ITWB 26 🔐

Chapter 26

Her wavering gaze turned toward the Luciel in the portrait.

The light brown hair looked so much like Edwin’s that a surge of distaste welled up in her.

“This is what I looked like before I became a vampire.”

Still unable to hide her surprise, she slowly scanned the figure in the portrait.

“You were really… human?”

Unlike other races, vampires were shrouded in mystery.
Before waging a large-scale battle against them, the High Priest had told her that the very first vampire was undoubtedly born in the abyss—
a monster that had grown in a pitch-dark place, feeding on human desires.

But to think that Luciel too had once been human… even seeing it with her own eyes, it was hard to believe.

“Edward von Granche, Count.”

Luciel continued in a low, murmuring voice.

“That was my name when I was human.”

Moving slowly, he soon pulled out a chair from the table in front of the portrait.

“Would you… hear my story?”

It seemed there was some tale beyond her imagination.
Luciel’s face looked unbearably lonely, and she found she could not refuse his request.

“…Alright.”

Letting out a small breath, Selenia sat in the chair he had pulled out.

Soon, he returned carrying a teapot and some treats to go with it.
The clear sound of china clinking and water pouring echoed in the room.
With practiced hands, Luciel brewed the tea and offered it to her.

“Please.”

Selenia forced an awkward smile.
Not long ago, they had faced each other with swords drawn, intent on killing one another.
Sharing tea alone together in a quiet room could not help but feel awkward.

“…Thank you. I’ll drink it.”

She exhaled and lifted the cup. Warm tea flowed into her mouth—
and in that instant, her head tilted slightly to the side.

“…Hm?”

Strangely, she couldn’t taste anything.
There was only the faintest scent—enough to guess it was tea, but nothing more.

Frowning in puzzlement, Selenia stared into the cup.
The purple tea, shimmering faintly as if sprinkled with gold dust, looked thoroughly steeped.

Is it because I’m tired?

She blinked quickly and brushed her hair back.

“You can’t taste anything, can you?”

Luciel spoke as though reading her mind exactly.

“…Right. Maybe it’s just because I’m tired.”

Though her surprise showed briefly, she set the cup down as if it were nothing.

“No.”

Luciel’s reply was firm.

“A vampire can’t taste anything except blood.”

“…What?”

Her eyes shook before she could stop herself.
Luciel went on, unfazed.

“Whenever you eat food or drink tea like a human, the taste of rich, sweet blood will rise in your mind.”

He set down a bottle of blood fruit beside the beautiful treats, almost tossing it there.

“Each time you drink blood, you’ll hate the humans who made you this way all the more.”

Luciel’s green eyes gleamed sharply, like those of a beast.

“Because I did.”

Goosebumps broke out over her skin.
He had raged at humanity’s betrayal, slaughtering the people he had once loved to take their blood.
Even after such a long, nightmarish time, the reality of being a vampire had never truly hit her.

Selenia let out a hollow laugh.
Selfishly enough, she only felt the reality of her condition when she realized she could no longer taste anything.
And just as he said, resentment toward the humans who had made her this way began surging into her heart like a tide.

Even while drinking tea, a maddening thirst welled up inside her.

At that moment, Edwin’s face came to mind again—
and a pain like her chest being torn apart gripped her.

She furrowed her brow harshly and closed her eyes, slowly calming her raging heart.
Edwin was already dead. Hating or resenting the dead was pointless.
She could neither take revenge nor ask for answers.

Swallowing her indignation, she spoke in an even voice.

“…The first vampire, Luciel.”

“…Yes.”

Wanting to steer the conversation elsewhere, Selenia asked the question in her mind.

“How exactly did you become a vampire?”

“Yes. The truth of that day can only be found in history books.”

“Only in books?”

If he truly was Edward von Granche, then it should have been something he personally experienced.
She asked again, puzzled.

“That’s strange to say—‘only in books’—when you’re right here.”

“I have no memory of that day.”

“No memory?”

When she tilted her head, Luciel answered firmly.

“I erased it.”

“…Erased it?”

What on earth did you go through…?

Looking at him, Selenia felt a twinge of compassion she had never felt for him before.
His pale skin looked even whiter today.

For a moment, silence hung between them.

Though he could taste nothing, Luciel leisurely lifted his teacup and spoke.

“I don’t know how I became a vampire, nor why I killed everyone.”

“…Luciel.”

“Only much later, by reading a history book left by someone unknown, could I vaguely guess. That….”

The corners of his eyes reddened.

“…That something so tragic happened, I had to throw away the memory.”

Selenia pressed her lips together, unable to find a proper reply.
She too had been betrayed by the one she loved and abandoned by the people she trusted—
but she had never considered discarding those memories.

No, she believed she must not.
The wounds carved into her heart could not be healed simply by forgetting.

“What remained in me was only contempt for humans and the desire for revenge.
But this portrait, I kept.”

Luciel slowly rose to his feet.

“Because it’s the only proof I was once human.”

Turning his back to her, he stared at the portrait.

A crooked, almost mocking smile curved his lips.
By revealing the past he had erased, Selenia’s once-guarded gaze toward him began to soften.

“Shamefully, at first, I hunted people recklessly in my confusion.”

He poured his emotions out with the exaggeration of an actor on stage.

“But not anymore. I am slowly regaining a human heart.”

He could practically feel what expression she was making behind him.

My innocent, beautiful Selenia.

Luciel suppressed a smile and lowered his lips.

Erasing his memories—that was the truth.
But regaining a human heart?
That was a lie darker than the abyss.

The only thing that mattered to him was himself.
And right now, his heart burned with a mad desire for Selenia.

If it was to have her, he could spin any lie, play any act.

Lowering his red lashes, Luciel let out a soft, derisive laugh.

“I have lived in loneliness for centuries.”

Selenia simply listened quietly.

“Do you know why I was imprinted to you, and why I brought you here?”

“…Yes, I have wondered about that.”

At last, she slowly spoke.

“For someone who hated humans so much—
how could you have been imprinted to me, a human?
I still can’t understand.”

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t figure it out.
He claimed to have been imprinted the moment he saw her, said it was love—
but with everything she knew of Luciel’s actions, she couldn’t tell what was true and what was a lie.

“I told you, didn’t I? The moment I saw you, I was imprinted.”

“And how is that even—”

“Because you are someone special to me.”

Cutting her off, Luciel stepped closer to his portrait—
and then swept aside another curtain hanging next to it in one motion.

Before her eyes, another portrait was revealed.

The moment she saw the figure in it, Selenia clapped a hand over her mouth.

It was a woman with hair like molten gold and eyes like liquid sunlight.

It was—

“How…!”

—her own appearance before she became a vampire.

“No way…?”

The shock that seized her was greater than learning he had once been human like her.

“No matter how much I erased my memories….”

Luciel turned his head slowly toward her.

“You, I could still recognize.”

In front of the speechless Selenia, he drove in the final nail.

“My beloved lady, Selenia.”

Luciel’s eyes glistened.
He gently took her hand, bent one knee before her—
and, as if paying homage to a goddess, placed a light kiss on the back of her hand.

“Because you are the reincarnation of the woman I loved.”