“I have been defeated.”
This was the last testament of the Vampire Queen.
Following the Succubus Queen, the Vampires had also fallen as souls beneath the Hero’s blade.
‘One after another, they leave these grand final words every day, acting as if they were so formidable. She was just an Elite Monster after all, and in the end, she was still stabbed to death by the Hero.’
I silently grumbled to myself from the side.
The Hero was truly broken.
Just give him a few buff spells, and he would start slaughtering everyone like he was playing a mindless action game.
*Sigh.*
Even though I am a Transmigrator who exhausted every scheme to crawl my way up to this position, seeing the Hero gave me an unprecedented sense of frustration.
‘Scientists and Magic Casters aren’t bad, right? But look at that Hero—he just closes his eyes, meditates for a moment, and levels up.’
Comparison only brings pain.
So, before I completely gave up and accepted my fate, I decided I had to do at least one more thing…
At night, I was once again performing the cleanup work.
It was just like the Hero’s group to leave the Vampire Queen’s body lying sprawled out in a star shape on the ground, without a single shred of elegance.
Please, she was the Vampire Queen! You should know that the cunning of the Vampires is world-renowned.
Behind that pale and beautiful face were countless plots and schemes, making them the most headache-inducing presence in the Demon King Army.
‘She was at least a respectable opponent. Even if they don’t have respect for an adversary, they should at least have some respect for a beauty. *Tsk, tsk, tsk.* With these looks… fine, I suppose I’ll give you a proper burial this time.’
And so, I went to the back garden of the Vampire Palace, found a shovel, and began digging and digging, digging and digging…
Don’t ask me why vampires who fear sunlight would have a back garden.
Perhaps they, too, had a yearning for the sun.
They had planted a vast field of roses in the back garden, and that blood-colored sea of flowers was both beautiful and terrifying.
I continued digging and digging.
Alright, it should be deep enough.
I carefully lifted the Vampire Queen’s body.
*Heave—*
After settling the body and covering it with a thick layer of soil, I took off my Magic Caster’s hat and performed a respectful bow.
Then, I suddenly felt like mimicking the custom of pouring white liquor when paying respects to ancestors from before I transmigrated.
Since Vampires drink blood, I would pour blood.
‘But where can I get some blood?’ I picked up the tip of my magic wand, lightly pricked my finger, and let the welling blood drip onto the soil drop by drop.
After death, being immersed in the land where the sea of roses grows, she would gradually become nutrients for the Blood-colored Roses.
Let the roses take over her fate of fearing the sunlight, facing the sun and growing magnificently.
‘This is a romantic way to die. Vampire Queen, I’ve shown you enough respect as a formidable opponent of humanity.’
After the bleeding stopped on my finger, I slowly departed.
I prepared to follow my daily routine and check on the little Succubus baby I had hidden away.
—
A moment after Lü Erlu left…
In the back garden of the Vampire Palace, countless roses withered overnight.
In the soil where the Vampire Queen had just been buried, a hollow appeared.
The corpse inside had vanished.
The soil that had just absorbed the blood had dried up into sand.
It seemed that just now, a root system desperately craving blood had frantically sucked up the sparse nutrients in the soil.
—
After the victory banquet celebrating the Hero’s successful subjugation of the Vampires, I used the excuse of needing rest to return early to the tent I had set up.
I looked left and right, and after confirming no one was nearby, I quietly pulled back the bedding in the corner.
….
“Goo, goo, waaa?”
“Hm? Ba… Baba~”
I listened to the soft, tender voice of the sleeping baby who had just opened her eyes, saw me, and called out “Dada.”
The stress and fatigue of my entire day vanished into thin air.
After making off with the baby from the Succubus Castle, I felt I had naturally taken on the responsibility of raising her.
To avoid attracting unwanted attention and to keep the Hero Party from finding out, I had to come up with a poor excuse.
Under the guise of researching magic, I set up my tent separately from the Hero Party.
Because of this, my relationship with them had become even more superficial.
But who cared?
The cute baby was more important.
Every time we moved to a new location, I would cast a Magic Circle to protect the baby before we left.
Oh, right, I gave the baby a name. Her name is Ziya.
Zi, because her hair is purple.
Ya, because she is a girl.
…What should I do?
Even I feel like I was being lazy with the naming.
*Ahem!*
Purple is the color of demonic mist, the base color of Illusion Art, and the innate mark of a Succubus.
It represents mystery, power, and…
The loneliness of not being accepted by the world.
Ya, on the other hand, is a gentle word.
It represents closeness, bonds, and the softest connection between people.
This word is difficult to associate with a Succubus who lives by consuming dreams or Essence.
Both lonely and possessing the softest connection between people?
It sounds like a contradiction.
But I wanted to bring them together.
This was my goal: to use education and fatherly love to influence this foreign baby.
*Hee hee~*
I continued to tease Ziya with my finger.
Ziya responded with a smile, pulling my clean finger into her mouth to suck on it like a pacifier.
This was my feeding method.
The Succubus race feeds on Essence, so every night before bed, I would use this method to feed her.
She sucked on it with great relish.
After all, I am a Magic Caster.
My Essence, which is rich in magic power, could be considered Michelin-level for a Succubus.
Looking at the baby’s happy eyes, I had long since fallen deep.
My determination to be a father was incredibly firm and unshakable.
“How interesting…”
“Who! Who’s speaking there!”
Hearing a dangerous voice, I quickly but gently withdrew my hand and covered Ziya with a cloth.
Unfortunately, only the sound of fireflies near the camp reached my ears.
I looked around, but there wasn’t a single soul in sight.
‘That’s not right. I clearly heard a strange voice. Was it a hallucination?’
I tried hard to remember, and finally, a slight outline of a voice appeared in my mind.
It sounded more like the childhood voice of the Vampire Queen.
‘Wait, what? I must be hearing things. The Vampire Queen and a child’s voice… how could I associate two things that have nothing to do with each other?’
I brushed it off.
It must have been an illusion caused by the fact that we had just defeated the Vampire Queen today, combined with little Ziya sucking out too much Essence.
‘Then I’ll play with Ziya for a little while longer before going to sleep.’
I stepped back into the tent and lifted the cloth again.
My heart skipped a beat.
Little Ziya was actually looking at me with teary eyes, as if she were crying out about why I had suddenly abandoned her in the middle of feeding.
That aggrieved look made my heart melt.
I couldn’t help myself.
I gently picked Ziya up and brought her into my bedding, deciding to hold her all night while I slept.
Little Ziya seemed to understand my feelings.
She turned around and snuggled into my chest while lying on her side.
“Dada, I love you.”
*Tsk,* another hallucination.
Tonight, even Ziya, who can only make “aba aba” noises, has started talking.
But… I still replied.
“I love you too~”
Even though I knew it was a hallucination, my sense of happiness at this moment was even stronger than when the King appointed me as a Magic Caster.
At that moment, I did not know that at the top of the tent, a bat hanging upside down was silently observing everything, its eyes glowing with a faint red light…
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