#Episode 26
“You’re cute when you keep your mouth shut. You’re so small… But seriously, is this really going to get that big?”
Vasha imagined an adult Todd, large enough to have his limbs hanging off the bed, compared to the small Todd who now occupied just a corner of it. It was almost like dough rising.
“He already bosses me around now. How much more will he nag when he’s as big as a door?”
Just thinking about it made Vasha feel suffocated. She shivered slightly.
“I need to quickly solve the quest or whatever that the letter gave me, regain my memory, and then let him be independent. Just because he’s a familiar doesn’t mean we have to stick together all the time. He was supposed to grow well on his own anyway…”
Vasha sighed. Honestly, baby Todd was cute, but adult Todd was quite scary. She mumbled excuses to herself as if trying to convince herself.
“It’s not good for nemeses to stay together for too long anyway. Maybe it’s a struggle for him to be with me too.”
“…No.”
Suddenly, Todd spoke up.
Surprised that Todd, who she thought was asleep, answered, Vasha jumped up from the bed. She hurriedly made an excuse.
“No, it’s not that I’m going to abandon you or anything…”
“…Don’t leave me alone. I can’t handle it by myself. I…”
Todd’s voice, thin like a thread soaked in water, was deeply distressed. His face was twisted as if he were reliving the nightmare of when the Van Drake were exterminated.
“So it was sleep-talking.”
Seeing that Todd was indeed asleep, Vasha sighed in relief. As she turned to go back to her bed, she unconsciously looked back at Todd once more.
Todd, curled up tightly like an injured, abandoned young animal trying to hide, was suppressing even his groans.
Seeing this, Vasha felt a prickling sensation in her chest.
After staring at Todd for a long time, Vasha let out a deep sigh.
“He’s still so young…”
His hands and feet were thin and frail, not properly grown at all. Vasha had tried to feed him properly, but it seemed it wasn’t enough.
Vasha sat down carefully at the edge of Todd’s bed.
She gently patted Todd’s back.
A lullaby, long forgotten in a corner of Vasha’s memory, slipped out from her lips.
“Lullaby, lullaby, my baby. Don’t lie under the moonlight.”
Vasha tried to remember when and in what circumstances she had heard this lullaby. But she couldn’t recall.
Only the faint tune that someone once sang to her floated on the surface of her memory.
Old Vasha remembered nothing, while young Todd remembered too much and suffered for it.
Vasha thought the gap between them was ironic.
‘When I regain my memories, will I also be tormented by knowing too much?’
Despite these deepening thoughts, her hands and the lullaby moved slowly.
“A vampire will come and bite your neck…”
In the silence, the low, quiet song continued.
As the lullaby went on, Todd’s sleep-talking decreased and his rough breathing became more even.
By the time Vasha finished the lullaby, Todd had escaped from his nightmare and looked peaceful.
The tension in his curled-up body had eased, and his tightly knit face was now relaxed and unguarded.
In the small, moonlit room, Vasha gently stroked Todd’s hollow cheekbones and murmured softly.
“Well… It’s better to have at least one companion, even if it’s a nemesis, than to be alone until he grows up. Yeah… I’ll take good care of him. After all, he’s my familiar.”
My familiar. It sounded pretty good.
Vasha’s mouth curved into a small smile as she repeated the words to herself.
Chapter 3: The City of Pleasure, Noctiluca
It was only after Todd’s breathing became peaceful that Vasha returned to her own bed. However, as a vampire, Vasha couldn’t sleep anywhere other than a coffin. She tossed and turned, thinking about the future.
As she turned, she felt something crinkle in her chest pocket. It was the letter she had forgotten about.
The letter slipped out of her shirt, shaking angrily.
[Warning: Please treat the letter with care.]
“Sorry, I forgot it was there.”
Feeling a bit guilty as she looked at the crumpled parchment, Vasha muttered an apology.
“I’ll be careful from now on, damn letter…”
The letter, as if it couldn’t believe Vasha’s words, remained silent for a moment before displaying a new message.
[I have a name too.]
“Well, you never told me your name, you cursed lucky letter.”
Vasha pouted and grumbled. The letter, seemingly exasperated, folded and unfolded itself before showing clear text.
[Tabula Rasa.]
[You can call me Rasa.]
“Alright, Rasa. Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, it feels like we’re quite close… Can I ask you something… Oh.”
The letter, introducing itself as Rasa, turned back into a plain piece of parchment, showing no interest in chatting with Vasha.
“I had so many questions… What a shame.”
Vasha had failed to extract any information from Rasa about who sent it and why they were directed to find a hideout in Noctiluca.
But knowing there would be other opportunities, Vasha decided to try again later.
‘There must be a reason for choosing Noctiluca as the hideout… It can’t just be because Todd used it as a base in the future.’
However, Vasha couldn’t figure out the reason. She sighed.
‘I need information.’
But useful information wasn’t going to appear out of nowhere. It required legwork and asking around.
Since she couldn’t sleep anyway, Vasha decided to start gathering information and make some money at the same time.
The money Joseph left behind wouldn’t last long, considering the cost of lodging and Todd’s food.
Heading out into the night, Vasha listened carefully to the conversations around her.
“Do you know what information I got this time?”
“Stop bragging and tell me.”
“I heard in secret that Laurus’ unpublished painting will be up for auction on the eve of the Lantern Festival.”
“Laurus? Hasn’t he been retired for a while? His paintings could buy a mansion… If that’s true, a lot of big spenders will show up.”
“They’re already being very secretive about it… You wouldn’t believe how much I had to lose just to hear this.”
“Well, it doesn’t concern us anyway, since it’s an auction.”
“Why doesn’t it concern us? Do you know how they select auction attendees?”
“How?”
“Through gambling!”
The conversation between what seemed like gamblers continued with trivial chatter. Vasha quietly sidled up to them.
“Wow, Laurus’ painting isn’t the bet itself, but the right to buy the painting as the bet… That’s just incredible.”
Whoosh.
“Maybe we could win that right and sell it.”
Whoosh.
“You’re a genius! Alright, let’s check out the gambling scene when it happens. Who knows? We might hit the jackpot.”
Whoosh.
‘Oh, this pouch is quite heavy.’
Vasha felt delighted by the weight of the pouch she skillfully picked from the passerby.
With her hood pulled tight, Vasha moved swiftly through the crowd, picking pockets before returning just before dawn.
The next day, Todd was startled when he heard that Vasha had gone out alone at dawn.
“You went out alone at dawn? That’s dangerous!”
“Hey, I’m a fully grown vampire, not some kid… Walking around alone at dawn is fine.”
“Did you wear your hood properly?”
“Of course.”
Vasha looked at Todd, who treated her like a child, with a mix of amusement and annoyance.
