Pigeon had always told him that the vampires in fiction were especially beautiful, the type of beauty that you would consider otherworldly.
He took that as one of Pigeon's rants about his books but after seeing Vesper he realized that maybe those just weren't rants.
In his line of work, he had seen a lot of beauties, especially those sent to purposely seduce him, but compared to those bland women, Vesper's facial features seemed to have been carefully crafted, giving off an ethereal and cold feeling that seeps right into her bones.
Her emerald green eyes were cold and expressionless but they always seemed to light up every time she saw Axel.
Her long silver hair, unlike that of an ageing individual as it was glistening and silky especially highlighting her facial features.
"Yes, very blind," Axel muttered under his breath as he retracted his gaze.
Looking at the original host's memories, he never even took a proper look at her as he was blinded by his so-called feelings for that phoney vampire.
Although he had no experience with romantic love or relationships, at least he had a favourable impression of her from everything he had done for the original host, and that was enough reason to treat her well.
With that out of the way, Axel slowly closed his eyes as it was now time to sort out his thoughts.
To be honest, he still found his whole ordeal a bit hard to believe.
He actually got reincarnated into a fantasy world.
Well, it was more like he possessed a body that was very much like his human body, both in figure and appearance.
The original host's name was also Axel but his last name was Melborn.
According to the memories available to him, Axel was the adopted son of Duke Melborn and he had two older siblings who were twins. An older sister and an older brother.
The Duke's household treated Axel well and he was especially doted on by the duchess and his two older siblings.
His relationship with his siblings only turned cold after they came to the Academy and he started going crazy over that phoney vampire who couldn't even give a hoot about him.
Axel felt that the original host was really stupid for letting his relationship with his siblings become like this for someone like that.
Other than matters related to Vesper, he decided to add saving his relationship with his siblings to the list of mandatory things to do.
The original host's memories also provided him with a lot of information about this world.
This kingdom that contained both fairies and vampires was called Mystonia.
The position of king was held by a vampire, and might look like vampires were the rulers on the surface, but the current stability wouldn't have been maintained with just vampires being the ones holding onto power.
Both vampires and fairies had their own unique abilities that stemmed from their cores.
For both races, there was a general ability that was accessible to everyone and a core ability that, although not exactly unique for some, wasn't possessed by everyone.
For fairies, their general ability was the ability to manipulate light for many purposes, both offence and defence, while vampires had the ability to manipulate blood and a quick movement skill, shadow step.
Axel's core ability was the ability to manipulate water but for as long as he could remember, he had been stuck at level two, being left behind by his peers a long time ago.
It wasn't that Axel hadn't worked hard enough to break through, but no matter what, he just couldn't do it.
This was something else to go on his list of mandatory things to do.
He could feel that there was some kind of void in his core sucking in all the spirit force entering his body and preventing it from properly circulating. He would have to see what that was all about.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the the sound of Vesper moving on the bed beside him.
He slowly opened his eyes to find Vesper sitting on the bed staring at him with a dazed expression.
He could tell what she was thinking just from looking at her. He found it a bit amusing and couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile.
The pill Estelle gave him seemed to have worked quite fast, as his body was no longer aching that much, so he found it much easier to sit up on the bed.
"You're awake." He said.
"It wasn't a dream?" Vesper said, still looking at him in disbelief.
"No." Axel shook his head.
"Really?"
"Mm."
The next second she dived straight into his arms, tightening her arms around his waist as if scared that he would disappear the moment she let go.
Axel's waist felt like it was going to explode from the force but in order to reassure her, he didn't make a sound and just gently patted her head.
"I heard your heart stop moving so I thought….."
She didn't finish what she wanted to say but Axel could understand.
Pigeon did say vampires had extremely heightened senses, and given how much she cared for that bastard, she really went crazy when she heard his heart stop beating.
Vesper stayed in his embrace for a while before calming down and the moment she calmed down, her rationality returned.
She quickly let go of him and returned to her own bed.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that." She apologised, looking quite nervous.
It looked like she was afraid that he would be upset and reprimand her. It wasn't like it hadn't happened before, that idiot would always be upset whenever she tried to get close to him and would explode even from an accidental touch from her.
Axel looked at the way she was now and couldn't help but sigh.
He could tell that Vesper wasn't a gentle person, nor was she kind, but such a person had given all her kindness and gentleness to that idiot, and he didn't know how to cherish it.
Taking a deep breath, Axel looked at her with a serious expression.
"Do you think I was an idiot in the past?"
"Huh?"
Now that question left Vesper befuddled.
______ ______
Far away from the capital city of Mystonia in a forest shrouded by darkness, a man covered from head to toe in a dark cloak, his face covered with a dark hood.
The forest was covered with an eerie atmosphere with the occasional cries of crows, but it didn't seem to bother the man as he half leaned against a tree, twirling a weirdly shaped red key on his fingers.
Suddenly a masked man with a sword sheathed on his back dropped from the sky in front of him and bowed.
"My lord."
"Did you find it?" The man asked. His voice sounded somewhat hoarse and seemed to be devoid of interest.
"Yes, we sensed the shadow lord's aura inside Nelxus Academy, and it was an almost clear reading, so I'm certain it's there." The masked man reported.
"Oh?" The interest of the hooded man seemed to have been piqued as his voice sounded much more lively now. "An almost clear reading?"
"Yes, my lord." He repeated.
"Thousands of years later, the shadow lord's heir shall appear and where the shadow lord's heir appears, the divine light's heir shall not be too far." The man muttered with keen interest as he twirled the key spinning on his fingers even faster.
He spun the key faster before suddenly covering it with his hand as he slowly stood up straight.
The faint moonlight shone through his hood showing the faint smile on his face.
"Let's go hunting in Nelxus Academy."
Just after saying that, his body was covered by dark shadows, and he disappeared.