She Returned as a Vampire

32 – The Thread of Life

“Why did you do that?”

She asked her motionless, still looking at me.

I didn’t get an answer. Instead, only her fierce eyes glowed silently in the darkness.

“You ask, Elena. Why did you do that? Why did you hide it from me? And, why didn’t you let me ask it?”

My disappointment with her wasn’t that she was hiding the truth from me.

There must be a secret that no one can tell.

Just because I was a person who didn’t hide it, I understood because I couldn’t guarantee that others would do the same.

Anything was acceptable as long as it wasn’t an affair and it wasn’t a secret that would tear apart our relationship.

However, to hear the hidden fact from the mouth of a stranger, or a person you have just met,

And for me, who believed that I was clumsy, that I still couldn’t fully control the power of a vampire, that is… Her blood relative, and that she was being swayed by it, this series of facts did not come to me well.

“Elena, don’t make me angry.”

“…I didn’t think anything would change even if I said it.”

Without a change in her expression, she proudly stretched out her chest on the spot and said.

As if it doesn’t fall into the category of mistakes,

She went on with her words without blinking.

I can’t believe where the hell it came from,

I couldn’t help but watch what was happening at those words with enough confidence that even the person right next to her, who was just a part of my story with her, would get angry.

“Are you crazy? No – it’s not something I’m involved in in the first place, and it’s nothing to care about, ha…!”

With those words, Irina held Yuri closer to her and began to separate from her.

As if he saw that he couldn’t have a relationship,

It’s like treating dirty filth.

Even so, Elena showed no reaction.

Looking only at me, she continued her speech.

“The reason I told you this story was just to see if I could fill something lacking between you and me, and if this method would be helpful.

There was no reason for you to know. If she knew she was going to brag about you, she wouldn’t have told you in the first place.

And I already know. How did that woman use this power?”

It was a very brief moment, but the side glance she made had a lot of meaning.

Unsurprisingly, the woman who caught that gaze roared and purred along the way.

On the other hand, Mr. Yuri, held in her arms, smiled bitterly as if he could guess something about her.

Looking at me, the emotion on her face as she slowly shook her head was… Complicated.

“I didn’t write it with dirty and ugly desires like you.”

“If the name of dirty and ugly desire is love, then you must have used it too.”

“You dare…! You dare! Don’t tarnish my love for Yuri with that filthy snout.”

In the first place, aren’t they blood relatives, maybe even more brutal?

It’s just that they don’t harm innocent people, but if something happens against them – aren’t they capable of even more dangerous things?

It was all the more so when I thought of the man who was caught now and my position to be caught.

Am I in too much danger, beyond what they say…?

“I didn’t even care about your love in the first place. From the beginning, I only had him. Just like you.”

Elena’s eyes lit up at me once more.

Yes. It’s the eyes

Something soggy and melted is dripping,

The love that sticks to the surface and maintains a dull color, her soul that contains her heart.

I was afraid of the fact that I couldn’t easily predict where it was distorted or where it was broken.

But it must have been under her influence.

I was shaking much less than the fear I remembered.

The beating heart wasn’t screaming in agony.

Rather, as if I was nervous because I was full of anticipation for something,

As if standing on a podium and receiving applause from the crowd…

My heart was pounding like that.

“You know, Niel. Okay. I’ll admit it. I purposely hid it so I wouldn’t tell you about the day I became this person.

I didn’t like fully admitting that I had become the monster you hate,

I didn’t want to continue the story of the man I had already killed.”

The face of the man he tore in front of me passed by.

It cooled off, and even those white bones with red flesh attached, no… Red bones were exposed.

That face with blurry eyes staring into space.

Atkinson, with a face full of ecstasy and a tearing grin, the hand that had pierced his body moved up to her chest very calmly.

As she gathered her hair neatly and closed her eyes, her voice, whispering softly, was so soft and trembling.

“It hurt. It hurt enough to die. No, maybe I should have let it die.

I was ungrateful and hurt you, and you were very sick because of it.

Perhaps even if they ran rampant to get revenge, they would have accepted it as they were because they didn’t even have the right to make excuses for me.

But you didn’t.

He tried to caress me and talk to me. Yes?”

