#Episode 54
Chapter 5: The Master of the Rose
The sun rose, and then it set again.
The next day, Vasha indulged in sleeping in and leisurely got out of bed.
In the room, where not a single ray of sunlight entered, only flickering candles swayed. Vasha stretched, yawning, as she rose from the coffin placed on a carpet woven by a master craftsman.
“Yaaawn.”
Soft and plush velvet, the coffin perfectly fit around her. The quality of sleep was just as perfect as she had anticipated before going to bed.
“I can’t remember the last time I had such a good sleep. Oh, it almost brings me to tears.”
Living as a vampire came with many inconveniences, but only being able to sleep in a coffin was a real nuisance. After not having slept at all since arriving in this world, Vasha muttered contentedly, having finally gotten some rest.
“Maybe I should sleep a bit more… I don’t have anything urgent to do today anyway…”
It wasn’t a bad idea. Just as Vasha decided to lay back down and reached for the coffin’s lid, she was startled by a tongue-clicking sound near her head.
“Taking your time, huh? How long has it been since the sun set, and you’re still asleep?”
Standing with his arms crossed, Todd was looking down at Vasha, though she hadn’t sensed his presence earlier.
Even though vampires have sharp instincts, Vasha couldn’t detect the presence of Van Drake, who was skilled at concealing himself, especially since she had just woken up.
Caught off guard by Todd’s unexpected appearance, Vasha blinked slowly before greeting him.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Do you think I could?”
Todd raised an eyebrow and responded sharply.
He clicked his tongue again and grumbled.
“Just thinking about sleeping in that guy’s room made it impossible for me to rest.”
“You know Albert’s room was always the best one,”
Vasha tried to calm him. Thanks to Count Renfield’s love for gloomy places, the best room in the mansion naturally belonged to Albert.
Since Todd became the successor, it made sense that he would take over Albert’s room.
However, Todd wasn’t happy with Vasha’s reasoning.
“Do you really think I couldn’t sleep because he was the previous owner of the room? It’s because you left me to handle everything and went straight to sleep the moment the job was done!”
“Me?”
Vasha opened her eyes wide and pointed at herself.
“Yes! Couldn’t you at least tell me if the job was finished properly? Do you know how long I waited?”
“It was just dealing with a human…,”
Vasha waved her hand indifferently.
Vasha had a point. It was only a regular human they were up against, so there was no reason for anything unusual to have happened to her.
But Todd couldn’t stop worrying.
His heart pounded in his chest. Even before coming to Noctiluca, the scene of Vasha biting the milkman’s neck had been swirling in Todd’s mind all night.
Soon, the image of the milkman morphed into that of Albert. Todd imagined Albert, flushed and letting out strange moans beneath Vasha, who in turn pressed her mouth even deeper into his neck, causing Todd to retch. His eyes burned with the heat of frustration.
The fact that Albert didn’t have an unattractive appearance only made it worse.
‘Sure, he’s garbage on the inside… but by vampire standards, he’s not even that bad.’
Among vampires, it wasn’t uncommon for one to suddenly change their mind during a feeding and turn their prey into a servant or a blood relative. The better-looking the prey, the higher the chances of this happening.
Vampires, who used their appearance to lure humans, placed a high value on beauty, even in others.
Vasha, too, seemed reluctant to kill Albert outright.
So, how could Todd possibly sleep soundly?
Imagining Vasha awkwardly smiling while holding the hand of Albert, who had become a member of her bloodline, and saying, ‘That’s how it turned out,’ kept him awake all night.
Yet, here was Vasha, peacefully snoring away….
Feeling wronged, Todd glared at Vasha, eyes burning with frustration.
“But you’ve always been reluctant to kill Albert. Do you know how much I worried about what would happen if you let him live?”
“That was before he tried to kill you,”
Vasha looked at Todd incredulously. Despite being a pacifist, she wasn’t lenient toward anyone who tried to harm her familiars.
“He tried to kill my familiar. How could I let him go?”
“………”
Todd was at a loss for words. Vasha, feeling slightly guilty for not telling Todd anything and heading straight to sleep, continued to make excuses.
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to wake you up while you were sleeping. And after feeding, I felt drowsy. You know how it is, right? I get food comas too.”
“That’s hilarious.”
Todd let out a snort. Though all his overnight worries now seemed pointless, his mood brightened.
After all, Vasha had been awake all this time, and only recently obtained a coffin to finally rest in. It was natural that after solving her problems, she’d want to sleep immediately.
All of Todd’s resentment and worry melted away like snow under the sun. He turned to leave with a much lighter heart than when he had stormed into Vasha’s room.
“Well, since you’re awake, I’m heading out. I have things to do.”
“Like what?”
“If I’m going to claim to be the illegitimate child of that old man, I need to patch up anything people might criticize first—like manners and speaking skills.”
“Didn’t you receive successor lessons from a young age? Didn’t you already learn all that?”
“That was Van Drake-style education. It’s different from the usual noble teachings.”
Todd seemed slightly proud as he said this. Puzzled, Vasha tilted her head and asked,
“Isn’t it just extra lessons about vampires? What’s the difference?”
“Of course, I learned table manners and basic knowledge as a noble… but when you’re hunting vampires, you don’t really need to worry about social grace or appeasing others. So, yeah…”
“I see…”
Todd didn’t elaborate further, but Vasha nodded as if she understood enough.
Indeed, the heir to the Van Drake family, who were vampire hunters and the hope of humanity, wouldn’t receive the same kind of education as the heir to an ordinary count family.
“Besides, now that I’m the heir to Laurus, I need to cultivate more knowledge about arts and culture. I only know the bare minimum.”
Todd glanced at Vasha, who gave an awkward laugh, knowing she knew even less than the minimum.
“I also need to thoroughly investigate who that old man had relationships with and who his enemies were. Judging by his temperament, I’m sure he had quite a few enemies.”
Todd continued to count on his fingers all the things he needed to learn.
Blinking as she listened, Vasha still found it strange and asked,
“But do you have to do it so urgently? You only became the successor yesterday. Can’t you rest for a while?”
“If you encounter a vampire and wait to find a silver arrow, it’s already too late. It’s never a bad idea to be prepared in advance. You can keep resting if you want.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll head out soon too…”
No vampire would dare laze around after hearing such words from Van Drake. Todd nagged at Vasha to get up quickly before leaving the room.
Left alone, Vasha sighed and slowly crawled out of the coffin.
Her real bedroom, where the coffin was placed, was hidden behind a secret door. As Vasha opened the door, it revealed an ordinary bedroom.
The room Albert mistakenly thought was his was actually Vasha’s, located in the shadiest part of the mansion where no sunlight could reach.
Under the influence of an hallucination, Albert had gotten lost when he reached the second floor and had been lured into Vasha’s trap.
The bed was in disarray, with the blanket crumpled under Albert’s boot prints from the previous day. Yawning, Vasha walked past the bed and approached the vase on the console.
In the vase, there were fresh roses. Vasha plucked a petal and pressed it against her lips. The petal instantly wilted and crumbled to dust upon contact with her lips.
“Hmm. Seems like these roses were picked recently.”
Vasha smacked her lips, savoring the scent of the rose petals that lingered in the air. The stem, carefully pruned of its thorns, emitted a faint fragrance that was a mix of fresh green apples and hazelnuts.
