A moment of silence passed by.

Erica, who roughly grasped the situation, frowned in a way I hadn’t seen recently, and began approaching me.

So, to improve her mood while she was coming, I lifted up the girl who was coughing and collapsed, and slapped her cheeks a few times.

The sound of impact echoed again in the large room, and blood splattered from my hand. Whether it was from this child’s cheek or, well. Is that important? This situation where I’m monopolizing your gaze right now is more important.

In other words, it’s precious.

“Stop, stop it!”

After pondering, I stopped my hand.

“Should I?”

I expected to hear a sharp voice next, but

“…Why are you doing this?”

Unexpectedly, a gentle voice was heard, so I just smiled slightly.

“For fun.”

“You’re lying.”

“This isn’t the time to contradict me.”

I stopped her from running over and threw the child I was holding back onto the floor. Erica seemed slightly surprised, then looked at me with a weak expression.

Is she very tired?

“To be honest, yes. It’s a simple reason. I’m jealous. You smiled a lot at them, didn’t you? Did you enjoy it?”

“…It’s part of the job. I acted as much as possible. Pretending to be kind.”

“To children?”

“You know. I, I don’t smile genuinely when you’re not by my side.”

After saying that, she began to glance at me occasionally.

This isn’t the time for you to do that, is it? Look at this situation. It’s a hostage situation. Hm?

So I pressed down hard on the thrown girl’s arm with my shoe. The girl let out a small groan, and Erica reacted to that.

“Really, really. Please believe me. I only have you.”

“You’ve become skilled at lying.”

“It’s true. Really!”

Her appearance of still not being able to approach me due to my stance and fidgeting was quite cute. No, extremely. To the point where I wanted to run and hug her.

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“I know you’re lying. Look at this composition. It’s a complete standoff. A standoff between you and me over the girl’s life. And here you are making love confessions. Say something that makes sense.”

When I stepped on the girl’s arm a bit harder, the girl squirmed more.

Perhaps unconsciously, Erica bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

“You seem angry. So it was a lie after all. You’re a bad child, really.”

“I like you.”

My heart pounded. As I clutched my chest, Erica’s eyes naturally met my gaze. I like it. Yeah. I like you too.

I blinked.

For a moment, I brought my mind that had risen to soft clouds crashing back down. And when I opened my ears, Erica’s voice came in a slightly tense tone.

“Can you feel my sincerity now?”

“But you don’t love me.”

“L-love… uh, ugh.”

After letting out a few heartbeats, she slightly avoided my gaze.

“About that, please wait a bit longer. I’m embarrassed.”

“I don’t know. I’m already jealous to the tips of my hair.”

“Being jealous over this much is too childish.”

“Anyway, let’s stop joking around.”

You don’t have to look so gloomy about it. Let me believe what I want to believe.

“I like you, and you hate me. So I have no choice but to act like this to get your attention. Right?”

I muttered that while watching the blood still flowing from her mouth. Detestably, she looked unwell, seemingly concerned about the state of the girl I was stepping on.

“What should I do? Tell me.”

“Shouldn’t you think for yourself?”

“…How am I supposed to handle your capriciousness.”

“You should have been constantly observing me like that. Watching my mood, putting in effort to care for me. Not looking at anything else, just focusing only on me.”

“Were you in a very bad mood?”

I thought back.

“It started from the office. Everyone was all friendly again, except for me. With other people.”

“…I’m sorry. For making you jealous. When I get involved with work, I lose my mind.”

Right. Everyone has their circumstances.

I smiled gently at her, who was directing a gaze at me begging to understand her sincerity, unlike before.

“The conversation is going in a different direction.”

This time I stepped on the girl’s leg. A slightly louder groan echoed.

Erica muttered softly.

“What you want…”

Watching her, my gaze unconsciously turned to the blood flowing from her lips.

And our gazes met. Erica answered in a slightly elevated voice.

“…Ah, this, is it. I’ll give it to you. Please drink.”

I pondered for a moment. Erica asking me to drink, huh. As a vampire noble, it’s an irresistible offer.

Her slightly embarrassed appearance is worth seeing too.

Perhaps anxious about the silence I created, or still concerned about the girl being pressed down, she spoke up again.

“Only you can drink my blood. It’s only for you. I think you’ll be satisfied.”

More blood flowed. After pondering, I slightly moved my foot that was stepping on the girl, and smiled.

At that, Erica’s expression brightened a bit more.

“Can I come closer?”

Red blood.

The bloody path flowing down her long neckline was elegant.

