2 – I’m serious when I say you’re the only one
“It hasn’t changed.”
The wound still throbbed, but in the mirror I looked the same as yesterday.
Are you saying that simply getting bitten and bleeding fast won’t change anything?
But the wound on his arm was unsightly.
I wrapped her bandages properly on her two deep holes, covered them well with the sleeves of her clothes, and moved her body into the room where she was.
“…Ah, Niel.”
Sitting alone in a windowless room, with her red eyes shining, it seemed hard to see her as a human anymore.
It must be because of my mood that yesterday’s wounds are hurting.
“Are your arms okay? Doesn’t it hurt?”
Her sharp fingernails and her touch were enough to bring back memories of yesterday.
And the horrors of yesterday.
I frowned because it wasn’t such a pleasant experience, but I was able to suppress the fear that subconsciously built up at the sight of her shedding tears as she caressed my arm.
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. I won’t hurt you again. So…”
As she lowered her head, she stared blankly at her front door for a moment.
“Don’t even talk about leaving.”
I had no intention of letting go. If I had thought of sending her out in the first place, I would have kicked her out of the place where she met her.
“But – “
“It’s already decided.”
If I leave now, she will surely die.
She will die sucking the blood of an innocent and living a life of fugitive, branded as the prey of the church.
With my blood, at least she wouldn’t have to live by hurting anyone.
The question is the amount of blood she needs.
“Helena, are you hungry right now?”
It was noon with the sun rising outside, a time when most people would be eating lunch or thinking about a late breakfast. I was thinking of reboiling her tomato soup that was left over from yesterday’s boiling, and originally, I would have served her with her rye bread once baked.
“…”
I couldn’t help but sigh as she silently nodded and caressed my scars.
“Is the fatigue I drank yesterday not enough?”
“…Wasn’t enough. But I can’t see you sick.”
Clasping her hands inside her, she sobbed, shaking her own hair and howling.
“I should have listened to you in the first place. It would have been enough if I had only accepted safe requests and lived a leisurely life like you, but I ruined everything. I ruined everything!”
Her body trembled, then she sat down in her seat. Her tears shed. I hugged her and stroked her back. Whispered to her
“Shh, shh… It’s okay, Elena. No one would have expected you to end up like this.”
“No, no. I should have been told you might get hurt. I didn’t mean to do this in the first place!”
It must be a pleasure to have someone you love acknowledge that you were right.
However, she was reprimanding herself severely to the extent that it was rather worrying because it was so severe.
“Look at me, look at how I turned into a cursed vampire because I didn’t listen to you… If only I’d known it would turn out like this… By your side…”
Her burst into tears once again. I hugged her tighter and tried my best to calm her down completely.
I brushed her hair, wiped away the tears with my rough thumb, and held mine to her forehead, giving her all the comforts I could.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. It could just be bad luck. So it’s okay, Elena. It’s okay.”
Yes,
Maybe it was just her bad luck.
***
“…It’s tomato soup.”
With all the curtains in her house closed, she was sitting with her in the kitchen, preparing her simple meal.
After tossing pieces of cold, hard bread into her bowl, where chicken pieces and potatoes float, I took a spoonful of broth and handed it to her, waiting for her to soften.
“How about this? It was your favorite food.”
“…Yeah, I’ve always liked your food.”
But now she didn’t even pay attention to the spoon I handed her.
No, it might be more accurate to say that I couldn’t.
She looked at my hand with her trembling eyes, then turned her head away.
“I’m sorry… Now… Now…”
It is a nuisance among nuisances to keep offering food to people who can’t eat it.
Recalling the displeasure of her childhood, I quickly shoved her spoon into her bowl and calmed her down.
“Okay. I won’t ask you to eat any more. Instead, just wait a little bit. After you eat this, I’ll give you blood right away.”
“I can bear it… I will bear it. I hate to see you sick.”
Shaking her head vigorously, I stroked her hair once as she looked at me with her teary eyes, then smiled.
“That’s a coincidence. I don’t like to see you sick either. Probably much more than you.”
“That… That…”
Her eyes shook violently once, and her body flinched once.
“You didn’t mean to cry, so relax. I said what happened already happened, remember?”
I lifted her bandaged arm and stroked her hair, and she barely nodded her head, wiping away her tears.
“Yeah… T-Thanks, Niel. Really…”
Her friendly atmosphere reminded her of the harmonious days when she was a human being.
The days when the two of us, beginner adventurers, shared the meat we bought with the money we earned and laughed.
The only difference was that she could no longer live in the light.
…Maybe the sun had completely risen above the sky, and a ray of sunlight broke through the curtains without warning.
At the same time, in an instant, a red thread was drawn across her face.
It happened in the blink of an eye that her eyes and skin were tanned.
“Kyaaa!!!”
She hurriedly grabbed her face with both her hands and collapsed, rolling on her floor.
“El, Elena!!”
It happened so quickly that I jumped up and couldn’t stop the bowl of soup from falling to the floor as the spoon stumbled.
