And as time passed.

In the end, Ariella as well—

Gulp.

of her own will, began to eat.

"Loyalty to the master of souls...."

They were not strong monsters,

but she gradually gathered a few thralls under her command as well.

"Good."

"......"

She gave up the stubbornness of the day before and completely submitted to Isabella.

"I'm sorry about before. I shouldn't have said things like I was going to leave you."

"Yes. I was truly hurt."

"But not anymore. I won't think that way any longer. So...."

Looking at the Grand Duke, she said,

"Won't you let me grow stronger as a noble too?"

At those words from her, Isabella smiled sweetly and replied.

"No."

"......"

"Of course, I mean not right now. I'll allow it once more time has passed. Right now... things have become a little complicated."

It was quite a firm refusal, but Ariella thought that could be understandable.

'After what I showed her.'

The moment she was given even a little power,

Isabella must suspect she would leave and run away.

But.

Ariella truly had no intention of leaving her.

'Now I don't care about anything else.'

Not wanting to devour others.

Thinking she would rather die in peace than do that.

Those thoughts had long since been diluted and vanished.

What now occupied her heart was something else.

'Revenge.'

All those she had consumed had been people who had unjustly died at the hands of vampires.

Was it because their souls had gradually mixed into her?

At this point, the only desire left inside her was that one thing alone.

And for the sake of that—

'I need to grow stronger.'

Noble society was a thoroughly hierarchical one.

She was weak right now, but according to Isabella, her talent was certainly outstanding.

If, by no longer resisting, she could simply be allowed to grow stronger as a noble,

then as time passed, someday she might be given a chance to take revenge on the other nobles who had tortured her.

With that thought alone, Ariella gave up everything else about herself.

And yet.

"No."

Even as time passed.

"No."

Even after decades had gone by.

"No."

Isabella did not allow Ariella to grow.

***

"Why...?"

The very edge of quasi-baron.

If she were only permitted to grow, attaining the title of baron—a rank that could truly be called nobility—would have been no great feat.

But that position was always her limit.

"It's because there are complicated issues with the other bloodlines. Could you try to understand?"

"......"

Even when she asked the reason,

Isabella evaded the question with talk of complicated circumstances and never gave her a proper answer.

Ariella, whose mind was ruled by anger, thought,

'From the very beginning, this child....'

It was impossible for her to live as she wanted.

It was impossible for her to die as she wanted, either.

That was why the last thing she had wanted was revenge, but—

'So you never intended to allow me to grow.'

Now she realized even that revenge was impossible.

"......Really."

Suddenly,

Ariella parted her lips blankly and said,

"Do you even think of me as a friend?"

"......What?"

It was a question she had always kept in her heart,

but one she had never dared voice out of fear of Isabella's anger.

"You call me your friend... but this isn't friendship."

"......Ella."

"Don't you just think of me as a toy that's convenient to play with? Something to relieve the boredom of a long life... nothing more than that kind of amusement."

"I know you're disappointed, but there is a real reason for this—"

"I don't care about that at all!"

When Ariella shouted,

Isabella's body flinched.

Only then did Ariella realize she had never once raised her voice at her before.

"You always said that I would be able to understand you, that we were friends who could understand each other. But shall I be honest? I... don't understand you at all."

"......"

"You say I can understand you? How could I possibly do that?"

She was startled by her own choice too,

but it was already too late to regret it.

Ariella decided to say everything she had kept bottled up inside.

"You never told me a single thing."

She was already used to pain.

Pleasure might have been another matter, but by now, no pain whatsoever frightened her.

"You say I'm abandoned too, so I'm the same as you? That we can understand each other?"

"I know that I'm abandoned. Because you're the one who made me that way. But me?"

More than fear of the child before her, anger surged first.

"I don't even know who abandoned you. So how could I understand you?"

"......"

"I won't even ask you to let me leave you. I won't ask you to let me grow stronger. So please. If you really think of me as your friend."

Even so,

she asked one last question with the last of her hope.

"At least tell me how you were abandoned. At least tell me why you say you're the same as me. Tell me your story."

"......"

"Then I'll understand you too."

At those words,

Isabella stared at Ariella with her eyes wide.

Eyes wavering as if shaken by Ariella's sudden anger.

'......No, there was no way she was shaken.'

The appearance of a frail little girl before her was only a shell.

