WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

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Chapter 432: Heaven-Defying Trial - 2

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Even the vampires who had been standing around impassively, as though they had no interest in Lir's trial, were startled by that statement. The trial everyone expected was a people's trial, one that would hound only the suspect based on nothing but suspicion, with neither evidence nor witnesses.

Vampires lived in a nation with an inescapable hierarchy. If the Progenitor and the Elders believed someone was guilty, they could dispose of them without a trial at all. Everyone had thought this gathering was merely entertainment.

Yet the suspect had suddenly confessed?

'Is it really true? A mere Yeiling killed an Elder?'

'The rumor that she broke free from the blood bond... was true?'

'The Progenitor who made the bond can break it. But someone beneath her broke free as well?'

The shock was even greater because most vampires had not considered Lir the culprit. Vampires felt the blood bond more keenly than anyone else, so they could not imagine a Yeiling like Lir killing an Elder.

I glanced toward where the Elders sat. Erjebeut was smiling, Cabilah looked appalled, Lungken had apparently been dragged here while visiting and looked bored, while Valdamir watched Lir without expression.

There was no point expecting a change in expression from Valdamir. He was the most political of vampires and rarely showed emotion to begin with. Still, the thoughts I read through mind-reading were surprisingly varied.

'...This is unexpected. I did not instruct her otherwise, but I thought any vampire would naturally deny it.'

Interesting. Lir's sudden move had not been discussed beforehand. She was not taking Valdamir's crime upon herself, either.

Then what was this?

This was getting interesting.

"...Since you have announced your own crime, you must know the punishment you will receive as well."

"I do. You will take back the blood given to me. That cursed..."

Lir stopped there and lowered her head for a moment. Conflict stirred within her. She did not want to say it, but she had to. Lir made her choice.

"...The Progenitor's blood my father planted within me."

Lir confessed a hidden truth. Not to escape punishment, but to tarnish the honor of Elder Luscinia, her father and blood master.

Scandals had dealt fatal blows to those in power throughout history, but I never expected one to happen in the Fog Duchy.

Tyr was left speechless by the claim that a vampire had a child, and a commotion broke out elsewhere.

"Progenitor, there is nothing more to hear!"

One of Luscinia's Ain sprang to her feet and shouted. The feathers she had somehow attached to herself stood rigidly upright as she pressed Lir.

"We are not ordinary humans. Under the great blood bond, blood relatives who have directly shared blood are closer than those who merely received seed! Such lowly relationships are concepts that apply only to livestock! Lir is trying to impose the laws of livestock upon vampires...!"

"Enough."

Slash.

A red line appeared across her chest. The Ain stopped speaking and exhaled blood-flecked foam. Blood-soaked feathers scattered through the air. Behind her bisected body stood Valdamir, holding a slender table knife.

Valdamir caught the vampire's upper body before it could fall and spoke quietly.

"You are in the Progenitor's presence. Lower your voice and show respect."

"Ah... I apologize..."

"For the honor of the departed Luscinia as well. Do not make me act a second time."

Thud. Having finished his warning, Valdamir set her severed upper body back in place. Blood foam rose again, then the sliced flesh wriggled and fused together. Luscinia's Ain, who had barely clung to life, collapsed to her knees.

After displaying the trick of cutting a vampire in half and putting her back together, Valdamir dusted off his hands as though it were nothing.

"There was a brief disturbance. I apologize for failing to stop it in time, Progenitor."

Liar. If he had wanted to, he could have cut her throat before she even opened her mouth. He deliberately waited until they had said everything they wanted to say. He upheld Tyr's authority while allowing their opinions to be exposed. There was no other way to describe him. He was truly political.

"Enough. We will overlook that."

Whatever the process, Luscinia's side had made a valid point. Tyr settled the room and spoke.

"She is correct. Lir Nightingale, the nature of your relationship with Luscinia is meaningless. He was an Elder, and you were his blood relative, a Yeiling. The sin of defying heaven, a Yeiling daring to kill an Elder, remains unchanged. It is a grave sin that has never existed before. You must pay for it."

Tyr's judgment was the most proper one. In other words, it was the judgment every vampire expected and accepted. As Tyr was about to deliver her solemn sentence in the Progenitor's name, Lir abruptly raised her head.

"I object."

"Object?"

A rebel who had broken the blood bond dared answer back against the Progenitor's judgment. It was intolerable. Tyr had no intention of hearing her out, and neither did the vampires.

I did, though, so I cut in before Tyr could say anything.

"If you object to the Progenitor's judgment, you must have a serious reason. What is it?"

My official position was the Progenitor's favored consort. I was nothing by myself, but my words could move the most important person in the Duchy, the Progenitor. Tyr, who had been about to deliver her judgment, leaned back against the throne as though leaving it to me. She had stepped back for a moment to support me.

Borrowing that authority, I allowed Lir to state her objection. In a vampire's usual detached manner, Lir said,

"Because my father deserved to die."

It was a family story completely unlike a vampire's.

Vampires did not care much about family matters. Making enemies over their long lives was common enough. I was different. An Elder's family history? How could I not be curious?

I read Lir's thoughts. I read Valdamir's thoughts. Lir was not the culprit, and Valdamir was. Mind-reading gave me those clear facts.

Still, mind-reading had its limits. Even two books containing only the truth had dark, unreadable parts. All I could read were a human's experiences and memories. Facts that remained after removing humans from the equation were still shrouded in darkness.

Normally, I would have shrugged and let it go. But reading their intentions only made my curiosity grow.

Lir had tried to kill the Elder.

Valdamir had tried to save the Elder.

