Rasnov Castle, Eugene's Study
The sun had already risen high, casting its light across the world. Inside Rasnov Castle, the sounds of a lively morning filled the air—servants' footsteps echoing through the corridors, birds chirping in the distance.
But Eugene's study was different.
Even with the curtains thrown wide open, the sunlight streaming in seemed to lose its warmth the moment it entered this space. The study was filled only with a cold chill. The bookshelves lining the walls stood in silence, and the dust-free desk remained empty of any work. Everything sat in perfect order—just as it had been three hundred years ago, frozen in time like Eugene's life.
Eugene sat deep in his armchair, staring blankly out the window. A woman occupied his thoughts. The sensation of drinking her blood last night kept flooding back to him—warm, unfamiliar, and strangely powerful in how it drew him in. For the first time in three hundred years, it felt as though time itself had begun to move again.
The door burst open with a bang.
Eugene slowly lifted his head.
"You got hurt?"
His twin brother Hector strode in, long silver hair flowing behind him as he casually perched himself on the edge of the desk. Eugene frowned at the intrusion, slowly turning his chair to face him.
"What brings you here?"
Eugene's voice was cold. Hector pouted at the reception.
"Come on. Can't you at least pretend to be happy to see me? I rushed over as soon as I heard you were injured."
Eugene let out a short, derisive laugh.
"Let's be honest. You didn't come because you were worried about me. You were heading to the village pub when Alex, my butler, told you, weren't you?"
Caught red-handed, Hector shrugged with a smirk.
"Do we really need to get into specifics? What matters is that I'm here now, right? You could at least welcome me for that." He waved a hand dismissively. "Anyway, Alex said you got pretty badly hurt. Is that true?"
Hector studied his brother carefully. He looked perfectly fine, making Hector wonder if Alex had gotten it wrong. If his vampire brother had been injured, he should have recovered easily with animal blood. But Alex had seemed quite serious when they'd met this morning.
Eugene remained silent. The heavy air in the study deepened the quiet. Hector's languid expression gradually became more serious.
"Wait. Don't tell me it really was as bad as Alex said?" Hector rose from his seat, disbelief in his voice. "You?"
He headed toward the bar in the corner of the study.
"What the hell happened to you?"
'Ha! Human? You call yourself human? Hahahaha...'
The monster's mocking voice from last night echoed through Eugene's mind. His hand unconsciously clenched into a fist.
"I met him."
Hector froze mid-motion.
"Him? Who?"
Silence.
Hector's brow slowly furrowed.
"No way... that monster?"
"Yes. The one who destroyed our family."
"Are you sure?"
The vodka bottle rattled unusually loud as Hector grabbed it.
"He told me himself. Said he was the one we've been searching for."
Hector's expression grew serious as he approached his brother with a glass. Eugene accepted it silently.
"So what did he look like?"
"I don't know. He wore a hood covering his face. Even his voice seemed altered—I'm not sure it was real."
"Damn it."
Hector muttered a curse and downed his drink in one gulp. The strong liquor burned down his throat, making him grimace. He lifted the bottle again to refill his glass.
"He must be incredibly powerful if you can't even guess his identity. Three hundred years of searching, and we still don't know who he is..." He paused. "That's why Alex said you looked so badly hurt."
The creature must have lived far longer than they had. They were only three-hundred-year-old vampires, and half-human at that. They had no idea what kind of being had killed their parents. Feeling frustrated, Hector downed another drink.
Eugene merely swirled the liquor in his glass without speaking. The air in the study grew even heavier. Hector sighed, looking at his brother. Eugene's expression revealed nothing, but the rage boiling beneath the surface was unmistakable.
Though they were twins, Eugene took after their human side more, while Hector leaned toward their vampire nature. Knowing how long his brother had searched for this enemy, he could only imagine the crushing weight of having let him slip away.
As Hector worried, a sudden thought struck him.
"Wait. If the enemy was that strong, how did you fully recover with just animal blood?"
Eugene flinched as he brought the glass to his lips. Hector didn't miss that subtle reaction.