But that wasn’t the point.
She was hurt by the sunlight. In the warm sunlight, in that single ray of bright light that she and I happily embraced.
“Helena, hang on, damn…!”
The curtains were too thin. If it’s a problem, that’s probably the problem.
The bitter winter wind must have blown through the window frame and moved the curtains.
“Ahaaagh! Ahaaa! It hurts, it hurts!”
She hurriedly picked her up, slammed her closed door, and put her back into her windowless room.
“Look at me. Elena, show me your face.”
“It hurts, it hurts… It hurts!!!”
The sight of her grabbing her one eye and shaking her body was terrifying.
She put her face behind, which she did not want to show, and turned to the other burned areas.
She had simply been hit by a ray of sunlight, and her wounds were terribly swollen, as if they had been burned.
To the point where even the ooze is flowing.
“Damn it…”
What should I do in this situation? Do you apply medicine? Close the wound and wait for it to heal naturally?
But the fact that she was a vampire flashed through her head.
…What if blood was given?
“Helena, Elena, look over here. Look at me.”
“Ahhhhh…”
Fortunately, she responded and turned her head towards me.
“You’ll be fine if you drink blood… Maybe.”
“No, no…! I’ll never see you sick again. No…!”
Shaking her head, even her pupils seemed to be shaking violently, she started pushing me with one hand as if she was trying to get away from me.
“You’d better kill me, I can’t live like this… Not like this… No…”
…It wasn’t easy to believe that he had been hurt so badly by a single ray of sunlight.
She must be the same to her.
But what happened now was an obvious fact, and the two of us took it differently.
She seemed to be taking this as her death sentence handed down upon her.
I’m no longer human, I don’t deserve to live a normal life, and it’s hard to live happily by my side anymore.
So, it seemed like he wanted to give up.
But I couldn’t leave her like that.
She was someone I loved, not just… But.
She had no intention of letting go just because she became a cursed vampire.
So –
“Helena, you look very sick.”
… She couldn’t give up her injured arm anymore, because if you re-inflamed her wounds, she would hurt even more.
So I have no choice but to give you my other arm.
She took out a dagger from her bosom and cut her arm very lightly.
A single drop of blood was barely enough.
It was enough to make me smell the blood and turn my head.
“No, no, no, don’t do this, please, please, Niel. Please… Stop it, don’t let me drink your blood anymore…”
“You’re hurt, and if my blood can fix it, so be it.”
“Please… Please… Don’t let me realize that I’m no longer human, please…”
Human… Yes, human.
But is being non-human such a big problem?
Even at this moment, while glancing at me,
As she shivered in the terrible burning pain of her tanned skin,
I can see the person I love by clinging to the bed desperately trying not to hurt me any further.
“Elena, do you still love me?”
Upon receiving my question, she immediately stopped trembling on the spot.
At the unexpected action, I also froze for a moment.
Knock.
And she swallowed her saliva once, and she spoke to me in a muffled voice, word by word, word by word,
With sobs, I let her words float over her tears.
“…After I became a vampire… You said you were the only one, remember?”
“It was just yesterday, don’t you remember it?”
“I, so… After changing, I was really embarrassed. What should I do, I turned into a monster.
So I have to seek help, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go to church. Absolutely not. What do you believe
And I couldn’t even reach my parents. You are too far away… You are faithful. If they saw me change, they might have tried to kill me right away.”
“But they are parents-“
“He would have tried to kill me. Saying that a monster is not my daughter.”
Shaking her head once, she looked straight at me with her red eyes.
“So, all I could think of was that I had to go to you. My unfounded belief that if it were you, if it were you, you would accept me.”
Cuck, saliva trickled down her throat once more.
“I heard it. So I went, but you really accepted me casually. It was just three days ago that I went out to get a request after arguing with you.
I wondered if you would accept me even though I went to look at you.
From noble mtl dot com
Rather, even if you laughed at me for looking good, I wouldn’t have anything to say.
By the way,
You accepted me casually. Even though I became a cursed vampire and a monster who sucked human blood until it dried up,
You gave me blood instead.”
With a thud, thump, she pounded her chest and coughed out her throat, gradually filling her voice with tears.
“Your blood… Was so delicious, so sweet. More than the honey water you gave me, more than the food you made me.”
I’m such a shameless person, but I didn’t listen to you and eventually became a monster.
You casually,
I’m sorry,
I’m sorry… Oh, Niel, Niel! It’s my fault…!”
Really, how nice it would have been if you realized that earlier.
But what happened happened, and what had to be resolved had to be addressed.
I gently put my arm over her mouth.
“Ugh…”
Shaking her head and refusing until the end, I had no choice but to give her a small kiss on the cheek.
She had no choice but to bite my arm.
Be kinder and gentler than yesterday.
Slowly swallowing the blood, she wept incessantly.
… Fortunately, her wounds were clearing up as she drank her blood.
As if it wasn’t there in the first place.