episode_0078

During his time in Weiham. Ena had told Acel a few things about noble etiquette, since wizards often get involved with nobles. Including precautions.

Among them were things that were naturally to be observed, and some that were so preposterous as to make him wonder if they were truly correct. But what could he do? As long as the person who told him was Ena, Acel silently built up the information she gave him, piece by piece, in his mind. That’s how he naturally learned a few dances performed at banquets.

He couldn’t dance as if he were born a noble. But he could imitate it to some extent. He had repeatedly practiced with Evelyn and Ena and received a passing grade.

But as expected, in front of the real princess, his awkwardness was obvious.

“Hehe.”

The Grand Duchy of Valdemia. A city-state ruled by the legitimate children of the progenitor. The beautiful vampire princess who had lived there her entire life and finally emerged into the outside world.

The hand holding his is cold. Her smiling face is like an energetic girl visiting a flower garden. Her long, unbound white hair glistens in the light, and Acel’s face is reflected in her clear crimson eyes between her half-closed eyelids.

In Acel’s obsidian eyes, only Elena’s figure is reflected.

At this moment, the two moved their bodies in time with the music, looking only at each other.

“Acel, you’re not very good at dancing, are you?”

Elena whispered, placing a hand on Acel’s shoulder. Acel hugged her waist and replied, putting his mouth close to her pointed ear.

“You’re just good at it.”

“Ehehe! So there is something I’m better at than you. I’m happy.”

“There are many.”

He took the hand Elena had extended upwards and lightly spun her body around. Then he pulled her back into his arms.

So close that only each other’s faces were visible in their line of sight. Acel smiled faintly, looking down at her.

“So teach me beside you. There’s still a lot I don’t know.”

“…Is this acting?”

Elena asked, her cheeks flushing slightly. Acel smiled playfully.

“Well. What do you think?”

The sound of the violin amplified once. Elena and Acel, as if they had made a promise, separated their bodies and bowed to each other.

Acel put his hands on his abdomen and back and bowed, and Elena lifted the hem of her dress slightly and bowed her head. Then, with steps slightly lighter than before, they walked towards each other, held hands, and spun.

From that moment, everyone in the ballroom’s gaze was focused on the two. The musicians’ hands moved faster, and the staff carrying cocktails and whiskey stared blankly at the two dancing and laughing.

“Ah…”

The man who had requested the dance was also the same. Her lover had already taken out a notebook he kept in his pocket and was sketching.

Even amidst that, only each other’s figures are reflected in Acel and Elena’s eyes.

The man’s face enters eyes like rubies.

The woman’s face enters eyes like obsidian.

Even if they tried not to be aware, they couldn’t help but be aware. No matter what anyone said, the main character of this moment was the person in front of them.

The music gradually built up. Consequently, the dance movements also intensified, and sweat began to form on Elena and Acel’s foreheads. Even with just a slight movement, the beads of sweat scattered everywhere, glittering in the light like spotlights.

“…Haah.”

“Your breathing is rough. Are you tired?”

Acel asked Elena, who was in his arms. Elena smiled faintly and shook her head.

“No. I’m not tired. Rather…”

Elena’s gaze, for a moment, changed to that of a predator. Her pupils contracted slightly, fixing on Acel’s nape. The more she moved her body in step with Acel, the rougher her breathing became. By the time Acel felt that something was strange.

Pa-ba-bam!

With a loud trumpet sound, the music ended. In sync with that, Elena draped both arms around Acel’s neck and leaned back, and Acel finished the dance supporting her waist.

“Haah… Haah… Haah…”

“Are you okay? You’re not hurting anywhere, are you?”

“My chest… feels a bit…”

There was no sign of pain on Elena’s face as she said that. Rather, it was heavily stained with excitement. The sprouting of feelings she didn’t even understand, along with the surging desire to drink blood, dominated her mind.

Why does Acel look so delicious today? I want to sink my teeth into that neck and suck his blood right now. If I press my body close, and lick and suck the wound while listening to his moans mixed with pain and pleasure, it’ll feel really good.

No! If I do that, he’ll hate me. I don’t want things to go wrong with Acel. After all, we’re friends.

Friends? Are we really friends? Usually, the person who sparks a desire to drink blood is mainly…

“Elena?”

“Higyak!”

Elena returned to reality at Acel’s face being brought close. When she came to her senses, applause like thunder was heard from all directions. It was the praise sent by those who were deeply impressed by their dance.

“Th-thank you! Thanks to you, inspiration is just welling up!”

The lover of the man who had requested the dance approached and said this. Acel’s face instantly froze cold and he replied, “Not at all,” then looked at Elena again with warm eyes. The way he stuck to the concept he had decided on was so perfect that it could be called a paragon for wizards.

The problem was that Acel hadn’t told Elena about his concept beforehand. So she couldn’t gauge where his actions were acting and where they were genuine. All he had said was that he would act like a lover, so she should follow along well.

The actions of a lover in Elena’s mind were holding hands, hugging, sucking blood, kissing, sucking blood, playing together, and anyway, sucking blood.

But there was absolutely nothing like that in Acel’s actions today. The only time he had uttered the words ‘my woman’ was when entering the auction house. Other than that… had Acel ever acted like a lover? Weren’t the rest all genuine?

It was a thought that would make Acel, who had been acting like a lover all day, protest that it was unfair, but Elena didn’t bother to ask.

Instead, she swallowed and looked up at Acel, who was smiling softly.

A subtle gap that arose from the lack of proper communication and differences in common sense.

‘Acel sees me and that woman differently…’

Thanks to that, such a thought inevitably arose in Elena’s mind.

***

After staying a little longer at the ballroom, Acel and Elena moved together into the auction house.

