Chapter 9: Blood Banquet

[Yuria’s Favorability: 43]

[Favorability Stage: 2 (An incident will occur soon.)]

[Status: Nervousness, Possessiveness, Restraint, Pain, Anxiety.]

-[Since the favorability stage has reached the end of stage 2, the status window is revealed.]

Yuria

Race: Elder Vampire (SS)

[Receives the Last Survivor Bonus.]

[Receives the Leader status increase bonus.]

Strength: Low-Lower (Maximum – Mid-Upper)

Stamina: Low-Lower (Maximum – High-Upper)

Speed: Mid-Lower (Maximum – Highest)

Mana: Mid-Upper (Maximum – Highest)

Talent: ???

Potential: Highest

Unique Trait: Innate Talent (EX), Magic Formula Creation (A+)

Unique Skill: Blood Magic (S)

Ultimate Skill: X

I stared blankly at Yuria, who was sitting on the bed.

At 170cm, she was quite tall for a woman.

Proportion was important for such a body, and Yuria had no flaws to point out, from top to bottom. In short, a perfect body without any shortcomings.

Even if she did hard labor outside, her skin showed no signs of changing from its whiteness.

The only moles she had were between her cleavage and around her Adam’s apple.

“You’re beautiful today too, Yuria.”

“…Thank you, if you’re satisfied, Master.”

Yuria, who slightly avoided my gaze, answered while raising her hand to her arm. Lately, she had been seeing me less and less, and now she was even avoiding eye contact.

Just a month ago, we at least made eye contact and talked comfortably.

It’s not that she particularly dislikes me.

In fact, her favorability was increasing.

“…Ugh.”

I reached out to Yuria.

She accepted my touch without refusing.

I touched her soft shoulder, following the elegantly connected jawline.

The space between her collarbones was warm and soft.

In addition, the combination of her soft skin and her unique feminine scent made it difficult for me to maintain my rationality and not want to hold her in my arms.

And beyond her shoulder, I saw the breasts whose size I had confirmed last time.

‘I thought they were F-cups when I looked at them, but when I took a closer look, it turned out she was hiding G-cups with a compression bandage… I’m sure.’

As if conscious of my gaze, she slightly raised her collar, which stimulated me even more.

She probably did it to cover up.

But Yuria had no way of knowing that covering up just a little like this was more arousing.

I took my hand off Yuria’s shoulder and reached for her hair again. It was clean like the night sky and smelled fragrant when I brought my nose close. It was thanks to the shampoo made at the Magic Tower that Harzen had prepared.

‘The butler, was it? He must be getting a high salary, but I should give him a present.’

Judging from the fact that he had several sets of maid outfits tailor-made, he seemed to see Yuria as his own daughter. Harzen was single according to the settings, so he might be feeling lonely.

“Well, let’s get up now.”

“Yes, Master… phew, I’ll help you.”

I got out of bed. She carefully dressed me in noble attire, one stitch at a time, as she had learned. Thanks to her one-on-one lessons with Harzen, Yuria could show more aristocratic speech and behavior than I could, and conversely, she was also perfect at serving and treating me.

Today was the day to go for a night walk with the butler and Yuria.

It was a special measure ordered by Rachel, who was worried that I was staying at home and only touching magic formulas without going out of the mansion.

‘Well, it’s good for me to get some night air.’

Now that I was fully dressed, Yuria stepped away from me.

Looking in the mirror, I saw that I was dressed neatly and sharply.

The old butler, who was looking at me with a satisfied look, stroked his white mustache and opened the door.

“Hmm…”

The cold wind cooled my head. It was a good wind. In a space where I could breathe deeply, I could forget the present reality for a moment. If I kept enjoying this freshness, maybe my incurable disease would be cured like a momentary dream. But it was a vain hope.

In front of me was a garden of indescribable beauty.

Among them were many flowers that were difficult to care for. I heard that Yuria had personally taught the maids how to care for each of them. Among them, Yuria picked a flower bud with blue petals and held it out to me.

“It is said that if you boil this and drink it, it will help with fatigue and restore your energy.”

“Really? Let me see it here.”

I naturally took the stem under the flower bud and smelled the fragrance. I felt my breathing calm down even more.

I opened my eyes wide and made a nasal sound.

“I like it, what did you say the flower language was?”

“It doesn’t have one.”

“Hmm? It hasn’t been given one?”

“No. It wasn’t given one on purpose. This flower can only be seen at night and closes its buds quickly, so it’s not very well known to humans.

If it’s famous, it’s a vampire… a bloodsucker’s flower. It was planted here before I came, but this is the only thing humans call a way to suppress vampires, a refuge other than ‘blood’.

And back to the point, this flower is called ‘human’ among vampires.”

“An interesting flower language.”

“The meaning is that human life is short, but it is difficult to raise, and as it is newly born, it is the ugliness that ruins the surrounding crops. It is a flower language that encompasses those things.”

