Eleonora remained motionless in her original seat even after Aria sat down in the prepared spot. With her hood still drawn over her head, she quietly stood by the exit, gazing at her master.
An uncomfortable silence soon fell inside the tent. It seemed that Aria had no intention of speaking first.
Did they expect her to deliver the purpose of their gathering just because they called for her? Sitting with her legs crossed in a rather arrogant manner, she nonchalantly raised her chin, effortlessly deflecting the stares from the other vampires.
The silent standoff continued for a while. Eventually, it was the other party that broke the silence.
“I am Ludrik Marcus. I am in charge of the Security Maintenance Force.”
Introduced as a count by his subordinate—though one could argue that screaming excitedly counts as introducing oneself—the head of the vampire organization introduced himself like that.
However, he did not call himself a count outright. It was unclear whether this meant he was once a noble of the Helraig Duchy but was no longer, or if the claim his subordinate made was simply a hasty lie, suggesting he had never been a noble in the first place.
Eleonora leaned toward the former conclusion. Although she had heard rumors that strong vampires generally do not stray far from the duchy, given that her own master was a Progenitor of Vampires, a being thought to only exist in legends, she believed most extraordinary things could, indeed, happen.
“What’s the matter?”
But Aria seemed uninterested in his introduction. Even though she shot him a glare that could kill, her unfazed demeanor left Eleonora silently impressed.
“Yet I’ve never seen my master act like this before.”
Despite her gutsiness, Eleonora knew that the usual Aria was overly cautious. You could call it caution, or you could say she was pathologically suspicious.
Always assuming the worst case, she usually refrained from revealing her presence, so seeing her act so recklessly was a definite first for Eleonora.
Although Aria was indeed quite powerful, her usual self-deprecation didn’t fit such behavior. Of course, that reckless approach was undoubtedly calculated in her mind, but in Eleonora’s eyes, it was simply refreshing.
“I would think it’s only polite for you to introduce yourself if I’ve done so first.”
“Really? Even though you barged into a lady’s bedroom in the middle of the night, I never thought you cared for politeness. Is that the etiquette around here?”
“… My subordinate was rude, and I apologize for that.”
This devastatingly lethal comeback made its debut again, catching Ludrik off guard, and for a moment, he fell silent. Realizing she wasn’t just a crazy lady but rather one who had a valid reason for her outburst, it made for a startling discovery.
Although Eleonora, who always accompanied Aria, knew that her master lacked the typical lady-like modesty, if one were unaware of that, it was quite a convincing excuse.
Perhaps he believed he was losing ground to challenge Aria’s demeanor, as Ludrik’s eyes darted toward Eleonora as he searched for a way out.
What initially seemed merely a passing interest became a lingering gaze. Ludrik twitched his nose and frowned, as if he had realized she wasn’t a vampire.
“Who’s the one behind you?”
“She’s my slave.”
“Though I nearly mistook her for a vampire, it seems she’s neither vampire nor human.”
“She’s Dragonkin. If you touch her… you know?”
The moment the mention of her being Dragonkin was uttered, piercing gazes converged on the visible horn, eager to tear off her hood, but the moment Aria warned them with her cold voice, the vampires feigned ignorance and looked away.
A slight displeasure bloomed in Eleonora’s chest as she sensed the ones looking at her as prey. It wasn’t outright terror, but she couldn’t deny it was rather unsettling.
Yet she held an unwavering faith that Aria would protect her, come what may.
Of course, she had never seen Aria act quite this wild before, but even that unusual side didn’t shake her steadfast belief.
“So why did you call for us at this hour?”
“… As the organization responsible for maintaining security here, it’s customary to meet any new residents directly. There’s no special purpose behind it.”
“Is that so? If there’s nothing else to say, I think I’ll be going now. Is that okay?”
“… Sure.”
No one dared to challenge the pointed attitude exuding a strong intent to make them regret any objections, and the so-called welcoming committee was perhaps hastily concluded.
Although they’d expected it to be over before dawn, it was more impressive that the conversation completely fizzled out in just ten minutes.
Ludrik did not attempt to stop the departing Aria. Instead, he threw a single question over her shoulder.
“Don’t you think you should at least tell us your name? Are you from the duchy?”
“… Scarlet.”
Aria provided a pseudonym. She neither confirmed nor denied her origins. Regardless of whether she was from the duchy, the implication of such a question was clear. She acted so brashly, yet Ludrik’s inquiry about her potentially being a noble was obvious to Eleonora.
Eleonora was somewhat curious too. After all, her master seldom spoke of herself.
While she’d only heard that Aria was the Progenitor of Vampires, she had no inkling of her past or what had transpired before.
Still, Eleonora was aware of the considerable rumors that floated around; her master had nearly been executed by humans and was still being hunted.
Eleonora recalled Aria’s demeanor when hunting humans. Without hesitation, she would rip her enemies apart, moving boldly and fiercely without a hint of fear of getting injured, her eyes gleaming with a blood-red hue.
What Eleonora had glimpsed in those eyes was a profound hatred buried deep within. Though Eleonora harbored a grudge against the humans who had murdered her father and enslaved her, the magnitude of the emotion she witnessed in Aria was entirely different.
“What on earth could have happened?”
While others might shudder at the thought, Eleonora believed Aria possessed a fundamentally kind nature.
Killing humans? In this age, who killed whom was merely the way of things.
Drinking blood? What would a vampire do if they didn’t drink blood?
If Aria’s true nature were evil, Eleonora would have already been dead. But here she was, very much alive.
Though she might appear stony and cynical, she wasn’t so clueless as to remain unaware of how much care Aria showed her.
Her master, consistently threatened by the world, could easily see Eleonora as a burden, yet she never cast her aside.
Even when traveling, she would allow for pauses to match Eleonora’s stamina, and even though Aria said she could drink whenever, she’d never so much as touched her until Eleonora asked first.
Though there had been days Aria had to go hungry, there hadn’t been a single day Eleonora had gone without food. Even when they had to sleep outside, the young girl would cover her up to sleep while standing guard alone.
If Aria were indeed evil to her core, she would not have acted in such ways, and Eleonora was convinced of it.
No matter how cold her demeanor seemed on the surface, no matter how fanatically she fought, or how inexplicably unpredictable she acted like today, her true essence would not easily change.
In Eleonora’s eyes, Aria was someone who believed herself to be a villain despite her inherently good nature, almost as if she were under the delusion that she must be a villain.
Perhaps the original Aria once possessed a pure and kind-hearted soul.
The tale of how someone who was once so pristine turned into who she is now is undoubtedly intertwined with a hidden past. And that, in some way, relates to the humans still sharpening their swords while tracking Aria’s every move at this very moment.
“I hope there will come a day when you share it…”
While she was curious, Eleonora decided against asking.
She was Aria’s slave. Technically, she had volunteered for this role, lacking any contract or chains that bound her, but Aria remained her one and only master.
Just as she had been rescued by her, Eleonora wished that her master would find salvation too. Though she might be of little help now, being a Dragonkin, she believed that someday she would repay that kindness in whatever small way she could.
“I sincerely hope that day comes soon.”
When that day arrives, she would lift the dark clouds that hung over her master, who was despised by the world, and with that resolve, Eleonora followed her master out of the tent.
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