Its true nature was the head of a bloodline where countless monsters gathered.

She was probably just feeling mild irritation that her doll was malfunctioning.

"That is...."

And then.

Just as Ariella thought, the words that came from Isabella's lips, after they twitched as though in hesitation, were—

"No."

Just as always.

Nothing but that single word.

"......I see."

At that,

Ariella nodded and said,

"Then I can never understand ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ Your Grace."

"Ella...."

"When I first came to this castle... no, even after that, I often thought about it. What would have happened if I had never come here."

"......"

"If I had never come to this castle, then even if I couldn't have been happy, I still could have lived an ordinary hard life together with my father...."

Her heart was burning with anger and the desire for revenge.

"Back then."

And.

Though she had only looked away from it for practical reasons—

"I never should have pitied you."

"......!"

"If only I hadn't pitied that child back then, none of this would have happened."

The source of that anger was, of course,

"Because of you."

the monster that called itself her friend.

"......Do not make me angry, Ella."

"Did something as insignificant as me say things too harsh for the Grand Duke? Then punish me as I deserve."

"......"

"Will you pretend you know nothing again and use the nobles to torture me? Or drag me around outside and treat me like a toy? Killing my father, who might still be alive somewhere, wouldn't be a bad idea either. Do whatever you like."

At that,

Isabella frowned and said,

"It seems you were right."

The corners of her lips were trembling faintly, a rare sight.

"It was my mistake. Someone like you could never understand my loneliness."

"How could I understand a loneliness you refuse to tell me about?"

"......Back then, when I saw a child who noticed my loneliness, I entertained pointless hope. Come to think of it, it was nothing more than the foolish chatter of a young lesser breed."

With that, she raised a hand and waved it lightly.

"You too, in the end, are the same."

Boom!

"Begone."

Those waiting outside the door came into the room and forcibly seized Ariella.

"For a while, I do not even wish to see your face. Until this anger subsides... I will have a territory prepared for you outside, so live there."

"For a while?"

Even as they dragged her away,

Ariella shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Do you mean that once enough time passes, you'll summon me back again?"

"......"

"Are you still, still not tired of this toy?"

"......Take her away."

"Because of you!"

Even as she was driven out of the castle,

that cry kept echoing on and on.

"Because of you. I...!"

Until the moment she was expelled from the castle, her rage-filled shouting continued to ring out.

"......"

And the great Grand Duke listened to it all in silence.

***

And so.

Ariella was exiled outside the castle.

The outside world was full of all kinds of grotesque monsters.

A place where the original her would never have survived even a single day.

But.

Crunch!

"Please come this way."

"......"

There were red-eyed men guiding her.

'Familiar faces.'

Decades earlier.

The very ones who had stormed into the village where she had lived.

The ones who had taken her and the others from the village away.

They were the Grand Duke's direct thralls.

Under their guidance, Ariella was led to a castle.

"Until the Grand Duke summons you again, please make yourself comfortable here."

"......"

"If there is anything inconvenient, please call for us at any time."

Looking at the Grand Duke's thralls, Ariella thought,

They said to call if there was anything inconvenient.

But their true role was most likely to keep her from escaping.

'What happens now?'

She had properly committed insubordination against the Grand Duke before coming here.

There was no way it would simply be overlooked.

If she were summoned back later, an existence even more painful than what she had endured until now would be waiting for her.

'......I don't even want to know.'

But.

No matter what kind of pain was waiting for her,

Ariella did not care in the slightest.

Filled with nothing but emptiness, she only stared blankly at her surroundings.

'......An old, shabby castle.'

Its rough and practical appearance was very different from the style of the nobles.

Most likely a human style.

Which meant this area had originally belonged to humans.

'......Which means.'

Unlike the other bloodlines,

the only human nation bordering the territory of the Karshtein Bloodline was the Empire.

If this place had once been human territory, that meant it had once belonged to the Empire.

'Then it can't be far from the frontier settlement.'

Which meant it was not very far from her old hometown either.

'Father....'

He was the one who had abandoned her,

but did she still have lingering attachment anyway?

A scene from somewhere beyond rose in her mind.

So much time had passed already.

Perhaps by now he had already grown old and died.

But if luck had held, maybe he was still alive somewhere, living on as a white-haired old man.

'If only I could go beyond there.'

