An Unexpected Midnight Visitor

“It’s out?”

The True Ancestor merely raised an eyebrow, not a hint of panic on her face.

“What’s the worry, little one? You probably don’t know, but these [Fragments] constantly throw errors throughout the year, sometimes three or four times a day. But… hehe~ as long as it still runs, there’s no need to fuss.”

“Bullshit! It’s stopped running, what’s there to run?!”

“Oof!”

Before the True Ancestor could finish, Cardo swung an iron fist, striking her head with a resounding thud.

“Wuwuwu…” Twisting her neck, the True Ancestor seemed to want to cradle her injured head. Unfortunately, she possessed neither a torso nor limbs. “Speak properly, why resort to hitting? That really hurts.”

Hearing this, Cardo let out a chuckle.

“Hurts? Good! If it hurts, then hurry up and fix this for me! Otherwise, I’ll make sure you keep hurting!”

“By the Goddess, the Geneva Conventions would shake their heads at your treatment of prisoners…”

“Hmm?!” She raised her fist.

“Wait! Wait! At least tell me what’s ‘out’!”

“Seraphina Scarlett.” Cardo lowered her fist and turned to Seraphina Scarlett. “You tell her.”

“Alright.”

Extending her hand, Seraphina Scarlett unleashed the [Blood of the True Ancestor].

“When I was using it on Claire…”

Seraphina Scarlett recounted the events of the morning, naturally omitting many unnecessary details.

“Hiss… wait, wait.” When Seraphina Scarlett mentioned the repeated personality swaps, the True Ancestor quickly interrupted her. “Tell me in detail, how many times did you actually swap them?”

“Hmm… at least three or four… maybe five or six times?”

Seraphina Scarlett scratched her head, her face flushing with embarrassment, though inwardly she couldn’t help but complain, ‘Who could possibly remember such details!?’

“Three or four times? Five or six times?” Even this seemingly small number was enough to rouse the True Ancestor’s suspicion. “Then let me ask you, did you activate it in quick succession?”

“?” “Yes, why?”

“Hiss…” The True Ancestor drew in a sharp breath, her expression becoming subtly complex. “But according to the custom hotkeys I added, by your third consecutive activation, it should have…”

****

Just as the True Ancestor was about to reveal the details of her custom hotkeys—

Knock, knock, knock.

A faint, calm, yet incredibly rhythmic knocking echoed behind the three (excluding Sevilya).

In unison, all three clamped their mouths shut, holding their breath as they slowly turned their heads towards the door that shouldn’t have made a sound.

Knock, knock, knock.

The knocking sounded again.

This person seemed remarkably patient. Though no one responded, the force, rhythm, and even the timbre of the knocking were identical to the previous set.

‘Wait, the timbre is exactly the same!?’

Realizing this crucial detail almost simultaneously, the three vampires present widened their eyes, exchanging bewildered glances.

As vampires, their hearing was incredibly keen; even without magic, they could discern the most minute differences in sounds.

Therefore, the vampires knew that to produce the exact same timbre when knocking, one had to precisely control the finger’s point of impact, force, and even angle, without the slightest deviation from the previous knock.

The difficulty of such an act was almost comparable to casting an [Epic]-tier spell.

Within this manor, only two individuals were known to be capable of such a feat.

One of them was…

“Mr. Gus?”

Although they knew Gus had already left Krieg Manor, the possibility of his sudden return couldn’t be ruled out.

“……”

Yet, whether by luck or misfortune, there was no response from outside the door.

As for why it was ‘whether by luck or misfortune’…

Besides Gus, the second person in the manor capable of such an act was—

“Miss Claire?”

“Mm.”

The moment Claire responded, the entire room erupted into chaos.

“Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! How did she get here?!”

“Stop, stop with the nonsense! Hide the stuff first! Don’t let Claire find it!”

“Hey! Who are you calling ‘stuff’, huh?!”

“?? Seraphina Scarlett?”

Knock, knock, knock.

Hearing the excessively loud shouting from inside, Claire knocked again from outside the door.

“Um… are you in some trouble?”

“No! Not at all!”

Seraphina Scarlett was currently stuffing the struggling True Ancestor back into her box.

“Um… do you need my help?”

“No! No need!”

Seraphina Scarlett was fighting off the True Ancestor’s entangling tentacles.

“But I heard inside…”

“I’ll be right there! Just let me get dressed!”

Seraphina Scarlett tore away the tentacles that had inexplicably gone berserk, then toppled the box, using her full body weight to pin it down before swiftly locking it.

“Coming, coming!”

Taking two steps at a time, Seraphina Scarlett sprinted with unprecedented speed, practically teleporting to open the door.

“Hello, Miss Claire.”

“Don’t be so formal…” Claire lowered her head, seemingly startled by Seraphina Scarlett’s disheveled appearance. “Just call me Claire…”

“Really?”

“Of course, there’s no one else here anyway.”

“Alright, you said it, so I won’t hold back!”

“?”

“Ugh!?”

With all her might, Seraphina Scarlett pulled Claire into a hug, forcing her head against her chest, then… she roughly pinched Claire’s delicate cheek.

“What are you doing running around the staff dorms in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?! Weren’t you afraid of running into some reckless wolf attack on the way?!”

“It’s fine, they probably can’t beat me, um…”

“They can’t beat a ghost! What if they suddenly mutated?!”

“Wuwu… I didn’t, I didn’t…”

Incoherent, Claire looked at Seraphina Scarlett with tear-filled, pleading eyes.

“Um… I’m scared sleeping alone…”

‘You’re a grown woman, taller than me, what are you scared of?!’

“Uwawa, Ser-Seraphina Scarlett, stop pulling…”

After finally escaping Seraphina Scarlett’s ‘poisonous’ grip, Claire frowned, her face earnest. “I really want to sleep with Seraphina Scarlett…”

Seraphina Scarlett gazed at Claire, whose face was glistening. She noticed a blush rising on Claire’s cheeks for some unknown reason, and a wave of tenderness welled up in Seraphina Scarlett’s heart.

‘Ugh… it’s past midnight. Even though this girl possesses immense strength and Krieg Manor’s security is top-notch, letting a young lady walk alone at night still feels a bit wrong.’

‘Sigh, fine, I’ll indulge her just this once more.’

Seraphina Scarlett tilted her head slightly, quickly glancing inside the window to ensure no secrets would be revealed, then subtly shifted her feet.

“Come on.”

“Yay!”

Like a child’s face, Claire’s expression instantly brightened from cloudy to clear.

“But you have to promise me you won’t run around alone late at night anymore! It’s very dangerous!”

“Mm!”

Instead of going straight in, Claire, like a koala, hugged Seraphina Scarlett’s arm and began to sway, a look of pure enjoyment on her face.

“Ugh…”

Looking at the blonde beside her, Seraphina Scarlett instantly felt a pang of regret.

‘Sigh… Seraphina Scarlett, just spoil her! You’ll know your mistake when you have to deal with this trouble again!’