"What? What was that?"
"What reaction?"
Eugene emptied his glass as if nothing had happened. But Hector's instincts were sharp—his brother was hiding something.
"Something smells fishy here."
Hector placed both hands on the desk and leaned his face close to his brother's, curiosity filling his features. Animal blood could revitalize vampires, but it wasn't nearly as powerful as human blood. If his brother had truly been critically injured, recovering with animal blood alone would have taken much longer.
Feeling pressured, Eugene stood abruptly and walked to the window. The beautiful garden stretched out before him.
"Alex said your shirt was completely soaked with blood... With that level of injury, animal blood wouldn't have been enough." Hector's tone suggested the impossible. "Don't tell me, brother—did you drink from a human?"
It was unthinkable. Their parents' dying wish had been to avoid feeding on humans, and Eugene had been strangely averse to human blood ever since. That's why he'd survived on animal blood for the past three hundred years. Hector himself couldn't even stomach animal blood, but that was beside the point.
Eugene continued drinking in silence. Hector immediately moved to his side, blocking his path.
"Really? You actually drank from a human?" Hector covered his mouth with the back of his hand, more surprised than he'd ever been. "Wow."
His brother had drunk from a human for the first time. After three hundred years. Hector smiled at the thought, but then his expression turned troubled.
"But... since it was your first time feeding, you would have lost control from the excitement. So that person..." He hesitated. "You killed them, right? But Alex didn't mention anything about a body."
First-time feeding was dangerous. It was easy to lose self-control from the rush. If his brother had truly drunk from a human, the victim likely wouldn't have survived. It was unfortunate, but inevitable.
"Did you handle it yourself?"
Silence.
Puzzled, Hector tilted his head, then frowned.
"What? Don't tell me you just left the body there? Or did someone find it?"
"That won't happen."
"What do you mean 'that won't happen'?"
Frustrated by his brother's vague response, Hector pressed on.
"Wait... you didn't kill them?"
More silence.
"Come on! Please just tell me! Do you want to see me die of frustration here?"
As Eugene remained stubbornly silent, Hector's mind raced. Fed on someone but didn't kill them? Then they'd become a vampire... unless?
"They didn't die."
At Eugene's casual words, Hector's mouth hung open.
"What? They didn't die? Then what about them turning into a vampire?" He threw up his hands. "Damn it. You just let them go?"
"She won't become a vampire."
"She?"
Hector froze.
"She? Wait... the person you fed on was a woman?"
Eugene had answered without thinking, then immediately regretted it. It was bad enough that he'd drunk from a human, but the fact that it had been a woman—just thinking about how his brother would react made his head throb.
Hector couldn't believe his ears. The corners of his handsome mouth twitched. Then suddenly he burst into roaring laughter that echoed through the study.
"Hahaha, wow. It's hard enough to believe you drank from a human, but a woman... That's incredible!"
Hector beamed as he moved to clap his brother's shoulder. Eugene looked at him coldly, rejecting the gesture. Hector disappointedly clenched his fist in mid-air.
"Good for you. After staying away from humans for three hundred years, I'm sure Mom and Dad would understand. For a vampire like you to avoid human blood all this time—that was really remarkable."
Hector sincerely meant it as he lowered his hand. Then he ran his fingers through his long silver hair, becoming serious again. Looking at his brother who still maintained his distance from humans, he gave a bitter smile.
"But wait. You said earlier that she won't become a vampire. What does that mean? If you fed on her but didn't kill her, shouldn't she turn?"
Silence.
Hector sighed. His brother's lips were sealed impossibly tight. He began thinking hard.
Fed on a woman. Didn't kill her. The woman won't become a vampire?
Hector thought intensely, then his brow furrowed deeply.
"No way... Brother, you didn't... did you?"
"What?"
"You didn't... give her your blood to save her, did you?"
Eugene's blue eyes wavered. Seeing that look, Hector realized his brother had shared his blood with the woman. He was speechless with disbelief, then burst out in anger.
"Brother! Are you insane?"
