Ariella raised her body.

The lethargy she had felt just moments ago was nowhere to be found.

What she felt instead was overwhelming vitality and life force.

As Ariella looked down at her own hands, she realized one thing.

Isabella, of course.

But the people in this castle as well never aged at all.

They were always full of powerful life force, overflowing with vigor.

"Then I, too..."

She herself as well.

"...became one of your subordinates?"

Something like them....

She had become a "special" being.

"...No."

In response to the question she asked in a trembling voice,

Isabella answered with a peculiar expression.

"That's not it."

"What do you mean, not...?"

"Subordinates... my thralls are my children, not my friends. You're different. I shared a little of my blood with you, but you'll still be my friend Ella."

"...Huh?"

At those words,

Ariella couldn't help but flinch.

She too had lived among the nobles for a long time, overhearing one thing and another, building up knowledge about them.

And based on that knowledge—

"Wouldn't that... be forbidden?"

A completely new noble,

one who was not under anyone's dominion.

Such a thing had no precedent.

"...It's fine."

The smile Isabella gave as she said that was gentle.

But it was twisted, just a little.

Ariella had been with her long enough to understand what that expression meant.

'It's not fine.'

To save her,

Isabella had done something that was not fine.

Something Isabella had clearly done for her sake.

But—

'In the end, I too....'

Blankly, Ariella looked down at her own body.

She had clearly returned from death,

and yet the life force she felt from her body was less joy than... what should she even call it.

"Still, I'm glad."

As she was thinking that,

Isabella nestled herself into Ariella's arms and said,

"Now Ella won't hurt anymore."

"..."

"Now we'll be able to stay together forever... for our whole lives."

Ariella looked at Isabella in her arms.

It was true that she had many thoughts about her current state.

Even so.

Isabella's intention was probably close to pure goodwill.

"...Yeah."

So,

suppressing the strange emotion boiling up inside her, she said,

"Thank you."

Yes.

Even if the way she felt now was a little strange,

that too would probably only be at the beginning.

One way or another, living had to be better than dying.

This strange feeling too would naturally fade with time.

That was what she thought, but—

"Your body had to work hard to reconstruct itself as one of the bloodline. You're hungry, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

"I should feed you something. Jeblo!"

It was only a little later that Ariella realized it.

What exactly the specialness Isabella possessed was.

"Bring the freshest blood."

She—

had not known in the slightest.

***

"Drink."

A bowl filled with red liquid

was placed before Ariella's eyes.

"Drink...?"

Looking at the bowl, Ariella said,

"This is blood."

"Mm! That's right."

Looking at Ariella, Isabella answered with a kind smile.

"In the case of high-ranking nobles, there tend to be fewer restrictions on what they can eat. Usually, they prefer high-quality blood. It helps with growth."

"..."

"But in terms of the bloodline, Ella's in the state of a baby who's just been born again. At a time like this, blood that contains too much strong magic power can actually be a problem. The lingering thoughts in that blood can have a huge effect on those who've only just become members of the bloodline. So whenever possible, they're made to consume blood from beings similar to their own form. Most children go through that stage at first, not just Ella. That's why a 'ranch' is necessary."

At those words,

Ariella looked down at the bowl.

"Then this is..."

Blood from a being similar in form to herself.

Which meant, in other words—

"Human blood...."

"That's right."

Blankly staring at the bowl, Ariella glanced at Isabella and said,

"I, I think... I'll be fine."

"Hm?"

"For now, well. How should I put it. I don't really have much of an appetite."

At those words, Isabella looked at Ariella's face for a moment, then—

"...Ah, I see?"

As if realizing something,

she nodded and said,

"That can happen. I'm sorry. You'd only just woken up after being sick, and I got too hasty with my friend."

"No, it's not something you need to apologize for...."

"Still."

She spoke in a worried voice.

"If anything, times like this are when you need to eat a lot and focus on recovering."

"..."

"I know you don't have much of an appetite. Drinking all of it would be hard. So..."

When she beckoned with her hand,

a single drop of blood rose from the bowl into the air and floated toward Ariella's mouth.

"How about trying just one sip?"

Ariella looked at that blood.

Human blood.

The village where she had lived as a child.

She remembered the people from that village.

Her father who had abandoned her as well.

The people who had been dragged away somewhere too.

'The ranch....'

Ariella lifted her head and looked at Isabella.

She meant to say that she was truly sorry, but not now.

That her stomach felt too unsettled.

That was what she had intended to say, but—

"..."

The moment she raised her head, her eyes met Isabella's.

'Ah.'

Isabella was staring at her blankly.

And in the middle of those red eyes, darkness had settled.

Darkness so deep that it was impossible to guess what lay within.

Those frightening eyes she had not seen in quite some time.

'She knows.'

