“……Indeed. Sacrifice comes with great cause. I’m no exception. Even if I have to relinquish my position as Cardinal right now, it wouldn’t be a problem. On the day this research is completed, everyone will know that Lord Luminous has guided me.”
After much contemplation, Raul Carlos finally spoke.
If Aria’s proposal was sincere, there was no need to think long. Raul took pride in his position as Cardinal, as it was a testament to his devotion to the light god, Luminous. That position proved that his piety was recognized on an external level.
However, if it truly was for the sake of the divine will, there’s no reason to temporarily set aside worldly honors.
It didn’t matter if he wasn’t understood right away. Raul was certain that when the research was completed, not only the Greysia Empire but all of humanity would praise his achievements and open the door to a new era.
But that would only apply if her proposal was sincere. Without the progenitor’s cooperation, the research wouldn’t progress another step.
“However, young progenitor, I can sneak you away, but I cannot save you. The day this research concludes will also be your day of death, so how could I trust your words of willingly cooperating with the experiment that leads to your own demise?”
Raul had a blind and fanatical side, but he was by no means a fool.
Even as a former Inquisition officer who handled the darker aspects from the shadows rather than revealing himself publicly, he had the skills to rise to the position of Cardinal.
Moreover, a man who could commit illegal experiments behind the scenes without getting caught would never cross dangerous bridges without certainty. Of course, that his so-called “ideal” was purely fantastical according to common standards was beside the point.
“I don’t want to die either. But if I cannot escape my death, then I’d prefer to live at least one more day. If it means I can live until your research is completed instead of being executed in two days, then I choose that.”
Under Raul’s suspicious gaze, the fourth progenitor of vampires, Aria, replied bluntly.
Despite having proposed to assist in the research, she showed a reluctance so pronounced that Raul fell silent once more to discern her true intentions.
‘Could it truly be sincere?’
If she had spoken such things out of a desire to contribute to humanity, Raul would have harbored suspicion towards her.
He well knew how she behaved when she was captured.
Her claims of wanting to help humans and coexist were absurd, but Raul had judged her at that time to be genuinely sincere.
How a newly born progenitor could develop such thoughts was indeed a puzzling part, but that very peculiarity meant they had likely struggled to catch her.
However, during the noble experiment, her once fragile gaze was steadily changing.
The tears that used to shine in her eyes with a plea for mercy dried up, and amidst her dying emotions, something close to resignation began to feel palpable. Soon, from her empty eyes, a dark and murky ember began to ignite.
Vampires and humans were destined not to coexist. For the ideal world which Luminous guided humanity to, vampires had to be exterminated.
Thus, Raul didn’t ascribe much significance to Aria’s changing nature.
However, if someone who had quietly endured their experiments with a venomous gaze, without a single scream, started saying that dying while helping humans was somehow fulfilling, he would have suspected her of hidden motives.
In the end, Aria’s reluctant yet unavoidable decision to comply with the research lent credence to the idea that her proposal wasn’t a lie.
Even with changing circumstances, she had never relinquished her obsession with living. The moments of pleading for her life gradually decreased until they stopped, but the fierce will to live that shone in her eyes never changed.
If her intention was to postpone her impending doom as much as possible until the research was complete, that made total sense. Wanting to live a single day longer is a natural desire for any living being.
Once Raul set aside his doubts, a sense of anticipation began settling in his heart.
Thirty long years. He started this research in his mid-twenties, devoting over three decades to achieve his ideal.
The more the research progressed, the more he realized that, having merely inherited a few drops of progenitor’s blood, he wouldn’t be able to expect further progress with his subordinates. How hollow that realization was.
Then, just in time, the fourth progenitor appeared on this land, and not only had he managed to recover a corpse, but he also successfully captured her—it sent him into ecstatic glee.
When people are truly desperate, they believe what they want to believe rather than what is reliable. This applied even to a zealot who had regained lost possibilities.
