Chapter 7 : Erik

When I opened my eyes, I was on the bed.

There was a metallic, fishy taste in my mouth.

Feeling that taste, I slowly sensed my memories returning and suddenly sat up on the bed.

“…Major.”

“You’re awake?”

Erik, frowning deeply as he looked at me.

He had a towel pressed against his neck.

The wound was small, so not much blood came out, but it seemed he needed to stop the bleeding.

“…You filthy woman.”

Erik spoke with a sad, bitter look in his eyes.

“How dare you suck the blood of your superior?”

He said that and threw the blood-stained towel at me.

I couldn’t say a word to him.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Make sure you drink blood properly next time.”

He said that while grabbing my chin and lifting it, clicking his tongue.

“You can’t let your filthy nature show anywhere.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“……You can still work, right?”

When Erik asked, I nodded silently.

Silently, Erik stared at me.

I looked up at him, tilting my head in confusion.

“…Is it not uncomfortable for you that I act like this?”

“If I say it’s uncomfortable, will you stop?”

When I asked that, Erik frowned.

I looked out the window.

“…Then that’s fine.”

“Why are you so expressionless?”

To survive, I must not show any expression.

I must not be shaken, happy, or sad.

I hide my expressions and hide myself.

That is the survival strategy I chose.

“…It’s a survival strategy. To survive on either side, because I am weak wherever I go.”

Valentine was expelled from the vampire kingdom and persecuted by the empire.

Between them, the method I chose was to be expressionless.

Show nothing, hide everything.

That’s my way of life.

“I see.”

Erik nodded and then muttered softly,

‘…Disgusting.’

He got up from his seat and walked outside.

I stared at his back for a long time.

‘…Bastard.’

It was wrong to suck blood, but was it necessary to treat me this badly?

Thinking that, I crawled back under the blanket.

Then I realized something.

“…Blood wasn’t disgusting.”

In my memories, Erik’s blood wasn’t disgusting.

It smelled good, like a warm embrace.

“Crazy… what am I saying, like a crazy vampire…”

I muttered that and burrowed deeper into the blanket.

A dark office smelling of freshly built wood.

Rain tapped against the window, making the room even darker.

—Bang!!!

Erik slammed his desk.

What on earth, what on earth has he done?

Rage surged up.

Giving blood to a vampire, even letting them lie down in the infirmary…?

“Erik, you really have gone mad.”

He was still touching the faint wound on his neck.

The day his family was massacred played vividly in his mind.

The sight of vampires happily tearing apart his family and drinking their blood.

That shocking scene had left a deep scar on young Erik.

The moment when a vampire bit his neck, pretending to be dead, was clear in his mind.

That chilling sensation was felt again today.

The only difference was…

‘…I’m sorry… I’m sorry…’

‘…It’s disgusting… Help me… It’s so, so disgusting…’

‘Not the Commander’s blood… I, I’m so disgusting…’

Valentine kept mumbling those things.

Even while sucking blood, cold tears kept falling on his neck and shoulders.

‘I’m sorry… sorry…’

‘I have committed so many sins… I can’t go back…’

‘I want to live… I don’t want to die…’

Because of that, he developed sympathy for vampires, that filthy race.

That troubled Erik’s heart.

He didn’t just hate; there was a strange feeling of sympathy — or something he couldn’t quite name — swelling inside him.

After all, Valentine was a small woman, wasn’t she?

From a young age, she probably hadn’t had proper nutrition and was quite short.

Thinking of her, Erik felt a strange mixture of sympathy and something else.

“Haa… I think I went mad in the war.”

Murmuring that, Erik thought of Valentine and looked out at the rain outside the window.

“I couldn’t kill her.”

Even though the vampire collapsed right in front of him, he couldn’t kill her.

When she sucked blood, he couldn’t push her away.

Even though the other party was defenseless.

Muttering that, Erik reached for a cigarette he rarely smoked but had on hand.

“Ah.”

But soon he remembered that Valentine had taken the cigarette away from him.

“Haa…….”

Sighing, Erik opened the window.

At that moment, watching the drizzle fall.

— Creak.

“Loyalty. I have returned.”

Valentine, with a gaunt face, staggered inside.

Then sat down and took rough breaths.

Even though she had just sucked blood, Erik knew well that nutrients weren’t immediately restored.

‘…If it’s now.’

