The boy warned Lionel that once he started sucking blood, he would never go back.
Lionel thought it was because he was giving up his humanity by drinking other people's blood. But that wasn't the case.
“It’s a new world, Miss Harrington.”
Previously, when he simply absorbed youth through contact, only his appearance became younger. However, when he sucked blood, his vitality, even the energy of his prime, was restored.
It was a new world that he could never return to once he experienced it. Well, there were downsides, like the food he had cooked turned out disgusting and he couldn't control his urges.
But such shortcomings were nothing compared to this fresh youth.
“So you were the one biting people’s necks?”
“Instead of saying bitten, please use the word sucking, elegantly.”
Elegantly? If that's elegant, then what in the world isn't elegant?
Judith glared at Lionel, holding the back of her bleeding neck with one hand.
Lionel couldn't take his eyes off Judith's nape, licking his bloody lips openly.
“Well, I couldn’t help but end up like that.”
On the first day, he drank the blood of slaves. On the tenth day, Lionel, who had regained his youth, rode his horse out of the mansion to enjoy his vitality.
As he was running excitedly, he soon arrived at the area where the lower class lived.
But then he came across a young man with brown hair and brown eyes. His prey was right in front of him.
“I felt hungry just looking at that person. So I couldn’t help it.”
So Lionel hunted them. He lured them with gold coins and sucked their blood. The pleasure he felt was incomparable to the pleasure he felt when he sucked the blood of the slaves that the butler had brought.
“I got addicted to it, you know? But as you know, Miss Harrington, I’m not that bad of a person.”
“You kill people and you say you’re not a bad person?”
“We have provided sufficient compensation to the bereaved family.”
After sucking blood, Lionel always put a gold coin in each victim's clothes so that his family could find it when they collected the body. Isn't that a conscientious thing to do?
“You’ve spent five gold coins in the past few days.”
“Haha, Miss Harrington, I actually spent more than five coins. Now, I can’t satisfy my hunger without that living, breathing blood. It’s a good thing for everyone. Their family will be happy to get the gold coins they’ll never get to touch in their entire life, and I’ll be happy to fill my stomach.”
“That would be really nice.”
Judith's hand gripped the broom tightly.
“You’re a vampire, what the heck?”
Lionel tilted his head as he heard Judith muttering.
“Did you just say, vampire? Does Miss Harrington know that word?”
"Yes?"
“It’s the first time I’ve heard that word, but there’s someone else who uses it?”
Are there no vampires in this world? No, but it looks like someone is using it, so was Lionel the only one who didn't know?
Judith paused, not knowing what to say.
“The guy who sold me the medicine said that. He said it was similar to a vampire, but a vampire that could eat garlic.”
Judith was confused because she couldn't tell if Lionel was the only one who didn't know this story or if no one else knew about it either.
“Anyway, I couldn’t just leave Miss Harrington, who had opened up a new world for me, and go down south.”
Fortunately or unfortunately, Judith couldn't be confused for long, because Lionel was starting to taste something again.
“This time, I can see that it’s fine even when I touch it. It seems like you’re not going to do something as ridiculous as last time. Didn’t you say that you had an assistant behind you?”
“Th, what is that...?”
In fact, Lionel hesitated to hunt Judith because he remembered how he had been badly beaten the last time he touched her.
But how could he just leave Judith behind, who had led him down the path of blood?
Above all, Judith was more appetizing than any prey. Lionel couldn't control his urge to keep thinking about her delicious appearance.
Moreover, even if he suffered like last time, Lionel was confident that he would be able to regain his youth through blood-sucking.
Of course, to avoid being fooled like last time, he didn't forget to try poking it with his finger.
Before that, he had to get rid of that blonde hair that was either Erne or Mercy.
What happened to catch Lionel's eye was Judith and Erne riding together on a horse.
“I thought to myself, ‘If I had debt, I would have only bought one horse, and how much would I have saved for that one horse?’”
Judith bit her lip at the very accurate guess.
“Now that all distractions are out of the way, shall we have a nice quiet time, Miss Harrington?”
Judith's mind was in turmoil over Lionel's story. But now was not the time to be distracted.
There are no people in the square, and even less behind the shopping district. This means that even if she shouts, there is no one to help her.
Judith gritted her teeth and brought the broom up to her knees, holding it in her hand as she swept it down. The wooden broomstick split along the grain and the tip became sharp like a spear.
