.

***

"Frontier Count Ganatillo has arrived!"

And so, because Isabella did not hide things,

Ariella was able to gradually build up knowledge about noble society.

Isabella handled affairs among the nobles with dignified authority.

At such times, Ariella would spend her time taking walks around the castle.

And while doing that, Ariella came to notice one thing.

'The guests who come to the castle aren't coming from out there.'

The scenery outside the castle was incomparably beautiful.

But—

not a single visitor ever actually came from outside the castle.

Every single visitor simply arrived inside the castle at some point.

'Even if I went out there...'

going to the real "outside"

was probably impossible.

Unless Isabella chose to let her go outside,

she would have no choice but to remain trapped in here for the rest of her life.

'...'

Many emotions settled in her mind.

Thoughts of the people from her hometown who had been taken away.

Her father, left all alone.

A life that was little different from imprisonment.

'Forget it.'

But

Ariella decided she would no longer concern herself with any of it.

'Because that's what my friend wants.'

Just as Isabella cherished Ariella,

Ariella too—

had no one in her life she could truly call a friend besides Isabella.

And this was what that friend wanted.

The suspicion and anger that had taken root in her heart,

all those dark feelings, she shoved down somewhere deep inside and forgot them.

"Ah, Sir Feriallo."

"...Miss Ariella, is it."

"And the twins are with you as well."

As that life continued, she came to meet many nobles.

"Ahem."

"We're busy, so we'll be going now."

And the reactions they showed were, for the most part, all very similar.

"...It's not as though this were a ranch."

Unlike Ariella's direct retainers,

the nobles who possessed the authority to govern their own territories would mutter to themselves whenever they grew farther away from Ariella.

"To think a lowly inferior species would be kept as a pet in this noble main castle!"

"As a pet!"

"Ah, if only she had chosen us instead."

"We would have become her loyal pet hounds!"

At those words,

the knight clad in thorn-covered armor spoke in a composed tone.

"...You may find that inferior species repulsive, but both of you should restrain yourselves."

"Shouldn't someone speak frankly to the Grand Duke about this?"

"If a member of another bloodline were to see that, they'd surely look down on us!"

"You'd do better not to. I too find it difficult to endure, but... isn't this the amusement the Grand Duke is indulging in for the first time in ages, despite having no interest in such things before? And besides...."

The knight stopped walking, then looked at Ariella and said,

"In any case, this too is only a brief amusement."

The way they spoke without the slightest concern for whether she heard them or not.

There was nothing Ariella could do but give a bitter smile.

"Ella, Ella. Listen. Feriallo was saying Valarak caused another mess again."

"...Really?"

"Seriously... how is it that such an idiot has so much drive and initiative...!"

Looking at Isabella in her arms, Ariella thought,

If she told Isabella about the way those nobles behaved,

then Isabella, who cared for her, would surely punish them.

To begin with,

the reason they could openly look down on Ariella was because they believed the Grand Duke would not be angered by it.

If Isabella stepped in, she could make every last noble bow the moment they saw Ariella.

But—

'Those nobles... are people who've devoted their whole lives to Isabella.'

After much thought,

she kept her dissatisfaction with them to herself.

After all, all they did was openly look down on her.

It was not as though they actually did anything to harm her.

And Ariella was able to let others' contempt roll off her without caring.

There were two reasons for that.

"Then... good night, Ella."

"Yeah. Good night to you too, Bella."

The first was that she had Isabella.

That alone was enough for her when it came to relationships with others.

Whether the rest of them looked down on her or not, they could do as they pleased.

And then—

the second reason was...

-After all.

Quite apart from the fact that the knight she had encountered had been a deeply unpleasant person,

-this too is only a brief amusement.

those words had not been wrong.

No matter how irritating their scorn might be,

in the end, if she knew it would not last long,

then there was no need to cling to it.

"...Ella."

Unlike Isabella, who possessed a specialness different from everyone else,

Ariella was nothing more than an ordinary person.

"Does it hurt a lot?"

Unlike Isabella, who did not grow old,

"It doesn't hurt... but I feel a little weak."

Ariella's body gradually began to fail.

***

"Elder Jeblo... has answered the summons and come...."

At the sudden sound of that voice,

Ariella lifted her heavy eyelids and looked upward.

There was Isabella, looking frantic, and an old man bowing his head before her.

"Child. You once said you were famous as a sage, did you not?"

"Yes.... Not enough to boast about, but... I believe my name is still written in the Empire's history books even now...."

"Then you must be well versed in the medicine of inferior species as well. Speak."

Isabella's trembling eyes turned toward Ariella.

"Even if inferior species are short-lived, it shouldn't have been this short. What in the world happened here!"

"Hmm...."

At those words,

the old man approached Ariella and examined her closely.

Sliiide...

