“Regarding the matter of supporting the Betty family, you no longer need to consider it.”
Angelica’s voice, carrying an unquestionable decisiveness, echoed within the silent study.
She stared at Rhea as if her gaze could pierce through any disguise to reach the most secret corners of the heart.
“During this time, your task is to remain in the territory, continuing to familiarize yourself with and handle family affairs. Everything outside has nothing to do with you.”
Rhea took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down and suppress the ripples caused by the name ‘Izay’.
She sat up straight, her face adopting the seriousness and solemnity appropriate for a Head of the Alsaid family. She attempted to persuade her sister from the perspective of pure, rational family interest:
“Sister, please analyze this calmly. Based on what I witnessed with my own eyes in the Raymond territory, the strength of the Blood Race likely far exceeds our previous estimates. They are no ordinary monsters. Their most terrifying aspect is their ability to directly convert companions, rapidly expanding their ranks.”
“If the defensive lines of the border nobles are broken one by one, allowing the Blood Race to grow like a snowball, even if the Empire can eventually quell the chaos, the price paid will be unimaginably heavy… Our Alsaid family would likely find it difficult to stay unscathed.”
She hoped that this reason, concerning the very survival of the family, would move her sister, who had always prioritized family interests.
However, Angelica merely sneered, the irony in her eyes deepening:
“Tuck away your little schemes, Rhea. The Empire is vast, and there are many nobles. Resisting monsters is not the sole responsibility of the Alsaid family.”
“In a situation where there are no clear benefits and we might even deplete our own strength, why should we waste precious resources to aid others?”
Her logic was cold and realistic—the typical law of survival for the nobility.
“That is because the Empire and most nobles have yet to truly realize the horror of the Blood Race!”
Rhea could not help but raise her voice. As a vampire herself, she naturally knew how powerful they were.
“Their ability to convert others is extremely efficient, and the individual strength of High Vampires is incredibly formidable. I suspect they might even reach — “
“Rhea,” Angelica interrupted sharply, her voice suddenly turning dark and scrutinizing, “you seem to… know an abnormally large amount about the Blood Race?”
Rhea’s heart hammered. She realized she had revealed too much in her urgency.
She quickly composed herself and explained:
“I am merely making some analyses and inferences based on my brief contact with them in the Raymond territory…”
But at this moment, Angelica’s mind had already fallen into paranoia. She was certain that all of Rhea’s reasons were just excuses to find that boy named Izay.
She was unwilling to listen to any further explanations and spoke in the tone of a final ultimatum:
“I will say this one last time! Unless the claws of the Blood Race have already reached the gates of the Alsaid family, you will stay in this territory obediently and go nowhere!”
Having finished, she gave Rhea no chance to argue, merely glaring deeply at her with a cold, warning look. Then, Angelica turned sharply and left the study.
*Bang.*
The heavy solid wood door closed, and the oppressive silence returned to the study, leaving only the sound of Rhea’s slightly hurried breathing.
—
The moment Angelica turned and left, an uncontrollable, violent impulse originating from the depths of her blood suddenly surged into her heart!
Her eyes glowed an uncontrollable crimson, her gaze locking onto Angelica’s fair, fragile neck. Her sharp canines ground together subconsciously, making a grating *clack, clack* sound…
A primal, direct desire urged her to bite down and taste that warm, sweet blood.
‘What… what was I trying to do just now?!’
As the impulse receded and her reason returned, Rhea was terrified by the thought that had flashed through her mind. A wave of lingering fear left her barely able to stand, forcing her to lean against the cold edge of the desk.
She realized clearly that as time passed, it was becoming increasingly difficult for her human will to suppress the vampire instincts within her body.
The thirst for blood eroded her sanity every second of the day.
Since completing the conversion at Vivian’s, she had never truly consumed any blood in order to maintain the last bit of her ‘human’ persistence. She resisted this gift from the darkness, trying to continue living as a human.
However, the price was obvious.
She could feel that her body was significantly weaker than when the First Embrace was completed. Her strength was draining, and that thirst originating from the very source of life was becoming stronger and stronger. She understood that if this continued, there would come a day when she would lose control completely.
Hesitation and struggle intertwined in her eyes.
Finally, she pressed the call bell.
A moment later, a young maid walked in respectfully and stood before her with a bowed head.
“Lord Rhea, what are your orders?”
The maid’s voice was soft, carrying the humility unique to a servant.
However, the moment she stepped into the study, Rhea’s gaze was involuntarily drawn to her. It landed on the fair, fragile neck beneath her slightly loose collar.
