#Episode 41
Vasha unknowingly walked forward and stood before it.
In the painting, under the pouring sunlight on a field, there stood a woman holding a black parasol, gazing beyond the canvas. She resembled Vasha.
Her facial features were mysterious, and her eyes were red. Although her color scheme was different from Vasha’s, her purple hair gave off a similar impression.
Since she was wearing a black dress similar to Vasha’s current attire, she looked almost like a sister.
The person in the painting was likely Lucy van Vassenar.
Looking at Lucy’s portrait, she completely understood why Albert never once thought that the Count wouldn’t take a liking to Vasha.
‘Albert must have seen this painting.’
If not, how could he have prepared a dress so similar to the one worn by the woman in the portrait?
‘Did he mistake Lucy for the Count’s old lover or something like that?’
He must have found someone in the hopes that, if they resembled Lucy, they might be able to draw out the Count, who had locked himself in a room.
But Lucy was the most noble among beautiful vampires, a Menorah, and it was almost impossible to find someone who resembled her.
But, as luck would have it, Vasha, who bore a striking resemblance to Lucy, appeared.
This couldn’t have been a coincidence.
‘Considering how similar we are, maybe there really is some connection….’
When Todd had been assigned as her familiar, there had been a time when she wondered if she might be connected to the Vampire Lord.
And now, she had learned of the direct descendant of the Vampire Lord who looked so much like her. There was no way they were completely unrelated. Vasha’s mouth went dry.
‘Is this why Rasa pointed out Noctiluca as the hideout?’
Vasha stared at Lucy’s portrait, wondering if something might jog her memory.
But no matter how long she looked at the painting, her mind remained clouded as if in a fog.
“…Anyway, I understand now why you thought I was from the Vassenar family.”
Laurus, who had been standing a step back to avoid interrupting Vasha’s gaze, politely responded.
“Yes. Though all members of the Night Clan exude nobility, it’s rare to see someone who resembles them so closely. I thought you might be related to Lady Lucy’s family.”
“Call me Vasha.”
“Allowing me to call you by your noble name is an honor.”
Laurus’s eyes filled with emotion.
Would Laurus still behave like that if he knew Vasha was a lower-ranking vampire? Vasha was doubtful.
But there was no reason to reveal that she was a lower vampire. Vasha enjoyed the Count’s politeness and asked a question she had been curious about.
“How did you come to know Menorah?”
“Fifty years ago… Lady Lucy came to me personally.”
“Menorah came to you?”
Vasha asked in surprise.
Laurus smiled as if understanding. Menorah, being such a figure, rarely moved or revealed herself before humans.
“Though people now treat me as a great artist, it wasn’t the case when I was young. At the time, I wanted to be evaluated purely based on my abilities, without relying on my family name, so I entered a painting competition under the guise of being a commoner. I secretly hoped for good results.”
But instead of good results, Laurus was eliminated, and his painstakingly crafted painting was hung in the most humiliating position, becoming the subject of ridicule.
<Did they even paint properly? The whole thing is smudged! Do they not even understand the concept of representation?>
<Looks like the artist’s eyesight is terrible. The painting is blurry.>
“Everyone criticized my painting, and in my despair, I almost gave up on painting. That’s when Lady Lucy appeared.”
Hiding the fact that she was a vampire, Lucy offered to sponsor Laurus.
<I saw your painting. You have talent.>
Neither his parents, the public, nor the judges evaluated Laurus’s painting positively.
Amid the harsh criticism that nearly made him give up on painting, the young artist fell for the first person who acknowledged him.
He eventually found out that his benefactor was a vampire, but by that point, it didn’t even matter anymore.
Laurus continued painting thanks to Lucy in the end.
“If it weren’t for her, I would have given up painting. I had pride, but my passion couldn’t match it.”
Without Lucy, the current Laurus wouldn’t exist.
Every time Laurus brushed the canvas, he imagined Lucy smiling in satisfaction at the landscape he was painting and the completed artwork.
“Thanks to her, I was able to gain some recognition as a painter… but once I was selected as a court painter, she suddenly disappeared, and I was left alone.”
Though he had reached the pinnacle as a painter, Laurus wasn’t happy at all. He searched endlessly for Lucy, but it was impossible for a mere human to find a Menorah.
“After that, I couldn’t find any trace of her, and I thought I would meet the end of my life without ever seeing her again. But then, someone who resembles her so much has appeared.”
Laurus’s gaze towards Vasha was slightly distant. His eyes were hazy, as if he was looking at something far away. It seemed as though he was projecting Lucy onto Vasha.
While it wasn’t pleasant to be treated as someone’s replacement, Vasha wasn’t heartless enough to reprimand him for his long-standing yearning.
She waited patiently for Laurus to collect himself.
Once his eyes became clearer, Vasha asked the question she had been holding back.
“So, what do you want from me?”
Laurus, startled, widened his eyes, then folded them in a smile as he responded.
“You’ve noticed, haven’t you?”
“How could I not?”
He had deliberately told her about Lucy, brought her to the annex, and shown her the painting. It was clear that there was something he wanted to say.
At first, Vasha thought he was curious about Lucy because he believed she might be connected to her.
However, even after Vasha said she didn’t know Lucy, Laurus’s demeanor remained unchanged.
Vashq brought up what she thought Laurus might desire the most.
“Do you want immortality? Do you want to become a vampire?”
While Vasha didn’t particularly resent being a vampire, she understood that the life of a vampire wasn’t all happiness.
The elegant and glamorous life that most people imagined, where one commands a host of human servants and reigns supreme, was reserved only for the elite among vampires.
Most vampires simply eked out a living.
Until she met Todd, Vasha had been relentlessly pursued by her kind in this world.
It was a life filled with solitude, death, and destruction, with no productive value.
The living dead. A vampire’s life was, in essence, nothing more than living death.
Humans, despite fearing and avoiding such vampires, would often, when faced with the end of their lives, throw themselves into an even greater death to escape their fate.
For humans, their destiny was the end, while vampires could take countless other lives.
Was Laurus one of those humans?
Feeling a little disappointed, as though she had expected something, Vasha crossed her arms and sullenly retorted.
“If Menorah later finds out that one of her followers became a vampire through someone else, she won’t be happy about it.”
“Not just unhappy. She would be furious.”
Laurus laughed as if the idea had never occurred to him. He then added politely, sensing Vasha’s displeasure.
“My master never wanted me to become a vampire in the first place. How could I dare to ask anyone else to make me one?”
Vasha didn’t seem to entirely believe Laurus’s words and sarcastically replied.
“Who knows? Now that death is approaching, maybe you’ve changed your mind.”
“It’s natural for a mere mortal to admire the immortal seekers of eternity. But what I want is not immortality.”
Once again, Laurus’s eyes clouded over, as if he was recalling something from the past. Like a veil had been drawn over his memories for too long, they now came alive again when he faced Vasha, who resembled Lucy.