That Ariella was reluctant to drink this blood.

And the reason why.

Isabella knew all of it.

Even so.

She was pretending not to know, hoping Ariella would drink this blood.

'Because we're friends...?'

The thought struck her as a little strange, but she could not open her mouth in front of those eyes.

"Just one sip...."

After hesitating for a long while, Ariella finally said that.

In the end, Isabella was trying to save her.

If so, then maybe, no matter how unpleasant it made her feel, accepting that goodwill was the right thing to do.

...Making excuses to herself like that,

gulp.

she drank that single drop of blood.

***

-Waaahhhh!!!

Just moments ago, she had been lying in a hospital room that felt clean and beautiful.

But suddenly, the scenery around her changed completely.

'Huh?'

A place she had never seen before.

Inside an old, shabby building.

The roughly built wooden structure was filthy beyond words,

and inside it were hundreds, thousands of humans bound up, with appearances too ugly to put into words.

-Waaah!

Then—

"my" mouth opened and let out strange words.

"I" cried out in terror, searching for something.

She soon realized what that something was.

"No!"

"No!"

There was a woman there,

reaching out toward "me" and screaming.

"Why?!"

"..."

"You said a newborn has too little blood to make good feed, didn't you? And that girls need more than boys, so unless there was a special reason, you'd eat them only after they'd grown old...! So why?!"

"That wasn't exactly a lie. That was what was supposed to happen with this child too."

With a sudden motion, someone seized "my" body and turned me ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) around once.

As my gaze shifted, I saw someone with a vicious face looking at "me."

"There were orders to bring the freshest blood possible, you see."

"No!!!"

That someone's sharp nails lunged toward "me."

***

"Hahk!!!"

When she came to herself, she was back in that clean, beautiful hospital room.

"Hahk, hahk...."

"Ella?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Hahk, kh, kh...."

Ariella frantically touched her own face.

Smooth skin without a single wound.

A face completely different from the one in the memory she had just seen.

"...I didn't expect that."

Isabella watched Ariella for a moment like that, then—

"Ella...!"

Her eyes widening, she said,

"You were a genius!"

"A ge, nius...?"

"As expected of my friend!"

Ariella looked up at Isabella, breathing raggedly.

"You saw it, didn't you?"

Isabella looked down at her with eyes full of curiosity.

"That blood was the purest child's blood prepared for you and you alone. Because it came from an ignorant child who knew nothing, I thought it would be the least burdensome even for someone like you, who'd only just become part of the bloodline."

"..."

"No matter how much it's refined, the blood of an adult with strong lingering thoughts always leaves those memories behind. But the blood of an ignorant child is different. In most cases, all that remains is the fact that blood was consumed, and they don't see anything from it. But...."

Touching Ariella's face, Isabella said,

"You saw that child's memory, didn't you?"

"..."

"That's tremendous talent!"

As if she could not have been happier to learn that her friend was a genius,

she said, face flushed with excitement,

"It's something many children of the bloodline never realize, but the true essence of the bloodline isn't powerful vitality or special abilities."

And only then did Ariella finally understand.

"To drink blood that holds another's soul and make that power my own. Unlike shadows handed down in shattered fragments, or mist, or beastly forms, or monstrous strength... the power passed down most intact from the Progenitor. The authority of 'blood.'"

What she had just seen was—

the blood she had consumed....

"To have talent in that is incredible!"

"..."

"At first, all I wanted was for you to stay by my side forever. But now that changes things, doesn't it? It'll take time, and things will get much more complicated... but maybe it really could become possible for you to become a friend truly equal to me...!"

Watching Isabella continue in her excitement,

Ariella thought blankly,

'What... is there to be happy about?'

The scene she had seen

had been terribly brief and terribly shocking.

The reason the memory had been so short...

was probably because the soul within that blood had belonged to a being that had never possessed many memories to begin with.

"If there weren't any outside interference... you might be able to reach the rank of viscount-class noble in as little as ten years!"

"..."

"I'd like to make it happen faster than that, but... no matter how you look at it, that won't be easy. There'll be interference in reality too, so it'll probably take even longer. Still, don't worry. The beginning is the hard part; after that, it's actually easier. Once you gain rank at or above viscount-class, digesting high-quality blood won't be a problem anymore. And from there, reaching a level similar to mine will be faster than you'd think...."

And more than anything else, there was another reason Ariella was reeling.

"The problem is the others in the bloodline. If I'm going to help Ella grow while deceiving those bastards...."

"It was a familiar face."

"Hm?"

Isabella kept talking,

but Ariella could not hear a word of it.

In a dazed voice, she murmured,

"There was someone I knew among the people in that memory."

When "I" was being taken away,

the woman who had been crying as she reached toward "me,"

the woman who had defied the one holding "me" even though she knew it was dangerous—

"Sister Gidel...."

