Volume 4, Chapter 14 – The Princess’s Solo

To visit the vampire inn at night, Yisi traveled through the city lord’s mansion, using her Omniscient Map to search for the count’s eldest daughter.

“Oh, you’re a guest who was invited. My apologies.”

“No… it’s my fault for wandering around the courtyard. It’s only natural to be seen as suspicious.”

Yisi responded with a wry smile to the patrolling soldier’s apology. Although her Magic Fairy body, being similar to the fairies from the western edge of the continent, wasn’t feared as much, it was still a very rare race. On her way, she had already been stopped and questioned by three patrols.

Watching the soldiers leave, Yisi sighed.

“I should have asked Refina to have a soldier guide me.”

The city lord’s mansion in Termi City was massive. It took Yisi ten minutes just to fly from the guesthouse for visitors to the main building for banquets. The Omniscient Map showed the count’s eldest daughter was in the back garden, so Yisi still had another ten minutes of flying to get there.

As she flew through the night, Yisi observed the main building of the mansion. Through the windows, she could easily see what was happening inside. A soft, goose-yellow light made the great hall exceptionally bright. Since the banquet had ended, the nobles were leaving from the front gate. The remaining maids and manservants were clearing tables and tidying up. The vast hall was sparsely populated, looking quite desolate.

“I had already expected this before coming, but seeing it in person is a different feeling.”

The food enjoyed at a vampire banquet was, of course, blood. However, it was consumed differently from the way the common folk did. The nobles gathered by the count’s eldest daughter, just like her, preferred to drink blood in a way that Yisi found incredibly cruel.

—Several people would surround a “resource” chosen by the master, jointly sharing the blood of a single person. And there would be at least ten such “resources” per banquet.

The “resources” were put to sleep beforehand, so they wouldn’t scream or struggle. They would simply bleed out and die in their sleep. Only the lucky ones, whose blood wasn’t so tasty, might escape. This was information Yisi had obtained from the count’s eldest daughter’s memory. It was cruel and infuriating.

Pulling her gaze away, Yisi continued flying in the direction of the count’s eldest daughter. The city lord’s mansion was filled with the scent of flowers, which somewhat soothed the unpleasantness that had built up inside Yisi.

Screech—

An old wooden door let out a groan as if in its final moments. Since the sound came from Yisi’s right and not far away, she subconsciously turned her head to look.

Four manservants in black came out of a side door of the main building. The four of them were jointly carrying a burlap sack, preparing to use the cover of night to leave the mansion through the back.

“Is that…”

Frowning slightly, Yisi looked at her Omniscient Map—the sack contained a person whose blood had just been drained. There were also about ten more sacks piled up behind the side door.

Most of them were already dead, but some still had a sliver of life left.

Controlling her body, Yisi descended in front of one of the servants and asked, even though she knew the answer, “What are you doing?”

“Eeek!”

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Yisi’s sudden appearance startled the servants. The sack in their hands fell to the ground with a thud.

…Be gentler with the dead.

Yisi cleared her throat.

“I am a guest who came with the eldest daughter of the Pescia family, Loiswell Edith Pescia. My name is Yisi. What are you all doing?”

After a moment of panic, the servants gradually calmed down.

“Oh, you’re a guest invited by the family head… We’re taking this livestock to the back mountain. Ah, this livestock was food from the banquet, bought and kept by the family head.”

The sacks contained no vampires, which was why they were called “livestock.”

“Did the city lord order you to do this?”

“Uh… It’s standard procedure. Even though the family head didn’t order us to, it would be neglectful if we didn’t clear out the bodies.”

“And after you take them to the back mountain?”

Yisi’s question made the manservant smile wryly. To him, these things should be common knowledge, so Yisi’s endless questions, like a child’s, felt very novel.

“We will burn the livestock. After their blood is drained, the livestock thrown into the back mountain can easily become undead, so they must be completely disposed of.”

“What if some of these people haven’t fully died yet?”

“Well…”

The manservant hesitated. Another one cut in.

“That’s not our business. We’re only responsible for throwing them away.”

“Is that so? Then here’s a deal: after you’ve put the livestock in the sacks and taken them to the back mountain, give them these medicines. Don’t burn them, just leave them there. I need their bodies to test a new drug I’ve developed, and I’ll go to the back mountain to collect them late at night.”

“But these are the family head’s property…”

The manservant looked troubled.

Yisi took gold coins from her storage. Because her Magic Fairy body was so tiny, she could only carry one at a time. After placing the first coin on the sack, she added a second one on top, taking out four in total.

“If you don’t say anything, no one will know about this. Besides, I am Edith’s friend. Do you really think your family head would quibble over things that were meant to be thrown away?”

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“G-gold… gold coins?!”

“You understand what I mean, right?”

As she spoke, Yisi took out the appropriate number of medicine bottles from her storage. Although they contained only the lowest-grade magic potions, they couldn’t resurrect the dead, but they were no problem for keeping someone on their last breath alive.

This isn’t an act of kindness. I just want to bring these people back to Margaret as subordinates for Shinku and Fran.

Finding an excuse in her heart, Yisi looked at the servants, waiting for their reply.

But in truth, the moment the servants saw the gold coins, there was only one possible answer.

“Understood. We just ask that you please be discreet. If the family head finds out about this, we’ll be in big trouble…”

“Of course. Hurry up, I’ll come to collect them later.”

“Leave it to us.”

Bowing deeply to Yisi, the servants, as if injected with adrenaline, no longer dragged one sack between four of them, but carried one between every two people. Under the cover of night, they quickly disappeared from Yisi’s sight.

“Hmm… That takes care of that.”

