Baron Albusell's Estate: Awakening Blood
In the pre-dawn darkness, Leah's long lashes trembled faintly. On the blurred boundary between dream and reality, an ice-cold sensation brushed across the nape of her neck. Then, a sharp, penetrating pain—like the plunge of a blade—pierced her skin.
"Ah...!"
Leah shot upright, a short moan escaping her lips. Her heart hammered wildly against her ribs. In the quiet room, only Leah's ragged breathing could be heard.
Her hand shot up, trembling as it frantically searched her neck. But the smooth skin held no wounds, no marks of any kind. Her body was perfectly fine.
"What? Why am I acting like this?"
Leah was confused, instinctively touching her neck without understanding the impulse.
Suddenly, her deep green eyes darkened as if absorbing all light, then quickly faded. The powerful vampire's hypnosis had activated. The terrible sensations dissolved like black smoke from Leah's memory. But...
"Ah!"
Leah pressed her forehead as a crushing headache seized her. The memory was gone, but her body violently rejected the erasure. She exhaled roughly, fighting the sudden, searing pain.
Trying to calm herself, Leah suddenly remembered something and scrambled out of bed.
"Oh, the donuts!"
Her cousin Beth had wanted donuts for breakfast. Leah hurried to wash up. Looking in the small mirror, she noticed her usually dull complexion now had a subtle, mysterious glow.
Wearing her shabby dress and an apron, Leah quietly tucked the blanket around her sleeping brother and headed down to the kitchen. Copper pots hung near the fireplace in the basement kitchen, where the first hint of dawn struggled to filter onto the oak table.
After quickly making dough and preparing a hasty breakfast, Leah heard the bell chime. She swiftly prepared the silver tea set to take to her aunt's room.
Entering the Baroness's bedroom on the second floor, she was met by damask wallpaper and heavy velvet curtains that exuded an oppressive authority.
"Good morning, Aunt."
Despite Leah's respectful greeting, Baroness Albusell replied curtly with a dismissive "Yes." But her gaze soon fixed on Leah's face, sharp and assessing, like a predator spotting prey.
"You... what is wrong with your face?"
The Baroness's brow furrowed as Leah passed the bed. She scrutinized Leah, hunting for the slightest imperfection.
"Pardon? What do you mean..."
Leah blinked, finding her aunt's question unsettlingly strange.
The Baroness shot out of bed and roughly grabbed Leah's chin, turning her face this way and that. Ignoring the pain from sharp nails digging into her skin, Leah looked up at her aunt with frightened eyes.
"Why, why are you doing this?"
Leah's face possessed a strange radiance. Her usual dull complexion had become smooth and bright, as if meticulously cared for. The Baroness's eyes narrowed, convinced Leah had stolen something.
"Why does your skin look better? Did you secretly steal something precious from the storehouse?"
"What? No, Aunt. I would never do such a thing."
At the accusation, Leah shook uncontrollably. She shrank from her aunt's cold touch, vehemently denying the theft. She had never stolen, no matter how difficult their life had been.
Her aunt's sudden interrogation felt deeply wrong.
"No? Then how does your common skin look this good?"
The Baroness glared at Leah's glowing skin, snapped sharply, and roughly flung her face away.
Leah staggered back, covering her stinging cheek.
"I don't understand, Aunt. I truly haven't stolen anything. Please believe me."
The Baroness knew Leah wasn't one to secretly touch food. Acknowledging her diligence, the Baroness's expression softened ever so slightly.
"Right. You wouldn't do that. If you had, you'd be thrown out, and David would be sent straight to the orphanage."
"Please!"
Leah fell to her knees with a heavy thud, clasping her hands together as she pleaded.
"Please don't take David away from me. I swear I won't steal from your house. I'll do whatever you want."
As Leah begged desperately, the Baroness's face returned to cold indifference. Settling back onto the bed, she picked up the teacup.
"Open the windows for air. I have a tea gathering this afternoon."
"Yes, Aunt."
Leah quickly drew back the curtains and opened the windows. The Baroness held her teacup, yet her eyes were fixed not on the tea but on Leah. She watched every movement, trying to peer right through her.
Leah looked unusually pretty today. It was strange. The Baroness tried to convince herself it was merely a temporary phenomenon as Leah, who would soon turn nineteen, was maturing.
When Leah placed the navy blue silk dress, pearl necklace, and diamond brooch on the dressing table, the Baroness rose.
"Come help me."
At the command, Leah immediately approached to tighten her aunt's corset strings.
"Help... me."
Suddenly, a low, profound voice echoed like a hallucination.
"Ah!"
Leah's hands lost strength, and the corset strings slipped loose. The Baroness's sharp voice cut the air like a whip.
"What is wrong with you? Do it right!"
Leah felt her stomach clench and a burning thirst in her throat, prompting her to touch her neck. Her aunt's harsh voice snapped her back to the present.
"What?"
"Tighten the corset more!"
"Ah... yes, Aunt."
Leah hurriedly retied the strings. But her fingertips trembled, and a suppressed, rough breathing kept trying to escape.
"Tighter!"
At her aunt's cold command, Leah fought to concentrate. While her hands were busy, her mind desperately chased the owner of that deep, mature voice, which seemed to emerge from a thick fog.
'Who could it be? Whose voice was that?'