When the old man's wrinkled eyes opened, there were no eyeballs inside them, only strange red droplets pooled there.

Ariella saw her own reflection in those droplets.

Compared to when she had first come to this land, she had grown older, but she was still the appearance of a young woman.

"It is not that her lifespan has ended, nor has she contracted any special illness."

"Then why!"

She had known this life would not last forever.

Even so, the end came much sooner than she had expected.

"It seems... an inferior species remained among superiors for far too long."

"What did you say?"

"Originally, every living being has a way of life and a place that suits that life.... Inferior species are most suited to, and best off, living among inferior species. And conversely."

When the old man lightly swept a hand over Ariella's body,

a dark red aura smeared onto his hand from her body.

"to be among beings like us, who possess strong magic power and emit both death energy and blood force at once... would be the least suitable thing of all, the worst possible condition."

"..."

"What we emit is the energy of death. A weak inferior species with no resistance having remained mixed among us for so long—of course the body could not endure it and began to collapse...."

"...There had never been cases like this among the inferior species at the ranch."

"They were butchered once their reproductive ability disappeared, so they would have been dealt with before any such problem could arise."

"Even taking that into account, isn't this far too short...!"

"Hmm, perhaps."

The old man bowed his head as if apologetic and said,

"It is likely because the head of the house's energy is incomparably stronger than that of the brothers guarding the ranch."

"..."

Isabella always fell asleep in Ariella's arms.

A Grand Duke was, by nature, one who possessed power so vast that ordinary beings could lose their senses merely from seeing such a being from afar.

For some reason, Ariella had been fine even while looking directly at Isabella.

But that did not mean her body had been unharmed.

"I understand the cause. Then what is the cure?"

"...As this is not an illness, there is no medicine and no cure. If you insist on somehow prolonging her life, then..."

The old man stroked his chin and said,

"Sending her to the territories of day would solve it at once."

"...What?"

"That sun is an existence so detestable and worthy of hatred, yes... and yet, even so, it is something that grants protection to inferior species. Simply by being exposed to its light for a long time, inferior species are able to feed on good nourishment from it. The rapid collapse of this inferior species' body likely came in part from the loss of that nourishment weakening her immunity...."

"..."

"Once she goes to the domain of day, takes in the sun's nourishment, and expels the death energy built up inside her body... she should at least be able to enjoy the lifespan of an ordinary human."

At those words,

Isabella stood there with her mouth hanging open in a daze.

"You mean... Ella would have to be sent into the embrace of our enemy...?"

Her lips trembled, unable to find words.

At that moment—

"I have... one question."

"What is it?"

Ariella asked the old man,

"If that's true... then after going to the domain of day and recovering, would it be possible for me to come back here...?"

"Tch. What a foolish thing to ask. Once the death energy is expelled, even the slightest trace of it would be fatal. If you returned here, your body would collapse in less than a day."

"...Then."

She looked at Isabella and said,

"I won't go."

"...What?"

"What happened in that village back then. I still remember it."

When the village had been attacked, they had said that entire region was land the Empire offered up to the vampires.

"That means the people of that land were people abandoned by the Empire."

"...You were so little back then. And you still remembered it."

Because she had thought about what happened that day far too often, she could not honestly say she had simply never forgotten it.

Instead—

"My mother abandoned me and my father. And then my father abandoned me. The Empire abandoned me too."

"Ella...."

"Even if I go back to the Empire and keep living, it'll only be a lonely life with no one I know."

She squeezed out the last of her strength and reached out a hand,

then took hold of Isabella's hand as she said,

"So... I'll stay here."

"..."

"Let me fall asleep in your arms, Bella."

Slowly.

Isabella's small, young hand came to rest on Ariella's shoulder.

"Ella...."

And then, all at once,

Ariella's face sank into that small body.

'Ah....'

There, within that embrace,

Ariella felt her eyes gradually closing.

'It's warm.'

Vampires did not have much warmth in their bodies.

She must be raising her body heat for Ariella's sake.

Unlike all the others who had abandoned her,

Isabella, even now at this very moment, was still worrying about her.

So then,

if she could fall asleep in her arms,

that would not be a bad ending in its own way....

No, it felt as though it would be quite a good ending.

"Bella...."

...If there was one thing that still weighed on her mind,

it was only the worry and guilt she felt for Isabella,

who would be left behind alone.

"I'm sorry... for going first."

***

"You don't have to be sorry."

"...What?"

But there was one thing Ariella had failed to realize.

"Friends don't apologize to each other."

Even in that final moment, Isabella was still worrying about her.

And that being so—

"Between friends... there is no such thing as one leaving first."

there was no way Isabella would give up on her so easily.

"..."

Ariella raised her body.

A vitality she had never once felt in all her life was filling her body to the brim.