Judith pointed the sharp end towards Lionel.
“Would you like to try dealing with that?”
Lionel snorted.
“Miss Harrington, have you ever stabbed someone? It’s harder than you think. Even though I was desperate when I first started sucking blood, biting someone’s neck was quite... sob.”
He was talkative, and Judith didn’t hesitate. The sharp broomstick scraped past Lionel’s side. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but it was enough to draw blood.
Lionel, whose stomach would have been punctured if he hadn't turned at the last minute, stepped back with a pale face.
“I’ve never stabbed anyone, Baron.”
They all know that the best defense is a preemptive strike.
“I am ready to do anything to survive.”
In her previous life, loan sharks who would come to visit her without warning, people who lent money to her family and never got their money back, would beat Yu-Jin or try to steal her money.
Every time that happened, Judith did whatever it took to survive, and lived prepared to do anything to avoid being taken away.
Judith's hands trembled as she saw the blood flowing from Lionel's side, but her eyes did not waver.
“Tsk, the more blood you drain from me, the more I suck Miss Harrington’s blood.”
Lionel rubbed his side with his hand to stop the bleeding, his bloodshot eyes flashing.
'I got hurt because I let my guard down a little while ago, but I won't get hurt again.'
Judith, who was slowly backing away, looked behind Lionel and shouted.
“Oh, Erne!”
Lionel was momentarily fooled and turned around. Judith took advantage of the opportunity to swing her broomstick at him, then entered the back door of the store and quickly locked it.
“Fuck, open this!”
Would you open it? While Lionel was pulling the back door roughly, Judith opened the front door of the store and escaped.
As she ran to the center of the square to find a place to hide, Lionel, who had been chasing her around the shops, charged at Judith at a frightening speed.
“Why is he so fast?”
Did he really become young again? Judith ran with all the strength she had gained from breastfeeding.
“Ugh.”
But she couldn't defeat Lionel, who had become more energetic. Just as his fingertips were almost touching Judith's hair, she heard a familiar thumping sound, and then Lionel was flying far away and rolling on the ground.
Hee-ing-
Gold, who returned carrying Erne, raised his front paws high as if blowing Lionel away wasn't enough.
“Well done, our Gold.”
As expected, my clever Gold.
Judith sighed in relief as she watched Lionel fall far away and not get up.
It seems that even if he sucks blood and causes trouble, it won't work on a horse.
“What, are you hurt?”
Erne, who had descended from the rampaging gold, saw Judith's blood-stained collar and urgently grabbed her shoulders.
“Did you get bitten? By that guy?”
Judith nodded, then let out a groan. She had been so flustered earlier that she didn't even notice the pain, but as soon as she saw Erne, the pain surged through her.
Is this because I feel reassured?
Judith, whose legs had given out, fell into Erne's arms... but not before.
She was surprised and hurt, but not to that extent.
But for some reason, Lionel, who had flown away, could only wiggle his fingers and not get up.
The police were called after someone reported the incident. Lionel was conscious but unable to stand up.
First, he was taken to his townhouse for treatment, accompanied by a security force, and the injured Judith was taken to a nearby hospital.
“The wound doesn’t need stitches and there isn’t much bleeding, so it’s okay.”
“Are you okay...?”
“The poison has risen.”
Ugh, dirty.
Judith frowned at the doctor's words.
“Your fever might rise a little tonight. Come back again if it doesn’t go down in a day.”
"Yes."
Judith, who had a bandage wrapped around her neck, nodded and then stopped. She seemed to be in pain. It was so pitiful to see her already thin neck wrapped in a bandage.
Erne, who couldn't take the pain for her, clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly. He didn't know something like this would happen while he was away for a moment.
No, he never imagined that pack of dogs was a means to isolate him.
“Erne.”
Before leaving the chamber and climbing onto Gold, Judith grabbed Erne's sleeve.
“Why? Can’t you ride it?”
Since it would be difficult to hold up one's neck, riding might be a bit difficult. Should I carry her? Erne was thinking about it but stopped as she shook her head.
“No, that’s not it. I’m just stopping by the store.”
“At the store? Why there?”
“Why? I left the money I earned today here! What if someone steals it?”
“...Are you worried about that in the midst of all this?”
Judith asked with genuine wonder at Erne's muttering voice as she touched her forehead.
“What else should I be worried about?”
