The Vampire Empress.
Gently, the lids of my eyes opened themselves, revealing the sight of a beautiful black-haired lady with her eyes closed as she slept soundlessly while her hand wrapped around me, holding me tight as if to ensure that I wouldn’t fall out of the couch that she was sitting on.
I didn’t know what to say, rather, I was a bit speechless and embarrassed, to be honest. The thought of me falling asleep on someone’s embrace is just too embarrassing! To think that the once dignified me would somehow fall asleep like this… I want to dig myself a hole really quick!
Well… before that, there is also another problem I am facing… How can I escape from this extremely tight, suffocating embrace of hers without waking her up?
Her hand is like a snake that is wrapped around my body super tight, but it didn’t pain me one bit which seems to be quite a mystery for me. I can feel the tightness of the embrace, but it had no effect on how much my body was feeling.
As if to barge in the fun, the door opened to the sight of Aitsuki and Mitsuki entering inside with a paper bag of bread loaves with the two of them sharing a piece of bread with one another. The two of them looked in our direction as Mitsuki spoke, “My lady, we have some bre—” before her mouth was covered by Aitsuki.
“Mitsuki, shh! Aren’t you too dense?!” Aitsuki whispered into Mitsuki’s ear in a soft voice but that still didn’t escape from my ears. I felt like smacking Aitsuki’s head right now, but I couldn’t as I was being considerate of Helesta who was sleeping.
As if misunderstanding my gaze towards her, Aitsuki looked at me and winked with her mouth forming the words: “Take your time” which only made me even more irritated as she left together with Mitsuki, leaving behind the bag of loaves. At least she was considerate enough to leave the bread.
A few moments passed by after they left, a soft giggle escaped from the person who held me in her embrace. I was surprised a bit and looked up before Helesta could be seen looking at me with a smile. My eyes widened from the surprise. Wasn’t she still asleep?
“Good morning, how long have you been awake?” I asked before the smile on her face grew.
“Moments before you woke up,” she showed a smug, “I can’t help but keep hugging you, after all, this is a rare opportunity to exploit the most out of you.”
“You…” I really wanted to slap her face but held myself back as I knew it would do nothing to her regardless especially considering she is far more powerful than me. It’s most likely just going to be an ant bite for her, “Can you let me go for now?”
“Do you want me to tell you a little plan to take revenge on that idiot?” she asked. I was a bit taken aback and froze for a second before turning around, looking at her straight in the eye. She was looking at mine with all seriousness, she wasn’t joking.
I wanted to hear about this plan. Even though my anger last night was quelled, it still exists inside my heart. I understood most that even if I do nothing, that guy will definitely do anything to blackmail me even if it means traumatizing Ayaka…. I don’t want that to happen.
“Tell me…” I said.
“How about a kiss on the cheek first, maybe I will cons—” I understood she was about to tease me but I had no time for jokes and let go off of my pride, going ahead and kissing her cheeks as she looked at me with her eyes wide. She was really surprised by her look. It felt softer than I thought though, “You really are desperate…”
“I don’t want to see any of the people I care be attacked… I can’t help it,” I sighed before she pulled my head onto her embrace which felt a bit warm.
“I understand. The plan I have in mind is to create your own underground organization. All nobles have their own underground organization, no one is pure… well except you. For example, the royal family on my side has the shadow knights.”
“The purpose of these underground organizations is to gather intelligence and to work behind the scenes, whether it’d be for assassination or for anything that should be done outside the public’s view,” she answered.
“Did I just waste a kiss for nothing?” I frowned, “What would the underground organization do for me?”
“Think about it. What can an underground organization do that you can’t do publicly?” she asked.
My eyebrows frowned themselves. I couldn’t think of anything that an underground organization could do that I can’t do. I can kill people, that’s for sure. I can gather intelligence myself. I can negotiate with others. What else can’t I do?
“Have you heard about the Revolutionary Rebels?” she asked.
“What are they other than being rebels?” I inquired.
“As expected, they didn’t write them in their books. The Revolutionary Rebels is a dark organization composed of civilians of this kingdom who have grown tired of the royal family. These rebels are actually very strong and could rival and even surpass those knights of yours but as they are civilians, their funding is extremely low.”
