Chapter 396
Chapter 396. Prey and Predator
How many hours… no, how many tens of hours had passed since I was captured by the lake pirates?
Alone in the dark cabin, Julietta stared blankly at the floor.
Her situation could only be described as tragic. Just looking at her tattered clothes made it clear what had happened. Both hands were chained to a pillar of the ship, rendering her nearly immobile.
“Romeo…”
She murmured, surprised by her own voice.
She thought she had long since dried up inside.
But upon remembering him, tears began to flow uncontrollably.
—Julietta was the third daughter of a merchant family, and she was sent to serve another family with which her parents had a connection.
In essence, it was almost like selling herself. The head of that merchant family had taken a special liking to Julietta, offering financial support if she would help with the family business.
Her parents, whose business was struggling and on the verge of collapse, readily accepted the offer. And of course, her beloved Romeo, who was just a lowly apprentice, had no means to oppose that decision either.
Should we run away together? —Such thoughts crossed their minds, but…
In the end, they gave up. Given the current unstable political situation, and the condition of life for her family, what future awaited a young couple who fled with just a piece of luggage?
…There was no way they could live decently.
“I’m not confident I can make you happy…”
Remembering Romeo’s anguished, tear-filled words. “As long as I’m with you, we can overcome any hardship”—unfortunately, neither of them had the naivety to say those words anymore.
Thus, this voyage would be their last chance together as a couple.
She had steeled herself. That she wouldn’t be able to stay with Romeo any longer.
But… to end this way…
She never imagined it would come to this.
It was him, hiding her in the ship’s hold, drawing his sword and smiling, saying “It’s okay.”
And after Julietta was found, he was the one who had his neck bitten open, reaching out to her with a pale face.
—Both images flashed in her mind, and they wouldn’t stop.
Romeo was dead. He had died.
“Why…?”
Why did it have to come to this? Why did she have to endure such a fate?
If she hadn’t gone to serve, if Romeo hadn’t followed her to see her off.
He shouldn’t have had to die—.
“U… uuuu…!”
Filled with regret and sadness, Julietta cried uncontrollably.
Overcome by impulse, she tried to bite off her own tongue to follow Romeo.
But her teeth bit into her tongue, blood oozing out—and there she stopped.
“It hurts…”
She was afraid of the pain. She was afraid of dying.
That’s why she just couldn’t go through with it; she couldn’t bring herself to its completion.
Now in such a state, not knowing how long she would be kept alive—though she thought it would be better to die than to be degraded any further, she just couldn’t.
The helplessness of being in this situation made her feel pathetic and infuriated at herself.
“Uuuu. Ugh… Ugh…”
Not wanting to make too much noise and provoke the lake pirates, she gritted her teeth, letting the tears quietly fall.
—Then.
There was a creaking sound from beyond the narrow cabin door.
“Yikes…”
Someone was coming. Please, let it be for something other than me—such wishes turned out to be in vain as the door opened.
“Oh, you’re still alive, huh?”
But the figure that entered wasn’t the filthy pirate she had expected.
A pale, handsome man dressed in formal wear—
“……!”
This time, Julietta was left speechless.
The man’s eyes were the same blood-red color as those of the pirate who had bitten Romeo to death.
There was only one clear association she had with such a being.
—A vampire.
“Good grief, Hilda is quite troublesome…”
As he closed the door behind him, the man muttered.
“There’s no need to be jealous of mere humans. Though if you were to take them, that would be one thing—but to only drink their blood, come on?”
With a face that was too refined for such a base smile, he crept closer.
“Don’t be scared, miss. Those barbaric lake pirates must have treated you roughly, right? I won’t do that.”
He stood beside Julietta, grabbing her neck.
“—I won’t torment you; instead, I’ll let you taste paradise. Oh, it’s been too long since I’ve had a woman’s blood—!”
With his eyes shining brightly, he licked his lips.
Ah, I’m going to die here, Julietta realized.
She felt something inside her snap. Fear washed away, and she even felt a sense of relief. The moment of liberation had finally arrived for her, who had been unable to die even despite wanting to.
She wanted to think of nothing more.
Not of fear, nor of her thirst for life—
“…What a terrible smell.”
But the vampire, with fangs bared and ready to bite, made a face as he wrinkled his nose.
“Well, it can’t be helped… not that I can attack pirates with Hilda watching over me, but… this is just too much. Damn it, your neck is dirty too! I don’t want any male bodily fluid on me…”
Releasing his grip on Julietta’s neck, the vampire grimaced in disgust and made a gesture as if chanting something.
Suddenly, water began to gush from his hand. A water-attribute spell—having cleansed his own hands, the vampire said,
“I’ll make you clean too. You wouldn’t want to die looking filthy, would you?”
With a grin, he began splashing water on Julietta.
“…………”
Julietta remained silently passive, allowing it all to happen. Frankly, she no longer cared. If he was going to kill her, she wished he would just do it quickly—
“It’s a lot better now. You’re a beautiful woman dripping with water. Too bad you’re not a virgin—”
With that, the vampire took hold of Julietta’s neck again, opening his mouth wide.
“Let me have another drink!”
He was about to sink his fangs into Julietta’s neck—
At that very moment, a bizarre sound echoed.
With a jolt, the vibration of the ship traveled through the chains binding Julietta’s hands.
“……What the?!”
“Waaah! Fire! Fire!”
“What’s that?! Yikes!”
Outside the cabin, the shouts of the raucous lake pirates echoed.
“What’s going on?!”
The vampire flung Julietta aside and strode out of the cabin, approaching a nearby pirate.
“O-Head! It’s bad news!”
“Don’t call me that! How many times must I tell you to call me ‘Your Excellency’!!”
“Ah, sorry! Your Excellency! A passenger ship is attacking us!”
“……Huh? A passenger ship? Pirates?”
The vampire exclaimed in a surprised voice.
While on a pirate ship, questioning the attack by pirates, his reaction was somewhat foolish.
“It’s still dark! How is it that they’re coming at us like this…? They shouldn’t even see us properly!”
“I don’t know why! But it seems they have a mage aboard; our sails got set on fire without warning, and it’s chaos! And they’re getting closer; it seems they intend to board us!”
“……Hurry up and launch a counterattack!!”
The vampire shouted furiously.
“Damn it, what the hell is going on… just my luck…!!”
Muttering in frustration, the vampire cast one last lingering glance at Julietta before slamming the door closed behind him.
Once again, Julietta was left alone in the darkness.
“…………”
She thought she had narrowly escaped death.
With another jolt, the ship rocked, and the deck became even more chaotic.
She just wished it would all be over quickly… Julietta stared at the ceiling with dull eyes.
“Waaah! This guy’s a hero—!”
She thought she heard a distant shout from above.