Though he feared the backlash from the nobles and royalty, if he could kill the vampire.

Erik was willing to endure it all.

The last remaining vampire must be erased from the world.

At that moment, Erik’s instinct whispered so.

…“I’m sorry. I’m indebted to you.”

Valentine murmured in her still expressionless face.

“But… it’s okay from now on. This… only this once.”

Saying that, Valentine bowed her head and resumed work.

Watching that, Erik couldn’t say a word.

He felt unpleasant, insanely unpleasant.

Whenever he saw Valentine, his chest felt wildly uncomfortable.

Yes, from the very first day Valentine was commissioned.

From the moment he first saw Valentine.

“…Why do you go that far?”

He hated seeing her struggle with such a fragile body.

Every time he heard the sound of achievements stacking, every time Valentine picked only the toughest tasks and took them away.

He felt pity, and therefore discomfort.

Because he felt like someone who should be protected.

Then, when he accidentally discovered Valentine using blood magic.

That discomfort doubled.

He began to understand why she was always weak.

Why she suddenly became strong only on the battlefield.

That’s why he asked.

Why go that far?

With such a fragile body, why do you roll and get beaten here and there?

‘…Mind your own business.’

However, the returned answer was cold.

Unpleasant.

‘…It’s not that she’s a vampire that’s unpleasant.’

Only now did Erik realize that fact and frowned.

“…Arrogant. Don’t you know I’m turning a blind eye because you’re a vampire?”

“I know. I’m only keeping my mouth shut because of unavoidable pressure.”

“…”

That’s not it.

Erik wanted to say that.

He could kill her anytime.

But it bothers him.

That fragile body rolling on the battlefield.

Joining the army.

Trying to survive beside humans by enduring feeding on blood and dying.

“…Major Valentine, you are—

“Please be quiet… I’m grateful, and that’s enough. Please don’t interfere anymore.”

Without even looking, Valentine said that while organizing papers.

“…Please, I beg you.”

Biting her lips, Valentine said so.

Erik stayed silent watching her.

Valentine’s eyes looked displeased.

Seeing that gaze, Erik let out a ridiculous laugh.

“…Haah…………….

Evening came, and I returned to the dormitory and sat at the table.

I was exhausted.

“…Why does Erik keep picking fights?”

The superior kept quarreling with her beside her.

Because she sucked blood, he tried to bully her constantly.

‘Dirty bitch…………….’

‘Can’t even do this properly?’

‘…Tch, I should have killed someone like you earlier.’

Since he couldn’t even stab her anyway, it was so pathetic he just dealt with it moderately.

— Click!

Lighting a lighter that was almost out of fuel, she put a cigarette in her mouth.

“…Only two left.”

By now, only two cigarettes were left.

She put one in her mouth and set the food.

“Huff… Haah….”

She took a drag and exhaled.

Her head felt a little clearer.

Sprinkled pork blood bought from the butcher on the food.

She was eating pork barbecue with blood sprinkled on it, her favorite.

Doing this reduced both the taste and the blood’s effect.

But still, it was better than just drinking pork blood.

After enduring nausea and eating, she smoked the cigarette.

“Huff… Haah……………”

She smoked to get rid of the disgusting taste of blood she kept in her mouth as much as possible.

“…I’m alive.”

Murmuring that, she took off her clothes and entered the bathroom.

She noticed her slightly thin body.

It had been five years, and her figure wasn’t particularly good, so she didn’t have any such thoughts.

“…I wish I grew a little more.”

Shejust had that thought.

She sighed and soaked in the bathtub filled with water.

“Erik’s blood… wasn’t disgusting for the first time.”

Saying that, sinking into the warm bathwater, she had a rather embarrassing thought.

‘…If only I could drink it again.’

Well, no one was listening, so it didn’t matter.

She was exhausted; even though she sucked blood, it was the first time she felt so drained in a day.

She put the last lieutenant colonel’s cigarette in her mouth and lit it.

The hazy smoke felt like it entered and left her lungs.

Feeling a little dizzy, she lay down on the bed.

Today, too, she placed her hand over her left chest.

Thump thump, the little heart comforted her today as well.

“…Good work, Valentine.”

She whispered that to herself and pulled up the blanket.

Thus, she fell into a deep sleep that day as well.

Because tomorrow, she had to get up early again.

Today, too, she survived.