“The reason why you don’t see them a lot is because of their stance. They stand by the civilians and so, they don’t want to wreak havoc onto the kingdom unless needed and also, they don’t want to expend too much money that their organization would become bankrupt. Now, do you get what I want you to do?” she looked at me with a smile.
“You want me to become the trigger for a civil war, don’t you?” I said before she showed a bitter smile. I understood from her words that if I wanted revenge, the best way is to cause a civil war since not only would that make my reputation high among the civilians, but it would also fulfill my wish for revenge.
There was a bit of hesitation in her eyes which really told me that she didn’t want me to go into a war but if it is for the sake of protecting the people I care for, then I am more than willing but right now, it’s not ripe as I am still far too weak.
“You should also know your circumstances right, the underground organization that you will make is for the sake of increasing your strength. You don’t want to engage in a civil war alone, even if you are extremely powerful, you will still face unknown dangers that could lead to your death.”
“Even if you succeed alone, would the people you cared for still look at you with the same gaze? They will be afraid of you. A creature who could crush an entire kingdom alone is not someone you should admire but someone you should fear,” she looked down with a bit of loneliness.
“Is that from your own experience?” I asked before she nodded.
“I wanted to protect the people I cared for a lot and succeeded but in the end, I received the losing end and was called a monster, a demon who shouldn’t exist here, a tyrant, a blood-crazed creature. Even though my voice doesn’t show it, the pain I suffered back then still reaches me till this day…” she smiled bitterly.
My heart shook a bit as I looked at her sad face, I couldn’t help myself but hug her unknowingly. Even though my opinion of her originally was bad, I can’t deny that she has indeed been helpful even if we only met for a little amount of time.
I understood from her face that she truly was a lonely person. My mind couldn’t imagine the full extent of the pain she suffered but I can imagine a scene where the eyes of the people you once cared for, looking at you with eyes of disgust, fear instead of joy and appreciation.
“Don’t tell me you are also afraid of me calling you the same thing?” I asked before she looked a bit surprised but nodded still, “You are quite interesting. You look cheerful on the surface, a carefree person but deep inside, you are simply a person whose heart had been wounded.”
“I’ll let you know, as long as you don’t betray my trust, there is never a chance I would become like the people you met,” I patted her head before she slowly released me from her embrace as she turned around as if hiding her face. Her ears were red.
I always thought she was a carefree person, after all, she was a powerful person but who would have thought that deep inside, she was just someone who hid behind a thick mask. When she told me her circumstances, my heart felt weird. I couldn’t describe the feeling, but it was like I was in pain.
“Thank you…” a soft voice entered my ears as I looked at her with a smile. I guess I can trust her. It wouldn’t hurt to trust her.
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Yes Votes: 223 86.4%
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No, Helesta is still too sussy! Votes: 16 6.2%
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Maybe Votes: 19 7.4%
I really want Aya to take the initiative more, not really a fan of all the hand-holding the past few chapters. For me, the appeal of this story was a strong main character who, even if coming across as arrogant at times, constantly pushed forward, forcefully if necessary. I'm not so naïve as to think that she's perfect (she's not. not knowing the importance of your own private covert ops? cmon.), but again, a lot of hand-holding lately.
"The plan I have in mind is to create your own underground organization. All nobles have their own underground organization, no one is pure… well except you."
She isn't though, the royal knights she has basically act as her black ops team. She just doesn't have a specialized black ops team yet
"You want me to become the trigger for a civil war, don't you?"
And I f*cking called it! How many innocents will die because of the power and political games these lunatics are playing?!
"When she told me her circumstances, my heart felt weird. I couldn't describe the feeling, but it was like I was in pain."
That's called empathy. Has Aya not heard of it before? Or is this brainwashing/hypnotizing?
"I guess I can trust her. It wouldn't hurt to trust her."
