128:
“Grand Duke Bruno…”
Elena didn’t quite know how to speak. The aura coming from the Duke Bell before her… was without a doubt that of an undead creature. But the calmness in his dull yellow eyes, and the elegant temperament on his body, were not something an undead creature could possess.
Seeing Elena’s confusion, Bruno chuckled softly and looked at Lilith.
“This young lady, is that… His Majesty Monroe in your hands?”
Lilith silently nodded, opened the bag a little, and let him see the charred blackness inside.
“Let His Majesty out. It’s too stuffy in there.”
“It’s not the manner and treatment of a royal.”
Lilith and Elena together placed Monroe’s charred body on the chair beside Bruno.
“Monroe…”
“You’ve finally come to this.”
Leaning back in his chair, Bruno took a greedy, deep breath. Looking up at the starry sky, he said slowly, “Let me tell you a story…”
“A story that almost completely destroyed Fente.”
“That story, full of sorrow, struggle, glory, and betrayal.”
The three of them then composed their faces and quietly listened to him begin.
“That incident should have happened twenty years ago.”
“At that time… Princess Elena should have just turned one.”
A look of nostalgia appeared in his eyes. Bruno sighed, “At that time, King Monroe had been a legendary for about ten years, and I was only one step away from legendary.”
That was a period of rise for the country of Fente. The country was strong, and the army was powerful. It was a glorious period.
“At that time, we were all in our prime, all proud and arrogant, and we all wanted to clean up Fente.”
“At the beginning, we did very well.”
His eyes were full of confidence. Speaking of that time, Bruno’s back straightened.
“Fente is a small place, after all. Whether it’s an evil god or a good god…”
“They wouldn’t put too much energy here. They didn’t have much of a reaction to our resistance.”
“Until…”
Regret and pain appeared in his dull yellow eyes. Bruno said in a low voice, “Until we were clearing out a marquis, and we actually drew out a vampire family.”
“That family had been in Lunt for three hundred years. None of us had expected that they had been turned into vampires at some point.”
His withered fists were covered in bulging veins. He tried his best to suppress his killing intent. Although he looked like a terminally ill old man, Bruno was not without the ability to fight back.
“It happened too suddenly. We were not prepared.”
“Fortunately, with our great strength, we eliminated most of the vampires…”
“We even killed a legendary-tier vampire.”
“Just when we thought it was over…”
“Another legendary vampire ambushed us.”
Covering his eyes in pain, Bruno said through gritted teeth, “His Majesty and I were both contaminated by his blood!”
“We wanted to kill him, but he said that only he could restore us…”
A lie.
Shelley secretly shook his head, sighing in his heart… Once the blood has completely taken root in the body, there’s no way.
Bruno continued, “We weren’t sure if it was true. We had no choice but to bring him back to the palace and find someone who knew.”
“The rest is simple…”
“His Majesty and I became vampire spawn.”
As if he had come to terms with it, he lowered his hands and looked down at the three serious faces. After a moment of silence, Bruno said in a low voice, “We refused to accept this reality, but there was nothing we could do…”
“Fortunately, we were both powerful warriors. This transformation was very slow…”
“At the beginning, we just became irritable, and we would have the urge to kill from time to time.”
“But later, the desire to kill gradually became a craving for blood.”
“At the beginning, animal blood was enough. Later, I’m afraid only human blood could control it.”
“King Monroe is a very steady person. He calmly suppressed his desire to kill and sat quietly in his bedchamber.”
“But I was different…”
As if a little ashamed, and also a little emotional, Bruno looked at Shelley and said, “In that one year, I began to indulge in debauchery everywhere…”
“High-class, low-class, I came into contact with all kinds of women.”
“I was just constantly venting the boiling desire in my heart.”
“So… I’m sorry, I don’t remember your mother…”
Looking at Shelley’s calm expression, he sighed and continued, “Later, venting on women was no longer useful…”
“I locked myself in my room and let my desires control me.”
“After a month of sleeplessness, I was surprised to find something.”
“Although my strength had decreased, my desire was suppressed and disappeared for a while.”
Bruno’s excitement flashed by, and then he said gravely, “I went to see His Majesty in surprise, and I was a little resentful of him. Since he knew about this, why didn’t he tell me…”
“But when I saw him, my heart sank.”
Looking at the human-shaped charcoal beside him, his eyes were full of anger.
“His Majesty’s strength had not decreased…”
“Instead, it had increased.”
The spring night was not cold for Professionals, but everyone present felt a chill.
Bruno said in a pained voice, “From that moment on, I knew…”
“His Majesty, he couldn’t turn back.”
“That proud, but wise and martial, king who loved his people as his own was gone.”
“What was left in the Fente palace was only a legendary-tier vampire.”
“A few years ago, he had killed that vampire and taken its place.”
Slowly closing his eyes, Bruno calmed down. As if describing someone else’s experience, he said calmly, “After that, I returned to my bedroom and locked myself up.”
“Constantly feeling that power transform me…”
“Gradually losing my breath, gradually losing my heartbeat.”
“My body began to grow cold and stiff, and my emotions became indifferent…”
Opening his eyes, Bruno’s eyes were burning with a raging fire.
“I have not given up. I am the last hope of this country.”
“As long as I am alive, Monroe will not completely abandon everything.”
“I am the sword hanging over his head.”
Bruno’s impassioned voice echoed in the night… as if he were shouting at fate.
Shelley looked at the two former heroes before him and sighed deeply… One had chosen to fight against fate to the end, and in the end, he was neither human nor ghost. One had chosen to submit to fate and had become the person he once hated the most.
A famous quote came to his mind: “He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into you.”
The dragon slayer eventually becomes the dragon.
