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00:07I died this morning. They haven't noticed.
00:16Good night, sister. I had been dead for hours. The last thing I remembered was the white ash
00:22stick splitting my chest open. The battle on the snowfield was over. Vampire remains lay
00:28scattered everywhere. Father, mother, and Damien stood around Isabella. Isabella sat in the
00:34corner with a blanket dripped over her shoulders. She was trembling. Mother was checking her
00:39wrist. The blood bond opened on Damien's end. Where did you go? Isabella is this family's
00:46future. You abandoned your post. Isabella was left to face too much alone tonight. Get back here,
00:52kneel, and apologize. Otherwise, your blood right ends tonight. If I'd still been in my body,
00:57I would have thrown the ink bottle at him. Doubt he did not know I was dead. A red mark
01:03sat on the
01:03map at the western pass. That was where I died. No one in the room knew it. She still hasn't
01:12shown
01:12herself. She's not responding. Father did not look up at the report. Of course not. The attack was
01:20aimed at Isabella. She left her post out of spite. Mother gently wiped Isabella's tears away.
01:28In the middle of Isabella's battle, after everything we've done for her,
01:34she couldn't even do this much. It was laughable. Making myself into a shield protecting Isabella
01:41forever. That was a small thing. But mom, I was your real daughter. The one used as a shield.
01:52Send men to the western watch post. If she's hiding there, drag her back.
01:56Isabella walked over to her father's chair and knocked down.
02:03Father, please don't be upset with her tonight. Maybe she was just scared. It all happened so fast.
02:11Let me speak to her. She's always listened to me most.
02:21I float above the table. Whispers come from the channel. Soft and faint.
02:28Serafina. An hour ago, House Valeris sent me your finger. I burned it. This is just a small lesson.
02:36Just stay quiet tonight. Don't come back. House Valeris will take very good care of you.
02:43She choked out.
02:46Serafina said she said she was safe. She said she was sorry for running from the battlefield.
02:53She said, please tell father not to wait for her.
03:03My poor child. I know that's not what she really said. She's jealous of you.
03:09She's jealous of you. And yet you're still covering for her.
03:13That coward. After 300 years, her thin blood is still tainted. She deserves no forgiveness.
03:22This is the last time. Tainted. Coward. Deserter. A trace of silent smile rose from the depths of my soul.
03:34It had taken me seven years to win that council seat. The first woman in centuries.
03:40I had thought father might finally look at me the way he looked at her.
03:46This afternoon, I went to ask for reinforcements. Only a sitting council member could do that.
03:52Before I left, I told only Isabella and asked her to tell father to wait for me. She promised.
03:59Then she sold my root to House Valerius. All the love in this family belonged to her. I had never
04:06once thought of fighting her for it. That included Leander. House Feldren had not produced an heir of
04:12noble bloodline in 200 years. Year by year, father's seat at the round table had become more precarious
04:19and more marginal. Leander was the heir to House Valerius, a third-generation pure blood. A marriage
04:27to him would keep House Valerius at the table for another 50 years. But father, mother, and Damien
04:33Jin all knew it. His bloodline was too exalted. I was not worthy of him. So when Isabella began sitting
04:40beside him, resting her head on his shoulder, no one said anything. I witnessed all of it, and I said
04:47nothing.
04:48This afternoon, I went alone to seek help from the other vampire houses. Five riders from House
04:55Valerius were already waiting at the Western Pass. The moment I saw them, I triggered the emergency
05:01blood oath. Father, they're lying in wait for me. Save me. Enough. 300 years, and still you never stop.
05:10Isabella wins one battle, and you fake an ambush just to drag this family back to your side. Do you
05:15know
05:15what I prayed for the night you were born? I prayed wrong. I should have prayed for you to be
05:21born
05:21dead. A clean grave would have suited me far better than 300 years of you. If you crave that much
05:27attention, then stay out there and die. Do not come back. Then the thought cut off. The blood bond faded,
05:34then vanished. Look at this thin-blooded trash. A mongrel masquerading as a Valdron noble. You're just a dog
05:41someone bit by mistake. No fangs. No pride. No right to walk among us. Die in the mud where you
05:46belong.
05:47He put holy water over my face. The skin on my cheeks split open. Black smoke rose from my jaw.
05:53Wash her first. Then let's see whether there is even a shred of purity underneath.
05:59Vampires do not bleed to death. So they took me apart. Bit by bit, I was torn from myself, and
06:06I stayed awake
06:06through it all. Until a sharpened white ash stick pierced my chest and pinned me into the mud at the
06:13bottom of the ditch. At last, I died. In 10 hours, the sun would rise. There would be nothing left
06:20of me.
06:22Below me was the underground hall at the bottom of Valdron castle. Tonight, the entire family was
06:30holding a victory celebration. Sepathina did not appear before the council to receive her seal.
06:39Where is she? She rode out this afternoon. She has not returned. By law, if more than six hours
06:45passed, the head of the house may name a successor on the spot. Isabella. She held the western pass
06:52through the final wave tonight. That honor belongs to her. Mother, this should be Seraphina's.