My mouth watered involuntarily.

Something boiled inside me.

My head nodded on its own. Erica, who had somehow come right in front of me, smiled a smile that anyone would fall for, and placed her two hands under her lips to catch the pool of blood.

As if entranced, I brought my face close and greedily licked her carefully cupped hands. A slightly fishy taste swept over my tongue. After savoring it for a moment, I swallowed it all, and turned my gaze to her jawline and nape.

Whether she intentionally didn’t stop the bleeding, or whether she had imbued some magic, red blood was still welling up.

My vision turned red.

“You can drink.”

At the gentle voice.

Thud, thud, something in my brain snapped, and like a beast, I plunged my teeth into her nape and began to repeatedly suck violently. My body boiled and my heart pounded. My mind scattered. All I could be conscious of was the thick blood entering my mouth and the pleasure ringing in my brain.

And moans.

“Hic, sob.”

I know. That she, I, this relationship, is by no means a normal love. I always threw one-sided tantrums and she was busy accepting them. Even when I showed my distorted aspects and broken shame, she would kindly embrace me.

That’s why. My body, accustomed to her attention and affection that constricted me, led me to make it easier to trouble her a bit more. In other words, it meant allowing me to follow the sequence rushing towards the finale. To put it into words, it was to refuse to call it love, and also to allow me to distance myself from her.

So that I could be killed by her.

So, smiling weakly, taking one last big breath, I swallowed the last of the blood.

The moaning subsided.

“Thank you.”

A gentle atmosphere was created.

“…It’s nothing.”

I smiled looking at her reddened cheeks. And I roughly pushed away you, who was looking at me, and even paying attention to the two boys behind me.

A hand reached out from the surprised her. Ignoring it, I closed my eyes and spun around once. Magic scattered and surged. The ground shook and the place where the two boys who were trying to escape were standing exploded, and a red wave rising like a tide began to engulf them.

Amidst the distorted waves and air currents, Erica’s face suddenly contorted as she spread a pure white current throughout, covering my magic. A thin, highly concentrated membrane spread out and the red waves that touched it scattered into dust.

Just as I was about to step forward. A pure white sword pierced my chest. As I vomited blood from the pain, Erica bit her lip and hurriedly withdrew her outstretched hand.

I smiled slightly.

“You should do it stronger.”

Well,

It had been like this from earlier.

The fact that she was concerned about the girl I was holding hostage, and the fact that she was still checking while indulging my whims, afraid that harm might come to the two boys as well.

It was the natural sequence.

Looking back, she always tried to protect many things. Not satisfied with just trying to save citizens in the midst of a hostage situation, paradoxically, she even tried to embrace me who had created that situation.

It was beautiful.

That’s why I never forgot my plan even once.

Because I made her suffer so much, it’s time to repay.

For a beautiful world.

With my wretched death.

I pulled out the sword stuck in my chest.

“Why such a sad face?”

Erica’s gaze turned to my body. Seeing her trembling eyes, I can’t help but smile.

“There’s no need to end it like this.”

End.

The end, huh.

“This is just the beginning, you know.”

I slightly raised both hands to signify that I wouldn’t do anything more.

“You know we can’t help but end up like this. Because that’s the kind of relationship we have. You have to kill me -“

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

A voice that sounded like it was about to cry was heard.

“Don’t talk so calmly with that face that looks like it’s about to cry.”

I don’t know what you mean.

I roughly concluded the situation and took the children called new recruits to the infirmary. The girl, who seemed to have suddenly come to her senses, started crying and clinging to Erica as soon as she opened her eyes after treatment, repeatedly apologizing.

When the boys answered that she had gotten upset saying she didn’t want to train, Erica stopped at the level of encouraging them to do better next time with an angelic smile.

Watching that scene, I once again focused on the words floating in the air.

5. 5. 5. 5. The extreme of healing arts, a flower blooming from the heart. <Mist>.

There’s a practice of calling awakened ones with extremely developed healing stats who exceed a certain standard “the extreme of healing arts.”

Erica would be an example of that around here.

However, the flower blooming from the heart, <Mist> is a type of flower that can be extracted when excessive magic power is inscribed in the heart as part of the aftereffects of an illness obtained externally.

Erica doesn’t have an illness.

If there’s a possibility,

It would be the heart of someone who shares stats with Erica, who is running towards the extreme of healing arts, for example, someone connected to her by blood.

The extreme of healing arts.

But sickly themselves.

Come to think of it,

Didn’t she say she had a younger sister?