She had tormented her too, but she had also cared for her, if only a little.

One of the very few who had.

"Uwek...!"

"..."

"Uwek, ueegh, ueeghhhh...!"

Nausea surged up.

But no matter how much she retched, there was no way to vomit back out that soul, now mixed into her veins.

***

"So."

Looking down at Ariella lying there, Isabella spoke with a frown.

"Are you going to keep this up??"

"..."

"You won't drink a single drop of blood, and you're just going to lie there wasting away like this?"

After drinking that first sip,

Ariella refused to swallow any more blood.

"It must be agonizing."

For a human, it was like stopping meals altogether.

With each passing day, she slowly died.

"I'm fine."

Looking at Isabella, Ariella said,

"It hurts a little... but I'm fine."

"..."

"My body feels a little weak... but still."

"You know that's not the kind of pain I mean, don't you, Ella?"

Ariella's body twitched.

She had been about to say she was fine.

"It was delicious, wasn't it?"

"..."

"You want to drink it again. Resisting that is so painful you feel like dying.... Isn't that right?"

At those words, Ariella remembered what had happened not long ago and felt nauseated again.

It wasn't because the taste of the blood she had drunk then had been disgusting.

Quite the opposite.

'It was delicious.'

More delicious than any lavish dish she had ever been served since coming to this castle.

So delicious that even if someone brought in a heavenly chef, it felt impossible that they could create anything tastier than this.

The highest pleasure she had ever felt in her life.

For vampires, bloodsucking was not merely a meal.

"That's why, yes...."

And.

Ariella found herself so revolting for having become that kind of being that she could not suppress the nausea.

"Let me die like this."

"..."

"That life should have ended not long ago anyway... it was only delayed a little, but even now...."

Rather than continue living as that kind of being,

it made her think death would be better.

"There are occasionally some like this."

A high noble, an elder of the bloodline and the chairman of the Thousand-Year Council,

Jeblo spoke.

"Mutants who still retain their identity as humans."

"..."

"It's not a common case, but as the head of the house already knows, most such beings die quickly even by the standards of the bloodline."

Memories as a human did not help in the life of a vampire.

In most cases, they only got in the way.

But there was another reason that mattered more.

"They wither away because of their aversion to bloodsucking."

Since they did not consume their most important source of nourishment,

they gradually weakened and, in the end, died of malnutrition.

"She will likely be the same."

"...Is there no method?"

"Hmm, in ordinary cases there is one. Though it can hardly be called a method...."

"What is it?"

"To command it."

In the end,

members of the bloodline could do nothing but obey the commands of the head of the house absolutely.

"No matter how much aversion they feel, if they are ordered to drink blood, they drink it. I question whether there is any need to save one with such a defect, but if the talent is exceptional, then one would preserve it even that way."

"...But this child is different."

"It is not different."

Jeblo lowered his head toward Isabella.

"It is not too late even now. Infuse it with the magic of dominion and make it your thrall."

"..."

"Cases like this are rare because the power held by the magic of dominion is stronger still than the human soul. The reason that thing still retains humanity is most likely because it became a noble in the exceptional case of doing so without the magic of dominion. Place it under your rule, and command it to drink blood. Then everything will proceed smoothly."

Jeblo respected and was loyal to his master,

but not to that "friend."

"That thing is far too anomalous. The four bloodlines created by the Progenitor stand in clear authority as rulers, and yet a complete noble free of that dominion? It cannot exist, and must not exist. If the other bloodlines notice, they will regard it as a grave threat."

Ordinarily, it was not something there would even be reason to hesitate over.

The fact that Isabella was hesitating at all meant that this "friend" was having a bad influence on the head of the house.

So—

"Please make your decision."

At those words, biting her lip, Isabella said,

"Ella!"

"..."

"Are you really trying to die like this?"

Nod....

That powerless head moved slowly.

"...No."

At the sight of that nod, darkness spread across Isabella's eyes.

"I keep thinking about how I've lived all this time. How painful a life it's been."

"..."

"I thought I'd finally found a way to ease that pain... and now you're telling me to go back to that kind of life again, just like this?"

The emotion in her voice was unmistakably anger.

"Absolutely not."

"...!?"

Smack!

"You said we were friends. You said we'd keep staying together."

"Mmph...."

"And now you're going to abandon your friend and leave first...? Friends aren't allowed to do that."

When Isabella's hand stretched out into the air,

Ariella's mouth was forced open by that magic.

"Our Ella would never do that to me. I trusted that you'd understand me."

"Mmph...."

"...No, on second thought, maybe that could happen. I was shortsighted. Ella is definitely in the same situation as me... but you still haven't suffered as much as I have."

With a smile, Isabella said,

"I'll show you what a life more painful than death really is."