Chapter 4
Every step I took tore at my wounds, leaving smears of blood on the floor behind me.
My strength drained with every drop. So did my life.
I hadn’t even made it halfway down the corridor when my legs gave out. I collapsed pathetically, too weak to get up again.
Several figures appeared like ghosts at either end of the corridor.
They hunched and lurching forward with uneven shoulders and twisted spines-stripped of all grace, all nobility.
Under the pale moonlight, I saw grotesque faces with jaws stretched impossibly wide, mouths split to their ears and bristling with jagged teeth. Ferals. Their glowing red eyes locked onto me with naked hunger.
In desperation, and yet… even in that moment, I cried out instinctively-
“Lucien… help me!”
The Ferals halted mid-step. It was as if an invisible force froze them in place. They whimpered and backed away in fear.
Before I could catch my breath, I heard Lilith’s soft and delicate voice.. “Lucien, I feel faint… I’ve lost so much blood. Am I
going to die?”
In an instant, the Ferals were released from their fear. They lunged to me like hungry wolves!
Pain exploded across my body-sharp, gnawing agony as fangs tore into my throat, my arms, my legs.
My head snapped back, vision blurring and mind buzzing.
Then my ears only filled with the sickening sound of my own blood being swallowed in greedy gulps.
I couldn’t stop shivering. My body was ice from blood loss. My teeth chattered uncontrollably.
Just as my consciousness started to slip away, I heard it-
The sharp, whistling sound of something slicing through the air.
Silver-tipped arrows pierced through the Ferals’ skulls mid-feeding – they dissolved into ashes before their snarls could
become screams.
Dazed, I lifted my head, barely able to focus on the archer in the distance, instinctively calling out, “Lucien…”
But it wasn’t him. Lilith stood there, smiling. “I could’ve let you die. But where’s the fun in that? I’d rather watch turn into
one of them-another ugly little half-breed, just before Lucien.”
“After all, as a pureblood Prince, he hates trash like that, you know. Nothing disgusts him more.”
Just as she finished speaking, Lucien stormed into view.
Seeing my bloodless face, something like panic flickered in his eyes for just a second, but Then he commanded Harrow with forced composure. “She’s lucky. Patch her up. Now.”
Chapter 4
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隠された皇帝の宴(日本語吹替版)
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I could feel the change beginning inside me. It was like fire and ice warring in my veins.
I could smell the sweet blood on Lilith. Every thread of it. And I could feel my body shifting, twisting, becoming something else entirely.
I dragged myself forward, clawing toward Lucien on hands and knees. A trail of blood smeared behind me like a scar.
When I finally reached him, I clutched his trouser leg with shaking hands. “Please, I was bitten. I don’t want to become
one of them, or turn into a greedy, beastly creature.”
If he transformed me before I completely turned into a Feral, I could still become a true vampire. A noble. I could keep my face, my mind and soul as a human.
Lucien crouched down-but not to help me.
One by one, he pried my fingers off of him.
“Every vampire from tonight’s hunt left well-fed and content. No stragglers would attack you-let alone Ferals here.”
I tried to lift my arm, to show him the bite marks that still burned like brands.
But to my horror, the wounds were gone. All had somehow healed completely.
A hunger so deep and primal it crushed everything else. My throat constricted. My jaw ached. I couldn’t form a single word.
I looked up at him, pleading silently. Lucien looked down on me like I was something beneath his boot. “Spare me the games, Celeste. You think playing victim will earn you sympathy? My affection?”
“If you want to stay, you’ll stop hurting Lilith. And you’ll forget this nonsense about leaving. I’ll treat you both equally… if you behave.”
I stared blankly at Lucien’s lips moving, but I couldn’t hear the words anymore.
The next moment, under his shocked gaze, I numbly tilted my head toward the window.
The world around me faded. In that moment, all I could see… was the blood moon, rising.
Chapter 4
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