Lionel was also caught.
Lionel thought it was because he was giving up his humanity by drinking other people's blood. But that wasn't the case.
“It’s a new world, Miss Harrington.”
Previously, when he simply absorbed youth through contact, only his appearance became younger. However, when he sucked blood, his vitality, even the energy of his prime, was restored.
It was a new world that he could never return to once he experienced it. Well, there were downsides, like the food he had cooked turned out disgusting and he couldn't control his urges.
But such shortcomings were nothing compared to this fresh youth.
“So you were the one biting people’s necks?”
“Instead of saying bitten, please use the word sucking, elegantly.”
Elegantly? If that's elegant, then what in the world isn't elegant?
Judith glared at Lionel, holding the back of her bleeding neck with one hand.
Lionel couldn't take his eyes off Judith's nape, licking his bloody lips openly.
“Well, I couldn’t help but end up like that.”
On the first day, he drank the blood of slaves. On the tenth day, Lionel, who had regained his youth, rode his horse out of the mansion to enjoy his vitality.
As he was running excitedly, he soon arrived at the area where the lower class lived.
But then he came across a young man with brown hair and brown eyes. His prey was right in front of him.
“I felt hungry just looking at that person. So I couldn’t help it.”
So Lionel hunted them. He lured them with gold coins and sucked their blood. The pleasure he felt was incomparable to the pleasure he felt when he sucked the blood of the slaves that the butler had brought.
“I got addicted to it, you know? But as you know, Miss Harrington, I’m not that bad of a person.”
“You kill people and you say you’re not a bad person?”
“We have provided sufficient compensation to the bereaved family.”
After sucking blood, Lionel always put a gold coin in each victim's clothes so that his family could find it when they collected the body. Isn't that a conscientious thing to do?
“You’ve spent five gold coins in the past few days.”
“Haha, Miss Harrington, I actually spent more than five coins. Now, I can’t satisfy my hunger without that living, breathing blood. It’s a good thing for everyone. Their family will be happy to get the gold coins they’ll never get to touch in their entire life, and I’ll be happy to fill my stomach.”
“That would be really nice.”
Judith's hand gripped the broom tightly.
“You’re a vampire, what the heck?”
Lionel tilted his head as he heard Judith muttering.
“Did you just say, vampire? Does Miss Harrington know that word?”
"Yes?"
“It’s the first time I’ve heard that word, but there’s someone else who uses it?”
Are there no vampires in this world? No, but it looks like someone is using it, so was Lionel the only one who didn't know?
Judith paused, not knowing what to say.
“The guy who sold me the medicine said that. He said it was similar to a vampire, but a vampire that could eat garlic.”
Judith was confused because she couldn't tell if Lionel was the only one who didn't know this story or if no one else knew about it either.
“Anyway, I couldn’t just leave Miss Harrington, who had opened up a new world for me, and go down south.”
Fortunately or unfortunately, Judith couldn't be confused for long, because Lionel was starting to taste something again.
“This time, I can see that it’s fine even when I touch it. It seems like you’re not going to do something as ridiculous as last time. Didn’t you say that you had an assistant behind you?”
“Th, what is that...?”
In fact, Lionel hesitated to hunt Judith because he remembered how he had been badly beaten the last time he touched her.
But how could he just leave Judith behind, who had led him down the path of blood?
Above all, Judith was more appetizing than any prey. Lionel couldn't control his urge to keep thinking about her delicious appearance.
Moreover, even if he suffered like last time, Lionel was confident that he would be able to regain his youth through blood-sucking.
Of course, to avoid being fooled like last time, he didn't forget to try poking it with his finger.
Before that, he had to get rid of that blonde hair that was either Erne or Mercy.
What happened to catch Lionel's eye was Judith and Erne riding together on a horse.
“I thought to myself, ‘If I had debt, I would have only bought one horse, and how much would I have saved for that one horse?’”
Judith bit her lip at the very accurate guess.
“Now that all distractions are out of the way, shall we have a nice quiet time, Miss Harrington?”
Judith's mind was in turmoil over Lionel's story. But now was not the time to be distracted.
There are no people in the square, and even less behind the shopping district. This means that even if she shouts, there is no one to help her.
Judith gritted her teeth and brought the broom up to her knees, holding it in her hand as she swept it down. The wooden broomstick split along the grain and the tip became sharp like a spear.