“There is a secret passage, just as you said. It’s something even the Luminous Kingdom’s palace is unaware of, so if you wish, you can sneak out to the outskirts.”
Everything must surely be divine guidance. How else would everything unfold so favorably?
Thus, Raul didn’t even consider the possibility of failure in his research.
Could there be failure on the path guided by Lord Luminous?
Walking a thorny path is precisely the trial that a saint must overcome. With the glory of the future in mind, stepping aside from his position as Cardinal and eluding the kingdom’s scrutiny was an inconvenience he could bear.
“I accept your offer. Tonight, I will take you away from here.”
Aria smiled crookedly. Thus, a deal was struck between one human and one vampire.
However, Raul, blinded by the hope of achieving his thirty-year ideal and the unwavering faith that failure would not befall someone under the guidance of the great Lord, overlooked a single possibility.
While Aria wished to prolong her life by choosing the least bad option, she was fully prepared to break their agreement if a better alternative arose—this was a consequence Raul at that time could not foresee.
*
“We’ve arrived. Now I can finally breathe easy.”
The dark sky split open, letting light seep through.
Even though I had grown accustomed to being treated like cargo, my whole body ached. I shot Raul a glare full of urgency and protest, urging him to get me out of the box quickly.
“Why did it take so long?”
“It has only been two full days. Considering I moved carefully to leave no trace, that isn’t slow at all.”
Two days? Was it because I was packed into the box like cargo that it felt like five days had passed?
Oh, I could have complained endlessly, but I bit my tongue. There was something far more important at hand.
“So where is this? Is it safe for sure?”
“You don’t need to know… I would’ve liked to say that, but if easing your anxieties leads to a more cooperative attitude, then I suppose it doesn’t hurt to share. This is my secret laboratory in Belag, and there were no traces left here. Of course, by now, the palace must have realized I’ve disappeared. Today was supposed to be the day of execution.”
Belag. If my trickle of knowledge wasn’t wrong, then it’s near the southern region of the capital, Rushel, and close to the border of the Greysia Empire.
It looks like reading books at the orphanage finally paid off. The piece of land belonging to the Luminous Kingdom is small, but considering we secretly ran for two days carrying cargo, maybe we did okay.
To be honest, I incited trouble merely because I didn’t want to see Raul, but having snuck away from the palace unharmed was probably the first goal accomplished.
“This is no time to be sitting around. I need to get things sorted quickly and gather the materials for the experiment.”
Raul’s hands, already pulling me out of the box, seemed filled with anticipation to start the experiments before he even realized it.
And I,
I had waited for this moment.
Until I arrived here, I had never been free. I was always fixed in place, like being nailed to a cross.
There was merely a difference between lying down or standing; I couldn’t turn my head freely, and the only semblance of freedom granted was to wiggle my fingers and toes slightly or to move my jaw when my gag was off.
But what about now?
With my limbs stretched wide, it was impossible for a human to fit inside the box. To make an escape, my bindings must be minimized.
Though my wrists and ankles were shackled in handcuff-style restraints, that was the entirety of my bindings. This was the most freedom I’d had since being captured.
Having been transported in this way before, I expected this scenario.
However, what had changed since that time was my awakening as a progenitor and the fact that, with the single exception of the human before me, there was no other force to suppress me. Furthermore, I was actively prepared to resist.
Thank you, Raul Carlos, you fool. For stupidly giving up both honor and power, and coming all the way here for me.
I relaxed my body and awaited his touch. I feigned a weak and harmless test subject, one who lacked the strength to move or even think about resisting.
At last, Raul, without any particular suspicions, reached out his hand towards me. Guided by that hand, my upper body, crammed into the box, began to slowly emerge.
‘Fool.’
This was a mistake that the one fooled deserves. Isn’t that right?
The moment I was completely out of the box up to my waist, I jabbed forward with lightning speed, biting down with all my strength into Raul’s wrist.
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