And Helesta has successfully wormed her way into Aya's heart. I don't trust her, but we'll see if she ends up being worthy of Aya's trust or not. Aya has at least made it perfectly clear that if Helesta does break her trust Aya will *end* her
Side note-I do have to make clear that even though I don't trust Helesta at all and think she's grooming/coercing Aya into being Helesta's lover, that doesn't mean I will always be against them possibly being together. If Helesta is manipulating her, but comes clean and explains to Aya what Helesta's circumstances are then it's possible for Aya to forgive Helesta and they can go from there. But I do not like them possibly being together when Helesta is hiding so many things, including the extremely important detail that she's under a lot of pressure and desperation to make Aya fall for her because she *knows* Aya is literally her *only* chance at ever finding love or having children, while Aya does not have that same burden or pressure. So until Aya knows about that and either forgives Helesta for it and/or understands it (and Helesta has to be sincere about making efforts to change and not manipulate or exploit Aya!), I do not like them being together
Aww... My heart can't take this, these two are to cute
Also thanks for the chap
Hehehe! >W< Thanks for reading and the cookie!
lol and here Helesta does not mention anything about her past where joyous laughter has gone crazy in a yandere mode, way while skinning civilians and piling up the corpses happily humming a song and that's why they call her demon.
Technical I'm fine with with the two opening up, but she already have two "victims";) and when will the tell them about her being a vampire?
What would Aya's reaction be if she woke up on Helesta's lap?
Thanks for the chapter
She would be like: "Ohayo!" 😆
Thanks for the chapter :3
Thanks for reading! >w<
Helesta! Helesta!
Thanks for the chapter~
Is this a cheer or a curse? >W< Thanks for reading!
A cheer. I want a wife like her~
Strong, unhealthy amount of love. Sounds great! Hehe
Hummm. I suspect fowl play. IMHO, Aya's reactions weren't believable. She must be under some kind of influence.
Yeah, influence of her past experience, given her tone. And the fact that she has no idea that she is most likely starting to fall in love, and she dent strike me like a person who has *any* experience with it
And there is also what the god said, about bending the rules of the system so it will *allow*, not guarantee that she falls in love with Helesta
Under the influence of a soft, calming, and persuasive voice. You have to remember who Helesta is, she is a politician and you know what they are best at! Okay, let's not degrade my cute little demon, shall we... or is she cute?
Helesta and Aya has a very sad moment on Volume 2, Arc 2 that goes on towards Arc 4 or possibly Volume 3.
@Mihou Sorry I don't buy it. She was being groomed / trained from birth to be the leader of her race I so find it unlikely that hormones or political craftiness are the causes of her odd behavior. However given your clue "...influence of a soft, calming and persuasive voice." I surmise that she's probably being hypnotized. That would explain her acting out of character and will end badly for Helesta later when Aya finds out. Can't wait to see her head roll by Aya's scythe!
@PiRho I half wonder if this is actually even Helesta or not. We already know of one brainwashing woman, it’s easy to imagine she can use illusions to disguise herself and engage in more trickery and manipulation
@MarkofWisdom Good point. That whole scene was confusing when I first read it. At first I thought it was Helesta but after re-reading it seemed like she was only observing. Still it comes off as her as 1) not doing anything about it and 2) using it to get closer to Aya which to me feels wrong. Your correct that miss mind bender could be doing something to Aya and not Helesta but we don't know that yet, its only a guess. However, like it or not, Helesta will be the one held responsible. A ruler is responsible for the actions of those under them and Aya knows this well from her upbringing. She demonstrated as much in an earlier chapter when she was discussing trust and loyalty. Sorry but I don't like Helesta, I have personal reasons to dislike stalkers so it's probably affecting my view of her in this story. This might get too dark for me to read soon. But I have a hard time believing that a vampire could be hypnotized or charmed for very long without realizing something is off.
@PiRho I don’t like Helesta either, for much the same reasons-the stalking as well as the massive power imbalance between the two and Helesta hiding so many things from Aya, not even getting to Helesta being desperate to get Aya to fall for her since she knows Aya is literally her only chance to find love or have children, a limitation Aya does not have. And that’s without even getting to this chapter’s sequence actually being Helesta or not! Even if this isn’t Helesta, I still don’t trust her for those existing reasons!
Really not a fan of having villains (or characters in general) able to brainwash others, especially when combined with illusions/shape shifting to allow for even greater manipulation. It utterly ruins any possibility of trust for just about anyone and lasts for as long as that character is alive, and possibly even afterwards since they may not be sure that character actually truly is dead