With a face full of emotion, covered with joy and forgetting even the cold winter, she asked me.

And I couldn’t lie.

“…Because I had to at least hear your story. I believe you when we’ve been together for a few years longer. I couldn’t believe what the man said.”

I cherished her.

I loved her more than her time spent with her.

Even if she quarreled with her, her love for her could not cool down.

I was just slowly despairing at her passing away, but at least in those moments, I couldn’t say ‘I don’t love you’ to her.

And… Even the girl who cheated on me like this didn’t feel the courage or reason to say she didn’t like me.

Isn’t it that something is wrong, or is it really that I myself have been twisted?

If you think about it that way – I don’t think so.

She still remembered clearly in her mind the moment she forcibly raped me.

Powerlessness, hopelessness, anger, and disappointment.

They weren’t on my mind yet, at least not yet.

And she knew it.

She became more cunning and meticulous in my problems.

With words and emotions I couldn’t deny, she slowly began to surround me layer by layer.

“That’s right. That’s how I did it.

I did it because I wanted to be able to fill you with happiness, rather than continuously giving you pain.

To keep regretting, crying, adding painful moments forever, ruining our relationship… I wish I didn’t have those times.

I wanted to be able to fill you and my love. After that day,

You only know me. I only wanted to know you

Even if there comes a time when we have to think of something,

As much as you, only me.

And I earnestly wished that I could bear more than the burden I have placed on you.”

She’d rather hide her reasons because she’s afraid of herself changing, because I’m afraid I’ll see her as her monster.

How nice it would have been if it had been that simple.

Why do you think that those days when she lived quietly in her little cabin, fearing the outside, were better?

I already know the answer, but I ask myself questions and try to get rid of it… What a pitiful person I am.

She proudly said that she was already a blood relative.

I had no intention of going back.

She was happy with her changed appearance.

And, as she once said,

She had long since killed herself in her human days.

“Whether it’s the cult’s pursuit, the vampires’ attack, or recalling what I’ve done…

If they bother you, at least I wanted to be the one to erase them. Not you

You gave me three precious years.

And were those three years really empty?

With all my heart, you loved me.

Even if I add up all the emotions I’ve felt in my entire life, it probably won’t compare to the three years when I was able to fully receive the love you gave me.

And if there’s one thing I regret the most, ah, no matter how many times I say it, it’s not enough.

The fact that I couldn’t be sincere with you during those three years.

So that was it.

Even now, dedicating my all and seeing you happy, I’m dying of regret for each passing day.

I did it because I didn’t want to waste time on you… Covering up the wrongs like this.”

“Huh…”

I was startled by the sound I heard from the side and turned around, and there was a woman holding a sturdy man in her arms and listening intently.

As if it were interesting, his eyes flashed.

Mr. Yuri also sat still and seemed to listen carefully to her words.

Laying her hand on her arm wrapped around her,

I was listening to a plain love confession.

“So now, let me speak.

I’m done with the pretense of pretending, hoping you’ll notice,

It’s been a long time since I’ve already thrown away all the false images that bounced in front of you.

I guess I should put it down a little more here.

So I’ll speak properly, straight, and straight.

And to make sure you understand.

Stuck in my mind so I can’t erase it,

Even if I try to forget it, it appears in my dreams.”

The words were not over.

Holding you in your arms, whispering in your ear,

However, she declared so loud that her brain rang, and she grabbed me.

Not pushed into a soft embrace,

So that I couldn’t escape from her hot chest.

“I love you, Niel.

And now it’s time to repay your love.

You’d better not try to take that opportunity away from me.

Even if it’s that woman or the man who fell into her arms,,

Even if they are acquaintances who know us,

Even if you want to reject me,

You won’t stop me.”

In the midst of her flow, I lost everything I was trying to say and everything I was disappointed with her.

Her love, her feelings for me alone, created an atmosphere so overwhelming that even the one who expressed her hostility to her was still.

…I began to fear the future more and more.

What her heart can do,

I didn’t know how much blood would be buried on that hand because of my love.

Simply became a blood relative from a human,

So many things have changed.

The thread of fate between her and me slowly began to tie.

With none other than her hand.