Eugene glared at him irritably.
"Why are you getting so angry?"
"Ha! Do you even realize what you've done? No, of course you don't, or you wouldn't have given her your blood." Hector shook his head. "That woman is in serious trouble now."
Eugene realized something had gone terribly wrong. He grabbed Hector's arm, forcing him to meet his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
Hector struggled with what to tell him.
"What do you mean?!"
Eugene snapped, gripping his brother's arm harder. Seeing his brother show emotion for the first time, Hector scratched his forehead awkwardly.
"Look... I'm speaking from experience here. So listen carefully."
Eugene tensed. He had no idea what consequences his blood could cause.
"When a human has a vampire's blood in them, they become a target."
"What do you mean? A target?"
"Other vampires can recognize her. You're a vampire too, right? So other vampires can smell your blood in her."
Eugene's breath caught. To become a target for vampires... He'd never heard of such a thing. Though he'd been born a vampire, he'd never fed on a human or shared his blood with one. How would he have known?
"Are you certain?"
"Yes. It happened to me before."
Eugene felt dizzy and slowly released his grip. Watching his brother stand there motionless, lost in thought, Hector felt uneasy. After a moment of contemplation, Eugene cursed "Damn it!" and roughly ran his hand through his short brown hair.
As his brother paced anxiously, Hector sighed quietly. Since the first human his brother had fed on was a woman, he could well imagine how much she would occupy his thoughts. Remembering what had happened a hundred years ago, his face filled with resignation.
"Where is she now?"
"Baron Albusel's estate."
"Baron Albusel? I know that baron."
Eugene looked at his brother questioningly.
"You know him?"
"Yeah! His place isn't far from the village. That baron gambles, you know. Even though he has no money, he's always at the tables."
Hector got along well with humans. Since he couldn't die, he gambled, attended parties, and was quite popular.
"So she's Baron Albusel's daughter?"
"Well, not exactly his daughter—"
"Hm?"
Eugene gave up explaining.
"Never mind that. She could be in danger, right?"
"Right. Should we go check if she's okay?"
Hector's eyes lit up. He'd been bored anyway, and he was curious about the woman his brother had fed on for the first time. As he headed for the door, Eugene followed, speaking in a low voice.
"We're just going to look from a distance. We just need to confirm she's safe."
"Yeah, yeah."
Hector let his brother's serious words go in one ear and out the other.
"I've been wanting to give her some kind of compensation anyway. I just don't know what."
"Compensation? You erased her memory."
"I did. But she still saved my life. Shouldn't I do something for her?"
As Eugene spoke seriously, Hector glanced sideways at his brother. He'd heard plenty of talk about Baron Albusel having a daughter.
He'd never seen her himself, but his brother wanted to give compensation to a young lady? It would certainly be good news for the broke Baron Albusel.
"If you want to do it, do it. You have plenty of money anyway."
His brother had abundant land and wealth. Compensation money was nothing to him. Seeing how much his brother cared about the woman, Hector found it amusing.
"Is she pretty by any chance?"
"What?"
Eugene's brow furrowed. His brother was always one to care about appearances. As Eugene's blue eyes turned sharp, Hector raised both hands.
"Okay, okay, I'll drop it. It's just surprising to see you so interested. You're never interested in women."
"I'm not interested."
"Really?"
At his brother's indifferent words, the corners of Hector's mouth curved up.
"Fine, then just keep not being interested. Today we're just checking if she's safe from a distance anyway."
"Fine."
At his brother's blunt response, Hector smiled inwardly.
'Not interested, my ass... You're completely smitten.'
"Okay then, let's go."
Hector quickened his pace, leaving the study and walking down the corridor. Eugene followed behind, thinking to himself. Just like his brother said, he'd only confirm the woman's safety. He wouldn't meet her directly—he was just worried about the woman who carried his blood.
As Eugene left Rasnov Castle with his brother, his heart swelled with both worry and a strange excitement. And Eugene still didn't realize it—that the strange sensation he'd felt when drinking her blood meant she was no ordinary human.