The leopard who liked water jumped into the bathtub with a pleased look and submerged her body. When soap bubbles were made and rubbed with a brush, Ember made a pleased rumbling sound.
Seeing Ember twisting her body this way and that to make the brush Sarka was moving touch the itchy spots, Sarka’s eyes were dyed red. Opening Ember’s mind, Sarka found the areas where Ember felt itchy and stroked them precisely.
Looking down at Ember who was rolling over pleasantly, Sarka suddenly recalled the moment when he had made similar movements himself.
Thinking of that day’s bathroom, his mood began to tangle again like a complex thread.
Small, blunt fingers with calluses. Muscles awkwardly stiffened from tension that hadn’t disappeared. The sound of swallowing loudly.
……What on earth was that human thinking?
What was he thinking……offering up his own body without hesitation?
That day, Sarka had been extremely weakened. His stamina had hit rock bottom, his consciousness gradually blurred, and even his dominance wavered from dizziness.
That human must have fully felt the moments when dominance became dangerously weak inside his body.
And yet without showing it, obediently…….
Sarka, who had been lost in deep thought, finally snapped back to his senses when Ember roughly shook her body to shake off the water.
Ember, whose bath was finished, came out of the tub rumbling pleasantly. Adam picked up a towel and began drying Ember’s fur. Sarka sighed as if shaking off the thoughts cluttering his mind.
“Lily, come here.”
As soon as her name was called, Lily ran over happily. Lily, who had been playing around clinging to Sarka’s arm even in the water, began whining when soap bubbles were made.
Jaguars were animals that liked water, but Lily, whose sense of smell was particularly sensitive, hated the smell of soap. Even though he had ordered soap with the weakest scent possible, she would throw a tantrum like this whenever soap bubbles were made.
Sarka opened Lily’s mind and observed Lily’s nerves growing sharper. Soon judging that this wouldn’t work, Sarka commanded Adam.
“Adam, Lily’s snack.”
Adam, who had been drying Ember’s fur and waiting, diligently ran and brought the snack container. While Adam fed Lily snacks, Sarka began quickly washing Lily who was distracted by the snacks. When the soap bubbles touched her, Lily stopped eating her snack and whined again.
Observing Lily’s mind bristling sensitively again, Sarka tried his best to soothe Lily as gently as possible.
“It’s okay. It’ll be over soon. Good girl……. That’s right, you’re doing well.”
When Sarka coaxed her, Lily bared her teeth and tried to endure the soap bubbles. But Sarka could feel Lily’s emotions roughening quickly.
Her temperament had certainly become sensitive. As Sarka repeated the lifestyle of staying for a few days then leaving, Lily, whose emotions had become unstable, was gradually changing into a violent and impatient personality. Before long, she would become a servant so fierce that no other servants besides Sarka could even touch her.
……Of course, the moment the hypnosis is released, I won’t be able to touch her either, much less save my life.
Sarka tried to shake off the gaze from inside the cage that kept digging into his mind unconsciously.
No matter how affectionately he treated them and poured out his affection, the fact that these children would see him as prey the moment the hypnosis was released was lodged like a thorn in a corner of his heart.
Sarka thought it was ridiculous that he cared about that fact.
It was natural for a creature whose <memory> had been touched to harbor hatred toward the opponent who damaged their mind.
A creature’s mind was wrapped in three shells.
Each was also called by the names <consciousness>, <thought>, and <memory>.
The first shell, <consciousness>, was the part that handled the connection between mind and body.
If this was broken, one could seize that creature’s <body>.
This act only took away control of the body and didn’t directly intervene in the creature’s <mind>, so no traces were left on the mind.
Therefore, when the hypnosis was released, they could feel discomfort or pain in the body that had been dominated, but no artificial changes occurred to the creature’s <emotions>.
However, the moment the second shell, <thought>, was broken and artificial thoughts were blown into that creature to ‘intervene’, wounds were created on the creature’s mind.
Just as one feels pain from wounded skin, a creature awakened from hypnosis feels temporary ‘hatred’.
Just as skin regenerates over time and wounds disappear, that hatred disappears after a certain time passes.
However, the moment the last shell, <memory>, was broken and that creature’s memories were artificially reassembled, ‘permanent’ scars were created on the creature’s mind.
<Memory> was the foundation of the mind that composed a creature’s self. The moment a creature whose memory had been touched awakened from hypnosis, that creature would hate the opponent who touched their memory until they died.
Just as deep wounds become scars and remain eternally on the skin, that hatred never disappeared.
Adam, Ember, and Lily were all creatures whose <memories> had been touched.
They would be absolutely loyal to Sarka as long as Sarka’s hypnosis was maintained, but if Sarka’s hypnosis was released even now, they would hate Sarka until they died.
When the ancient vampire empire fell, many vampires were killed in the hatred of servants who were released from hypnosis by Angel’s Fangs.
Vampires who lost their power died to their servants.
The moment the ruler weakened, being swallowed by the ruled was a law of nature.
But, that human……
Lily, who couldn’t endure any longer, burst out of the bathwater.
Sarka quickly grabbed Lily who was about to cause a ruckus splashing water everywhere. Holding the struggling Lily, Sarka soothed her in a low voice.
“It’s over now, it’s over. You did well. Adam, towel.”
Adam, who ran over quickly, began wiping Lily’s body with a towel. As the soap smell faded, he could finally feel Lily’s mind stabilizing. Sarka sighed, wiped the water remaining on his hands, and changed his wet shirt.