She hadn’t told the servants what the medicine did, so she didn’t have to worry about them secretly drinking it. After all, she had said the test required corpses, and even if she offered it to them, they wouldn’t have the guts to drink it.

The night wind swept through the garden. The cool evening air mixed with the scent of flowers filled Yisi’s nostrils. The refreshing feeling made her stretch with a long sigh.

“Ah~ The summer evening breeze is so refreshing.”

More importantly, doing a good deed felt nice. ¹ mhm!

Like a stroll in the park, Yisi leisurely flew toward the back garden where the count’s eldest daughter was.

About five minutes later.

A faint sound of a string instrument, like a violin, wafted through the air.

The notes were pure, bright, elegant, and light.

They brought to mind a princess in a solemn palace during the afternoon, waltzing in the garden with her noble lover. It was beautiful and gentle. Such feelings could not be conveyed unless the music was infused with genuine emotion.

Yisi had a premonition.

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The source of the sound was precisely the garden where the count’s eldest daughter was. Yisi instinctively sped up, flying toward the garden.

Soon, the owner of the music appeared before Yisi’s eyes.

—Loiswell Edith Pescia.

In the garden made of white chalkstone, Edith was playing a violin-like instrument solo. The moonlight pierced through the clouds and fell upon her waterfall of white hair and her closed eyes. Like a vampire princess standing alone in a corrupted world, radiating brilliance, all the flowers seemed to bow in reverence to her at that moment, even swaying in rhythm with her performance. Against the backdrop of her pure white gown, a pure and magnificent radiance made it hard to open one’s eyes, despite the darkness of the night.

The stark contrast to her usual persona made Yisi freeze, unable to disturb the girl performing her solo in the garden.

But the girl voluntarily stopped playing. The frozen moment instantly returned to motion.

“Oh my, I thought you weren’t coming tonight.”

Putting down the violin, Edith opened her eyes and flapped her vampire wings twice, smiling as she looked in Yisi’s direction. Because the image in Yisi’s mind hadn’t faded, she even felt that the count’s eldest daughter seemed very gentle, and she didn’t know how to speak to her.

Edith’s lips curved slightly. She set down the instrument and the bow and slowly walked toward Yisi.

“What’s wrong? Music is a required course for nobles. Even if you think I don’t suit the instrument, you don’t have to be so surprised, do you?”

“No… Honestly, I felt like you were a completely different person just now.”

“Hehe, should I take that as a compliment or an insult? I just remembered a few things and, on a whim, found a place where no one would disturb me to try it out. It seems I haven’t forgotten those noble courtesies, but this instrument is quite terrible.”

Edith tapped the instrument in her hand but didn’t throw it away in disgust. If it weren’t for her so-called noble upbringing, it would mean she genuinely enjoyed playing. If Yisi were to search her memories right now, she might find the answer, but Yisi wouldn’t be so insensitive as to search her memories at this moment.

“It was beautiful, and it sounded wonderful.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“Huh… I thought you’d say ‘That’s only natural’.”

Yisi flew to a position at eye level with Edith.

“If it’s praise for my accomplishments, I would say it’s only natural. But performing is my hobby. When complimented, one should thank the other person. So then? Should I make up for the extra hour I’ve used?”

“I was planning to punish you for your unconscious actions, but considering I got to listen to your performance, I’ll take it as a thank you gift instead.”

“How generous of you.”

Although she said this, there was no gratitude on Edith’s face. She clearly didn’t take Yisi’s words to heart.

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If she were to just take back her body now, it felt like something would be ruined. Yisi changed the subject, looking at Edith, who was wearing a pure white gown.

“It’s rare to see you in a pure white gown.”

“The gown for the banquet was ruined by a certain someone, so Refina had to prepare a temporary one on short notice.”

“Haha…”

It went without saying that the person who ruined the gown was Yisi herself. At that time, Yisi thought the count’s eldest daughter had gone to the other world, so she had the tailor remodel many of her gowns into styles that were easier to wear.

Silence fell for a moment. The count’s eldest daughter averted her gaze from Yisi and scoffed without ceremony.

“You don’t need to beat around the bush to get your body back. If you’re feeling sorry for me, please withdraw your unnecessary pity.”

“No, I don’t feel that way at all. More importantly, would you like to try chess?”

“Chess? You mean the black and white game with the queen and king that you invented back in the tavern? It was indeed a very interesting toy, but I’ve already mastered it. You are no match for me.”

“Whether I’m a match or not is something we’ll only know after we play.”

Yisi was a little surprised that Edith had already observed it through her eyes. In that case, she wouldn’t have to teach her the rules step-by-step like she did with Fran and the others until they grew up.

Given the count’s eldest daughter’s intelligence, she might be a formidable opponent.

Once a competitive spirit is ignited, it’s hard to extinguish. Coincidentally, there was a stone table in the garden. Yisi flew to it and set up the chess pieces.

“Don’t ask me to go easy on you if you lose.”

“Do you think I’d fall for such a simple provocation? But since you’ve sincerely invited me, I’m happy to ‘borrow’ more of your time.” The count’s eldest daughter sat across from Yisi with an inscrutable smile. “A game without a reward lacks fun. If you lose a single game, the time that belongs to me tomorrow will be increased by one hour.”

A good proposal.

Yisi moved a pawn with both hands and countered.

“And if you lose?”

“Will I lose? No… But if I don’t put up a reward because I won’t lose, my opponent will lose interest in the challenge, and it would be a loss for me if you give up. So—if I lose, you can do with me as you please. How does that sound?”

“Deal. You said it yourself.”

“Then let’s begin.”