Blood vessels throbbed beneath the thin skin, emitting an indescribable, tempting ‘sweet fragrance’.
‘So sweet…’ Rhea murmured unconsciously, her voice carrying a rasp she hadn’t even noticed.
The maid froze slightly, a flush rising to her cheeks. She asked softly, feeling somewhat overwhelmed: “Lord Rhea?”
In the next instant, Rhea’s figure appeared before the maid.
She was slightly taller than the maid. She leaned down, approaching the side of the neck that emitted that fatal temptation, and took a deep breath.
The scent of blood was almost overflowing, completely igniting her long-suppressed desire.
‘So sweet…’ she repeated, her voice clearer this time, filled with a nearly intoxicated longing.
The maid’s face turned bright red, her heart beating violently. As a maid serving the nobility, she had long prepared herself for certain situations… perhaps, in the depths of her heart, there was even a hidden hope of climbing the social ladder.
Especially in the Alsaid family, serving a young, handsome master whose private life was exceptionally clean… it was a dream opportunity. Compared to those fat or aging nobles, being able to serve Lord Rhea… she even felt an indescribable sense of honor and secret joy.
To her, she would be willing even if there were no benefits at all.
As a maid of the Alsaid house, she had to keep her body clean. But as a normal person, she had normal desires, and those desires could only be released secretly alone at night.
“If it is Lord Rhea… it is alright…” The maid’s voice carried a shy tremble. She took the initiative to reach out and gently undo a few buttons of her blouse, revealing more fair skin, her tone filled with suggestive ambiguity.
Rhea’s ice-cold fingertips slid gently across the warm skin of the maid’s neck, bringing a shiver. She could feel the pulse of the blood vessels; she could smell the scent of the source of life that nearly drove her mad.
But she was still struggling. Her remaining humanity was in a final tug-of-war with her vampire instincts.
The maid was teased by this touch-and-go contact, making her heart itch with anticipation. Mistaking this for a specific ‘whim’ of her master, she gathered her courage to confess: “Lord Rhea… I… I like you! As long as it is for you, even if I have to sacrifice my life… I am willing!”
These words were like the final straw that broke the camel’s back, completely shattering Rhea’s wavering line of sanity.
“Are you truly… willing to sacrifice your life for me?”
Rhea’s voice was low and dangerous. The last trace of hesitation in her crimson eyes vanished, replaced by pure desire.
“I am willing! So… Lord Rhea, whatever you want to do to me… is fine…”
The maid closed her eyes and tilted her head back in a posture of total surrender.
In the next moment, a sharp, stabbing pain came from her neck!
The maid’s eyes snapped open. The expected tenderness did not come. Instead, there was the agonizing pain of sharp teeth piercing her skin and the cold sensation of her life force being rapidly sucked away with her blood!
“No… Lord Rhea… please no…”
Extreme terror instantly drowned her previous desire. She began to struggle, her voice turning weak due to blood loss.
However, Rhea, tasting the incomparable sweetness and power of fresh blood for the first time, had completely surrendered to it.
The warm liquid slid down her throat like rain nourishing parched land. A powerful sense of strength quickly filled her entire body, dispelling her long-standing weakness and irritability.
A satisfaction and pleasure stemming from the very source of life caused her to let out a faint, satisfied sigh.
After an unknown amount of time, when Rhea finally regained consciousness from that nearly intoxicated state, the maid in her arms had already stopped breathing due to excessive blood loss. Her face was deathly pale, and her body was cold.
Looking at the lifeless body before her, a complex emotion welled up in Rhea’s heart.
There was a moment of daze and a faint sense of guilt, but more than that, there was a cold realization of the truth. She, Rhea Alsaid, had completely stepped into the non-human realm. There was no turning back.
She closed her eyes. Following the knowledge emerging from her bloodline, she condensed one drop of her own vampire blood at her fingertip and carefully dripped it into the maid’s slightly parted lips.
A crimson glow of energy, like a living cocoon, quickly enveloped the maid’s corpse.
A moment later, the energy dissipated. A hint of color returned to the maid’s originally pale face, and she slowly opened her eyes.
The pupils that originally belonged to a human were now tinged with a faint crimson.
The connection originating from the bloodline and the inherited knowledge allowed her to instantly understand her new identity and the supreme status of the person before her.
She stood up and performed a respectful bow toward Rhea in a posture of absolute obedience:
“Lord Rhea!”
From this moment on, she obtained eternal life and power, and Rhea became her true master.
This was also Rhea’s first personal force within the Alsaid family.