“Princess, Your Highness, but that is—”
“Think carefully, Marquis. Unlike those who have made the wrong choices, trapped by past glories, you are a perceptive man, aren’t you?”
At the woman’s words, the middle-aged man fell silent. Sweat trickled down his forehead as he subtly avoided the fierce, mocking smile of the girl, who could easily be mistaken for his daughter.
But was there truly no freedom in where he had fled? As he shifted his gaze, he noticed towering vampires watching their conversation with identical blank expressions, as if they had been cast from a mold.
“…I’m at a loss for words, your praise is overwhelming.”
The Princess and the Marquis.
Given the unshakeable order of the Bertica Kingdom formed by bloodlines, it was only natural for a nobleman to flounder in front of royalty.
However, this situation was different.
Standing before the Marquis was none other than the First Princess, Selina Bertica.
The girl, treated as if virtually dead in high society and not even worthy of being a decoration, now held a powerful position one could hardly have imagined before.
‘If only it were such a simple matter.’
The Marquis was among the few neutral factions among the upper nobility of the Bertica Kingdom. A clever position that allowed him to reap benefits from both the noble faction and the royal faction.
Having held such a position, he felt no hesitation in showing reverence as a subordinate, even if his counterpart was merely a girl with no political value beyond her bloodline.
‘Why is the Princess… a vampire?’
But the girl born of noble blood was no longer human. Her blood-red eyes and the slight glimmer of sharp fangs that appeared when she spoke made it clear.
The girl, appearing suddenly in the form of humanity’s natural enemy, was now forcing the Marquis to make a choice.
“Marquis. I hope you hold no prejudice. The Progenitor is not so uptight. As evidence, most of the people still living in the Royal Capital are perfectly well, aren’t they?”
With a gentle smile, Selina sought his agreement.
However, the Marquis found it hard to nod in affirmation. He had seen precedents that did not fall under “most citizens.”
Though the nobles of the Royal Capital were in a state that was practically house arrest, information hardly ever got completely cut off. Even if one stayed indoors, whispers of simple rumors would make their way in.
The Marquis was aware that the suddenly revealed First Princess had visited several nobles in the Royal Capital over the past few days. He also knew that some of them had gone missing afterward.
This was essentially a threat indicating that if he did not comply, he too would become one of those “disasters” that were not “all right.”
Following Selina’s lead was the duty of the neutral faction. But that was all contingent on the fact that the opponent was a human; with the situation being a vampire, there were just too many troublesome considerations before he could easily latch on.
“By the way,”
Changing the atmosphere, Selina shifted the topic.
“I heard your wife is unwell; how is she doing these days?”
At that moment, the Marquis’s eyebrows twitched.
How could the First Princess, whom he had never met, bring up his wife, who had been in poor health due to age-related ailments and had not been able to go out since last year?
“Marquis, you look like you’re thinking I might be threatening you using your wife as leverage,” she said.
With her mouth covered, she chuckled gracefully, and anxiety welled up inside him.
Her observation was spot on.
It was not that he hadn’t imagined the possibility of this situation occurring, but facing it in reality left the Marquis feeling utterly powerless in his current condition.
“There seems to be some misunderstanding. You—”
Or is there?
But regardless of the reality, the Marquis had no choice but to listen to Selina’s words.
“—Aren’t you curious how I’ve come to stand before you so healthily when I once said I would not escape death?”
“Well, that is…”
The Marquis, who was about to casually answer that it was because she had become a vampire, suddenly stopped speaking.
Inevitable death. Illness.
And a vampire, a healthy body.
“Could it be that the Princess…?”
“Yes. One of the many gifts I received is the very opportunity to live this new life.”
Despite acknowledging it as a filthy imagination, the Marquis couldn’t help but place the idea on the scale of his heart.
His wife, whose strength dwindled day by day, facing her end, versus the Princess, who stood before him more vibrant than ever after becoming a vampire.
