“Get lost, you little runt!”
Sang gasped at the words. “…”
My blood pressure…
Calm down, calm down. No point arguing with a little girl.
The girl promptly dashed up to Morton Montgomery, shouting as if confessing her love. “Big brother! When I turn fourteen, I’m going to become your blood servant! I love you, baby!”
Morton Montgomery merely flashed a warm, springlike smile at the girls’ calls, giving them a casual wave like some heartthrob idol.
In an instant, he had countless girls swooning.
Sang didn’t get it, but he was utterly shocked.
“Vampires are one thing… but he’s a slaver…”
Sure, in Sang’s eyes, vampires came in good and bad varieties—you couldn’t paint them all with the same brush. But this guy? A slaver? And slavers could be idols now?
To his surprise, a whole crowd of commoner girls from the next line over immediately shot back at Sang’s comment.
“What do you know!? Slave trading is his family’s business—it has nothing to do with big brother! Do you have any idea how hard he works?”
“Yeah, all the bad stuff is his dad’s doing. What does it have to do with big brother?”
“Runt, don’t you dare badmouth big brother!”
“You’re just jealous. A plain-faced nobody like you, barely five-foot-three, jealous of big brother’s flawless beauty.”
Sang fell silent. In that moment, he felt his entire worldview get slammed to the ground and rubbed into the dirt.
Every time he thought he could handle the boundless depravity of this other world, something always came along to make his vision go black.
Seeing this group of commoners being so rude to Sang, Aisha Hodhua couldn’t take it anymore. She unleashed her blood eyes once more.
Enough!
Don’t you dare insult Watermelon!
In an instant, no one dared speak. The girls all bowed their heads, suddenly realizing they’d lost their minds. The runt in front of them was at the noble ticket counter—he was nobility!
…
Regardless, the little drama at the ticket counter finally came to an end.
Sang did have his own thoughts on the matter. Whether it was those humans from the Northern Region or the ones just now, he could actually understand them. In this ignorant, dark world, everyone was searching for something to believe in. The people up north hoped for rebirth amid destruction; the folks here were finding faith in vampires, of all things.
Same destination, different roads.
Finding faith in vampires… well, that wasn’t so strange. After all, Sang himself saw Snow Hill as his own guiding light. The problem was, couldn’t they pick anyone other than a slaver family!?
Just because he was handsome!?
Ignorance was truly terrifying.
He began to realize that what made this Dark World so dark wasn’t just the vampires—it was humanity itself.
With that thought, Sang cut himself off. He didn’t dare dwell on it further.
Think too much, and you only ended up more lost.
The battle in the Northern Region had indeed changed him, brought real growth. But it was just personal growth, nowhere near enough to shake this world.
Or maybe he simply lacked the drive.
Before boarding the train, Sang spotted a grubby little girl on the platform selling apples. With a grand sweep of his arm, he bought them all, munching away as he walked.
At least he’d achieved apple freedom.
Once he shook off the True Ancestor for good, his life would be perfect.
Only after boarding the steam train did Sang realize the entire car was empty—except for him and the Pink-Haired Little Lolita.
“We really… chartered the whole thing…”
Aisha Hodhua replied, “Nobles wouldn’t be caught dead on something like this…”
“And you?” Sang teased.
“I have zero interest in riding this contraption. I’m only here to keep Watermelon company…”
“As expected from the tsundere Pink-Haired Little Lolita…”
“Stinky Watermelon!”
Yeah.
That was about right.
As a mix-blood, Aisha Hodhua had only received a partial noble education. She’d been sent to 【Heavenly Key】 at a young age, spared the deeper indoctrination of noble ideology. She still held a thirst for knowledge and curiosity toward new things.
The last time they’d passed through here, Lusana had shown nothing but noble arrogance, scorning the crude invention. Aisha Hodhua, on the other hand, had been full of curiosity.
Just like how she’d begged Sang to take her to the beach.
Too bad the girl was such a tsundere.
…
The trip from Dilelo Town to 【Heavenly Key】 took a full four hours.
By the time Sang and Aisha Hodhua arrived at 【Heavenly Key】, it was already noon. They appeared in the Earthly Pavilion, where Lusana and a group of maids—forewarned of their visit—immediately surrounded them. Aisha Hodhua had brought gifts for everyone.
During this, Sang glanced at Lusana, a faint flicker of guilt in his eyes.
If he could, he’d have taken her with them. But the True Ancestor wouldn’t allow it. That woman was truly vile, forcing a mere maid—whose name she couldn’t even remember—to stay by her side.
Lusana noticed Sang’s gaze. Her eyelids drooped, a touch of helplessness in her expression.
Lusana was an excellent vampire woman. Back when the True Ancestor had locked Aisha Hodhua in the Reflection Chamber, she’d snuck Sang in to feed her blood, saving the Pink-Haired Little Lolita’s life.
And on top of that, her cooking was top-notch.
The True Ancestor was a total villain. That much never changed.
Sang didn’t linger long in the Earthly Pavilion. He hadn’t forgotten the purpose of this trip—he just wanted to see the True Ancestor quickly and get out.
The Earthly Pavilion was tolerable, evoking the feudal palaces of his old world’s Forbidden City. Oppressive, sure, enough to choke you—but at least you felt alive. The Heavenly Pavilion, though? No matter how many times he set foot there, it always felt like stepping into some isolated pocket dimension, cut off from reality.
Soon enough.
Sang ascended the long, ancient spiral staircase to the Heavenly Pavilion. Sure enough, there sat a black-haired woman wrapped in three rolls of white cloth.
Her skin was paper-white, her lips a vivid, blood-red. The stark contrast of black eyes, black hair, red lips, and pale skin, bathed in the midday sun, gave her an overwhelming presence. One glance, and you couldn’t look away—like eons had passed in a heartbeat.
The next moment.
The True Ancestor whipped her head around, eyeing the young man. With a cold snort, she said, “Little Bug… you’re here… Oh? So this is what half a month feels like? Pfft-hahaha! How fascinating. I haven’t felt time passing in ages. Wonderful—truly wonderful.”
As she spoke from her high perch, her lips curved in a wild grin. One hand rested on her thigh, the other endlessly caressing her face, as if savoring her own life. With her smile, strands of her deep black hair swayed like willows along the Forgotten River.
It was clear she was delighted.
Seeing the True Ancestor like this, Sang paused for a moment. You’re this thrilled just to feel half a month go by?
Last time he’d returned, his greeting had been “long time no see.” Hers was always “You’re here, Little Bug.” She was always so sincere, whether in words or actions—straight from the heart.
And it was precisely that sincerity that made her words so heartrending.
He could never truly understand what immortality felt like. But seeing her like this, one thing was certain: it wasn’t happiness.
Endless time eroded the self away.
Even divinity would crumble under it.
“That’s exactly why I can’t bring myself to hate you completely…” In that moment, the young man murmured to himself.
