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"You… you dare betray me?!"
Carmilla's voice cracked, disbelief twisting her features. For a moment, she looked as if the world itself had played a cruel joke on her.
Ampusa—her trusted confidante—had turned against her. The audacity was staggering.
Tenra's tone was almost conversational, but the edge in his smile cut deep.
"Actually, Ampusa approached me the last time I visited. She wanted my help to overthrow you. I wasn't interested in your clan's drama, so I declined. But we made a deal. If I ever decided to move against you, she'd back me up—no questions asked. She even told me everything about your powers."
He glanced at Carmilla, still stroking her cheek with gentle mockery.
"If not for Ampusa's warning, I might have fallen for your little trick. I owe her for that."
To Carmilla, Tenra's mild smile was pure malice—like a wolf savoring a cornered prey.
"Why, Ampusa? Why?!"
Fury spilled out, her voice rising. Carmilla's glare was wild with betrayal.
Ampusa's answer was ice-cold, her lips twisting into a sneer.
"Why? My dear Lady Akasha, you really have to ask? Did you forget what you did to us?"
Her words were razor-sharp, dredging up old wounds.
"Me, Lamia… we trusted you. And you turned us all into your slaves. You betrayed us first!"
Carmilla's retort was desperate, defensive.
"I did it for unity! Have you forgotten how the male vampires treated us—how they enslaved us, used us as breeding tools?"
"I brought us together. I led the rebellion. I built Carmilla—a place ruled by women. Without me, you'd still be nothing but livestock for those bastards!"
Her voice trembled with conviction.
"Everything I did was for our kind. For every woman in our clan!"
Ampusa's laughter was bitter, cutting through the room.
"For everyone? Don't kid yourself. It was always about you."
"Wake up, Akasha. You're selfish. Cold. You broke our trust, made us puppets, forced us to do things we hated. You even ordered me to slaughter my own Scarlet kin!"
Ampusa's voice rose, raw with pain.
"All you ever cared about was your ambition, your power, your control."
Carmilla's eyes flashed with stubborn pride.
"I killed the old Carmilla clan too! Wiping out the rotten blood so we could inherit and honor both Carmilla and Scarlet legacies—isn't that justice?"
Ampusa spat the words back.
"That's just your story. You never cared how we felt."
The two women's argument spiraled, voices colliding in the echoing chamber—centuries of pain and betrayal boiling over.
Long ago, the vampires had been ruled by the Tepes family. Female vampires—no matter how gifted—were little more than tools for breeding. Then Akasha Carmilla appeared: a prodigy who hid her true power, gathered allies, and won their trust… only to enslave them with her abilities.
She grew her power in secret, turning friends into puppets, building an army in the shadows. When she was ready, she led the greatest rebellion in vampire history—a war of women against men. They didn't destroy the Tepes line, but Akasha carved out a new domain for her sisters.
From that moment, the vampire race split in two: Tepes for the men, Carmilla for the women. And Akasha became queen.
Now, the past had come full circle.
"Arguing is pointless, Ampusa." Carmilla forced herself to sound calm. "Do you really want to watch the Red Emperor take control of me? You know what that means. Our entire race will become his property—his slaves. You included."
Ampusa's smile was wild, eyes shining with madness.
"So what? Didn't you always preach that the weak should serve the strong? Let the Red Emperor be our master—what's the problem?"
"And honestly? Seeing you become someone else's slave… I've never been so happy."
She threw her head back and laughed, the sound ringing off marble and jade. Then she slipped onto Tenra's lap, eyes hazy with devotion.
"Master, Ampusa offers you her loyalty. Please—dominate me, enslave me, use me as you wish."
Tenra's grin was wicked.
"Don't worry. I'll make good use of you."
He bent down, capturing Ampusa's lips in a deep, possessive kiss.
Carmilla trembled, rage and humiliation flooding her veins.
Ampusa's gone mad. Completely mad!
"Ampusa—I command you! Kill the Red Emperor, now!"
Desperate, Carmilla tried to seize control, activating her power to force Ampusa's obedience. Anyone she enslaved should be unable to resist her orders. With Ampusa's help, maybe she could still kill Tenra.
But instead of attacking Tenra, Ampusa spun and struck Carmilla with a savage blow.
Bang!
"Aah!"
Caught off guard, Carmilla crashed into a pillar, blood trickling from her lips.
"Why—why can you defy me?!"
Wide-eyed, Carmilla stared in disbelief.
Ampusa wiped her mouth, her expression mocking.
"Oh, Akasha. You know your own power better than I do. The moment you suffered backlash, you lost control. Our new master is the Red Emperor—he's the only one giving orders now."
Carmilla collapsed to the floor, numb with shock.
She knew. She understood. But she couldn't accept it.
She was supposed to be the one in control—the supreme queen. She was! She was!
Ampusa looked down on her, eyes gleaming with savage glee.
My Lady Akasha, my queen—you finally know what it feels like.
Ampusa stepped off the jade bed, standing over Carmilla, triumphant.
"Accept it, Akasha. From now on, you're just another slave under command—like the rest of us."
She laughed—soft at first, then wild and echoing, her emerald hair swirling as her voice filled the palace.
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