The butler, who had been watching quietly, couldn’t hide his interest and chuckled.

“Miss Yuria has great knowledge. Even I didn’t know what the language of this flower was. It’s the first time I’ve learned about it today, even though I’ve been working in this mansion for 30 years.”

“Thank you. Butler Harzen.”

“But where did you see the flower language that even I didn’t know? I remember that it wasn’t even in books…”

“When I was a child, my mother used to sing me a song like a fairy tale when she put me to bed. I don’t remember it well because it was so long ago, but it was clearly,

If you don’t close your eyes quickly, the ‘roots’ of Raikini will eat all the red roses.

Here, Raikini is the name of this flower, and it means human. And the red roses are vampires. It must have been a song my mother, who lived in the countryside, heard.”

“Haha, that’s interesting.”

There wasn’t much time left before the protagonist’s story began.

‘Imperial Year 891, January 1st.’

As such, the Britina family’s mansion had been busy lately.

The Count and the first son, Dylan, return to the mansion with the new year.

A banquet is held to celebrate their return.

Many managers and vassals, as well as various nobles who wanted to form connections, expressed their intention to participate in the banquet. In addition, nouveau riche commoners who were incredibly wealthy or had a great influence in various societies were also invited to the banquet.

‘It’s a pretty big banquet.’

There will be talk about the goods of various merchants, the level that Dylan has reached, and the successor, and it is a place where many important events gather and the story begins.

The attempted assassination of the head of the family, Britina Karman.

Since a large number of people are assassinated there, I have also been turning my attention to things other than magic formulas these days.

The magic formulas I practiced every day took only a few tens of minutes, and complex and difficult magic formulas were not very helpful to me at the moment.

What I need now is a way to protect myself with the knowledge of the original work.

And the most important thing is to protect Yuria.

And to protect Rachel, who will be targeted for assassination.

And to let other managers and vassals know that I have changed… and to improve my reputation with some of my magic formulas and knowledge.

There are not many occasions where a mage from the Magic Tower or a famous mage will come to the Count’s estate.

So it was an event that I absolutely couldn’t miss.

But.

As if it were a lie, a big incident happened even before that day’s event.

“Bl, blood….”

The beginning was when Angelina, the daughter of the Rupert Knights’ Commander, who had temporarily become my personal maid, started bleeding.

As the daughter of a baron with some money, she couldn’t easily learn or become proficient in various tasks like Yuria, and it was inevitable that she wouldn’t be able to do anything well from the beginning.

In the end, she cut her hand badly, and blood dripped, dripped, dripped.

To make matters worse, Yuria was the one teaching her.

Ian was cooped up in his room, preparing for the upcoming events of the original work, and didn’t even realize that it had been 31 days since the last time he had given blood.

“Ugh… ugh.”

The girl in front of her cried and tried to stop the bleeding, as if she had turned on a faucet.

She asked the maid in front of her to bring a potion quickly.

But.

That voice did not reach Yuria.

The still glass began to crack as an unacceptable liquid entered it.

She instinctively rummaged through her bosom, looking for something, but unfortunately, she was wearing a new maid outfit prepared by Harzen, so she couldn’t find the handkerchief stained with Ian’s blood.

Her hands and feet trembled.

She felt as if the entire atmosphere of the world was piercing her skin like a needle.

All sounds were blocked out, and only the blood in front of her and its sweet scent tempted her.

“Haa… haa…”

She slowly moved. She was staggering, unlike her usual gait.

Her room was already full of blue flowers to suppress her blood-sucking impulses. It was because of this that she taught the maids to grow those flowers well first.

But now, even suppressing her instincts with flowers was impossible.

Unlike other vampires, Elder Vampires, who are said to be inherited by one in a million and are born only when luck is on their side, have a particularly strong blood-sucking impulse.

Yuria’s body was not a case where the blood-sucking impulse was severe.

But according to the characteristics of the race, if they do not suck blood for 10 days, they enter a state of frenzy, and according to the knights, if an Elder Vampire who has already killed more than 30 people enters a state of frenzy through blood magic, which is excellent from birth, they will gain the power to easily destroy a knightly order. That’s why Elder Vampires are feared.

On the other hand, Yuria, who endured it with superhuman willpower for 30 days, was able to do this thanks to her talent as the final boss.

From the beginning, it was also Ian’s fault for leaving it alone when he only tasted the ecstasy for a moment when he didn’t know the taste of blood properly.

Three beats made by combining these bad luck.

Yuria, who was in so much pain that she wanted to tear out her own heart, staggered with her hand on her chest, and when she touched the wallpaper with her hand, her sharp nails left a mark.

Her head gradually turned red, and her eyes were already glowing red.

The rest was obvious.

Torn wallpaper.

Yuria breathing heavily.

And the blood dripping in front of her eyes.

The woman had no choice but to scream.