A woman who lost her memory in shock after being kidnapped by vampires.
Plona, who rescued the woman, gave her the name Aria.
Plona felt a strange sense of kinship with Aria. Perhaps she saw her own situation reflected in Aria, a girl without memories and parents she never knew.
Plona worried about Aria. She couldn’t help but feel for someone who had no one to lean on.
Moreover, unlike Plona, who had been in the orphanage since her first memories, Aria had nothing at all.
Unable to abandon Aria, Plona took her to the orphanage where she had grown up.
Contrary to her concerns that Aria might tremble with anxiety for a while, Aria adapted to orphanage life surprisingly quickly.
Even though it couldn’t have been easy to do unfamiliar chores in a strange environment, a warm smile never left her face.
But just because she was smiling didn’t mean everything was alright. Plona knew that better than anyone.
If it looked like Aria was struggling, she needed to help her. With that in mind, Plona began to hover around Aria.
However, Aria seemed to enjoy each day immensely.
Her genuine love for ordinary daily life was enough to make observers feel happy.
What a gentle yet strong person, Plona thought.
But above all, what struck Plona most was Aria’s attitude toward her.
Though Plona had called Aria “sister” first, Aria treated her as if she were a daughter or younger sister—something Plona had never experienced since becoming a knight.
“Nice job, you must have had a hard time. Rest well today.”
Ordinary words that might seem trivial to someone else, but to Plona, a knight, they were incredibly unfamiliar yet nostalgic.
The grand honor of being humanity’s protector didn’t allow young girls to stay as children. Since joining the knight order at twelve, Plona had lost many things that kids her age should have enjoyed.
Even the loving orphanage director, Amy, couldn’t completely ignore her position as a knight, but astonishingly, only Aria treated Plona as just a girl.
Feeling Aria’s warmth, her genuine concern at how much stronger she was than Plona, made Plona think, “Is this what family feels like?”
It didn’t take long for Plona’s visits to change in purpose.
Before she knew it, Plona truly began to trust and follow Aria as a real sister.
Whenever she saw Aria running joyfully from taking care of the other kids and greeting her with a smile brighter than ever, Plona felt warmth seep into her cold heart.
She had never realized how joyful it felt to be someone’s special someone.
Being cradled by someone and letting their gentle hand stroke her hair was more fulfilling than she had ever imagined.
Though their blood wasn’t connected, Plona regarded Aria as family. Being in her embrace felt good, almost like a reward for the hardships of her youth.
Soon, the happiest days of Plona’s life began.
The difficult training and battles with Ain were bearable just by thinking of this Aria who welcomed her on the weekends.
But the world does not allow someone’s happiness to last forever.
The happy moments Plona had been enjoying didn’t last long.
One day, after returning from a mission, Plona encountered an unbelievable truth.
The true identity of the sister she had thought of as family was the Progenitor of Vampires. The fact that someone so kind and warm could be humanity’s nemesis was something Plona could hardly accept.
“She couldn’t possibly be like that.”
“She’s not bad. No way she’s an enemy of humanity.”
But no one listened to Plona’s pleas.
Vampires are enemies of humans. Not a single human wanted to hear a vampire’s story.
And up until now, Plona had been one of those humans.
How many vampires had she slain with her own hands?
In retrospect, they must have had their own stories, but according to human standards, those didn’t matter, and she had merely struck them down under the banner of a self-righteous cause.
“Others must see her that way too,” Plona realized too late.
If she could say her sister was fine after killing so many vampires, would that make her a hypocrite?
Was the justice she learned from the Church really justice?
Wasn’t the knight hailed as a protector also seen as a mass murderer by someone?
Plona began to question the teachings and common sense of the Church that she had unthinkingly accepted for so long.
She didn’t think that protecting people was wrong. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that there might have been a better method.
To find an answer, it seemed she needed to meet Aria one more time.
But visiting Aria, who was on death row, was not permitted. Instead, as fate would have it, the world provided Plona with an opportunity in the form of Aria’s escape.
“Good, this works.”
Though those around her trembled in fear, Plona saw this as a chance.
Were all vampires truly enemies? Could the kind-hearted Aria truly be exempt from that fate? She needed to see for herself.
Whatever the result, she felt it would help her sort out her feelings.
If the Aria she met again was indeed an enemy of humanity, could she wield her sword?
For a moment, that thought flickered in her mind, but Plona pushed the uncomfortable truth aside and began searching for Aria’s trace.
There were many twists and turns on her long journey.
Thinking Aria was under protection in the Duchy, she even participated in the war against the vampires, volunteering for an assassination squad to meet her at the Grand Duke’s castle first, only to find out her efforts had gone to waste as Aria wasn’t even in the Duchy anymore.
There was a limit to what she could do as part of an organization. After several failures, Plona realized she needed to make a bold decision.
After gathering the latest information possible from within the Church, Plona submitted her resignation.
With no particular goal and just following orders, she had become a knight. Though she had been swinging her sword daily like a habit, there was no rule that said she couldn’t stop.
In the end, thanks to her superior’s persuasion and their generous discretion, it turned into a long vacation instead of a resignation. Nonetheless, Plona regained her freedom. She slowly moved westward while gathering local information.
Finally today, Plona reunited with the Aria she had longed for in Pahera.
Though her hair was black, her face was unmistakably Aria.
However, that meeting did not turn out to be an emotional reunion as Plona had hoped. Given that the place they met was a battlefield, perhaps it was a predetermined future.
Aria was biting the neck of a knight and sucking his blood.
Though Plona had previously heard that Aria had killed, she was still shocked.
The unavoidable reality before her.
“There must have been circumstances. She had to do it to survive.” Convincing herself with those thoughts felt inadequate compared to the horrific visual shock of blood-soaked Aria.
The changed look in her eyes and demeanor also played a role.
The gentle smile and dignified, graceful behavior held in Plona’s memory didn’t connect at all with Aria’s sharply glowing red eyes and rough, coarse actions upon their reunion.
“Good vampires only exist among the dead.” Dave’s words echoed in Plona’s mind.
Did those around her say that because they had known this was how it would end? Was it because she was still young and inexperienced?
“No. Just talk to her.”
Ignoring the rational voice that shouted Aria had already changed and was no longer the sister in her memory, Plona chased after the fleeing Aria.
Plona was aware of the Elven barrier. She had to stop Aria before she reached it.
But she couldn’t draw her sword. Choosing to act with force here felt like it would lead to something irreversible.
Fortunately, Aria halted her steps in response to Plona’s desperate pleas. Reverting to her true appearance with white hair flowing, Aria looked just like the figure left in Plona’s memory.
However, paradoxically, the fact that Aria hadn’t visibly changed made it clear that she had indeed transformed.
Pain pierced her heart.
The cautiously guarded stance and icy gaze were not what Plona remembered of Aria. She instinctively felt that the bond they had as sister and sister was no more.
Plona was human, and Aria was a vampire.
Aria’s hands were already stained with blood. If she had accepted her fate as the Progenitor of Vampires after once preaching coexistence with humans, Plona Moonlight must strike her down as a protector of humanity.
But she couldn’t.
If she had just made her mind up once, taking Aria’s life would have been nothing. Yet Plona could never wield her sword.
“Did you come to kill me too?”
“Selin did. She spilled everything and begged me to spare her, but Selin arrested me.”
The question filled with animosity wasn’t seeking an answer. The gaze full of suspicion had already deemed her an enemy.
It hurt.
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