Although he knew that becoming a vampire was akin to a curse, seeing the Princess, fated to wilt and be forgotten without a name, standing more lively than ever naturally led him to ponder.
“Though I am still a young and inexperienced girl compared to the Marquis, allow me to give you advice as someone experienced in this field…too much prejudice will make you miss out on the opportunities that come your way.”
Selina pointedly smirked, as if she could see right through the Marquis’s thoughts.
“You’ve heard tales of many humans who choose to end their lives after becoming vampires, haven’t you? But that death stems from a value system imposed by humans. Living beings are, by nature, creatures that consume other beings to survive. Humans are no exception, so how can vampires alone be seen as the ugly creatures merely for drinking blood?”
She eloquently argued the righteousness of beings standing at the opposite pole of humanity in an exceedingly human manner.
However, the Marquis could not bring himself to interrupt her words. It was unclear whether it was due to the disparity in their statuses or the fact that she held the power over life and death, or perhaps due to an inkling of attraction.
“When viewed across the entire species, vampires have occupied a position of weakness for many years. As a result, we have been despised by the rhetoric of the powerful, and we have instilled the ridiculous notion that it’s better to die than to live as a vampire.”
Selina scoffed.
Such statements were merely the whining of those far from death.
“In my experience, I can assert that life as a vampire far surpasses death. Perhaps your wife wouldn’t prefer a noble death over quietly spending her remaining days with the Marquis?”
“Well, but…”
“Don’t think in terms of the human era. For the past several hundred years, the greatest threat to vampires has been humanity. Once that threat and prejudice disappear, what remains is a fantastic body that neither ages nor succumbs to illness. If one thinks that having a somewhat unique dietary requirement is simply a reward, wouldn’t that be so?”
Eternal life. There has not been a ruler who has not dreamed of it across ages.
Among humans, those with shorter lifespans were especially inclined toward such desires.
Although revealing it blatantly would show the inferiority of the human race, everyone whispered about it behind close doors; yet, considering the assumption that one would not be killed by someone else, there was hardly a more favorable path than becoming a vampire toward achieving immortality.
“Marquis, the era of vampires is upon us. And the compassionate Progenitor has graciously declared that he will gladly embrace those noblemen who have roused interspecies conflict under the pressure of the former king should they choose to change their hearts and lead their people toward peace under the new order.”
A new order. Selina boldly declared that a true age of vampires would come under the protection of the Fourth Progenitor.
The Marquis began to waver. Objectively speaking, aside from the inability to engage in outdoor activities during the day, one could easily argue that vampires were not inferior to humans.
If only ‘a being safeguarding the new order’ existed, imagining a future with his wife restored to health was quite enticing.
Moreover, the fact that the nobles had participated in the oppression of vampires and the invasion of the duchy was not merely due to their fear of the royal family.
The Progenitor must have been aware of this fact as well. Yet for him to say such things meant he was openly expressing his intent to incorporate them.
“If—if we were to adhere to the new order and pledge loyalty to the Progenitor… No, to you, would my wife be saved?”
“To a loyal subordinate, the Progenitor always repays. It is his creed. Whilst vampires are essentially just a new noble class, without blindly expanding numbers… there will surely be a proportional reward for distinguished loyalists.”
The Marquis stared at Selina, who was nodding leisurely, for several seconds.
‘Who could have imagined that the First Princess, assumed to fade away in obscurity, would blossom in such a manner?’
Was the age in which vampires feel like a plague truly coming to an end?
At least when looking at the Princess, it seemed that the option of becoming a vampire was not beneath death.
No, perhaps, as she said, becoming a vampire could be regarded as an honor akin to being granted a title.
His wavering heart gradually solidified in one direction.
That day, rumors began to spread that a man who was once the leading figure of the neutral faction in the Bertica Kingdom had officially declared his intention to submit to the Fourth Progenitor.
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