When Lily, finally fluffy in Adam’s hands, crawled over next to Ember, Sarka nodded and commanded gently.
“Good work, Adam. You wash up too.”
Only then did the monkey Adam take off his clothes and jump into the water. While Adam happily soaked and washed his body, Sarka picked up the brush and sat down on the rug where Ember and Lily were sprawled out.
While brushing Ember and Lily in turn, Sarka felt that miscellaneous thoughts about that human were still tangled in his head like matted fur.
He had never thought about it.
A creature who, at the moment when I’m most weakened, protects and devotes itself to me instead of attacking me.
A creature who doesn’t refuse humiliation or insult to be helpful to me.
He had never even imagined such a creature could exist.
Until now, Sarka had opened the minds of hundreds of creatures and dominated them. Among them were of course beasts, as well as lower-class vampires.
Vampires could dominate the minds of those whose bloodline rank was three or more levels lower than their own.
Sarka, a <Complete Pureblood> of 10-star rank, could freely dominate everyone from <Semi-Pureblood> vampires of 7-star rank to <Half-Pureblood, Mixed-blood, Semi-Mixed-blood, Half-Mixed-blood, Mudblood, Human-blood, and Humans>.
Of course, legally opening the minds of one’s own kind without just cause was strictly forbidden, but the aristocratic class always needed servants they could trust.
Therefore, the ‘semi-slave’ system was established. Vampires who received more money than other servants in exchange for giving up their <dominance>.
Those who allowed their master to handle their mind and body at will during the contract period were socially despised for having sold their dignity as vampires for money. It was similar to the principle of humans despising prostitutes who sold their bodies.
Even those vampires would never have allowed another to open their mind and take dominance of their body if they couldn’t receive much wealth in compensation.
Regardless of human or vampire, there was no one who would voluntarily do despised work without any compensation.
And yet…….
[That’s good. I’m a commoner anyway, so it doesn’t matter. If I can help, I want to help.]
Whenever he recalled that unhesitating voice, Sarka felt stumped as if facing an unsolvable problem.
[You can continue.]
[You’re uncomfortable……get comfortable.]
Even at the moment of saying those words, that human’s body was stiff with tension, and his heart rate kept rising. While his body temperature was even rising from embarrassment and awkwardness, the strength forcibly escaping from his hands was…….
……Why?
Why voluntarily endure discomfort and volunteer for lowly work?
When there’s no benefit at all…….
Sarka, who had been lost in puzzling thoughts for a long while, finally came to his senses and removed the brush when Ember rolled over with a slightly annoyed look.
While Sarka had been lost in other thoughts moving his hands, the brushing had finished and both beasts were neat. Adam had also already finished bathing, dried his body, and changed into a clean new suit.
Sarka exhaled lightly, put down the brush, stood up and pulled the cord.
When the bell rang, servants came up and cleared away the bathwater.
Sarka checked his pocket watch. After finishing bathing his servants, there was almost no time left.
Sarka began preparing to go out with some haste. It was time to go meet the only reason for returning to this house every overnight leave day.
In the evening as the sun began to set, boarding the carriage, Sarka commanded the servants briefly.
“Don’t prepare breakfast.”
The servants bowed their heads.
When Ember, who had followed in, took her place, the carriage door closed. The wheels began to roll.
Traveling through the vampire city where darkness was settling, Sarka gathered his resolve.
In front of the person he would meet ahead, he must no longer show a weakened appearance from such thoughts. Sarka consciously tensed his body.
The carriage stopped.
Entering the entrance, Sarka silently descended the stone steps. Upon entering underground, the artificial lights became brighter and the temperature became cool.
Finally arriving at his destination, the semi-slaves silently opened the door.
“You’ve come.”
The red-eyed man smiled.
Ember waited at the door, and Sarka entered. Standing before the man in old-fashioned cape attire, Sarka silently paid his respects.
He was a young man with an impression similar enough to Sarka that at a glance they could be seen as brothers.
Unlike Sarka, who was still in the time of boyhood but gradually beginning to show the lines of a man, the man had become a complete adult and still appeared somewhat androgynous due to his fine lines.
The man, who had grown his smooth silver hair long like people from several generations ago and tied it behind his neck, exuded an elegant feeling like a swan.
If there was one place that gave a sense of dissonance from him who looked like a kind and delicate young man, it was his eyes.
His eyes were a complete red even when not using supernatural powers, and his pupils were vertically slit like feline animals.
The man, who had been quietly looking at Sarka standing with proper etiquette, gently opened the conversation.
“Since I didn’t see you last month, this lesson might be a bit burdensome. Should I slow down the pace?”
Sarka answered without hesitation.
“No. I’ll catch up.”
The man smiled broadly. His eyes containing red pupils curved with satisfaction.
“……These days, young kids are overflowing with spirit. Good.”
The man with a young appearance who looked at most seven or eight years older than Sarka spoke in quite an archaic manner of speech.
The reason one couldn’t laugh carelessly at that dissonant appearance was because he really was someone born several generations ago.
Belial Büne Hütivras.
An immortal vampire who had reached the terminal stage of blood addiction and no longer aged or feared death, and Sarka’s ancestor who was born over 100 years ago.
If not for this man, Sarka wouldn’t have needed to return home faithfully every overnight leave day and end-of-term vacation.
Belial snapped his fingers gently without complaint. The cage opened and beasts with eyes shining brightly red slowly walked out.
Belial leisurely sat on the sofa and, looking up at the slightly tense Sarka, gently suggested.
“Change your clothes first. Blood will splatter.”