The result had turned out completely opposite.

"Could you tell us why the late Duke Luscinia, your honored father, deserved to die?"

"He killed my mother..."

"Wait, wait. If you skip ahead like that, I can't sympathize. Start from the beginning if you can."

To uncover the truth hidden in darkness, I wanted to hear Lir's story. Perhaps it was because she was not very old yet, or perhaps she was simply special. Lir understood what I meant and began to explain calmly.

"My father was an Elder everyone knew. Duke Luscinia, a powerful and cruel blood-energy practitioner. My mother, on the other hand, was only a refugee who had wandered outside the country before drifting into the Duchy to survive. She had no power, wealth, family, or acquaintances. She was a lone wanderer who came here hoping to survive by selling even her blood."

"I think I've heard of it. There were quiet rumors that the Duchy bought blood."

"It is true. Refugees newly arriving here have blood with a different flavor from the humans of the Duchy. Vampires who enjoy fine tastes seek out such refugees and judge the quality of their blood."

Blood all tasted more or less the same, so it could not compare to human food. But vampires who had lived for centuries seemed to grow fussy enough to distinguish even those subtle differences.

"My father was no exception. His blood relatives treated humans harshly, so they were always short of humans under their command, and my father himself was thirsty for blood. Refugees who knew little about blood relatives were easy prey for him. Father met Mother there, and something terrible happened."

"Something terrible?"

"Mother's blood suited Father's taste. Quite well, at that. Father, who had never kept a favored consort in his life, immediately made Mother his consort."

"Hm. It doesn't sound particularly terrible. Wasn't it what your mother wanted?"

At first glance, it sounded awful, but in the Duchy, suiting an Elder's taste was a considerable blessing. I needed no further explanation. Just look at me. Because I was the Progenitor's favored consort, I could order Ain around with a nod and wander wherever I pleased. In a Duchy where hierarchy was absolute, being a favored consort was a symbol of power. It was the only way to rise from livestock to pet.

Lir coolly acknowledged that fact.

"...There was no problem until then. Mother sold her blood, and Father tasted it. The problem came afterward. Father was a cruel Elder, and he could not rest until he got whatever he wanted. Mother could only be helplessly pushed around by him."

"Isn't that unavoidable? That is what happens when the balance in a marriage collapses."

"I cannot help it either. That is only natural for a child born between them."

Tsk. Put that way, I had nothing to say.

"And it did not end with simple marital discord. Father did not want Mother to die and stop supplying him with blood, nor did he want her blood to change with age. So Father made various attempts. Experiments that even the Duchy would struggle to reveal with pride..."

"What sort of experiments?"

"Too many to list. Mixing Mother's blood with others' blood like a cocktail to increase the amount. Transfusing Mother's blood into half-dead humans. Attempts to alter her body. There were many attempts, but I am the most representative example."

"You?"

Lir answered about her own origin without expression.

"If Mother's blood is delicious, then her child's blood will be as well. Believing that, he impregnated Mother. Even then, to test the hypothesis that blood resembling his own would taste better, he deliberately used his own seed."

"You mean a vampire had a child?"

Tyr reacted to the claim that Luscinia was not Lir's adoptive father, but her biological one. Unfortunately, Lir did not give Tyr the answer she wanted.

"Vampires cannot have children. But it is possible if they have preserved seed, as Father did. Women carry children in their wombs."

"So women cannot have children..."

"Female vampires, yes."

Having emphasized it once more, Lir continued.

"I was born to become Mother's replacement, but my blood did not suit Father's taste. That was fortunate. If it had tasted good, I might have carried Father's seed as well.

"Anyway, most of Father's attempts to preserve Mother's blood failed. He worried that because Mother was still human, she might die if he made one mistake. Of course, he was not worried about Mother. He worried about losing her blood supply."

Even her mockery was cold. The one who would be called the Healer Sage recited her past in a chilling tone, unlike her gentle reputation.

"Believing all those failures came from Mother's frailty, Father eventually... foolishly turned Mother into his Ain."

"I'm human, so I don't understand. Why was that foolish?"

"The moment someone shares blood and is placed under control, their blood changes. You could say it loses its flavor. Mother also had to consume others' blood to maintain her own bloodcraft, and Father could never again be satisfied by Mother's blood. He ruined the work he had devoted himself to with his own hands. He must have been terribly heartbroken."

As though mocking her father of the past, Lir wore a cold smile and looked around the room.

"Of course, this story will mean nothing to all of you. It is far too human a subject for vampires to accept."

That was not entirely true. Vampires lived closely intertwined with humans. With cold reason, they understood why Lir hated Luscinia.

"But there is another reason Father deserved to die, one that applies to all of you as well. Because Father was the first to commit the grave sin."

From there, her words crossed into a realm beyond understanding. Lir spoke of something vampires considered taboo, something emotional.

"To restore my mother, who had become a vampire, Father researched a way to break the blood bond. And he succeeded. I, who killed my blood master Father with my own hands, am the result."

Several vampires shot to their feet. The sin of defying heaven, a thrall turning against their blood master, was not something to worry about because it could not happen. Even when Lir had been suspected of murdering Luscinia, it had remained only suspicion, so it caused little reaction.

But it had truly happened, and its subject was standing before them now. Fear and concern overtook the vampires. The Progenitor herself had already left the bond, and if a way to break it appeared below as well, blood masters might frequently be killed by their thralls.

Lir continued with words capable of turning the Duchy upside down.

"The first vampire to commit the sin of defying heaven, the sin that enrages all of you, was none other than Elder Luscinia."

Footnotes:

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