It was a man's voice she'd never heard. A weighty, mature voice. Along with the fear, Leah felt a strangely intense curiosity. For her, who had never been close to any man, the events of this day were unsettlingly strange.
Tragedy in the Rose Garden
The warm afternoon sun illuminated the garden. While the other maids prepared for the tea party, Leah watched her brother David playing among the blue roses.
David sat crouched on the lawn, facing somewhere in empty space. His small fingers repeatedly traced the same pattern on his knees.
"David, look at the butterfly over there."
Even when Leah pointed, David didn't turn his head. Watching her brother, who could not maintain eye contact, Leah's face was etched with loneliness.
Then suddenly, David's small body jerked backward.
"Ahhhhh!"
David let out a loud, sharp scream, a sound unlike any Leah had heard from him before. Leah gasped in shock. David was crying in pain, clutching his foot.
"David!"
Running to him, Leah saw dark, spreading blood around David's ankle. In the nearby grass, a gray snake was quickly slithering away.
"No... no!"
Realizing her brother had been bitten by a venomous snake, Leah cried out in despair. She screamed and pulled David into her arms.
"David! Are you okay? David, stay with me!"
David's face was already turning beyond pale to a bluish hue. Leah went cold with terror. The poison was rapidly spreading through his fragile body.
The possibility of losing her only remaining family member left her completely undone.
"Someone please help! Someone is dying here!"
Leah cried out, watching David writhe in the agony of the spreading poison. His small lips were deep blue, and his eyelids drooped.
"No, no! David! Stay conscious!"
Leah sobbed, clutching her brother tighter. Several maids heard Leah's cries and rushed over. Seeing David's condition, they panicked and ran back toward the house. Calls for a doctor echoed.
Leah held her poisoned brother, desperately grasping his small hand as she prayed.
"David, please... please don't die. You must live. I can't... I can't lose you too!"
Tears streamed down her face. Her parents' last words resonated in her mind: 'Take good care of David. Please watch over him until Mama and Papa come back.'
She had lived determined to keep that promise. Now, she was tormented by her utter powerlessness.
'Please help him, Mama, Papa.'
Leah silently begged her deceased parents to save David. She gripped his hand even tighter.
Then suddenly, light began emanating from Leah's hands.
The light grew stronger, flowing into David's body through their clasped hands. Leah's eyes widened in astonishment.
"What... is this?"
Though shocked, Leah held David's hand with more conviction. Suddenly, her mother's words returned to her.
'Leah, there are those in this world who possess strange powers.'
When she was five, Leah was holding a bird with a broken leg in the garden when her mother, Aura, had approached. After healing the bird's leg and letting it fly away, Aura smiled at Leah. That smile had seemed so lonely.
Stroking her daughter's red wavy hair, Aura had said: 'I don't know if you'll become like them, but when the time comes, you must use your power for good, understand?'
'Yes, Mama.'
Leah hadn't understood then, but she remembered her mother's warm embrace for a long time.
Snapping out of the memory, Leah looked down at David. Could this be the power her mother spoke of? It was a power she never knew she possessed.
With a look of fierce determination, Leah prayed with all her heart.
"Live, David. Please live."
The light spread through David's body, beginning to neutralize the venom. His blue-tinged face gradually returned to a natural color. His convulsions stopped, and his breathing stabilized.
Tears of joy sprang to Leah's eyes. She touched his forehead and face gently.
"David?"
Leah called out with trembling relief. David's eyelids flickered, then slowly opened. For a fleeting moment, his eyes seemed to meet Leah's, but his gaze quickly shifted away. His brow wrinkled, confused by what had happened. Disliking his sister's touch, he instinctively pulled away.
"David! Are you okay?" Leah asked, watching her brother fidget and keep his distance.
Her autistic brother disliked physical contact. As overwhelming relief washed over her, tears streamed down her face. 'Thank goodness. Thank you, God. Thank you, Mama, Papa.' Leah quickly wiped her tears, profoundly grateful that her only brother had survived.
As she smiled softly with gratitude, Leah suddenly felt an intense gaze upon her. Slowly turning her head, she saw the Baroness standing by the garden entrance, next to the blue rose bushes.
The Baroness's face was unnaturally pale, bloodlessly eerie. In her eyes, fear, burning rage, and ancient hatred were tangled together.
Their eyes met. Time seemed to stop in the sudden silence.
The Baroness's voice, trembling and harsh, scraped out like dry branches.
"You... you...!"
The Baroness glared at Leah with murderous fury. As she strode toward them, Leah's shoulders flinched in terror.
"What did you just do?"
"What?"
Leah couldn't answer immediately. She honestly didn't know what had just transpired. In nearly nineteen years, this was the first time.
"What you just did! How did you do that?"
"I... I don't know. I don't know either, Aunt."
"How dare you lie to me!"
Crack! Leah's head snapped to the side from the blow. The Baroness's hand hung menacingly in the air.
Leah covered her stinging cheek and looked up at her aunt in terror. Her aunt's face was frozen with a hatred colder than she had ever seen.
The Baroness knelt down and seized Leah's arms, shaking her so violently her bones rattled as she screamed:
"Are you a witch too, like your mother?"
"What? What do you mean..."
"Are you a filthy, vile witch just like your mother?!"
The word hit Leah like a physical shockwave, leaving her stunned.
Witch...
Leah's heart plummeted.