Chapter 11: Fa-rectification on the spot! ?

A faint trace of blood slowly flowed from the black-haired girl’s fingertip, seeping past Sistoli’s teeth and into her mouth.

…So this is what Emil tastes like.

That rusty flavor, which had always made Sistoli feel nauseated before, now became the sweetest nectar.

It made her instinctively want to bite harder, to widen that tiny wound, to let that delicious taste completely fill her mouth.

However, having regained a sliver of clarity from those few drops of blood, and warned by a strong instinctive alarm in her mind, Sistoli forcibly restrained her beast-like urges.

She opened her mouth, dazed, and lifted her head, meeting the gaze of the black-haired girl before her.

Emil was staring straight into her eyes with a cold, indifferent expression.

Meanwhile, the fingers of her other hand had somehow reached Sistoli’s neck—and were gradually tightening.

…

—This is really bad.

On a dark, windy night, while the Hero was asleep, she had bared her fangs and bitten toward her neck.

“Hey, I swear I didn’t mean any harm—I just turned into a vampire because of the Demon King’s blood contract, and wanted to drain your blood while you were unconscious… would you believe me?”

…Even if someone believed that, what would be the point!?

This is basically attempted murder caught on the spot!

“Um… Hero… my lady…”

Sistoli forced her mouth open, trying to plead—

But she was already starting to lose her breath.

…Am I really going to be executed on the spot by Emil?

It’s all that idiot Demon King’s fault.

Kidnap me if you must, but why set up such a harsh punishment?

Wasn’t that basically forcing me to escape just to come here and die at the Hero’s hands?

I’ve already gotten this close, even bitten her finger—there’s no way to explain this anymore…

…Right?

Just as Emil’s grip tightened further, a sudden flash of inspiration struck Sistoli.

Summoning her last bit of strength, she reached toward her waist and grabbed something at random from her storage space.

“…Cake.”

“…?”

Sensing Emil’s grip loosen slightly, Sistoli seized the opportunity, coughing heavily before quickly holding up the item in her hand with all her strength—

“Cough… Hero… my lady, this is a cake I found in the Demon King’s castle.”

“…Cake?”

“That’s right. When you were eating cherries earlier, you looked really happy. I guessed that you might like sweets.”

Taking advantage of Emil’s momentary distraction, Sistoli slipped out of her grasp like a fish, then widened her eyes, trying her best to appear innocent and naive.

“So, before we got too far away, I went back to the Demon King’s castle and found this in the underground storage!”

“…”

Seeing the black-haired girl remain silent, Sistoli steeled herself and decided to throw away her dignity for now.

“B-But…”

Her voice trembled as she set the cake aside, touched the red marks on her neck with her left hand, and wiped away the lingering tears at the corner of her eyes with her right.

Then, choking back sobs, she spoke softly to Emil—

“Why did you suddenly grab my neck… and say ‘got you’?”

“Could it be… that you don’t like cake?”