07:02A bloodline like hers deserves it. In 300 years, has she ever once made this family hold its head high
07:11at the round table? That seal would be wasted in her hands. Then I'll keep it for her for now.
07:21When she returns, I'll give it back to her. My poor child. You are this family's only hope.
07:29All of this should have been yours. Seven years. I won that seat, the first held by a woman in
07:36centuries.
07:37And all it took was one sentence. A bloodline like hers deserves it. Not one person in that entire hall
07:45spoke for me. The doors were thrown open. Leander had arrived. He crossed the hall and dropped to one
07:50knee directly before Isabella. This was the gift I had prepared. Tonight, I give it to you. No one
07:56fought more beautifully in this battle than you did. Leander, this should go to Seraphina. No.
08:01She will have other gifts, but this knight belongs to you alone. He slid the ring onto her finger.
08:06Mother clapped her hands. Isabella has already received more gifts tonight than she can carry.
08:11Seraphina's resting chamber is standing empty anyway. Burn those mildy old records and clear
08:16it out for her as a second private room. Seraphina still hasn't returned. Do you think she could have
08:22been hurt out there? Sol-Sols wept too. Only then did the three of them seem to remember there was
08:27another daughter named Seraphina. If she were truly hurt, the blood bond would have sounded by now. It didn't.
08:35That means she ran. She is nothing but a spoiled child. Mother, please don't say that. Seraphina
08:42worked so hard for that seat. And in the end, the honor still came to me. The crimson eyes gleamed
08:47with
08:47barely hidden triumph. The servants were moving things. My records were carried out bundle by bundle.
09:00My wardrobe stood open. The robes inside folded one by one into wooden chests.
09:13Mother, Seraphina's room is this large. It is wasted on her. Anything that can be moved,
09:18move it. Anything that cannot, burn it. Clear it out for storage. Isabella turned in a slow circle,
09:25then went to my bedside table and pulled open the bottom drawer. She took out a palm-sized wooden box.
09:33Inside was a lock of silver white hair coiled into a ring. The hunter's silver hair ring passed down
09:40through generations. Every strand was cut from a beheaded pure-blood noble and steeped in sacred
09:46fire for a hundred years. Any vampire who touched it would have their flesh rot at once.
09:52Article 7 of the Old Covenant. To secretly keep such an object is punishable by eternal sleep.
09:59I had taken it 200 years ago from the body of a dead hunter in the hunting grounds.
10:05I never turned it in. I kept it. I wanted to know whether,
10:08if that day ever came, I would have the courage to use it on myself.
10:15Mom, look at this! At the very instant they exchanged it, Isabella let go.
10:23The ring of silver hair just happened to graze the back of mother's hand,
10:29then bounced back into Isabella's own palm. Black smoke burst from her entire palm,
10:34and her flesh began rotting inward, inch by inch.
10:38Mother, it hurts!
10:45What is that?
10:47A hunter's silver hair ring.
10:51Serafina! She hid this in her room!
10:55Article 7 of the Old Covenant. To secretly keep such an object is punishable by eternal sleep.
11:02Damien slammed his fist onto my desk. The corner split open, and my journal fell to the floor,
11:08exposing the number 99. Damien glanced at it once, then kicked it away.
11:14Three centuries of Valdron purebloods, only to spawn a walking stain like her.
11:25Father, please don't speak of Serafine that way.
11:28She was probably only curious. She's always had a fascination with things like this, and
11:32I'm sure she never meant to hurt me.
11:36Being thin bloodlined is no excuse for harming her family.
11:40I drifted beneath the ceiling, hearing once again my family's disgust for my bloodline.
11:46My mind went back to the bloodline awakening rite 300 years ago.
11:51That was the day that determined the rank each child of House Valdron would held.
11:55Damien stepped onto the platform first, and awakened crimson dominion. The pride in father's
12:01eyes was not concealed in the slightest. When Isabella's turn came, she awakened the rare
12:06blessing of holy blood, soothing the bloodlust of every low-ranking bloodthrow around her.
12:12Mother held her and wept through the night, calling her a treasure not seen in a hundred years.
12:17Then I stepped onto the ritual platform, full of hope. I wanted so badly to make a father smile.
12:23But the instant my bloodline revealed itself, the entire ritual hall fell into deftly silence.
12:30Patriarchal bloodline.
12:34Lowest rank. A stain on the Valdron name.
12:39At the time, no one told me, and no one knew which ancestor, that so-called atavism, had returned to.
12:47Leenda arrived at two in the morning. He did not look at anyone else. He went straight to Isabella,
12:53half-kneeled before her, and took her bandaged hand into his own.
12:57How is your hand?
13:00Leomin, please don't blame Seraphina. She probably didn't realize it was a hunter's relic.
13:06With a bloodline like hers, she wouldn't even be able to sense anything holy.
13:16Seraphina. I didn't think you could be this vicious. Are you so jealous of her?
13:23You'd put a hunter's relic in her hands?!