Acel didn’t deliberately let go of the hand he was holding. It was acting and had to be maintained anyway, and since Elena was interlocking her fingers and didn’t seem to dislike it, he just left it be.

Swoosh.

He took out the admission ticket he had put in his pocket and moved to find their designated seats.

Seats F45 and F46. It wasn’t too far or too close from the stage where items were brought up. It seemed they had gotten pretty good seats.

“Alright! The item coming up this time is none other than ‘Love Potion’! Made by the most famous alchemist guild in the imperial capital, the moment you drink it, it makes you feel an even deeper love for the person you usually care for! We highly recommend it to couples who want to rekindle a strained relationship, or those who want to enjoy a special kind of play! We will start small at 5 gold coins!”

As they walked, the auctioneer’s voice echoed loudly, carried by amplification magic. Acel glanced at him, then turned his head towards the clear pink elixir placed beautifully on a cart pulled by sturdy men.

‘A love potion, huh.’

Alchemy is truly a fascinating discipline. There are potions that cure the sick who are lingering in illness, while potions that make trees and grass grow lushly just by sprinkling them on the ground, and potions capable of assassinating someone without a trace also openly circulated in the market.

However, there are hardly any potions that manipulate human emotions like that. Perhaps it’s because of their rarity, that the guild only hands some over to auction houses like this.

The formulas for such rare goods are not publicly disclosed, so a monopoly market is generally formed. This potion is probably the same.

It’s interesting, but not enough to spend gold coins on. To buy the item he wanted, he had to save gold coins as much as possible.

Perhaps Elena had a similar thought, as she checked the items listed on the back of her admission ticket again and looked back at Acel with a somewhat excited expression.

“It’s the next next item! I’m excited!”

“How much are you planning to spend?”

“Hmm… around 500 to 700 gold coins? I don’t plan to spend much!”

Elena replied with a bright smile. Acel, on the other hand, let out a hollow laugh.

As expected of a princess, the unit she was thinking of was extraordinary. There probably wouldn’t be many people here who could spend more than a hundred gold coins. But 500? To those aiming for the Vampire Sword, it was practically a natural disaster.

“Hmm.”

Honestly, it wasn’t his concern. If they were upset, they should have had more money than Elena.

Thinking that, Acel stared at the woman who had just won the bid for the love potion. The potion was sold for 25 gold coins. While not that much money, it was a quite preposterous price for an item consumed for a moment’s amusement.

‘They must have a suspicious amount of money.’

Well, that’s why they come to auction houses like this, isn’t it?

“Acel.”

Just as Acel was thinking that and making a nonchalant expression, Elena suddenly called his name. Acel blinked his eyes and looked back at her.

“Huh? Why?”

“…Heh, no!”

She stared blankly into Acel’s eyes for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter and turned her head away quickly. Then, seeming to be in a good mood, she began to swing her legs back and forth and hum a tune.

From Acel’s perspective, it was truly baffling, but since Elena herself was so harmless and constantly seemed like a happy girl, he didn’t think much of it and turned his head back towards the stage.

The item that came up after the love potion was a strangely shaped octopus. It was said to be a rare octopus caught only near the demon realm, and the auctioneer passionately explained that its taste was very famous among gourmets.

In the end, the octopus was successfully bid for 5 gold coins. Perhaps he had been aiming for the octopus from the start, as the old man who won the bid chuckled heartily and happily moved to the private room for winners located behind the auction area. And after a brief silence, the auctioneer once again lifted the device with built-in amplification magic.

“Alright! The item coming up this time is very special! A peculiar magic sword that becomes sharper and harder the more it drinks blood! The Vampire Sword! It’s known to have great compatibility with vampires, but handling it isn’t a problem even if you’re not a vampire! We have no doubt that this will be an excellent choice for those who dream of being heroes! This item starts at 20 gold coins!”

20 gold coins.

It’s a price significantly higher than the items that have come out so far. But perhaps there aren’t many people who care about that, as quite a few people raised their hands to express their intention to buy. The auctioneer smiled broadly and asked those thinking of bidding less than 25 gold coins to lower their hands.

Then about five people clicked their tongues and lowered their hands.

About 10 people remained, including Elena. They eyed each other from the side, clearly displaying wariness. Only Elena was grinning widely.

“Those considering bidding under 30 pieces, please lower your hands!”

This time about three people lowered their hands.

“35 pieces!”

Two people frowned heavily and plopped down into their seats. Now only five people were left.

“40 pieces!”

One person sinks.

“50 pieces!”

No one lowered their hands.

“60 pieces!”

“Ah, fuck.”

One person cursed and stormed out of their seat.

After that, no one lowered their hands.

70, 80, 90, 100.

As the value rose sequentially, the auction house began to buzz. Only a vicious-looking woman, an old man, and Elena remained. Elena looked at them once, then stuck out her tongue and shouted before the auctioneer.

“200 gold coins!”

“200 pieces! 200 pieces have been bid! If you intend to pay a higher price than that lovely lady over there, please speak up.”

“300.”

The old man immediately countered. Elena wasn’t just taking it either.

“400 pieces!”

“400 pieces! Is there anyone who will go above 400 pieces?”

This time there was no response. The old man clicked his tongue and glared at Elena, then soon sat back down in his seat. Seeing that, the auctioneer shouted loudly.

“Sold for 400 pieces!”

“Wow!!”

Elena smiled widely and hugged Acel’s upper body.

Acel felt the intense gazes pouring in from the surroundings and lightly stroked her hair.

Then Elena buried her head in his nape and let out a long breath.

“…”

Acel felt an inexplicable eeriness from that hot breath.