Volume 5, Chapter 1 – An Ordinary Yet Extraordinary Beginning

The sweltering summer was finally ushered away as hoped, and the dry, crisp harvest season arrived in its place. This was true even for the Blood Clan. Although most of the Blood Clan’s territory did not produce staple foods, for the sake of racial stability, they had designated specific regions for grain production, which received stable sunlight and ample water under the control of the Tower of Alexia. This territory was located in the area east of the royal capital, Alvier City.

With the harvest season, grain prices throughout Hyurent would stabilize. Correspondingly, the lower-class citizens of the Blood Clan no longer had to worry about food, leading to a period of peace and stability. Furthermore, the Blood Clan’s important holiday, the “Festival of Original Sin,” also took place every autumn. To pray for the First Queen’s blessing upon her descendants, all members of the Blood Clan had to reduce killing as much as possible. All things considered, various wars and raids would decrease significantly until the long winter came to an end.

After nearly half a month of travel, Yisi’s group—consisting of Yisi, Camilla, Mary, Tiffany, and Pepe—finally arrived at the thousand-year-old ancient capital of the Blood Clan, Alvier City.

An absurdly luxurious gilded carriage traveled two hundred meters west of Alvier City.

Seated opposite Edith was Yisi, dressed in a bright blue formal dress adorned with numerous frills and lace, her silver hair tied into twintails. She leaned her body forward slightly.

“Wait, did Pepe just say ‘Festival of Original Sin’? Shouldn’t it be ‘Calamity of Original Sin’?”

From the sound of it, it seemed like they were celebrating this holiday, but Original Sin should be something to be revered and feared.

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“It is the ‘Festival of Original Sin.’ It’s a holiday established to celebrate the First Queen leading the Blood Clan from weakness to greatness. Don’t be fooled by the fact that the Blood Clan now occupies half of the entire continent; two thousand years ago, the Blood Clan was so weak that anyone could bully us. We could only hide in the mountains and forests, surviving on wild fruits and animal blood.

It was Her Majesty, the First Queen, who led us from being primitive people to the strongest race on the continent in a single leap. That is why we, the descendants, established the ‘Festival of Original Sin,’ forbidding all unnecessary slaughter throughout the autumn to commemorate Her Majesty.”

Edith took a bite of the fruit that Tiffany had coiled in a tentacle and held up to her mouth, answering as she savored the taste.

Compared to before, the group now had one more member: Edith. It wasn’t Yisi who had asked her to come along, but Edith herself who had volunteered. Her reason was that the Pescia Territory needed to explain the northern expedition to the Queen. Since their destination was the same, she could travel with Yisi.

It was worth mentioning that, under the threat of Sandra’s teeth, Hetty had quickly confessed the reason for her interference in the Pescia Territory. The lord of the neighboring Hillary County, Count Hillary XIII, intended to usurp the Queen’s throne. The fallen angels under the command of Tartaros, the Demon Lord of the Earth, were secretly providing aid to Count Hillary. In this plot, Count Pescia was seen as a nail that had to be removed.

As a result, the originally neutral Count Pescia was naturally pushed to the Queen’s faction. Edith was now acting as the representative of the Pescia Territory, heading to the royal capital to clarify her father’s intentions and discuss matters of dispatching troops.

In fact, Count Pescia had originally intended to immediately send troops against Count Hillary. In his eyes, it was Count Hillary’s act of raising a banner of rebellion that had caused the discord between him and his daughter and nearly led to her death, an offense that demanded punishment. However, Edith took the initiative to stop her father’s actions.

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She had two reasons. First, they didn’t know the full extent of Count Hillary’s resources. It would be unwise to act rashly against someone who dared to challenge the Queen. Second, in the eyes of outsiders, the Pescia Territory was still neutral. Given their formidable strength, it would be far more effective to first consult with the Queen and then launch a surprise attack together, striving to annihilate the rebel army in a single blow.

Having finished the fruit, Edith closed her eyes in satisfaction.

“Mmm~ delicious. But I’d rather drink Tiffany’s blood.”

“Here.”

Tiffany, sitting next to Edith, extended a tentacle towards her. Edith took it in her mouth and bit down. With a snap, the tentacle turned into a sweet-tasting blood that spread across her tongue.

Satisfied, Edith tossed a sparkling gem to Tiffany, who unapologetically tucked it into her stomach.

Does Tiffany like shiny things…?

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Seeing the interaction between the two, Yisi couldn’t help but give a wry smile.

Sometime when she wasn’t aware, Tiffany and Edith had become quite good friends. She still didn’t know the reason why, but it was fortunate that the two could get along harmoniously, and she felt she shouldn’t interfere.

Initially, Yisi had been worried that Edith would clash with the others. But after a period of observation, she found that Edith was actually quite clever. When she wanted to, she could easily gain others’ trust. As long as no one touched upon her taboos, like joking about her noble status or her past, Edith wouldn’t get angry.

Furthermore, perhaps due to her good upbringing, Edith rarely stooped to the level of a child like Mary. Even if Mary accidentally bumped into her, she would just huff in dissatisfaction. If Mary brought her a dessert afterward, she might even play a game of chess with her.

However, according to Camilla, the reason Edith had become so tolerant was that she knew that if Mary came to dislike her, it would anger Yisi, who doted on Mary. This would be disadvantageous for her ‘head start’—a term referring to getting closer to Yisi and then sealing the deal. But Yisi felt this was just Camilla overthinking things. After all, Camilla would get displeased even when Mary was being affectionate with Yisi, so she was naturally even more wary of a more mature girl like Edith.

With one arm crossed over her chest, Edith continued her explanation with a relaxed expression.

“Additionally, the rule against unnecessary slaughter during the Festival of Original Sin isn’t strictly enforceable. But most of the Blood Clan believe that by observing it, their future children will receive the First Queen’s blessing. For example, an atavism ¹ Atavism is the tendency of reversion, recurrence of traits of an ancestor in a subsequent generation. might occur, where two lower-class vampires give birth to a pureblood.”

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“It seems some people will never be able to have healthy offspring, then.”

Sitting beside Yisi, Camilla, who wore a white formal dress with her golden hair tied back by a large white ribbon, pursed her ruby-like eyes and lips.

She had seen with her own eyes that Edith did not stop torturing her slaves, even during the Festival of Original Sin.

Without denying it, Edith just snorted lightly.

“It’s just an unfounded rumor. In the end, if it’s a festival to commemorate the First Queen, why is it called the ‘Festival of Original Sin’? What exactly happened back then is still up for debate. Besides, a pureblood and a pureblood will always give birth to a pureblood. Not observing the rule won’t hinder the future.”

As she said this, Edith glanced at the wings on Yisi’s waist. The current Yisi was still a pureblood.

The body Yisi had created using the necklaces was actually just a copy of Edith’s body that had been slightly modified. To use an analogy, it was like the character creation process at the beginning of a game. It started with Edith as a template, and then the features of her [Second Form Awakening] were transferred over one by one, resulting in the current Yisi.