13:29On the other side of the crystal, I had already been dead for hours.
13:33Our engagement had not yet been sealed by blood oath, so there was no death bond between us. He did
13:40not know.
13:40I had planned to give you the Valerius family heirloom ring tonight, but I've already placed it on Isabella's finger.
13:45I think you understand what that means.
13:48He walked up to Isabella, dot his eyes, which had just turned cold, softened at once.
13:54Don't cry. I'll stay with you.
13:56He had never once half-kneeled and held my hand that way. He had never even remembered that I could
14:02not drink high-concentration pure blood. Every time he came, he had the servants bring Isabella
14:08a cup of blood warm to the perfect temperature, and me a goblet of pure blood I could not absorb.
14:15I've argued with him time and again. Every single time, he'd say the exact same words.
14:22Serafina, you're overthinking it. I only see Isabella as a younger sister who deserves respect.
14:27And back then, I believed him. Leander really does care for her.
14:33Such a shame the Valerius bloodline is too exalted. He and Isabella are the true perfect match.
14:41Once Isabella's affairs are settled, we'll find an excuse to break off Serafina's engagement.
14:47And what about Serafina?
14:50With blood like hers, some mid-ranking outsider will do.
14:55Damien, she has been running wild all night. Enough. Take two blood thralls and go to the
15:01western watch post. If she is hiding in the tower, bind her and bring her back. If she has
15:06crossed the border and fled, then she has cast herself out of this house.
15:10That was the road I had to take when I rode out this afternoon to seek reinforcements.
15:16Just a little farther west, from the watch post, was the ditch. If he went that way, he would find
15:23my body.
15:24Father! Father, please don't send him.
15:33Why?
15:34Serafina has always been like this. For 300 years, she lowered her head.
15:38She always comes back once she's done making a scene. Tonight will be no different.
15:44Damien has just returned from the battlefield. Let him rest tonight.
15:49And besides, Serafina has always been proud. If Damien finds her hiding there,
15:56she'll only resent me more for it. Let her come back on her own. Give her a little grace.
16:05This child... Serafina has harmed her this badly, and still she speaks for her.
16:12Serafina. Forget it. Tomorrow then.
16:15Damien looked at Isabella. He said nothing. Something flickered across his face, but he sat back down.
16:25My poor child.
16:28For House Valdren to have a daughter like you is the greatest blessing this generation has been given.
16:34At half past three in the morning, Isabella finally cried herself to sleep.
16:40Only then did father's blood bond come crashing into place.
16:44He called for me three times in a row. I gave him nothing back, but he had forgotten.
16:48When I begged him for help, he had blocked me completely.
16:52His face darkened as he kicked the table over in one violent motion.
16:56Damien! Come with me to the Western Watch Post. Wherever she is, drag her back.
17:01Mother started to stop him, but father cut her off with a single look.
17:06She swallowed her words and followed behind him.
17:10Leander came out of the healer's chamber, said nothing, snatched up his cloak, and followed as well.
17:17When they reached the watch post, there was no sign of me anywhere.
17:21On the wind lingered a scorched trace of holy water, mixed with a blood stench, sharp as a rust.
17:31Who was careless enough to leave a blood thrall's body lying out here?
17:36He pushed through the brush. A ditch opened before him, and in it lay a torso with only its back
17:43exposed.
17:44Its face was submerged in the filthy water. The dark crimson robe, it was the one I had worn when
17:50I went out this afternoon.
17:55Enough! Get up!
17:58You'd even pull something like this? To lie and play the victim? You even dared use a stake?
18:04A sharpened white ash stick had been driven through from the back, pinning the body to the bottom of the
18:11ditch.
18:12It sweared gently with a current. He crouched and grabbed the stake in my chest.
18:19The instant his hand touched it, he stopped. It was a vampire hunter's stake soaked in holy water.
18:29Get up! Stop this!
18:33He turned the body over. Half my face had been burned by holy water. The flesh charred black.
18:40My limbs had been torn off at the roots. At the edge of the ditch, mother let out a short
18:47scream and covered her mouth.
18:49Leander stood, nailed where he was.
18:53Her blood. There's no echo.
18:57Damien staggered backward against the ditch wall. Mother dropped in the mud by the ditch.
19:02Leander's knees struck the earth without a sound.
19:06Father collapsed into the ditch, water rising to his waist. He crawled toward my body on hands and knees,
19:13as though he could not believe what his own eyes were seeing.
19:16Sarah Puffina really has met final death.
19:22Father would not let anyone touch my body.
19:26He carried me back to my resting chamber, his movements clumsy.
19:30A man who had held a scepter for 300 years was lifting his own daughter for the first time.
19:36He did not even know where to place his hands.
19:40He laid me on the velvet chaise I had hardly ever slept on.
19:44When I was alive, I preferred sleeping in my coffin. He had never known that.
19:50There, beneath the paperweight, lay a black leather-bound journal.
19:56On the cover, in my own blood, I have written two words.
20:00The Crimson Ledger.
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