The True Ancestor’s Head and Claire’s Hazy Morning

“How does it feel to live in a suitcase, Miss Knight?”

‘Nonsense! How could it possibly feel good?’

With flushed cheeks and glistening eyes, Sevilya was bound tightly, completely submerged amidst a tangle of tentacles. Her mouth and eyes were sealed shut.

Perhaps it was due to a prolonged absence from sunlight. The moment she sensed light, Sevilya immediately thrashed, her legs struggling against the constricting tentacles, desperately voicing her profound displeasure.

Indeed, a mini-garden girl, coexisting with tentacles—such was Sevilya’s current predicament.

“Wow, you’ve really fattened up these tentacles, Sevilya. You haven’t—you haven’t actually grown to like this feeling, have you?”

Seraphina extended a finger, plucking one of the thick, banyan-like tentacles from the dense mass within the box. She watched as it slowly, like an octopus, crawled onto her digit, coiling around it.

‘Shit! You like it! Your whole family likes it!’

“Eek!?”

Likely influenced by Sevilya’s intense emotions, the symbiotic tentacles instantly became agitated as she struggled in fury. They shot upright with a whoosh, writhing like unleashed flames.

Quickly shaking off the frantic tentacle from her fingertip, Seraphina recalled the unpleasant, constricting sensation of being entangled by tentacles from before. A shiver ran down her spine, raising goosebumps.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Seraphina replied, startled. A sudden urge to lean against Cardo overcame her. “Let’s get straight to the point. What’s this solution you mentioned?”

“Oh, it actually has nothing to do with her.”

With a mischievous grin, Cardo pointed to a small space in the upper left corner of the box, just in front of Sevilya.

The object within remained unseen, completely enveloped by the tentacles, sealed tightly and thoroughly.

“Miss Seraphina… might I ask you to reach your hand inside?”

Hearing Cardo’s sudden shift to formal language, Seraphina’s heart was gripped by a strong sense of foreboding.

“Can I refuse?”

Moreover, with so many tentacles, Seraphina, who harbored a distinct aversion to them, truly did not want to take the risk—nor did she dare.

“You cannot, darling.”

“Hmph!”

Noticing Seraphina’s resistance, Cardo circled behind her. Then…

Half a finger slipped into Seraphina’s spine, provocatively teasing the nerve-rich tissue. It elicited a strange, twitching tingle.

“Even if you refuse… I’ll control your body and force you to take it out~”

‘Try touching my body without permission again, and see what happens…’

Despite her boiling rage, Seraphina found herself utterly helpless against this elusive ‘half-spirit.’

“Fine, fine… I’ll get it, I’ll get it then…”

Puffing her cheeks, Seraphina gritted her teeth, suppressing her inner revulsion. She swiftly plunged her hand into the mass of tentacles.

“What is this thing… It’s round and feels a bit sticky…”

‘Of course it is.’

Cardo lowered her head, a wicked smile playing on her lips.

It would have been truly strange if hair, wrapped day and night in slimy tentacles, wasn’t sticky.

“Alas, Seraphina… if you thought a little longer, perhaps you could guess what’s truly inside~”

“We only brought three items up from the Scarlett Manor basement. One is with me,” Cardo extended her hand, summoning [True Ancestor’s Blood], “one is in front of you…”

“So, the last one remaining… you don’t need to think to know what it is, do you?”

The other one…

Seraphina’s unease intensified.

It couldn’t be…

Driven by her growing apprehension, Seraphina’s mind raced. With a sudden jerk, she pulled her hand out—

“Waaahhhhhh!!!!”

The instant she saw the object in her hand, Seraphina’s hair stood on end. Her body reacted before her mind, and like someone trying to shake off a persistent cockroach, she frantically waved her fingers, flinging the object away.

“Hahahahaha… I’m dying of laughter! I’m dying!”

Seeing Seraphina transformed into a Spinosaurus-like state, Cardo doubled over with laughter.

“Hahahahaha… I truly never imagined someone in this world would be scared twice by the exact same thing, hahahahahaha…”

“Cardo! I swear to god!”

Having lost two of her three souls and six of her seven spirits, Seraphina, though cursing Cardo, was still so utterly terrified that she instinctively stumbled towards Cardo, clinging to her arm. Distraught, she stared absently at the white object that had rolled to the ground in the distance—

It was the True Ancestor’s head.

“Didn’t—didn’t you have a grudge against this thing?” Seraphina was still visibly shaken. “Why did you bring it all this way?”

“I think you’re the one with a grudge against her. It’s clearly a deep, unrequited love! A deep, unrequited love!”

“Oh, unrequited love might be a stretch, but…”

Gently picking up the True Ancestor’s head, Cardo smoothed its hair, which had become messy from the crawling tentacles.

“Ever since I met the Life Goddess, I haven’t been so harsh on her… She wasn’t the true instigator, after all, just a poor soul working for the Life Goddess.”

“As for why I brought her along…”

Cardo turned, dropping the True Ancestor’s head in front of Seraphina, then tilted her head and smiled.

“Please use your magical Balala energy to resurrect her~”

“Damn you, I think you’ve gone mad…”

Staring directly at the True Ancestor’s head, Seraphina quickly took a step back, widening the distance.

“Cardo, you’d better, you’d better give me a reasonable explanation…”

Despite her complaints, Seraphina, her body betraying her protests, still gathered her magic, directing the light of resurrection towards the True Ancestor—

[Divine Resurrection]

****

…What happened?

The next morning.

Claire propped herself up with difficulty, clutching her throbbing forehead, and surveyed the chaotic state of her bed.

“Seraphina… did she leave? Really, I hadn’t had enough fun yet…”

‘But why can’t I remember much about last night?’

‘I only recall… it seems I didn’t spend the night in revelry with Seraphina as usual. Instead, I fought a vampire who trespassed. I must have won, right? Yes, I definitely won.’

‘But it also seems… if I remember correctly, that vampire might have had some connection to Seraphina…’

‘Ugh, my head aches so much…’

The more Claire tried to recall last night, the more her head throbbed.

This was hardly surprising. After all, in that lost segment of her memory, Seraphina had forcibly subjected her to three doses of the highest-intensity [Purification].

It was worth noting that Iqiyah had only received one dose and had been bedridden, unconscious for an entire day and night.

Yet Claire, after enduring three doses, had recovered consciousness in just one night—truly a Krieg Superman.

Amidst her dizziness, Claire couldn’t piece together the fragments of last night’s memory. She could only follow these clues, leading her to the one person… whom all signs pointed to—Seraphina.

Seraphina… Level One, [Divine]-tier support, black-haired vampire, mysterious figure… and connected to the Scarlett family.

‘Seraphina, just who exactly are you?’

Slurp.

Licking her lips, Claire lowered her head, fantasizing about Seraphina’s slender figure in her mind.

Indeed, while Seraphina was shrouded in a multitude of mysteries, in the eyes of this adventure-loving Third Miss Krieg… these were merely additional attributes enhancing her charm.

‘Seraphina, my little bat…’

‘One day, I will unravel all the mysteries surrounding you, and understand you completely!’

‘At that time… both your body and every aspect of your spirit… will be mine for the taking!’