Judith pointed the sharp end towards Lionel.
“Would you like to try dealing with that?”
Lionel snorted.
“Miss Harrington, have you ever stabbed someone? It’s harder than you think. Even though I was desperate when I first started sucking blood, biting someone’s neck was quite... sob.”
He was talkative, and Judith didn’t hesitate. The sharp broomstick scraped past Lionel’s side. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but it was enough to draw blood.
Lionel, whose stomach would have been punctured if he hadn't turned at the last minute, stepped back with a pale face.
“I’ve never stabbed anyone, Baron.”
They all know that the best defense is a preemptive strike.
“I am ready to do anything to survive.”
In her previous life, loan sharks who would come to visit her without warning, people who lent money to her family and never got their money back, would beat Yu-Jin or try to steal her money.
Every time that happened, Judith did whatever it took to survive, and lived prepared to do anything to avoid being taken away.
Judith's hands trembled as she saw the blood flowing from Lionel's side, but her eyes did not waver.
“Tsk, the more blood you drain from me, the more I suck Miss Harrington’s blood.”
Lionel rubbed his side with his hand to stop the bleeding, his bloodshot eyes flashing.
'I got hurt because I let my guard down a little while ago, but I won't get hurt again.'
Judith, who was slowly backing away, looked behind Lionel and shouted.
“Oh, Erne!”
Lionel was momentarily fooled and turned around. Judith took advantage of the opportunity to swing her broomstick at him, then entered the back door of the store and quickly locked it.
“Fuck, open this!”
Would you open it? While Lionel was pulling the back door roughly, Judith opened the front door of the store and escaped.
As she ran to the center of the square to find a place to hide, Lionel, who had been chasing her around the shops, charged at Judith at a frightening speed.
“Why is he so fast?”
Did he really become young again? Judith ran with all the strength she had gained from breastfeeding.
“Ugh.”
But she couldn't defeat Lionel, who had become more energetic. Just as his fingertips were almost touching Judith's hair, she heard a familiar thumping sound, and then Lionel was flying far away and rolling on the ground.
Hee-ing-
Gold, who returned carrying Erne, raised his front paws high as if blowing Lionel away wasn't enough.
“Well done, our Gold.”
As expected, my clever Gold.
Judith sighed in relief as she watched Lionel fall far away and not get up.
It seems that even if he sucks blood and causes trouble, it won't work on a horse.
“What, are you hurt?”
Erne, who had descended from the rampaging gold, saw Judith's blood-stained collar and urgently grabbed her shoulders.
“Did you get bitten? By that guy?”
Judith nodded, then let out a groan. She had been so flustered earlier that she didn't even notice the pain, but as soon as she saw Erne, the pain surged through her.
Is this because I feel reassured?
Judith, whose legs had given out, fell into Erne's arms... but not before.
She was surprised and hurt, but not to that extent.
But for some reason, Lionel, who had flown away, could only wiggle his fingers and not get up.
***
The police were called after someone reported the incident. Lionel was conscious but unable to stand up.
First, he was taken to his townhouse for treatment, accompanied by a security force, and the injured Judith was taken to a nearby hospital.
“The wound doesn’t need stitches and there isn’t much bleeding, so it’s okay.”
“Are you okay...?”
“The poison has risen.”
Ugh, dirty.
Judith frowned at the doctor's words.
“Your fever might rise a little tonight. Come back again if it doesn’t go down in a day.”
"Yes."
Judith, who had a bandage wrapped around her neck, nodded and then stopped. She seemed to be in pain. It was so pitiful to see her already thin neck wrapped in a bandage.
Erne, who couldn't take the pain for her, clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly. He didn't know something like this would happen while he was away for a moment.
No, he never imagined that pack of dogs was a means to isolate him.
“Erne.”
Before leaving the chamber and climbing onto Gold, Judith grabbed Erne's sleeve.
“Why? Can’t you ride it?”
Since it would be difficult to hold up one's neck, riding might be a bit difficult. Should I carry her? Erne was thinking about it but stopped as she shook her head.
“No, that’s not it. I’m just stopping by the store.”
“At the store? Why there?”
“Why? I left the money I earned today here! What if someone steals it?”
“...Are you worried about that in the midst of all this?”
Judith asked with genuine wonder at Erne's muttering voice as she touched her forehead.
“What else should I be worried about?”
Lionel was also caught.
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