She might be able to find her father and speak with him.

...She might even ask why he had abandoned her.

A faint snort escaped her.

'As if that could happen.'

Beyond there.

Near the frontier settlement, the sun rose.

The sun, which every bloodline instinctively loathed from the core of their being.

Because of that detestable thing,

she was in a position where she could not even go beyond there to find her father....

Boom...!

"......?"

Just as she was thinking that.

Bang....

Crackle....

From somewhere, she heard the sound of something exploding and breaking apart.

And then.

"Quasi-Baron!"

"Huh...?"

From below the castle, one of the Grand Duke's thralls looked up at her and shouted something.

"You have to get out of—!"

Crunch!

"......!"

And she saw its head get pierced by something glittering.

***

"Get down!"

"We have to evacuate the Quasi-Baron!"

The Grand Duke's thralls rushed toward her in haste,

grabbed her, and began running somewhere with her.

'An invasion?'

Just like when Ariella had first been taken,

this whole surrounding region was all but land divided between the Empire and the Karshtein Bloodline through unspoken agreement.

To the bloodline, it was land where they could steadily acquire the precious human species.

It was land so important to both sides that the Grand Duke had personally come there to hunt humans needed for the ranches.

And yet now, an invasion there?

Craaash...!

Even while she was thinking that, the sounds of battle continued from far away.

Ariella too was able to witness one scene from that battle.

The Grand Duke's thralls were strong.

But those invaders were no ordinary raiders either.

"......Why are anti-demon monks, who should not even be anywhere near this place, here...?!"

"And holy knights too!"

Kwaaang!!!

Unlike vampire hunters, who merely staked their lives to wander around hunting vampires,

these were masters who had learned proper methods of hunting.

Anti-demon monk soldiers and holy knights.

If it had only been vampire hunters, one could think madmen obsessed with hunting vampires had crawled into vampire territory.

But anti-demon monk soldiers and holy knights were different.

Highly trained personnel created only when organizations on the scale of nations poured in enormous resources.

For people like that to invade this land—

it would make no sense unless the Empire had resolved to go to war with the bloodline.

'......No.'

Come to think of it, there was exactly one case in which it would make sense.

'The bloodline isn't the only one that profits from keeping this whole area neutral.'

The Empire profited as well.

Partly because it prevented invasion by making it unnecessary for the bloodline to hunt humans.

But also—

to the Empire, this was a way to win military merit.

From the nobles' perspective, they would hunt down bloodline members who were of no use whatsoever, then return in triumph.

That way they built achievements and fame, strengthening their influence over neighboring nations.

And then they would turn the land they had "won in victory" into frontier settlements, making it possible to hand over the wealth gathered there to the bloodline.

Of course.

The one providing the bloodline members to be hunted that way was....

'I see.'

Thinking about it,

the invasion had happened not long after she arrived at this castle, almost as if it had been aimed at her.

This whole region was vast, and yet the invasion had come to this castle of all places.

'After all that talk about friendship and everything else.'

Unless she had truly been the target,

it would only have been possible if someone had passed along the information.

'So in the end, this is how....'

Kaaang!

At some point, light drew close.

Ariella turned around.

A warrior blazing with brilliant light stood there.

Even though their power was said to come at the cost of their life force,

the man swung his weapon proudly, as if burning away his own life meant nothing at all.

Kaaang!

"You, are...?"

At that enormous blade, the last of the Grand Duke's thralls that had been holding out fell.

The thrall who had seemed so strong when she saw it in that village collapsed with eyes wide in shock.

And then.

"......Found you."

The warrior who had felled that thrall walked toward her.

A warrior clad in brilliant light.

That light was so immense that she could not even properly make out his face.

And then.

Clank.

On his back was strapped an enormous coffin.

The man lifted that coffin one-handed, then—

Kwaaaang!!!

swung the chains wrapped around it and hurled the coffin toward Ariella.

Chrrrack!!!

The lid of the coffin flew open, and from inside, a shining rope sprang out.

She had adapted, in her own way, to handling the power of a vampire, but the moment that light touched her body, she could not even resist.

She was forcibly dragged into the coffin.

'Bella.'

As she was pulled into the darkness,

Ariella thought,

'You too, in the end.'

And then.

'Abandoned me.'

KWA-A-A-A-AANG!!!

The coffin slammed shut with brutal force.